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2 FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2005 Commissioners to meet on requests Education tops agenda for discussion BY GREGG FOUND STAFF WRITER The Orange County Board of Commissioners and area legislators want to make sure the county’s legis lative requests get first priority in the N.C. General Assembly. To that end, officials will meet for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Monday at the Courtyard by Marriott on N.C. 54 to discuss the county’s needs. Commissioners published their list of requests March 1. Among the 55 items, increased funding for local schools and county projects is at the forefront. “We’ve always been high on education,” said Commissioner Stephen Halkiotis, “We try to fund everything they ask for, but some- Address changes multiply Residences could get new numbers BY ADAM W. RHEW STAFF WRITER Even more address changes might be on the way for some local residents ones that might affect how quickly rescue officials make it to an emergency. The Chapel Hill Town Council already must change the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Street, a by-product of the council’s decision last year to rename Airport Road after the civil rights leader. But the street’s residents might soon have new street numbers to go along with the new name. The 12 residences along the small street now have addresses like “3A” or “78.” “In order to keep consistent with the addressing in town and for 911 purposes we need to make these addresses a 3-digit num ber,” Deborah Squires, the town’s senior geographic information system technician, wrote in an e mail to Town Information Officer Catherine Lazorko. Squires included in the e-mail proposed address changes that Economic indicators show pluses THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nation’s employment climate improved, shoppers rang up sales and factories boosted production last month, fresh signs that the economy is chugging ahead at a respectable pace. That was the latest snapshot of economic activity presented in the Federal Reserve’s survey of busi ness conditions around the coun try, released Wednesday. VOTFO 2001 Chapel Hill Tire Car Care Center Best Auto Repair! GET YOUR CAR READY FOR SPRING BREAK) Chapel Hill Tire Car Care Center promises to provide expert advice, honest answers and a friendly atmosphere with staff dedicated to taking care of YOU. Our professional service staff includes over 12 ASE certified technicians. We service all makes and models and handle repairs of any size. We offer Free Shuttle service to UNC Campus and UNC Hospital. Leave It To Us-Complete Car Care You Can Trust. To Be Considerate Of Your Time We Take Appointments. VISIT US AT ANY OF OUR 3 LOCATIONS FRANKLIN STREET 502 West Franklin St. Chapel Hill, NC 27516 AWlSi | X 919-967-7092 / \ Hours: / \ M-F 7:3oam - spm ■ ( \ 1 Sat. Closed I / U H I iXjJJ njl l CARRBORO 1 § 203 West Main St. ft] J / Carrboro, NC 27510 rf LI I / I fjJ'nMW 919-967-7058 V \jD^ J Y Hours: M-F 7:3oam - spm Sat. Closed 11470 US Highway 15-501, [oil, Lube & Fitter *s-*j Suite 236 | __ | Chapel Hill, NC 27517 j * Dlesel 0,1 and fi,,er ma y extra j 919-960-6001 | • Does not include synthetic oil f \ . our# . ■ • Available in semi-synthetic & \ ’--4 ’ifjW i M-F 7:3oam - s:3opm i Ml synthetk XSiP 1 ' I Sat Closed *• Fluids inspected and topped off _________________ I Expires 3/11/05 I times it’s like pouring money into a giant hole in the ground. It seems like it never fills up.” The board publishes many of the same requests each year on its leg islative agenda. “Orange County is so progres sive with visionary ideas that people meet them with skepticism, espe cially home-builders,” said Sen. Elbe Kinnaird, D-Orange. New items for the 2005 legis lative agenda include supporting legislation for increased per-pupil funding to schools, supporting state funding for school resource officers and backing a public ref erendum on a lottery that would provide funding for education. Orange County Finance Director would give the residences more tra ditional addresses such as “101.” The council naming commit tee, which is in charge of the street renaming, is currently discussing whether to pursue the initiative independent of the county. But local emergency personnel say the changes might not have any effect on responders. “If we get dispatched to 103 or 105 versus 3A or 38, it really wouldn’t make that big of a differ ence,” Chapel Hill firefighter David Sasser said. Robert Bosworth, deputy chief of operations for the Chapel Hill Fire Department, said he does not see the changes adversely affecting response time. “Is it going to be a big problem? No, as long as (new addresses) are logical and clearly marked,” he said. The town initiative comes as county emergency management officials begin the first stages of a process to identify problems that might delay emergency personnel response time to 911 calls. The agency has hired two consulting firms, Geographic Technologies Group and McKim & Creed, to help identify prob lem areas within the county, said “The economy has continued to expand at a moderate pace,” according to the survey, which is based on information collected on or before Feb. 28. The survey also found that retail prices were “generally flat or up modestly.” Some companies were more inclined to pass along some of these costs to customers, the survey noted. These indicators of inflation, jobs and other economic condi- News Ken Chavious said that