Holiday, decorative items on ground should be removed from Hillsborough cemetery

The Town of Hillsborough asks residents to remove all holiday decorations, including poinsettias, by Feb. 10 from gravesites in the Town Cemetery.
Items left beyond this time will be removed.
Other decorative items placed on the ground should be removed by March 1 due to grounds maintenance between March 1 and Nov. 1. These items include artificial flowers, plastic flower vases and wreaths.
Residents are permitted to place small flags in the ground around gravesites during the weeks of Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Highway markers tell North Carolina's Civil Rights story

The Civil Rights movement for African Americans in the 1960s called for an end to discrimination in voting, education, accommodations, housing and in other areas. In North Carolina and the nation, blacks turned to public persuasion and to civil disobedience to bring change to their lives and to change the world.
North Carolina was a proving ground for the Civil Rights movement and leaders.
In fact, the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr. in the "I Have a Dream" speech are known the world over. However, few people know that he used a phrase about a dream in Rocky Mount in November 1962, long before the August 1963 delivery of the speech in the March on Washington. Near the conclusion of the November 1962 speech in Rocky Mount were the lines:
"I have a dream that one day right here in Rocky Mount, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will meet at the table of brotherhood, knowing that one God brought man to the face of the Earth. I have a dream tonight that one day my little daughter and my two sons will grow up in a world not conscious of the color of their skin, but only conscious of the fact that they are members of the human race. . . ."
A North Carolina highway historical marker dedicated in 2007 in Rocky Mount commemorates the King speech given there. It is one of nearly 1,600 of the familiar black and silver markers that dot the roadside to recognize people, places and events in an impressive body of markers statewide that share Tar Heel history on a stick.
Other events from North Carolina's Civil Rights story told in the 106 markers about African American history include the well-known Greensboro sit-ins that came to prominence after four students at the current N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University refused to leave a Woolworth's lunch counter until being served in 1960. The sit-in movement spread across the South
Soon afterwards, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed at Shaw University on Easter weekend 1960. About 150 students from 10 states met to plan nonviolent resistance to segregation. The students were the shock troops of the movement and were especially active in summer protests in Mississippi. Several national leaders, including John Lewis and Stokeley Carmichael, rose from its ranks.
The "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement," Ella Baker, organized a meeting that gave birth to SNCC. A highway marker dedicated to her will be erected this spring. She got funding for the conference from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which she was a founding member and also an ally of Martin Luther King.
Even before the 1960s, nearly 10,000 workers, mostly African American women, joined a union seeking better working conditions in tobacco warehouses, also known as leaf houses, where cured tobacco was processed for sale to cigarette makers. The 1946 organizing campaign, known as Operation Dixie, eventually included 30 warehouses in North Carolina and Virginia. The first vote was won in Rocky Mount, and 22 of 24 elections in North Carolina were to join the union.
In a 1947 test to the Supreme Court ruling barring racial discrimination in interstate transportation, black and white citizens known as freedom riders left Washington, D.C., on buses. Along the way of the Journey of Reconciliation, they were challenged. In Chapel Hill, four of the riders were arrested after meeting with students from area colleges, and incidents continued for weeks.
In June 1957, a sit-in at the segregated Royal Ice Cream parlor in Durham was one of several that preceded the better known1960 Greensboro sit-in. The significant impact of the Durham sit-in was that a court case resulted that tested if segregated facilities were legal. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that segregated facilities were legal.
In 1977, Pauli Murray became the first African American female Episcopal priest in the United States. She had long been an activist for African American and women's rights. A lawyer, writer and activist, she also helped to found the National Organization for Women.
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources and the N.C. Department of Transportation have joint responsibility for the marker program. The N.C. Highway Historical Marker Program is one of the oldest such programs in continuous operation in the United States. More information on the application process, and a searchable list by name or category, are available at N.C. Markers.

