Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:37:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Jenny Powers 
Subject: Be Active NC

Be Active North Carolina (www.activenc.org),  a non-profit organization that promotes physical activity and healthy living opportunities across the state, has been focusing on Chatham County this last year.

Working with the Chatham County Health Department, Be Active is working to help the citizens of the Moncure area create more opportunities for healthy living. The hope is to establish a parnership with Be Active, the citizens of Moncure, and the Sprott Center and to develop programming that would be available to all age groups and interests.

In the first step to create a wellness coalition of concerned citizens and community leaders, Be Active will be meeting with the Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council on Tuesday, January 17, 7 p.m., at the Moncure Fire Department.

Anyone interested in learning more about this new wellness opportunity for Chatham County is welcome to attend.

Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:32:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jenny Powers
Subject: Chatham County Council on Aging

    The Chatham County Council on Aging will be giving a presentation at the next meeting of the Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council, Tuesday, October 18, 7 p.m. at the Moncure Fire Department. Representatives will provide information on programs and services of the Council on Aging, as well as on the Seniors Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP). All seniors and interested family members are encouraged to attend.
 
    The Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council, comprised of residents and business owners primarily within Moncure, Haywood, Pea Ridge, Merry Oaks, Brickhaven and Corinth areas, was established in 2001 to provide a unified community voice directed at good planning and zoning and to present community concerns to county and state offices of oversight. We welcome and encourage participation of all residents, businesses and organizations within our community.

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 15:41:43 +0000
From: Karen Heilman
Subject: Margaret Pollard

I have a student in my AP English Language and Composition class who is writing a research paper about Margaret Pollard. The topic is how an elected official has shown courage through a political act.

This student would like to speak with anyone who has worked closely with Ms. Pollard or a family member who can provide insight into this topic. She will need the information by the end of next week (10/13). Please email me directly and I will get you in touch with this student. Thank you for your help.

Karen Heilman, M.Ed.
Chatham Central High School
14950 NC Hwy 902 West
Bear Creek, NC 27207
919.837.2251

Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:46:25 -0400
From: Angela Partin
Subject: Homecoming at Moncure United Methodist Church

The Moncure United Methodist Church will be having its Homecoming celebration this Sunday, September 18th, at 11:00 AM.  A covered-dish lunch will follow the worship service.  Everyone is invited to join us!
 
The church is located at 16 Post Office Road (corner of Old US 1 and Post Office Road) in Moncure.
 
Thanks.
Angela Partin

Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:35:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jenny Powers
Subject: Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization

Hello, Neighbors,

Matthew Day, Senior Planner of the Triangle Rural Planning Organization (TARPO), will be the guest speaker at the Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council meeting, Tuesday, August 16, 7 p.m., at the Moncure Fire Department. TARPO, an arm of Triangle J Council of Governments, acts as a liason between local governments and the NCDOT. TARPO’S core duties are to serve as a forum for public participation in the transportation process, to provide assistance in the identification of transportation projects, to provide transportation information to local governments, and to develop long-range transportation plans in coordination with the NCDOT.

All Chatham citizens interested in meeting Matt and hearing about TARPO are welcome to attend.

The Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council, comprised of residents and business owners primarily within Moncure, Haywood, Pea Ridge, Merry Oaks, Brickhaven and Corinth areas, was established in 2001 to provide a unified community voice directed at good planning and zoning and to present community concerns to county and state offices of oversight. We welcome and encourage participation of all residents, businesses and organizations within our community.

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:55:22 -0400
From: Chris Garriss
Subject: Centurylink

Interesting discussion.  In contrast – not defense! – to the below.

I live in Moncure, initially DSL was not available to us, and we used Earthlink satellite.  Expensive, but it worked.  DSL was extended to our area, and we switched – cable is unavailable, and according to how I interpret what the cable companies say if I had children, my grandchildren would be old before cable was available.  Since moving to Moncure and getting phone service there (9 years ago), I’ve had numerous names on the company that provides service:  Embarq, Centurylink…

All of that being said, both phone and DSL have been very stable.  The only outages I’ve had were when trees fell and took down lines, power was out and once the DSL “modem” went bad – had the replacement within 24 hours.

Perhaps part of the reason I’ve had so few issues is that DSL extension has been very recent in my area.

There has also been discussion about Verizon (cell) service – which is terrible where I live.  Practically have to go outside, face east, stand on left foot and …(obvious exaggeration).  However, it works better almost everywhere else I go – especially at work.  So I stick with it – tried various other services, the sales teams let me try loaner phones over night and none worked as well as or better than Verizon at home.  And Verizon worked better some of the places I at regularly.

