It's that time again. I just received notice of one of the first Relay for Life events for Hillsborough/Orange County. The Kick Off meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 W. Tryon St. From the kind folks coordinating the events:
"Starting Feb. 4, Chestnut Ridge United Methodist Church is taking pre-orders for Brunswick Stew ($6 per quart). Delivery will be Saturday, Feb. 28. (Time to be announced.) To place an order, contact Peggy Cates at 919-732-8739 or peggy.cates@duke.edu."
Last year's event raised more than $172,000.
See what ended up on The News of Orange County's cutting room floor.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Down to two
The joint town/county rail station task force, which has been given the task of recommending a passenger train stop location in northern Orange County to elected officials next month, has made a decision.
Last night the task force whittled down seven original site choices to two, and one of them — the Collins property — will be recommended as the site to develop.
But, of course, there's a caveat. Both residents who attended an open house earlier this month and several task force members have said that they would prefer to find a way to build on the old depot site, where Nash and Eno streets meet. But that site is likely too costly to acceptably handle a modern station, they said.
However, not knowing the costs of fixing roads, grading land and other engineering specifics, task force members said they can't be sure that the depot site would be any more expensive than fixing the Collins site, which the Town of Hillsborough purchased last year but still has no direct road access.
Look for more in next week's News of Orange.
Last night the task force whittled down seven original site choices to two, and one of them — the Collins property — will be recommended as the site to develop.
But, of course, there's a caveat. Both residents who attended an open house earlier this month and several task force members have said that they would prefer to find a way to build on the old depot site, where Nash and Eno streets meet. But that site is likely too costly to acceptably handle a modern station, they said.
However, not knowing the costs of fixing roads, grading land and other engineering specifics, task force members said they can't be sure that the depot site would be any more expensive than fixing the Collins site, which the Town of Hillsborough purchased last year but still has no direct road access.
Look for more in next week's News of Orange.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Long into the night; town budget notes
The festivities at the Central Orange Senior Center will be ongoing tonight until at least 7:30 or 8 p.m. This afternoon will include a reception with hors d'oeuvres, and this evening there will be an art installation at 6, a performance by Mebanesville at 6:30 and a performance by Footnotes Tap Ensemble at 7:15. Just in case anybody wanted some early evening plans.
Also, the Town of Hillsborough is considering cutting costs in several different areas in preparation for what is widely recognized as a lean upcoming budget year. Some of their ideas from last weekend's budget retreat, sent in a release from the town, are below:
The town is aiming for no tax rate increase in the FY2010 budget. However, the Town Board seemed to agree that if there had to be a tax increase, a realistic goal would be to keep it below the inflation rate.
Working toward the goal of no tax increase, town division heads and key staff presented operational redesign and cost-containment ideas to the Town Board on Saturday, Jan. 24. The town’s departments have been generating ideas on how to contain costs since August. Ideas that the Town Board found worth pursuing include:
• Reorganizing the Police Department structure — Under the proposal, positions would be transferred from the community policing division to the patrol division. The change from a two-squad to a four-squad patrol structure would help contain overtime costs while also increasing officer safety and police presence as more backup police officers would be available. The restructuring also would help expand the community policing philosophy throughout the department, increasing officer engagement with the community.
• Delaying the eligibility for longevity pay for town employees — The Town Board discussed delaying eligibility for the bonus pay to three to five years of service for the town. The bonus is given annually during the week of Thanksgiving and increases with the number of years an employee has worked for the town.
• Delaying the eligibility for retirement insurance benefits for town employees — The town currently provides medical coverage at age 55 for regular employees and at age 52 for sworn law enforcement employees who retire from the town with 20 years of continuous service. Under the proposal, the time required for new employees to become eligible for retiree health benefits would be increased to 30 years of service. The eligible age for benefits also would be increased to age 60 for regular employees and age 57 for sworn law enforcement.
• Having the Orange Rural Fire Department help with fire inspections.
• Starting a fire code self-inspection program for those facilities found non-compliant during an initial inspection by the fire marshal — The fire marshal currently re-inspects non-compliant buildings up to two additional times.
The Town Board also found the idea of adding a purchasing officer to the town as worth pursuing with additional investigation. Currently, each town department is responsible for purchasing needs with little, if any, coordination between departments.
The board also directed the town to explore options for selling water temporarily.
Also, the Town of Hillsborough is considering cutting costs in several different areas in preparation for what is widely recognized as a lean upcoming budget year. Some of their ideas from last weekend's budget retreat, sent in a release from the town, are below:
The town is aiming for no tax rate increase in the FY2010 budget. However, the Town Board seemed to agree that if there had to be a tax increase, a realistic goal would be to keep it below the inflation rate.
Working toward the goal of no tax increase, town division heads and key staff presented operational redesign and cost-containment ideas to the Town Board on Saturday, Jan. 24. The town’s departments have been generating ideas on how to contain costs since August. Ideas that the Town Board found worth pursuing include:
• Reorganizing the Police Department structure — Under the proposal, positions would be transferred from the community policing division to the patrol division. The change from a two-squad to a four-squad patrol structure would help contain overtime costs while also increasing officer safety and police presence as more backup police officers would be available. The restructuring also would help expand the community policing philosophy throughout the department, increasing officer engagement with the community.