For additional information, call (919) 807-7389. The Highway Marker Program is within the Office of Archives and History in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

N.C. MLK Jr. Commission calls for Friday bell ringing tribute to Dr. King

Members of the N.C. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission will initiate a statewide bell ringing tribute at 11:55 a.m. Friday on the Bicentennial Plaza near the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh. The event will precede the annual State Employees’ Dr. Martin Luther King Observance Program, which will get underway at noon at First Baptist Church, 99 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.
“Ringing of a replica Liberty Bell proclaims the fundamental importance of freedom in our own lives, in our state, our nation and our world,” said Dr. Dumas A. Harshaw Jr., commission chair. “We will use this occasion to ring out to call attention to the insensitivity, injustice and inequality that curtail freedom and happiness throughout society.”
The commission encourages all residents, churches and organizations to participate in MLK holiday observances by ringing bells at noon Friday in their own communities. The goal is to create a simultaneous bell-ringing tribute throughout the state in memory of the civil rights leader and to affirm that North Carolinians continue to cherish the value of freedom, democracy, diversity and equal opportunity.
“Though our actions are symbolic, they have tremendous potential,” said John Campbell, commission executive director. “Energized by the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the bell ringing is a statement of personal conviction and community involvement. It provides a moment for both reflection and resolve.”
Friday’s bell-ringing event is one of many observances planned by organizations across North Carolina. Gov. Bev Perdue, who will issue a 2012 MLK Day proclamation, is scheduled to speak at the annual State Employees’ Dr. Martin Luther King Observance Program. Additionally, the 32nd Annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast will be held at 7 a.m. Jan. 16 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham. For additional activities, visit the Human Relations Commission website.
The commission, which promotes among the people of North Carolina an awareness and appreciation of the life and work of Dr. King, was established by the General Assembly in 1993 and is part of the N.C. Human Relations Commission of the N.C. Department of Administration. For information, contact the N.C. Human Relations Commission at (919) 807-4420 or visit the website.

MLK holiday schedule for Orange County

Orange County government offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 16, in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Orange Public Transportation will operate the dialysis route from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Other Orange Public Transportation Services will observe the holiday.
Little River Regional Park will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16.
As always, emergency services are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Schedule for Orange County Solid Waste Management
There will be no change in curbside recycling on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. If your recycling day falls on Monday, Jan. 16, have your bins to the curb as usual by 7 a.m. or bring them out the night before to ensure collection.
The Orange County Landfill on Eubanks Road will be closed Monday, Jan. 16. All associated services such as the hazardous household waste collection facility and mulch sales will also be closed. Normal hours of operation will resume Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Orange County Solid Waste convenience centers will be closed Monday, Jan. 16. Normal hours of operation will resume Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The Solid Waste Management Department administrative office will be closed Monday, Jan. 16. Normal hours of operation will resume Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Hillsborough's holiday garbage/office schedule

Town of Hillsborough offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 16, to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Residential garbage normally scheduled for collection on Monday will be collected the following day, Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Residents should place rollout carts at the curb between 7 p.m. the day before and 6 a.m. the day of collection.
The 2012 Residential Curbside Collections Calendar was mailed to Hillsborough residents in the fall. The schedule also is available on the home page and Public Works Department page of the town website.

