Home  Blog Chatham Chatlist #2736
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Written by Gene Galin
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Wednesday, 31 January 2007 |
This digest contains the following messages:
1. Chatham Downs
2. Pittsboro Children's Yoga
3. Dog wash
4. Valentine Dinner
5. Shindig on Saturday!
6. Dead Animals
7. Straving dog
8. Water Quality
9. Animal Control Website.
10. Federal Excise Tax Information
11. Road work from Cole Park to Pittsboro
12. Mt Gilead and Hwy 64?
13. Bubble Wrap/ Peanuts Needed
14. On Demand HWH
15. Chatham Schools closed today
-------------------- 1 --------------------
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:41:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Lynn Hayes
Subject: Chatham Downs
Dear Chathamites -
I thought I'd pass this along. I have been pretty disgusted with the appearance of the Chatham Downs shopping center, particularly since being acquainted with the developer I had expressed confidence that they would do a great job with the very attractive plan that was submitted. I sent the Lat Purser company an email yesterday complaining about the progress of the landscaping and received an email back that said, in part:
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Without going into lengthy detail, in an effort to be environmentally conscious, the irrigation aspect of our landscape plan provided for using our on-site collected storm water, supplemented with an on-site deep well system, to provide the water source for our irrigation system rather than relying upon the already overburdened County water system. We experienced difficulties getting the irrigation system fully operational and coupled with the drought conditions we experienced during the summer and early fall, we had very little germination of the seeding that was placed by our landscaper.
We have also been disappointed with the performance of our landscape contractor, who was also responsible for installation of the irrigation system and are presently waiting on a quote from another landscape company to address the difficiencies that are evident around the site. You may have noticed areas where we had placed sod - these areas are doing well. We plan on placing more sod in selected areas around the site. We will also be addressing the grassing around the detention pond and our street (15/501 and Lystra Rd.) frontages.
It is our understanding the First Citizens will be initiating construction of their branch bank facility once they have received their building permit through Chatham County which we understand may happen within the next several weeks. Their parcel, which is owned by First Citizens is on the left as you enter our property from the 15-501 entrance. Once First Citizens is completed and landscaped, this will fill the void that is seen at the front of the property and should complete the village feel of the shopping center.
As this is a high profile intersection, we want the property to be attractive and well maintained and a pleasing part of the community. We will be working diligently with the a new landscaper over the next several weeks to take advantage of the spring growing season. We look forward to this shopping center being one that we all can be proud of.
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I was pretty pleased with the response, and if more people write to them maybe we'll get them to move more quickly. Write to Bob Otten at
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best wishes,
Lynn Hayes
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:15:46 +0000
From: "helen kern"
Subject: Pittsboro Children's Yoga
<P>Pittsboro School of Yoga</P>
"Children are big souls in little bodies" Children learn best from their own experience. Children's yoga is fun! Using songs, breath awareness, conscious movement, games and many poses to lead the child to their own "Inner Teacher". A child is naturally radiant, aware and full of wisdom. The deeper purpose of teaching children yoga is to help them maintain their natural wisdom and radiance.<BR><BR><BR>Children's Yoga course begins Saturday Febuary 17th at 11am and will run for 5 consecutive weeks. Each class last 1 hour. Pre-registration required. Course cost $50. This course is for children aged between 4-9 yrs old. <BR><BR>Please visit <A xhref="http://www.pittsboroschoolofyoga.com">www.pittsboroschoolofyoga.com</A> <BR><A xhref="mailto:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
">
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
</A> <BR>Helen #650-274-3502
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:37:20 -0500
From: "marilyn bourque"
Subject: Dog wash
Has anyone used the dog wash on the corner of # 64 W. and # 87 ? Would like some feed back. Also does anyone know who would cut dogs toe nails once a month? They are white and not hard to do. I will come where you are. Can not pay the price at the vet.
Thanks
Sunshine
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:18:56 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: H Sugg
Subject: Valentine Dinner
VALENTINE DINNER
Sponsored By
Pittsboro United Methodist Men
A Fund Raiser
For Our Habitat Project
For Our Youth Ministry
Saturday, February 10, 2007
At
Pittsboro United Methodist Church
Time 6:00 PM
And
Featuring
“Yolanda Bryant”
Accompanist
“Phyllis Dewar”
COME Bring!
A SPOUSE…
A Friend …
The Family …
Or Just yourself!
Open to ALL!
Tickets are Available!
With a Minimum DONATION of
$ 12:00 per person
AT
Pittsboro UMC 9:00 to 12:00 AM Or you can Call
919-542-2757 After 6:00 PM
MEAL
Catered By “Laura Beth Casey”
With Help OF Pittsboro UMC Youth
Choice of Entrée
Chicken Breast or Roast Beef
With Salad
Steamed Vegetables, Baked Potato, Roll
Dessert
Tea/Coffee/Water
ALL DONATIONS WELCOMED!
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:19:13 -0500
From: arolinga1
Subject: Shindig on Saturday!
Hey ya'll!