• Delaying the eligibility for longevity pay for town employees — The Town Board discussed delaying eligibility for the bonus pay to three to five years of service for the town. The bonus is given annually during the week of Thanksgiving and increases with the number of years an employee has worked for the town.
• Delaying the eligibility for retirement insurance benefits for town employees — The town currently provides medical coverage at age 55 for regular employees and at age 52 for sworn law enforcement employees who retire from the town with 20 years of continuous service. Under the proposal, the time required for new employees to become eligible for retiree health benefits would be increased to 30 years of service. The eligible age for benefits also would be increased to age 60 for regular employees and age 57 for sworn law enforcement.
• Having the Orange Rural Fire Department help with fire inspections.
• Starting a fire code self-inspection program for those facilities found non-compliant during an initial inspection by the fire marshal — The fire marshal currently re-inspects non-compliant buildings up to two additional times.
The Town Board also found the idea of adding a purchasing officer to the town as worth pursuing with additional investigation. Currently, each town department is responsible for purchasing needs with little, if any, coordination between departments.
The board also directed the town to explore options for selling water temporarily.
next week's edition
So, I've got a few things cooking for next week.
Yesterday, I went to this great presentation from Jan Tu, with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, at the Orange County Library about dinosaurs and prehistoric life. There were lots of cute kids there, and Jan even brought out some live animals. It definitely was a blast — and the kids seemed to like it too.
I got up with county Tax Assessor John Smith to talk about property revaluation. He said that despite perception, he's had about the same number of appeals as he did four years ago, when the last revaluation occurred.
From last week's Board of Ed meeting, Orange County Schools have a lot of great technology in them. I'm hoping to get up with Angie Veitch to talk about it all.
Finally, there's another Board of Ed meeting this Monday. Normally, they're every two weeks, but the Jan. 20 meeting (moved to Tuesday because of MLK Day), got canceled because of the snow.
If any of you have any ideas for county-related stories or profiles, shoot me an e-mail at v dot shortley at newsoforange dot com or post a comment here.
Yesterday, I went to this great presentation from Jan Tu, with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, at the Orange County Library about dinosaurs and prehistoric life. There were lots of cute kids there, and Jan even brought out some live animals. It definitely was a blast — and the kids seemed to like it too.
I got up with county Tax Assessor John Smith to talk about property revaluation. He said that despite perception, he's had about the same number of appeals as he did four years ago, when the last revaluation occurred.
From last week's Board of Ed meeting, Orange County Schools have a lot of great technology in them. I'm hoping to get up with Angie Veitch to talk about it all.
Finally, there's another Board of Ed meeting this Monday. Normally, they're every two weeks, but the Jan. 20 meeting (moved to Tuesday because of MLK Day), got canceled because of the snow.
If any of you have any ideas for county-related stories or profiles, shoot me an e-mail at v dot shortley at newsoforange dot com or post a comment here.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
This week
We're very early in the planning stages for next week's paper, but here are some things I am working on. We'd love to hear your ideas about possible alternative angles to our approaches.
On the docket:
— Another rail station search update. A funny thing happened in the last two weeks: Our poll question regarding the rail station drew far more than the average number of responses, which said to us that people are interested in how this plays out. On the flip side, the most popular response was, "We don't need a train station."
Anyways, the town/county task force is due to present their suggestions to officials next month, so we'll continue follow the planning stages as the search committee meets.
— Central Orange Senior Center grand opening. The Center opens tomorrow, and festivities include the standard ribbon-cutting and speakers, as well as performances and demonstrations throughout the day and into the evening. We'll get some pictures from the official kick-off of the spotless new center (complete with a Wii; place your bets now on what public officials use it tomorrow).
— Neighbor House looking for a home. I'm going to be speaking with representatives from Neighbor House of Hillsborough as well as local officials about how the organization can find a more permanent base for its operations.
— Farmers' market follow-up. One year ago this week, commissioners awarded use of Hillsborough's Public Market House to a third market group, initially supervised by a county-appointed employee. The building has been leased to the same group, which is now a private entity.
More to come as things inevitably change.
On the docket:
— Another rail station search update. A funny thing happened in the last two weeks: Our poll question regarding the rail station drew far more than the average number of responses, which said to us that people are interested in how this plays out. On the flip side, the most popular response was, "We don't need a train station."
Anyways, the town/county task force is due to present their suggestions to officials next month, so we'll continue follow the planning stages as the search committee meets.
— Central Orange Senior Center grand opening. The Center opens tomorrow, and festivities include the standard ribbon-cutting and speakers, as well as performances and demonstrations throughout the day and into the evening. We'll get some pictures from the official kick-off of the spotless new center (complete with a Wii; place your bets now on what public officials use it tomorrow).
— Neighbor House looking for a home. I'm going to be speaking with representatives from Neighbor House of Hillsborough as well as local officials about how the organization can find a more permanent base for its operations.
— Farmers' market follow-up. One year ago this week, commissioners awarded use of Hillsborough's Public Market House to a third market group, initially supervised by a county-appointed employee. The building has been leased to the same group, which is now a private entity.
