Carolina Stockyards sold to new owners

By Melissa Ledgerwood

The Carolina Stockyards is under new ownership and management, however, it will be business as usual, according to one of the stockyard’s new owners Robert Crabb, Jr.

Howard and Harry Lee Horney sold the business to Crabb and several other unnamed investors December 21.

Crabb’s interest in the Carolina Stockyards was sparked in June.

He and several other business partners were trying to build a stockyard in another town but ran into some problems, according to Crabb.

“I called Harry Lee for some advice,” he stated.  “Harry Lee said the best advice he could give me was to come by and look at this one.”

The 35-year-old Milton man has been in the livestock business since high school.

He got into the buying, selling and shipping business after graduating from high school, and helped manage another stockyard for more than three years.

Crabb, who lives about 80 miles north of Siler City in Caswell County, said he plans on relocating to the area in the near future.

The new owners do not plan on making any major changes to the facility, Crabb added.

more- See Thursday, December 30 paper: Vol 85, No.5

Pittsboro advances toward increase in wastewater capacity

By Cara Rotondaro

The new year will bring new innovations in Pittsboro’s continual fight against a severe lack of sewage capacity, and hence, lack of room for development potential.

At their December 13 meeting, the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners approved engineering contracts for the environmental assessments, engineering alternative analysis, and preliminary engineering report for a potential spray field discharge and discharge to the Haw River/Jordan Lake Discharge.

The sites must be environmentally analyzed before use for wastewater discharge.

The costs proposed for environmental analyses for the two sites from Goldstein and Associates and Diehl and Phillips Engineering firms totaled $71,139 for the spray field studies and $65,660 for the Haw River/ Jordan Lake discharge.

Both potential discharge plans would help alleviate the town’s lack of sewer capacity. The spray field study is contingent on finding a sight for the spray field, as decided by board members at the meeting.

As always, achieving more capacity for the town is a slow process, said Town Manger David Hughes.

“The study itself will take six months and then the state will have to review it which will take another few months,” he said.

more- See Thursday, December 30 paper: Vol 85, No.5

New child safety seat law enacted 

By Melissa Ledgerwood

Effective January 1, 2005, North Carolina will expand its child passenger safety measures to include children less than age eight and less than 80 pounds.

Between 2000 and 2002, the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics confirms that 43 children ages five to eight, who were occupants of passenger vehicles, were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

Data from the UNC Highway Safety Research Center indicates that approximately 200 additional children were seriously injured.

Police collision reports estimate only seven percent of these children were reported to be in booster seats, 55 percent were restrained only by lap and/or shoulder belts and 38 percent were unrestrained.

Research by Partners for Child Passenger Safety states that the use of a booster seat with a seat belt, instead of a seat belt alone, reduces a child’s risk of death or serious injury by 59 percent.

The new child restraint and booster seat law is intended to reduce the number of unintentional injuries to children.

The major change to the law requires children less than age eight and less than 80 pounds to ride in a weight-appropriate child restraint or booster seat certified to meet federal motor vehicle safety standards.

When a child reaches age eight or 80 pounds, a properly fitted safety belt may be used to restrain the child.

If there is no lap and shoulder belt equipped seating position available for using a belt-positioning booster seat, a child less than age eight and between 40 and 80 pounds may be restrained by a properly fitted lap belt only.  A belt-positioning booster seat must never be used with just a lap belt.

All children under 16 must be properly restrained in a child restraint, booster seat, or safety belt no matter where they sit.

more- See Thursday, December 30 paper: Vol 85, No.5