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Tim Keim: Attack of the Squash Bugs
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As the world's moribund systems of banking, energy, agriculture and "free market" (what a joke) economy continue to show signs of decay bordering on collapse, I've begun to think more and more about local food security. I've even wondered about my own food growing skills. Hitch our rickety, dystopic house of cards to a still-surging population, its need for food and the dwindling water supply to grow said food, and precarious is not even close to describing the kind of future that's right around the corner.
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Robert Seymour: New direction stirs patriotism
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7.2.2009 : 6:22 pm
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Tomorrow, American flags will be visible everywhere in our nation and wherever citizens of our country are located around the world. Many homes will display flags out front, and Main Streets will be festively decorated with flags waving from every street pole. Some communities will feature Fourth of July parades with children riding their bikes and waving flags as they pass.
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Stanley Peele: Often disliked, plea bargains can mete out justice
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7.2.2009 : 6:06 pm
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On Oct. 10, 2006, in Durham, Jonathan Anderson shot and killed Christopher Chambers. Anderson, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was charged with murder in the first degree and armed robbery.
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Gary Gaddy: The news in (very) brief
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7.1.2009 : 6:40 pm
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This week's local, state, national and international news pre-digested for your consumptive pleasure.
Carrboro to star in network TV series
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Laurie Paolicelli: Those strangers are tourists
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6.30.2009 : 5:04 pm
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Those of us who have chosen to stay home through the sunny summer months can see how our town changes once June rolls around: it's smaller.
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Brad Broadwell: Carolina North will spawn jobs
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6.30.2009 : 5:04 pm
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Now that we have crossed the Rubicon on planning for Carolina North no doubt there are many who wonder what now? And how will this development affect them?
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Vicki Wentz: Thou shalt not do cocktails
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6.28.2009 : 5:55 pm
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I'm a fairly nice person. A good person. I mean, pretty good. A person who's mostly nice to other people. Well, most people ... OK, I'm not a serial killer, all right? Get off my back!
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Kenneth C. Mills: Senior fear and outrage about aggressive drivers
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6.28.2009 : 5:55 pm
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Imagine 20 senior citizens sticking around for two hours and becoming intensely involved in a seminar about driving. It happens, but you may be surprised by what ignites their concern.
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Susan Gladin: No fear in darkness
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6.27.2009 : 6:18 pm
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My father was a photographer and, as such, spent a lot of time in darkness. He worked in two rooms that once had been an apartment in the upstairs of our large home. When my father took over the space, the kitchen became his darkroom.
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Gary Gaddy: A mediated political pop quiz
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6.24.2009 : 6:08 pm
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Test your political IQ to learn what you may not have learned from the massive mass media.
1) In the first apparent action by the Obama administration that might lead to overt hostilities where none existed before, a U.S. Navy Aegis guided-missile destroyer shadowed the Kang Nam, a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear material, as it headed down the Chinese coast, perhaps on its way to Myanmar. The name of the ship is (hint: it is the same ship whose sonar array collided with a Chinese submarine on June 11, 2009): a) The USS Theodore Roosevelt. b) The USS Ronald Reagan. c) The USS Harry S Truman. d) The USS John S. McCain. Answer, ironically, is: d), the ship named after admirals John S. McCain Jr. and John S. McCain Sr., father and grandfather of current U.S. Sen. John S. McCain.
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Vicki Wentz: A dress code for daddy
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6.21.2009 : 7:05 pm
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Since I was old enough to toddle, my dad has been my hero. Tall, strong, good-looking enough for my teenage girlfriends to have crushes on. Not that he's perfect. For a long time, he embarrassed us kids on a regular basis:
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Brian Bock: Our schools are struggling
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6.20.2009 : 7:24 pm
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For as long as I can remember politicians have talked about and campaigned on improving education. More recently they've added "sustainable communities" as a high priority. They claim to have education and sustainability as their top priorities as if the two are not related. Yet after decades of increased spending there are few signs of improved student academic achievement in our public schools.
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P.H. Craig: Orange tax assessor should go
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6.20.2009 : 7:24 pm
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To date, there have been more than 5,000 tax appeals in Orange County. The number will grow some more; the deadline for appealing to the Board of Adjustment is June 23 (Tuesday).
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Tim Keim: The Gems of Chatham County
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6.19.2009 : 4:15 pm
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Occasionally this column features what I like to call the Gems of Chatham County, according to me. It's one of the perks of the job. The Gems are those people, places and things that make Chatham one of the most interesting places in North Carolina.
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Stanley Peele: Forest footpaths stir the senses
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6.18.2009 : 5:46 pm
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One of the good things about the Southern Part of Heaven is the large number of walking trails that we have. Chatham County has miles and miles of trails around Jordan Lake, along the Haw River and many other places. Orange County has trails in the Botanical Garden, Duke Forest and along the Eno River, just to name a few. Carrboro and Chapel Hill have trails along Bolin Creek. Hillsborough has paved trails along River Walk, and Chapel Hill has paved trails along Bolin and Booker Creeks. People in wheelchairs can enjoy rolling along these paths.
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Gary Gaddy: I write the songs; really, I do
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6.17.2009 : 6:20 pm
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On more than one occasion, one of my putative readers (who would really admit to such a thing?) has said to me, and I paraphrase, "I like your column because it sounds just like you talking."
