New voting equipment proposed

By Cara McDonough

A capacity crowd in the Chatham County Agriculture building auditorium first listened quietly last Wednesday night as a representative from the only voting machine vendor approved for sales in the state demonstrated options available for the county.

But by the end of the evening session, some people in the crowd were booing at the Board of Elections and each other, and one person was asked to leave the room.

The forum was held by the Chatham County Board of Elections as they have been required by the state to pick new voting machines for the county by January 20, although they have requested more time.

All old voting machines have been decertified by the state and the forum was held to educate the public about their choices.

While practical demonstrations of potential new voting equipment were presented, many people in the audience expressed concern about the cost of the machines and distrust of new technology.

Tom Janyssek, a sales manager for Printelect, a vendor in North Carolina, and Election Systems and Software, the national manufacturer based in Nebraska, demonstrated the machines and explained requirements of the state.

Computer software-based DRE voting machines are approved for all voters, disabled voters included, and use touch-screen technology as well as a paper printout of voting results.

 The optical scanner, which is the ballot method that has been used for years in Chatham County, uses traditional paper ballots. The optical scanner option would require the purchase of AutoMARK machines as well, which use touch screen and other technology in order to facilitate visually-disabled and other disabled voters.

In addition to receiving comment cards to submit to the board, the crowd was permitted to ask questions at the end of the session of both Janyssek and the elections board.

Many hands went up and stayed up during the duration of the question and answer period. Many received enthusiastic applause from fellow residents when they questioned the cost or merit of the machines.

Those in attendance were upset, overall, that there was no formal budget yet formed for each option.  

more- See Thursday, Jan 12 paper: Vol 86, No. 7

Area was site of worst mining accident in NC

By Randall Rigsbee

A weathered, gray historical marker on US 421 near Cumnock briefly describes the now-defunct Egypt Coal Mine nearby and is the most visible reminder that mining once thrived in the region.

But the historical marker and the few other remnants of the coal mining industry give little indication that a mine in southern Chatham County’s Farmville community was the scene 80 years ago of what remains North Carolina’s worst industrial accident.

It was there in the community then called Coal Glen that 53 men perished inside a coal mine on the morning of May 27, 1925.

Three explosions at the “ill-starred Chatham County mine,” as it was called in a 1925 account in The Chatham Record newspaper, rocked the earth that morning. Repercussions from the trio of explosions were felt more than a mile away.

In a tragedy reminiscent of the explosion that claimed the lives of a dozen coal miners in West Virginia last week, 53 men ranging in age from 16 to 65 were killed in the 1925 accident.

One of the men whose life was lost that day was Henry G. Hall, whose sister-in-law, Georgia Beard, today lives in Pittsboro and recalls the grim day Hall and 52 co-workers died.

“It was a sad time,” Beard said in an interview Monday. “I was only 13, but I remember it happening.”

Beard and her family lived near the mine. She recalls seeing black smoke billowing from the mine following the explosions.

The community, she said, was close-knit and deeply felt the tragedy.

The region along the Chatham/Lee county line, where commercial coal mining began in the Deep River Coal Field in the early 1850s, was the only significant source of coal in North Carolina, comprised of a vein approximately 12 miles long.

more- See Thursday, Jan 12 paper: Vol 86, No. 7

Chatham part of census test

By Cara McDonough

The Pittsboro Board of Commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to approve a contract with Samuel Misenheimer as interim town manager.

Misenheimer, who lives in  Concord, was previously the assistant manager of that town.

He begins work in Pittsboro his week.

Former Pittsboro manager David Hughes left his post at the end of December after two and a half years in the post. The town board is now looking to fill the post. An advertisement requesting applications will be sent out this week.

The contract stipulates that Misenheimer will serve as interim town manager at a pay rate of $45 per hour.

Board members voted Monday to include in the contract that the interim manager work no less than three days a week and no more than 50 hours unless the mayor decides that more hours are needed in an emergency or other situation.

Besides his work in Concord, Misenheimer has a strong background in management.

 His job experience includes a four-year stint as town manager of Stanley, one year as town manager of Wilkesboro, and three years as city manager of Thomasville before he took the job in Concord.

His experience also includes administrative and economic certifications, membership in a variety of local government committees and a listing of professional accomplishments including promoting controlled growth as well as completing successful water and sewer infrastructure improvements.

more- See Thursday, Jan 12 paper: Vol 86, No. 7