Don't forget, on Saturday the 3rd, there will be a fundraiser pig-pickin' in Bonlee (intersection of Bonlee-Bennett and old 421) to help Walk Softly LLC (Harvey and Nancy Harman) fund the legal challenge before them. Please look at the website of Walk Softly for info regarding sustainable community development and the specific development in dispute.
Pasture raised pork and turkey all the fixins and some vegan alternatives as well will be served and best of all there will be a silent auction with some incredible items available. The bidding will be open all day until 6 pm at which time the highest bidder will be announced for each item. You don't need to be present, just place the highest bid! Items include tons of beautiful artwork of all types - metalwork, pottery, quilting, mosaic tiles, as well as gift certificates toward a children's riding camp, the general store and other services as well, a composting worm bin with worms, pick your own blueberries in season to name just a few! The list is really quite long and impressive and I personally can't wait to bid on some things myself! The suggested donation is $10 adult, $5 child. Look forward to seeing you there!
Anita
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:48:07 -0500
From: ksstraughn
Subject: Dead Animals
When we called about a dead deer beside our mailbox, they apparently brought out a backhoe. When I got home that evening there was a freshly dug hole beside where the deer was. So they didn't really "remove" it, but it was taken care of (in a very timely manner).
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:50:55 -0500 (EST)
From: laura
Subject: Straving dog
A dog with ribs showing is not lost - it has been abandoned or is neglected and is now critical. Time is of the essence. Call Animal Control - 542-8220 as many times as you need to get a response. Leave food and water out for it and if you can take to the shelter -some will get adopted, and some will not - but suffering in cold or from starvation is worse.
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:49:04 +0000
From: "Susan"
Subject: Water Quality
My neighbors and I received a flyer in the mailbox last Friday that said the trihalomethanes in the Chatham County drinking water reached unsafe levels, as demanded by the EPA. Was anyone else disturbed that while the flyer posed the FAQ of "When will it be fixed?" it did not provide the answer? The answer provided was that the town manager had contracted a firm to develop a plan to provide a solution to the problem. That doesn't provide a timeline nor an expected end date. The flyer also didn't provide information on how to create safe drinking water for inside a household using this water. I sure would like to hear this. Will charcoal filters on the faucets work? Is it safe to use on dishes and in bathing? Although I've researched this byproduct of the water treatment process online, I'd like to know the specifics of our water in this county and their work-around recommendations. Input anyone?
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:55:56 -0500 (EST)
From: laura
Subject: Animal Control Website.
Thanks Al for the Animal Control website. I see by the staff listed that it is grossly out of date.
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:38:31 -0500
From: Karen
Subject: Federal Excise Tax Information
Be aware that only the excise tax on long distance is claimable, not that assessed on local phone service.
Karen
-------------------- 9 --------------------
> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:36:23 +0000
> From: "Donna"
> Subject: More Federal Excise Tax Information
>
> I have received dozens of e-mails from people wanting more information
> on the Federal Excise Tax. Go to irs.gov and in the center of the page
> there is a link to answer most of your questions. Businesses can
> estimate their tax by adding the total of their phone bills and then
> multiplying by 7% or some such number, but homeowners must determine
> their tax refund from actual bills. I always save all of my
> bills/receipts for at least 7 years because of our in-home business so
> I was able to find most of the phone bills. You can use both your
> landlines and cellular phone bills. My sister called Verizon to get
> hard copies of past bills and they said it would cost $3-$5 per copy,
> so she was pretty discouraged, although I was finding totals of
> $8-$12 on my monthly cellular bills so it may be worth it to pay for
> the hard copies. It is an individual decision. You also get interest
> paid on the amount of your total refund (anywhere from 4%-26%
> depending on the month/year). I am so excited to think that Chatham
> County is going to take the initiative and go get their money back
> rather than settle for a measly handout of $30-$60. I am up to $264
> right now, which includes the interest owed. Go to irs.gov and get all
> the information. It's like going on a treasure hunt. The tax form is
> 8913-Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid. Happy hunting.
> Donna Bianco
>
-------------------- 11 --------------------
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:38:56 -0500
From: newton64
Subject: Road work from Cole Park to Pittsboro
Thanks, Michelle for the update. Unfortunately, nothing is going to beautify this area until the garbage is picked up. Now we have toilet paper strewn along 15/501 in addition to all the other garbage/litter. I don't think I've ever lived anyplace where the roadsides are in such disgusting condition.
Ronnie
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:28:26 EST
From: Snshin62d
Subject: Mt Gilead and Hwy 64?
Hello,
Does anyone know what is being built on Mt Gilead and Hwy 64? Kinda looked like storage at first but now I don't know.
Sherry
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:35:20 -0500
From: mshannonc
Subject: Bubble Wrap/ Peanuts Needed
Chatham Habitat for Humanity Home Store has need of bubble wrap and packing peanuts. If you have some you'd like to recycle, please drop them off at our Home Store II (back store) at 467 West Street in Pittsboro. Visit our website for directions: http://www.chathamhabitat.org
Thanks.
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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:59:10 -0500
From: meg sorrell
Subject: On Demand HWH
We were totally in love with the idea. Just heat the water you're using when you use it, not a whole ginormous tankful all the time.
