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Jeff Davis photo
Against the sky ...
A sunset gives off enough
light to silhouette this person at Carrboro High School last week,
tying balloons on the bleachers. It was senior night for the Jaguars
and they were hosting Northwood in a soccer match. The Chargers won
the match 3-1 to end their regular season. The playoffs were
scheduled to begin Wednesday, October 29.
With substation, police have new visibility at
hospital
By Randall Rigsbee
When Siler
City Police Chief Gary Tyson and Major Bill Harman were analyzing
local crime rates last January, it was clear to them that most
property crimes were originating near Wal-Mart at the town’s largest
shopping center.
Last year,
Wal-Mart had 455 calls for assistance with property crimes such as
shoplifting.
"They had,
by far, the most calls to police," said Tyson.
Tyson
realized, also, that while police can only do so much to prevent
crimes of passion such as murders and assaults, property crimes are
different.
"That’s one
crime I felt we could possibly decrease," Tyson said.
To better
address those crimes, Tyson envisioned a satellite police office,
which would enable officers to not only have a greater presence in
the area where they are frequently called but also to respond
quicker.
Tyson’s
original idea was to establish a satellite office at Wal-Mart, but
that didn’t work out.
Tyson
remained interested in having a satellite office in the area and his
second choice – the recently opened Chatham Hospital in the Central
Carolina Business Campus off US 64 – was well-received by hospital
staff.
Attorneys
for Siler City and for Chatham Hospital hashed out the details of
the agreement, which is on a one-year renewal basis, and last Friday
– with signage for the satellite office in place at the hospital’s
front entrance — the police department opened its satellite office.
The office
is at the hospital’s front entrance at the receptionist’s desk.
"We’re going to be in and
out," Tyson said of the satellite space. "We won’t hang out here. An
officer may come by at 3 p.m., another might stop by at 9 p.m.
Officers will come here and do paperwork, walk through the
hallways."
more- See Thursday, October 30,
2008 edition
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Real estate still in slump, but some eye recovery
By Bill Willcox
Chatham
County’s real estate market is still in a slump.
"We’re in
shock," said Eric Andrews, a principal realtor at Realty World
Carolina Properties in Pittsboro. "It is slow. It might have picked
up in last couple of weeks in terms of lookers, but we have sellers
who are hurting and they need to move and can’t get out of their
house."
He said
sellers are still very resistant to selling at a low price.
"Sellers are
still very resistant that their house is worth less than they paid,"
he said," "but I think their resistance will break in the spring
when they have to sell."
But he
doesn’t think prices will bounce back until "maybe late 2010."
The stale
market is prompting sellers to consider new options to deal with the
depressed values of homes. Andrews said some are willing to offer
six-month lease options to wait out the downturn in the market.
The slump is
also hitting new construction. Typically, builders are resistant to
lower the price of a new home but prefer to offer buyers extra
amenities instead. The reason is that dropping the price of a new
home can affect the "comp" or comparable values of all new homes in
the neighborhood.
But Andrews
said a recent new home sold for $165,000, instead of the $180,000
asking price.
The pace of
building in the County has also seen a downturn. Last September the
County issued 38 permits for new residential construction, valued at
$13.6 million but this September only 18 permits with a value of
$5.7 million were issued.
Pittsboro
developer Ricky Spoon said the ongoing problem is that potential
buyers cannot sell their homes in other parts of the country.
He said he
had an interested couple this week that backed out because they
couldn’t sell their house in Kansas.
"They
couldn’t sell and they couldn’t afford to carry two mortgages," he
said.
Developments
that were expected to build out quickly are seeing slow growth.
Powell Place on the north end of Pittsboro is one example.
"We are
averaging two or three sales a month this year," said Project
Manager Bryson Powell, "but it has been slow all over the Triangle."
He said high-end buyers have
been particularly scarce in Chatham County.
more- See Thursday, October 30,
2008
edition
County asks gas price probe
By Bill Willcox
Officials
from Chatham County have asked the North Carolina Attorney General’s
office to investigate possible price gouging involving a county fuel
supply.
According to
Debra Henzey, director of community relations for the County
Manager’s Office, Chatham County purchased an emergency supply of
fuel in early September in anticipation of a shortage caused by
Hurricane Ike.
The fuel
supply was specifically to be used for ambulances, as well as police
and fire and rescue vehicles.
"The county
just can’t afford to shut down the emergency services," Henzey said.
"If you need
to go to the hospital, you have to be able to get there," Henzey
added.
However
county officials, along with their supplier, Gaines Oil, now feel
that the price they paid – more than $5 per gallon – is potentially
a case of price gouging.
"Gaines was
shocked, as were we, at the price of the gas," Henzey said.
Todd Gaines
of Gaines Oil says that he was contacted on September 12 about
purchasing a supply of fuel for the county.
Gaines says
that the county’s intent was to ensure an uninterrupted supply of
gasoline for vehicles.
A total of 8,919 gallons was
purchased at a cost of $5.3265 per gallon from Exxon Mobil.
According to Gaines, the price was a $1.5803 increase per gallon
from the day before.
more- See Thursday, October
30,
2008
edition
Record crowds
cast votes early
By Bill Willcox
As of Monday
evening, the number of early voters in Chatham County had already
surpassed the early voting record set in the 2004 election.
As of
Monday, 12,155 County residents had voted early at One Stop sites,
and 700 mail-in ballots had been received.
The total of
12,855 easily surpasses the 11,371 total early voters in 2004.
Chatham
County Elections Supervisor Dawn Stumpf estimates the final tally of
voters will be approximately 20,000 of the county’s 42,000
registered voters, or roughly half.
"Usually the
last week is the busiest," she said.
Stumpf
reported there have been no significant problems at the polling
site, except for a couple of complaints.
"I’ve had a
couple of complaints about some people from one party trying to get
people from another party to vote for their candidates," she said.
Early voting
will close Saturday, Nov. 1.
The general election will
take place Tuesday, Nov. 4.
more- See Thursday, October
23,
2008
edition
Sheriff’s
Office investigates sign vandalism
By Randall Rigsbee
Chatham
County deputies are investigating two potential hate crimes
involving political campaign signs.
At least two
instances of what Captain Roy Allen called "acts of racism" have
been reported in Chatham County.
Allen said
in one case, someone brought in two Obama/Biden signs that had been
vandalized.
According to
investigators, someone painted a swastika on one sign and wrote a
racial slur about Obama on the other.
Allen said
that in another instance, someone had reported a racial slur had
been spray-painted across another Obama/Biden sign, as well as a
white picket fence near the sign.
According to
Allen, investigators are now handling each of these cases as hate
crimes.
Allen also
said that the Sheriff’s Office is fielding several calls a day about
campaign signs from both political parties, though he has not
noticed an increase in the number of signs taken this year from
other elections years.
more- See Thursday, October 30,
2008 edition
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