So, my experience varies from what seems to be the norm, but I still have poor cell service, good land-line & DSL, DishNetwork vs cable.  And would rather wish to consolidate more services.

Chris

Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 15:11:38 -0400
From: judy hogan
Subject: Backyard Chicken Workshop with Judy Hogan–April 9

BACKYARD CHICKEN SCHEMES
Instructor: Judy Hogan, Hoganvillaea Farm, Moncure
April 9, Saturday, 9 AM-4 PM. CCCC, Sanford, Civic Center and Hoganvillaea Farm.  Cost $29.00 for the day.

Farmer Hogan will introduce students to backyard or urban chicken care: appropriate facilities, chick care, nutrition, litter management, laying, egg sales, and killing as needed. We begin in Sanford and then move to Judy’s Moncure farm in the afternoon to see her flock.

With limited space and experience, plus a sense of humor, raise a small flock of happy chickens. Hogan shares her learning curve on basics, chicks to healthy eggs and meat. Topics include: Everything wants to eat chickens, Spoiling your chickens and why, Outwitting your not so dumb chickens.

Students will gain confidence in starting and maintaining their own small backyard chicken flock, have a handle on potential problems, solutions, and additional resources.

Judy Hogan of Hoganvillaea Farm is a sustainable farmer whose main goal is self-sufficiency and growing her own food. She began raising White Rock chickens in 2003, and she sells extra eggs, vegetables, fruit, herbs to restaurants and individuals. She’s a member of Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. A published poet, free-lance writer, and creative writing teacher, she lives in Moncure near Jordan Dam.
For more information: Judy Hogan, (919) 545-9932
To enroll: Lee County Continuing Education, CCCC. (919)775-2122, x7793
***
http://judyhogan.home.mindspring.com
http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:01:17 +0000
From: Chatham County Literacy Council
Subject: Volunteer opportunities with Literacy Council

Chatham County Literacy Council Needs All Readers To Come To The Aid Of Their County!

These volunteer opportunities are currently available with the Chatham County Literacy Council.
We’d love to have you work with us!

*Tutors for ESL class assistance in Siler City (evenings)
*Grant research and writing
*Direct mail list and project management
*Special event project management

The American Community Survey of 2005-2009 reports that the number of adults over 25 who do not have a high school diploma or equivalency in Chatham County is 17.5%; in Pittsboro’s Center Township is 12.7%; in Matthews Township (Siler City area) is now 39.9%; in Cape Fear (Moncure area) is now at 23.9%.

We understand adult literacy is an economic issue, affecting our county’s ability to sustain a reliable tax base and attract businesses needing educated workers.

We understand that adults need to be sufficiently literate to more fully participate in their local government, schools, and improve their job prospects.

Chatham County Literacy Council is a county non-profit providing free tutoring to adults to build life and work skills in reading, writing, math and English as a second language.

We believe it is vital that adults trying to increase their skills be provided with free and convenient access to these services.

For more information, please email admin@chathamliteracy.org.

Chatham County Literacy Council
http://www.chathamliteracy.org

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:46:07 -0500
From: BRIAN BOCK
Subject: My vote on the WWP pipeline

Like most decisions that the board of commissioners has to make, this one was not as straight forward as it might first appear. The decision to allow the Western Wake Partnerships to route the pipeline that will carry clean water from the New Hill treatment facility was made after careful consideration and deliberation. I realize many disagree with my vote. The answer for me came down to the fact that I believe this is best for the affected landowners and Chatham County as a whole. I further believe that this is compatible with two of my key goals as a commissioner; 1) Aggressively Protect property rights, and 2) Create an environment that will foster job growth in Chatham County.  I’ll explain in detail below but first I would like to address the question of whether or not there were other possible routes for the pipeline.

I, along with others, met with the Chairman of the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), Progress Energy, The Asst. Secretary of the Department of Environmental & Natural resources, the Division of Water Quality, the Division of Water Resources, the Chair of the EMC water allocation committee, and others. Based on these discussions, I’m convinced that other routes and other discharge points were explored but rejected by one state agency/department or another. It’s important that I make decisions based on the world we live in rather than the world we would like to live in. In other words, I wish there were another viable discharge point that would lead to a different route for the pipeline. Unfortunately, the reality is the State has mandated this discharge point and endorsed the route.