Yep. In *love* -- what a great idea!!! I couldn't wait to start saving money!
Very expensive -- to buy, to install and to repair. Our unit cost $500, installation was almost $800. But we were sure we were saving soooooo much money buying propane instead of paying a higher electric bill. (That was also before the price of propane went so high after the hurricanes.)
In January of 2005, we came home to a kitchen flooded with water --
*hot* water! With water flowing through the broken unit, the burners continued to fire until we got home. Not pretty. The unit, though installed indoors, had frozen in the restricted copper tubing that makes up the heat exchanger. It had been very cold, and the heavy, frigid air settled down the vent pipe (which should have had a horizontal run and a flapper) causing the unit to freeze. Our pipes never froze, only the HWH heat exchanger froze. With a conventional system, this would never have happened.
Here's another scary quote from the Bosch installation manual:
"...there may still be a risk of freezing due to negative draft if all the combustion appliances in the area are not being supplied with a sufficient amount of make-up air. A wood stove or furnace can rob the make-up air in the AquaStar's vent pipe, leaving the cold infiltrating air capable of freezing the cold water in the AquaStar heat exchanger." Guess what -- we use a wood stove.
We had the unit repaired and proceeded to replace the kitchen sub floor and floor and the insulation under the kitchen.
In December of 2006, as we got our first cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, the unit ruptured again -- frozen again. Thankfully we were home to stop the well pump immediately so that no further damage to the interior of our home occurred.
Our initial response was to start shopping immediately for a replacement unit (same model). I believe that we were extremely lucky to be unable to find such a unit -- we would be out another $500 (or
more) to buy the unit and some smaller amount to have the new unit installed. And we would have been left with the exact same vulnerability.
Instead, we bought a conventional water heater for $250, and did the installation ourselves. We're happy not to have that winter worry anymore, and we would rather pay a higher electric bill than continue to worry about flooding our kitchen.
It seems that you would save money by not heating water all the time, but I'm not so sure that is true. When the unit fires, it uses a
*lot* of propane. People tend to take longer showers because 1) they will not run out of HW, and 2) they don't feel guilty because they're not keeping a tank of water hot all the time. The fact that the burners are only on when you're using water is sort of meaningless -- electric tank units do not run constantly either, but rather cycle on and off. I would also rather not have a propane bill in the summer -- you will use hot water every month of the year.
The "endless hot water" was nice, I'll admit... but I've not yet run out of hot water using our new conventional tank. There are only two of us, though, and I understand the teenager thing. One other little problem -- with the Bosch, it was harder to get the correct mix of hot/cold. If the flow through the HWH drops too low, the burners go off and you suddenly have only cold water. OTOH, with the electric tank it is just a matter of getting the mix to your liking.
We were absolutely thrilled to get on-demand hot water, but now, having been through these experiences, I would never, ever recommend this unit to a friend. On an online bulletin board I read, one plumber said regarding on-demand HWH: "There are two great days: the day you hook up your on-demand hot water heater and start using it; and the day you take it out and replace it with a conventional system." His words certainly ring true to me.
I was sad to have to let my disillusions die, but we had to move on.
YMMV.
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Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 01:36:49 -0500
From: "Gene"
Subject: Chatham Schools closed today
Due to an area weather front, Chatham County Schools will be closed for students on February 1. The day will be an optional teacher workday for employees.
Any time there is an inclement weather forecast, Chatham County Schools has a team of staff that works together prior to potential inclement weather coming into the area to prepare in case a school system status change is necessary. Staff monitors the NOAA radar several days in advance and stays in contact with NCDOT personnel, surrounding school systems, Chatham County Emergency Operations, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, and Progress Energy.
Typically, a group of staff spreads out across the county to check areas that tend to freeze first shortly before and during the time the weather service predicts precipitation may begin. These individuals stay in contact via cell phone and from the combined observations, Superintendent Ann Hart makes the final decision to leave school open, delay, or close.
Chatham County Schools utilizes several communication methods to notify families and employees of school closings or delays. These include announcements on the district website, on a bilingual weather line at the central office (919.542.3626, ext. 500), via the news media (radio & television stations), and through the Instant AlertT for Schools rapid communication system.
System Status/Closings/Delays Communication Page:
http://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/publicrelations/systemstatus.html
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Chatlist Affiliated Links
Chatham Chatlist at http://www.chathamchatlist.com
Chatham Journal Newspaper at http://www.chathamjournal.com/weekly
Chatham Online Bulletin Board at http://www.chatham-county-nc.com/bulletinboard
Chatham County Schools (unofficial) at http://www.chathamcountyschools.net
Chatham Online at http://www.chathamnc.com
Chatham County Online at http://chatham-county-nc.com/
Chatham Online Links at http://www.chathamnc.com/chathamlinks/
Chatham Business Directory at http://www.chathamnc.com/chathambiz/
Chatham Journal Newspaper Online Store at http://www.cafepress.com/chathamjournal
This E-mail digest is maintained by Gene Galin
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