lawmak ers previously have helped Orange County’s schools and that he hopes they will continue to do so. “Legislative agendas in the past gave us the new half-cent sales tax increase to fund public schools,” he said. One of the other issues the county stresses in its agenda is paying for Medicaid. “The number one issue is Medicaid relief,” said Chavious. “It’s been one of the most growing expenses the county has faced.” Halkiotis also said he thought North Carolina is behind the times in covering Medicaid costs. “The state needs to take over all of the Medicaid costs that are cur rently being paid by the county,” he said. “North Carolina is one of the two or three states left that hasn’t Steven Newton, Orange County Emergency Management Services’ wireless 911 coordinator. The goal of the project, he said, is to identify street numbers situat ed in a manner that might confuse emergency personnel like even house numbers situated on odd numbered sides of the street. Newton said the firms will eval uate a database of maps of county roads maps that currently con fuse dispatchers because of their flaws to identify any problem areas. Newton said the groups also will look at data that pinpoint a specific address for every business and resi dence. “You’re not sure you’re on the house until you’ve passed it,” Bosworth said. “As dumb as it sounds, to back a fire truck up to find a hydrant could be problematic.” The council naming committee will hold a second meeting with residents of Martin Luther King Jr. Street on Tuesday to discuss poten tial names for the street. Airport Road is set to officially change names May 8. Contact the City Editor at dtydesk@unc.edu. tions will be discussed by Fed poli cy-makers when they meet next on March 22. To keep inflation and the econ omy on an even keel, the Fed has pushed up short-term interest rates six times since June 2004. Economists are expecting anoth er quarter-point increase at the March meeting. One of the things economists will be closely watching at the March meeting is any sign as to whether Fed policy-makers will be sticking with or abandoning their current stance of raising interest rates at a measured, or gradual, pace. With the job market clearly on the mend but still not back to full throttle, some economists believe that a gradual approach to raising rates will be maintained for a while longer. TWO TOO COOL Don’t lose out! See these houses today. KTIWM AVaIK ffM Mkk A #Ak. \ Property info Terrific location ,'w j j S online. Clean & updated Y . J Quality & service $1,090/mo all the time. , www.CBMBHICRCntaiS.cjM . done that. It should be a state responsibility.” Old proposals that appear again this year include a tax on cigarettes and a tax on alcohol. “We are proposing that cigarette tax money goes back into public health-related programs as well as opportunities for tobacco farm ers who won’t be farming as much tobacco anymore because of the tax,” Halkiotis said. Both Halkiotis and Kinnaird said there should be a push to change an impact fee on housing to an impact tax. “We have a tax system that doesn’t yield enough for our needs,” Kinnaird said. “Right now people pay as much for a trailer as for a $300,000 house.” The commissioners also laid out election-related requests, such as Public to share thoughts about reassignment BY JENNIFER FAIR STAFF WRITER After identifying its top five cri teria to consider in school reassign ment, the Orange County School Board is now turning to the public for feedback. County schools are undergoing the reassignment process due in part to the construction of the dis trict’s third middle school— slated to open in Efland in 2006. A public hearing on the criteria will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at A.L. Stanback Middle School. Residents also can respond to the reassignment criteria online at http://www.orange.kl2.nc.us. “I’m eager to hear what students and parents have to say,” said board member Liz Brown. The criteria identified by the board include students’ proxim ity to schools, the socio-economic and ethnic balances of schools after reassignment, the need to minimize the number of affected students, and allowing students to progress easily from elementary to middle to high schools. “We want to have a cross-section of students in the new school,” said board member Delores Simpson. Board member A1 Hartkopf said that while he wants to achieve socio-economic and ethnic balance at the schools, he does not want to break up communities or force children to attend schools where they do not know anyone. “I think we have a moral man date to teach children no matter what building they’re at,” he said. Both Hartkopf and Brown also said they want to make sure students’ trips to school are kept short. “Some of these children are expected to go five hours or bet ter between getting on the bus and lunch,” Hartkopf said. “You can’t teach a hungry child.” Brown added that the board wants to spread out the free and reduced lunch population so the district doesn’t end up with a school using optical scanning, tabulating but not disclosing absentee ballots before Election Day, allowing state employees to take off work in order to service the polls and letting peo ple revote whose ballots were lost. Commissioners also support a ban on video poker machines. “There are 155 video poker machines in this county, and it’s costing us $40,000 a month to be checking on these machines that bring no revenue to our county,” Halkiotis said. Kinnaird said that legislators typi