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Barbara Howe: Dems' state budget was political bait and switch
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6.16.2009 : 5:06 pm
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Democrats in the General Assembly are engaging in the typical political version of "bait and switch" in dealing with the state's self-imposed budget crisis. First, they propose supposedly dramatic cuts in programs that are important to powerful special interest groups, then when there is an outcry from these lobbyists, they propose new taxes.
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Brad Broadwell: Orange Co. needs a yes brand
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6.16.2009 : 4:29 pm
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Interesting character, Chinggis Khan. The perception of Chinggis is quite a bit different from the reality of him. What's your perception? Barbarian, warlord, pure evil? That's what the masses think.
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Vicki Wentz: It's a girl!
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6.14.2009 : 6:14 pm
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Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday. I remember her birthday last year, when I'd actually waited until after breakfast to call her, and she'd demanded to know if, really, I'd forgotten. Blocked out, maybe. But forget? Please.
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Bob Weickert: St. Thomas More reducing waste as environmental stewards
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6.13.2009 : 6:32 pm
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CHAPEL HILL -- The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More has members who are passionate about their human role in loving God's creation and in protecting a healthy environment for all creation. They participate with other environmental groups in their practical efforts to conserve the environment, in part by reducing, reusing, recycling. They add to these efforts another dimension, that of seeing creation as God's handiwork, which is our responsibility to nurture and use wisely.
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Thomas Offutt: N.C. State's Mary Easley mess
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6.12.2009 : 10:22 pm
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Let me see if I have this straight -- N.C. State University hired former first lady Mary Easley to fulfill certain teaching and other program responsibilities. Bright, capable and well-connected, she is offered a financial contract well above the salary level of the most tenured professor.
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Susan Gladin: Taking the trash out -- of our lives
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6.12.2009 : 10:22 pm
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A few weeks ago I bought lunches for Peter and me to eat when he stopped by my office. Each sandwich came with a side, and I bought an iced tea.
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George Lucier: Taking action against sludge
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6.12.2009 : 5:52 pm
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As the chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, I am writing to highlight that, over the past 18 months, our board has been directly addressing environmental concerns about the land application of sludge, an issue addressed in your June 6 edition by Tim Keim, a guest columnist ("Sludge dumping is running amok").
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Pat Lewis: We wish you well
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6.12.2009 : 5:52 pm
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As you are enjoying your coffee this morning, more than 1,000 young people are facing the next chapter of their lives. Today is graduation day for our high school seniors. From morning to late afternoon the Dean Dome will play host to three separate graduation ceremonies and at least 10 valedictorian speeches -- a sure sign of the competitive nature of our school system.
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Brian Bock: What's trickling down these days is poverty
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6.10.2009 : 6:53 pm
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There has been much debate about the effectiveness of trickle down economics and its role in one of the longest economic expansions in American history. The Obama administration comes down against the theory claiming that it just isn't fair. He has replaced it with his own economic theory. "Trickle down poverty (TDP)". Various forms of TDP have been tried throughout the ages and in every case it has failed.
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Gary Gaddy: Now introducing ... the Albatross
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6.10.2009 : 6:53 pm
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Congress today ordered General Motors to begin producing "as quickly as feasible" a brand new model for its Cadillac line of passenger vehicles, the Albatross. The large, powerful, yet green, Albatross will be the first American-made automobile to come supplied with a driver and a full contingent of passengers.
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Vicki Wentz: It's so hard to say goodbye
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6.7.2009 : 10:10 pm
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Today I need to say a goodbye. I don't want to ... about 175 of us don't want to say goodbye to this man ... nevertheless, say goodbye we must. Because those strands of colorful ribbon that we each weave together into a life can, at any moment, be savagely karate-chopped by Fate, the way someone flails away at an unexpected spiderweb on a path through the woods. And there isn't a damn thing we can do about it, any more than the spider can. Sounds bitter, doesn't it? And it is ... I mean, I am. The amazing thing, though, is that he isn't. At least, not so you'd know.
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Rick Kennedy: A community responsibility
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6.6.2009 : 9:09 pm
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With all that money in Chapel Hill, you would think the town could afford some manners for its mayor.
Yet here we are, considering a waste transfer station site proposed by Mayor Foy, an action all his own, conceived without consulting the Town Council, County Commissioners or citizens. Fortuitously for him, the site is owned by Chapel Hill, outside town limits. Not even one of his constituents would be affected by his proposal.
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Kleim: Sludge dumping is running amok
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6.5.2009 : 5:31 pm
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It was last August that I first took up the issue of sludge dumping in Chatham, surrounding counties and, yea, the nation. I knew then that the subject and the damage done to our rivers and lands would not go away or be properly addressed by county, state or federal authorities.
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Seymour: Universal health care far from certain
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6.5.2009 : 5:31 pm
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For literally decades Congress has failed in its will and ability to pass legislation to put health care within the reach of all Americans. The last serious attempt was at the beginning of the Clinton administration, but it was almost dead on arrival.
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Stanley Peele: Chapel Hill's medical taproot
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6.4.2009 : 3:42 pm
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Dr. Fred Patterson served with distinction as a medical officer in World War II. After the war, he founded Village Family Medicine in a small cottage at 227 E. Franklin St. The cottage was built by Fred's grandfather in the 1850s for a maiden aunt. In the past it had housed the only medical facility for Chapel Hill. During the previous 30 years that practice had provided equipment for deliveries and emergency care. There was no hospital in Chapel Hill at that time. The local population was served by Watts Hospital in Durham. (In the 1930s Duke Hospital opened).
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