Column: Missing someone special at holiday time

By: D.G. Martin
UNC-TV host

Harder, isn’t it, when the loss of a best friend or a loved one comes at holiday time?
Maybe we already had a present picked out. And we are left wondering what gift for us might have been in the plans of our lost one.
Harder still, isn’t it, when an accident or health crisis suddenly shatters the expectations of a long, happy, comfortable, supportive association.
Gone. No time of reunion, no laughing with and at each other, no exchange of secret hopes and worries. Just an empty chair at the table, an unused bed in the guest room and an unopened bottle of a shared favorite beverage.
Thirty years ago, Robert Whitton first gave me the unwelcome news that old age was chasing me down. He and I were teaching at UNC-Charlotte, riding together from our nearby homes in the morning and then to downtown Charlotte to our regular jobs when our classes were over. That day, after my last business law class, I walked to his math classroom to meet him for the ride downtown. He was not there. “We’re taking a test. He will be back in a few minutes,” one of his students told me.
Later, when we were in the car, Whitton asked, “Do you know what that student told me?” Then, without waiting, smiling devilishly, “She said that some ‘gray-headed’ man had come by the classroom looking for me.”
Until then, I had not noticed my fast-developing grayness. Whitton enjoyed reminding me of my early decline into old age. Back and forth to the university, such freewheeling conversations about aging, students, politics, people and ourselves built the foundations of a trusting friendship.
He was a skeptic, but an optimistic one. If I outlined a political program or theory, he would poke holes in it, asking question after question to show why it would not work. I learned not to take offense at his probing. He was a mathematician. It was his obligation to challenge every theory. It was a compliment to a theory if it was worth his time to challenge it.
We watched and enjoyed each other’s families. He shared his famous family breakfasts and homemade biscuits with friends and students. I followed his passion to solve problems into classes on small engine repair and framing houses. I watched him set up a sawmill to turn downed neighborhood trees into useful lumber. I listened to his provocative ideas about how we could make the world better.
Twenty-some years ago, we both left our Charlotte neighborhood. Fortunately for me, he moved to Davidson, my hometown. He and his wife Amy gave me a home base for my frequent visits.
So our friendship continued. But teaching math at Davidson and teaching students to love math was his calling and became, after his wife and family, his first love.
His students and his colleagues loved him back. Last month, we found out how much. When he died after a car stuck him while crossing a street, the campus community packed the large college church and its adjoining chapel. As the beginning of the service, I noticed a young man in a football jersey standing in the aisle. Then, I saw that both aisles were full of the Davidson football team in uniform. They had come to pay tribute to the skeptical optimist who made math’s problem-solving fun.
His friend, Cole Barton, quoting and adding to songwriter Guy Clark, said this: “I’ve seen the David, I’ve seen the Mona Lisa too—and I have heard Doc Watson play Columbus Stockade Blues—and I got to see Robert Whitton teach mathematics, too.”
Even in sadness, I am glad he taught me, too.
And so many others.

Note: A video of Robert Whitton’s memorial service and other information about him is available at http://www3.davidson.edu/cms/x44518.xml

D.G. Martin hosts UNC-TV’s "North Carolina Bookwatch," which airs Fridays at 9:30 p.m and Sundays at 5 p.m. For more information or to view prior programs, visit the webpage at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro holiday parade this Saturday

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro holiday parade will be held Saturday, Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. until around noon. Presented by the Chapel Hill Jaycees and the Town of Chapel Hill, the parade this year promises to be a celebration of our community spirit.
More than 60 entries ranging from commercial floats sponsored by local businesses to local church and community organizations. Many of your local favorites will be back this year, with some new and exciting entries as well. We will also have crowd favorite, Santa Claus riding his sleigh.
The parade will start on W. Franklin Street at the intersection of W. Franklin and Henderson streets and make its way down Franklin Street into Carrboro, ending at the Carrboro Town Hall.
The towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro will provide assistance with securing the route for the parade, traffic diversion and the parade line up in the morning. The Town of Chapel Hill Parks & Recreation will also be proving audio-visual support for the television production produced by the People’s Channel. Parents and children from the Parks & Recreation athletic programs will be riding a float sponsored by the Town of Chapel Hill Parks & Recreation Department.
For more information visit www.chapelhilljaycees.org.

ho ho ho

A bit of Christmas cheer, just a couple of days early:



That's our Northern Orange Xtra cover picture, and that little girl — Kaylee Faison — was just so cute, I had to share. She's talking to Santa at the Hillsborough Police Department on Churton Street on Thursday, Dec. 17.