The satisfaction of a job well done . . .

Elected officials – and those hoping to become one - in Chatham County municipalities must file next month to run for office in November.

According to Pandora Paschal, assistant director of the Chatham County Board of Elections, all elected officials whose terms are ending must file to run for re-election between July 6 and July 20.

Mayors in Chatham County’s three municipalities are elected to serve a two-year term.

Randy Voller of Pittsboro, Charles Turner of Siler City and Tim Cunnup of Goldston are among officials whose terms end this year.

Commissioners serve four year terms.

The following Pittsboro commissioners’ terms will expire this year: Gene T. Brooks, Clinton Bryan III and Max G. Cotton.

Siler City commissioners Larry Cheek, Patricia Perry, John Grimes and Helen Buckner all have terms expiring in November.

Posts held by Danny Scott and Charles A. Fields III on Goldston’s Board of Commissioners are up for re-election this fall.

more- See Thursday, June 14 paper: Vol 87, No.28

Chatham grocery to close two locations

Lowe’s Foods will close its Siler City and Pittsboro stores this summer, store officials confirmed Tuesday.

Lowe’s Foods, 219 Chatham Square, Siler City, will close its doors on July 15. The store has been in business for 12 years.

Pittsboro’s Lowe’s Foods, 317 East Street, will close August 25 after 20 years of business.

Lowe’s Foods public relations manager Dianne Blancato in Winston-Salem said the Siler City store is closing because of low sales.

“The market conditions no longer support the volume needed for that store,” she said.

Blancato said the store, which is managed by John Wesson, employs 31 people.

Blancato cited an expired lease, not low sales, as the reason for the Pittsboro store’s imminent closing.

more- See Thursday, June 7 paper: Vol 87, No.27

By Kara Sumner

The use of corporal punishment in Chatham County Schools was banned during a meeting last month.

Members of the board of education said they felt the method of discipline needed to be addressed.

“I have always believed that our schools should eliminate the barbaric practice of paddling students and to replace corporal punishment with more enlightened and human methods of discipline,” said board member Kathie Russell.

Board member Gerald Totten agreed with Russell.

“It just made good sense to me that we find and use other methods of discipline,” he said.

Totten said the ban would nix questions of an acceptable degree of force.

“By eliminating the prospect altogether, I feel we eliminate questions about what is the proper amount of force,” he said.

Russell said she believes that corporal punishment teaches violence.

“Corporal punishment provides children with a poor role model of adult behavior,” she said. “It teaches then that the use of physical violence against smaller and weaker persons is an appropriate means of dealing with problems.”

more- See Thursday, June 7 paper: Vol 87, No.27

By Joe Pardington, Kara Sumner and Randall Rigsbee

Chatham County’s three high schools held commencement exercises on Saturday, June 9.

Northwood held its services in Carmichael Auditorium on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill; Jordan-Matthews conducted its service at the school’s Phil E. Senter Stadium; and Chatham Central students traveled south to Lee County where graduation was held in the Dennis A. Wicker Auditorium.

Northwood

There were many speakers, performers and family members at the graduation of Northwood High School.

 The speakers represented some of the highest achievers—the valedictorian, the salutatorian and the senior class president, among others.

The Northwood Concert Band played during the ceremony. And the Northwood Chorus sang the alma mater, with graduates stepping in to lend their voices.

The performing talents of Northwood students were on fine display. One of the speakers performed his speech as a rap song, with human beat-box accompaniment by a fellow student wearing dark sunglasses.

Amid laughter, applause and the occasional whistle, Northwood students strode onto the floor in flowing green robes, poised to graduate with fanfare. In the background was the processional tune “Pomp and Circumstance, by Sir Edward Elgar, played by the Northwood Concert Band.

more- See Thursday, June 14 paper: Vol 87, No.28

Jordan-Matthews

One-hundred-seventy-two students of the 2007 senior class of Jordan-Matthews said goodbye to the halls of the high school and hello to the various paths that await them as high school graduates Saturday morning.

“For many of you, Siler City has been your home for 18 years,” said Jordan Matthews soccer coach Paul Cuadros during his address. “You have formed a place that you can call home. And now many of you will be leaving.”

Cuadros told the graduates they held the future of our country in their hands.

“You, the class of 2007, one decide what kind of nation we will be,” he said. “Trust your judgment. You have been prepared well.”

The coach emphasized an additional lesson.

“There is one more lesson that I’d like for you to take with you,” he said. “Just two words:  be good.  Try to be good in everything that you do for just one day, and you will find that it is more difficult than you think. The tougher task is to do good.”

more- See Thursday, June 14 paper: Vol 87, No.28

Chatham Central

With a nod to the past and an eye on the future, Chatham Central High School’s Class of 2007 received diplomas Saturday in the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center in Sanford.

Even in the spacious Lee County venue, a site chosen in favor of the school’s auditorium to accommodate a larger audience, a standing room only crowd squeezed into the facility for the afternoon event.

The mood of the ceremony was reflective and anticipatory, from the lyrics in the song performed by soloist Adrienne Jones to the words penned by class valedictorian Jenna Stout and salutatorian Melissa Mitchell.

“Say goodbye to what we had,” Jones sang. “It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday.”

For Chatham Central students, the yesterdays included a number of academic and athletic highlights, many of which Mitchell recounted in her address.

“We have all been through so much together these last four years,” Mitchell said.

more- See Thursday, June 14 paper: Vol 87, No.28

J

Chatham Hospital will become 100 percent tobacco free July 4, joining more than 35 percent of hospitals across the state.

North Carolina’s three major Triangle area health systems, Duke University Health System, UNC Health Care and WakeMed Hospitals are becoming smoke free on Independence Day. Chatham Hospital is a part of UNC Health Care.

While each of the hospitals banned tobacco use inside their buildings several years ago, the new policies will prohibit use of tobacco anywhere on hospital property for employees, physicians, patients and visitors. Outlying and ancillary facilities included in these health systems will also participate.

“Our buildings have been smoke free for a long time but people could smoke outside the door,” said Chatham Hospital CEO Carol Straight. “We moved the boundary out to the road now.”

Straight added that visitors to the hospital will be able to walk into the entrances without being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Mike Harris, director of environmental care, chaired a committee of hospital employees who determined the smoke-free boundaries.

“We’ve been working hard since December 2006 to make our smoke-free boundaries and to come up with our policy,” he said.

Harris said the committee had a “lot of issues to work through,” including existing employees who smoke.

“We plan to offer a free cessation program for our employees,” Harris said. “We are going to offer it before the hospital becomes tobacco free and again afterward.”

Harris said he and the committee updates the hospital’s existing tobacco policies and designed signs to post at the tobacco-free boundaries.

 “There is a map of our tobacco free zone on the sign,” he said.

He added that because the signs are going up before the program begins, the maps on the sign will be covered until July 4.

Straight said the new policy has been well-announced among hospital employees.

more- See Thursday, June 7 paper: Vol 87, No.27