More to come as things inevitably change.
OHS talent show results
Because of a minor traffic accident, I was unfortunately unable to attend Orange High's PTSO-sponsored talent show yesterday. But I do have the results. Here they are:
The winners were Jordan Snead and Marta Baird performing to "Therapy" in first place; second place went to a band playing "Bar Song"; and third place was Sarah Tkach clogging to "Thunderstruck.”
If anyone went and took pictures, please e-mail them to me at v.shortley at newsoforange dot com.
The winners were Jordan Snead and Marta Baird performing to "Therapy" in first place; second place went to a band playing "Bar Song"; and third place was Sarah Tkach clogging to "Thunderstruck.”
If anyone went and took pictures, please e-mail them to me at v.shortley at newsoforange dot com.
Event that didn't make the paper — tree-pruning demonstration
This weekend event listing came to us when our noses were buried in production:
Fruit Tree Pruning Demonstration
A fruit tree pruning demonstration sponsored by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 31, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Orchard Creek Farm, 4812 Timberwood Trail in Efland will host the
session. Dr. Carl Matyac and Dr. Mike Parker will lead the workshop
with pruning demonstrations on Apple trees. Attendees will also learn
techniques to control disease and insects. There will be plenty of time
for questions and answers.
To register or for additional information contact the North Carolina
Cooperative Extension - Orange County Center at 245-2050.
Fruit Tree Pruning Demonstration
A fruit tree pruning demonstration sponsored by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 31, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Orchard Creek Farm, 4812 Timberwood Trail in Efland will host the
session. Dr. Carl Matyac and Dr. Mike Parker will lead the workshop
with pruning demonstrations on Apple trees. Attendees will also learn
techniques to control disease and insects. There will be plenty of time
for questions and answers.
To register or for additional information contact the North Carolina
Cooperative Extension - Orange County Center at 245-2050.
We fixed some things ...
We were wondering why nobody was commenting on anything on here so far, and had assumed that we were just uninteresting. Apparently, some readers let us know that the verification screen (where you type the strange letter combinations) had nowhere to type. That would definitely cause some problems. Anyways, comment away — we've removed any sort of internal verification, so I'll approve comments as I get them.
Also, I posted the PDF of the front page on my way out the door last night. This morning, I realized it was posted to a defunct folder on our FTP site as opposed to the active one; let's call that problem number one.
Problem number two: I got a call from the South Hill Enterprise (Va.), where we print our papers, about 1 1/2 hours after I had left, telling me that an ad page was "freaking out" going through their system. The night before, with the Northern Orange Xtra, we had the same problem, which was solved by saving the page as a separate file type and sending it back to them. This time, the new file type was causing the same problems, so I did all that I knew to do, which was update the same file type. And, presto! It worked. So, problem solved for this week.
Third, this will largely be unnoticeable, but it should be mentioned that I moved the banner and content down about 3/4 of an inch on the front to accommodate a "See our Design an Ad special section inside." However, as you'll notice, no text. So, let's try it here instead — check out the Design an Ad section — cute drawings by local kids about favorite local businesses.
Other than that, just a typical Tuesday. Here's hoping for a less complicated week this time around. We'll get to this week's stories this afternoon.
Also, I posted the PDF of the front page on my way out the door last night. This morning, I realized it was posted to a defunct folder on our FTP site as opposed to the active one; let's call that problem number one.
Problem number two: I got a call from the South Hill Enterprise (Va.), where we print our papers, about 1 1/2 hours after I had left, telling me that an ad page was "freaking out" going through their system. The night before, with the Northern Orange Xtra, we had the same problem, which was solved by saving the page as a separate file type and sending it back to them. This time, the new file type was causing the same problems, so I did all that I knew to do, which was update the same file type. And, presto! It worked. So, problem solved for this week.
Third, this will largely be unnoticeable, but it should be mentioned that I moved the banner and content down about 3/4 of an inch on the front to accommodate a "See our Design an Ad special section inside." However, as you'll notice, no text. So, let's try it here instead — check out the Design an Ad section — cute drawings by local kids about favorite local businesses.
Other than that, just a typical Tuesday. Here's hoping for a less complicated week this time around. We'll get to this week's stories this afternoon.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
upcoming attractions
Well, here's some of what's coming up in tomorrow's paper edition:
- Waste Transfer Station: Orange County Commissioners asked county staff for short- and long-term alternatives because of the delays hitting the project. (page 1)
- Robotics Club: An inter-school club based at Orange High School brings all kinds of students together and increases interest in math and science. (page 1)
- ICE: The Orange County Sheriff explains the county's role in a federal immigration program; some in the county oppose the measure. (page 1)
- Colonial Inn: Planning staff hear more about the state of the Colonial Inn. They may soon set up a repair schedule. (page 1)
- Board of Education: OCS Board of Ed members hear about updates to three policies: graduation requirements, assault/harassment/bullying and notification of infant abandonment. (page 1)
- "Eco" classroom: Supporters of C.W. Stanford's outdoor classroom spoke to Board of Ed members Monday. (page 6)
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