Jeff Davis photos

Chatham authorities conduct search for missing Alzheimer's patient

By Randall Rigsbee

Searchers continued this week  to look for a 71-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease who walked away from his home between Pittsboro and Goldston late Saturday afternoon.

Willie “Bill” Harold Headen of 194 Jack Alston Road was last seen in his yard Saturday around 5:30 p.m., said Chatham County Sheriff Richard Webster.

Headen, who lives with his wife and several other family members, normally stays in the vicinity of his home.

 “He has family on that road,” Webster said.

His family notified authorities around 7:20 p.m. Saturday that Headen was missing and authorities quickly launched a search of the area around Jack Alston Road.

“We searched until around 2 a.m.,” Webster said.

The search resumed after sunrise Sunday.

Authorities were concerned because of Headen’s medical condition, the coolness of recent evening temperatures, and because Headen did not have any identification on him when he left home.

In addition to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, searchers included members of the county STAR team comprised of members of l county fire departments; FirstHealth, and law enforcement authorities from Alamance, Randolph and Rowan counties.

Blood hounds were brought in Saturday night from Randolph and Rowan counties.

“They made some hits,” Webster said of the search dogs, but none led authorities to Headen.

The NC Highway Patrol also joined the search with a helicopter.

more- See Thursday, October 21 paper: Vol 84, No.47

By Randall Rigsbee

County commissioners may have hoped to wrap up their public hearing on the proposed Briar Chapel mixed-use development Tuesday by imposing a five-minute time limit on speakers, but most who spoke went over the loosely-imposed time restraint and at the end of the four-hour hearing late Tuesday night, nearly 50 people still hadn’t spoken.

Commissioners will continue the hearing next Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the Superior Courtroom in Pittsboro.

The approximately two dozen people who did address commissioners at Tuesday’s hearing, held, like the first of the Briar Chapel hearings on Oct. 7 in the auditorium of Northwood High School, expressed a wide spectrum of opinion about California-based developer Newland Communities’ polarizing plan for the 1,589-acre, 2,389-home Briar Chapel.

Many supported it.

Former county commissioner Uva Holland, for instance, asked commissioners to approve Briar Chapel, touting what she said would be a positive economic benefit to the county, bringing jobs to Chatham and increasing the tax base.

“There are just not enough jobs to support our residents,” Holland said.

Tony Tucker of the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation also touted the benefits Briar Chapel would bring.

“Growth is inevitable and we might as well try to manage it,” Tucker aid.

more- See Thursday, October 21 paper: Vol 84, No.47

County to consider revising impact fee

By Randall Rigsbee

When Chatham County commissioners adopted an impact fee on new residential construction in 1999, they knew the fee wasn’t enough to fully cover the cost for school growth, and that it fell short of the $3,500 fee recommended by a consultant to the county.

On Monday, commissioners took a first step toward revising the county’s $1,500 impact fee for the first time since adopting it five years ago.

Commissioner Bunkey Morgan shared with the board his proposal to revise the county’s impact fee districts based on elementary school districts and to charge a fee from $1,000 to $4,000 depending on the district.

“What I’m proposing can be done,” Morgan said.

Commissioners unanimously approved forming a committee to consider Morgan’s proposal and other revisions to the county’s impact fee ordinance.

“I certainly think it’s something we need to look at,” said board chairman Tommy Emerson. “I see nothing wrong with an ad hoc committee to investigate this.”

The five-person committee will include a county commissioner, a school board member, a senior administrator from county government and the school system, and an at-large member to be appointed by the committee.

Morgan’s proposal is to redefine the impact fee districts so that areas where more growth is occurring would pay more.

more- See Thursday, October 21 paper: Vol 84, No.47