We listened to the citizens and negotiated for those items that were most valued by the largest number of citizens. While some expressed that we should just say no, most made it clear that if we said yes we needed to protect the interest of Chatham citizens. A careful review of the comments and suggestions I received boil down to just a few concerns; 1) No involuntary annexation by Cary or Apex, 2) Protect property rights, 3) Ensure the affected landowners are treated fairly, and 4) Ensure the Moncure community is treated fairly.

By saying Yes we were able to obtain very important concessions from the partners to address these concerns. The first is the long sought after agreement to introduce a bill into the legislature preventing Cary or Apex from ever annexing into Chatham County without a property owner requesting it. To strengthen this position, we also required each of the towns to pass a local agreement restricting their ability to annex into Chatham that will be binding for a 20 year period (Under NC statute 160A-58.21). That may be like wearing a belt with suspenders but we wanted to ensure that involuntary annexation can’t happen.  The bill and agreements aggressively protect property rights of every landowner in eastern Chatham County. Nobody will ever have to worry about becoming part of Cary or Apex against their will.  These requirements also address the concerns of other residents about losing control of the land within our county.

The next major point is fair compensation to the Moncure community. The partners will compensate the county in the amount  of  $500,000 to offset the negative impacts of routing the pipeline through Chatham. We plan to use this money to renovate the existing youth center in Moncure or build a separate building for use as a community center. The goal is to have a facility that can be enjoyed by everyone.  The $500,000 has no restrictions so if the community and the county prefer we could use it for other items such as; paying for additional services that may be cut from the school curriculum.  Additionally, the affected property owners will be in a better position to negotiate fair compensation for the easements on their land than would have been the case if we had said no and forced the partners to expend more time and money to get approval from the State legislature.

Longer term benefits include future economic develop possibilities as we finalize our land use plan on the eastern side of Jordan Lake. The economic develop corporation passed a resolution supporting the pipeline as an economic benefit to all of Chatham.  This agreement and a sound land use plan east of the Jordan lake will further our goal of creating an environment that will create jobs in Chatham County.  Finally, and very importantly, we have strengthened our working relationship with two important neighbors. Everyone acknowledges the critical need to work cooperatively in a regional way with surrounding counties and municipalities. These relationships will benefit Chatham County as we struggle with regional issues such as; water quality, water usage, transportation, infrastructure needs, and economic development. A yes vote means that we will continue to work with the Partners on these issues as well as others that might arise to ensure the least amount of disruption to the property owners.

If we had said no, the WWP would have had to go to plan B. They would have needed to get a bill introduced into the State Legislature requesting that the statute be changed in such a way that would not require our approval to run the pipeline through Chatham. The statute in question is 153A and does not include all NC counties. It was originally passed as a way to prevent a municipality from buying land in another county for the purpose of building a landfill. The legislature could remove Chatham County from the list of counties in NC 153A without vacating the entire statute.

Many will disagree with me, but I strongly believe they would have been able to get this bill passed quickly. Even if they could not have done it quickly, eventually they would have gotten approval. I say that because of the number of North Carolina citizens who would have been negatively impacted by not having a waste water treatment facility. Cary, Apex, Morrisville, New Hill, Durham, several research triangle businesses, and Fayetteville are all on record as supporting the need for the plant. The state agencies have dictated the discharge point and said the proposed route is the best path. These communities can demonstrate that over 400,000 residents are directly affected and they can make a public health argument in support. The partners have already spent over $100 million on the project and the 8 miles of pipeline routed through Chatham was not going to stop the project. Our odds of stopping decreased drastically when New Hill dropped it’s opposition to building the plant in their community. During the public hearing in Moncure, the Secretary of Commerce sent a representative to tell us that they support the pipeline. That sent a pretty clear message that the rest of the State will support the partners if needed.

The UNC School of Government recently pointed out to me that while we look at a map of NC with county lines, state agencies dealing with water quality and water allocation do not. They care about where the various river basins are.   When you take that, as well as these other considerations into account, you can see why I believe we would have ended up with a pipeline regardless of our vote.  The difference would have been a hostile working environment with our neighbors for the foreseeable future, our landowners in a weakened negotiated position, no protection from Cary annexing into Chatham unfettered, and no community center in Moncure.

Brian Bock
Chairman
Chatham County Board of Commissioners
www.commissionerbock.com

Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:13:44 -0500
From: Richard D. Allen, Esq.
Subject: The other side of the redistricting story?