This Weekend friday carrboro day Clear 81/58 saTurday Partly Cloudy 85/65 sunday 20% Chance of Rain 88/65 MILL carrborocitizen.com april 29, 2010 u locally oWned and operaTed u Volume Iv no. V free mayor lays out case for smith level road plan Says it may be now or never for sidewalks, bike lanes By KirK ross was the lone “yes” vote for the plan, Staff Writer which was defeated 6 to 1 – but said he has been adamant with state De- CARRBORO — After a public hear- partment of Transportation officials ing Tuesday night at Town Hall in since then that the town would not which more than a dozen residents accept a four-lane road. along the Smith Level Road corridor The latest plan, Chilton said, expressed their strong opposition to a came after he had a tense exchange new widening plan for the road, Carr- last year with DOT Chief Operating boro Mayor Mark Chilton recognized Officer Jim Trogdon at a conference himself and gave a sometimes-passion- in Charlotte. Trogdon had been ex- ate plea for the plan along with several plaining to a group of mayors how testy retorts to some of the charges resi- the DOT was trying to be more re- dents made about the project. sponsive to communities’ priorities Chilton, who bounded to the po- and Chilton cited the stalled Smith dium in support of the project after Level plan and the DOT’s unwill- it was pointed out no one had spo- ingness to compromise in response. ken in support of it, said he believes Chilton said a few months af- the compromise for a two-lane road ter the exchange, he was invited to with bike lanes and sidewalks is like- a meeting in Raleigh where he was ly a now-or-never deal for the town shown three more four-lane plans to improve the road. and a two-lane plan similar to the Photo by Kirk ross Trumpet pitcher plants flower before their leaves Chilton acknowledged his will- one before the board. Pierre Monnet (left front) and a group of his neighbors talk with DOT representatives mature. ingness to compromise last year Jim Dunlop and Ed Lewis before a hearing at Town Hall on the new design for Smith Photo by DaviD SWanson on a possible four-lane design – he SEE SMITH LEVEL PaGE 7 Level Road. flora by Ken Moore fun at abbey court schools a natural garden is unlikely to worth a paddle receive full thought i’d died and gone funding to heaven!” That’s an By susan dicKson expression i learned years ago to describe anything Staff Writer wonderful beyond de- The Orange County Board of Com- “scription.i Seeing acres and acres of missioners indicated on Tuesday they yellow pitcher plants, trumpets, Sar- likely would not fully fund the requests accenia flava, flowering on the inner of either the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and ring of a pond cypress, Taxodium Orange County boards of education, ascendens, swamp, is definitely such citing an extremely tight budget and increased requests from both nonprofit an experience. organizations and county departments. Three lucky couples from Carr- The commissioners met with both boro and Chapel hill joined Robert school boards for a joint budget work (Muskie) and vikki Cates for a session in which the school boards pre- paddle on horseshoe Lake in Suggs sented their budget requests. Mill Pond Game Land southeast of County officials are anticipating -ma Fayetteville two weeks ago. jor budget shortfalls this year, as com- Muskie and vikki paddle a lot. missioners have requested a budget that includes no property-tax increase and Muskie plans his trips well in ad- sales-tax revenue is down. Recent bud- vance and he has objectives, like on get projections show a potential $13.4 this last one: “i think we’ll catch the million deficit. pitcher plants in flower.”h e was Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools dead on target. in all my years of requested $60.2 million, an increase of botanizing in wild places, i’ve never a little over $1 million from the previ- seen anything like this! Thousands ous year’s budget, while Orange County Schools requested $22.8 million, about of yellow-flowered trumpets on $600,000 more than last year. The Cha- floating mats of sphagnum moss pel Hill-Carrboro request represents encircling horseshoe Lake were a a $62 per-pupil increase over last year, died-and-gone-to-heaven surprise. while the Orange County request would Paddling on that horseshoe- maintain last year’s per-pupil allocation. shaped Carolina bay lake was like Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools stepping way back in time to expe- Superintendent Neil Pedersen outlined rience wild nature before humans potential budget scenarios for the com- missioners, asking them to consider the had progressed very far. and there reductions the schools will likely face in are hundreds of Carolina bays scat- state funding when looking at reducing tered across the coastal plain. Photo by Kirk ross Performers from Mariachi Amanecer Tapatio ham it up during last Satuday’s combination fiesta and