cally support county requests, but that they take time to implement. “In 10 years, they’ll do what we do, but they’ll think it was their idea.” Contact the City Editor at dtydesk@unc.edu. “Were just trying to determine how to make... decisions, not what those decisions will he.” LIBBIE HOUGH, COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD like Central Elementary where 70 percent of the student population receives free and reduced lunches. Chairwoman Libbie Hough said the board has not yet started look ing at the specific numbers of stu dents or neighborhoods that will need to be reassigned. “We’re just trying to determine how to make those decisions, not what those decisions will be,” she said. “We’re a year away from a final decision.” The district undertook its last reassignment process because of the construction of Cedar Ridge High School, which first opened its doors in 2001. The unintended outcomes of that reassignment included growth in some areas of the district and a lack of growth in others, Hough said. Some schools in the district are now over capacity and others are under capacity, she explained. The board wants to use this reas signment opportunity to rebalance all of the district’s schools. “We’re looking at all 11 schools,” Hough said. Though it is not one of the board’s top five concerns, Hartkopf said he also wants to expand the district’s year-round program and offer it to more children. Hillsborough Elementary School is the district’s only year-round ele mentary school. Other criteria the board is con sidering include geographic conti nuity within the district and devel oping a plan that is sustainable for five to 10 years. The school board will approve its final reassignment plan in February 2006. Contact the City Editor at dtydesk@unc.edu. Inside Carolina invites Tar Heel fans and faculty staff to an OPEN HOUSE VIEWING PARTY for all ACC Tournament games Friday, March i I. FREE viewing in Alumni : |ln Hall on a larger-than-life and screen and in O’Herron J® Grille on a 50” Plasma TV (courtesy of Sam’s Club I An Hors D'oeuvres Buffet for $5.95 + tax, beverage service, plus Special Viewing Chairs from ECKO will be available in Alumni Hall making this THE place to be. Doors open at 11:30am. Grille seating rtSftrffttions are required and members have priority For details or Grille reservations bll 962-110 Mm (Eh? Saily (Ear Brri POLICE LOG FROM STAFF REPORTS ■ A drug raid at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday at the Berkshire Manor Apartments, at 112 N.C. 54 in Carrboro, yielded two arrests and the seizure of 12.8 grams of cocaine, Carrboro police reports state. According to reports, Roberto Carlos Riviera-Torres, 24, and Araceli Lara-Morales, 26, both orig inally from Mexico, were arrested when police served a search warrant at Apt U-6, where they both live. Police confiscated 12.8 grams of cocaine in two separate groupings, more than $2,100 in cash, scales, sandwich bags and various paper documents, reports state. Riviera-Torres and Lara-Morales were charged with felony posses sion with intent to sell and distrib ute a controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling for manu facturing and distributing drugs and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, reports state. The two were taken to Orange County Jail each to be held on a $50,000 secured bond. Both were scheduled to appear Thursday in Orange County District Criminal Court in Hillsborough. ■ An unknown suspect shot into a residence while the build ing was occupied at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at 107 Hargraves St., Carrboro police reports state. According to reports, a 22-year old woman and a 24-year-old man were at home when they heard one shot, followed by another one 30 seconds later. The second shot entered through the rear wall of the bedroom, enter ing the wall about two feet above the head of the woman, who was sitting at her desk, reports state. The incident still is being inves tiaged, reports state. ■ A 53-year-old Chapel Hill man was arrested at 5:07 p.m. Wednesday and charged with being drunk and disruptive in front of Woody’s Tar Heel Tavern & Grill, Chapel Hill police reports state. According to reports, Daniel Alvin Wilson, of 100 W. Rosemary St., was passed out on a bench at 165 E. Franklin St., reports state. After regaining consciousness, he began cursing and fell on the sidewalk when he decided to walk away, reports state. He was taken to Orange County Jail to be held on a S2OO secured bond. He is scheduled to appear April 11 in Orange County District Criminal Court in Hillsborough. CORRECTION ■ Due to a reporting error, the March 10 story “Bodies speak volumes” states that professional troupe the Cuntry Kings per formed a hate crime re-enactment at a drag show at UNC. It actually was performed by a five-member amateur group. It also states that perform ers Veronica Steele and Jamocha Shake tied for the amateur prize at the event. Steele actually tied for the prize with a five-person group of which Shake is a member. To report corrections, contact Managing Editor Chris Coletta at ccoletta@email.unc.edu. (Eljr oa% (Ear MM P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 Michelle Jarboe, Editor, 962-4086 Advertising & Business, 962-1163 News, Features, Sports, 962-0245 One copy per person; additional copies may be purchased at The Daily Tar Heel for $.25 each. © 2005 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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