Burmese water festival county funding for the schools. Carolina bays are curious ellipti- at Abbey Court. Musicians and dancers entertained residents from the Latino and Karen community who gathered to “I think that education ... is basically cal-shaped configurations, all with celebrate their cultural heritages at the all-day event, which was sponsored by the Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill and the economic engine in this county, a northwest to southeast orienta- Carrboro. whether it is the university or the pub- tion. These distinctively shaped lic schools,” he said. “Your financing of landscapes are easily identified on public schools truly is an investment, not only in the children but also in the satellite photos. Most of them are early-vote totals low as election day nears economy of Orange County.” densely vegetated evergreen shrub Board chair Valerie Foushee said the By KirK ross only two early-voting sites. At the top of the ticket are Re- bogs or bay forests. a few, such board would do the best they could, but Election officials, expecting a low publican and Democratic primaries as Singletary Lake and Jones Lake, Staff Writer she wasn’t optimistic. turnout, opted not to staff voting cen- for the U.S. Senate seat currently oc- “To hear what you’re facing, know- are still open water, bordered by Early-vote totals finally cracked ters at Carrboro Town Hall and the cupied by Republican Richard Burr. ing what we’re facing, makes this a very swamp or bay forests. horseshoe the 1,000 mark this week, as election Seymour Center, which they did two Burr faces Eddie Burks, Brad Jones gloomy day,” Foushee told the school Lake’s distinguishing horseshoe officials ready precincts for Tuesday’s years ago when an historic presidential and Larry Linney in the primary, boards. “Last year and the year before primary and school board elections. race with a hotly contested primary while Cal Cunningham, Susan shape results from vegetation last, we talked about doing more with The Orange County Board of and an energized electorate drove up Harris, Ken Lewis, Elaine Marshall, slowly filling into the lake center less ... and we know we can no longer Elections reported that as of Tues- early-voting totals. Then, more than Ann Worthy and Marcus Williams from the northwestern end. expect you to do more with less.” day, 562 voters had cast their bal- 9,000 voters cast their ballots early in vie for the Democratic nomination. SEE FLORA PaGE 10 lots at the board of elections office the primary and more than 35,000 SEE SCHOOLS PaGE 7 in Hillsborough and 570 had done voted early in the general election in so at Morehead Planetarium – the November. SEE ELECTION PaGE 7 inside crowd walks out of Tancredo speech election letters By susan dicKson testors got out of hand. During last year’s United stood up and said, “No hu- institute of higher education,” add- Staff Writer speech, protesters chanted loudly and at- man is illegal” before walking out of ing that he had never seen a group of See page 6 tempted to block Tancredo with a ban- the event about 10 minutes into Tan- conservatives walk out on or protest a Former Republican congressman ner, a window was broken and police credo’s speech. The auditorium was speech by a liberal. index Tom Tancredo’s return to the UNC used pepper spray to break up the crowd mostly empty after the protesters left, Kevin DeAnna, founder of the campus on Monday was notably calmer before arresting several protesters. with about 100 people remaining in Youth for Western Civilization, the Movies .................................................................................... 2 than his previous visit, though he was not Tancredo, a former presidential can- the audience. Outside the UNC Stu- student group that brought Tan- News ................................................................................................ 3 heard without objection, as at least 100 didate, recently sparked controversy for dent Union, the students who left held credo to campus, laughed loudly as Community .........................................................................................4 protesters walked out about 10 minutes suggesting that President Barack Obama a protest in the Pit. the group left the room. DeAnna Community .........................................................................................5 into his speech. “go back to Kenya” and is known for his “Believe me, this is a lot better than blogged on the group’s website fol- Opinion .........................................................................................6 Tancredo’s speech came just over a strong stance against illegal immigration. last time I was here,” Tancredo said as lowing the event, proclaiming “Vic- Schools .........................................................................................8 year after his previous visit, during which This year, a group of students or- the protesters left.