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Town has only
60 days supply
of water left
By Angela Delp
Siler City
has only enough water to last 60 days, officials say.
Town manager
Joel Brower said Monday that the town is exploring other options to
provide water for customers.
"We’ve looked
at creating a well system similar to Liberty’s wells," he said. "But
in Liberty, they have an underground dike system.
"Here, the
only such dike system exists near Brookwood Farms," Brower said.
He added that
the town’s largest water users have been hauling water in.
"At first,
Townsend [poultry plant] was only hauling in 50 percent of their
water usage," he said. "Now, they are hauling their total use. They
are moving about 490,000 gallons daily."
He said while
the water is kept 12 feet above full behind the dam, water quality
deteriorates the lower the level drops.
"You can run 100 gallons
through the treatment plant and you might get 90 gallons that you
can use," he said.
Brower added
that the town has been talking with Sanford and Pittsboro about
purchasing water.
"The county
is currently constructing a water line on US 64," he said. "We are
considering taking on this project and paying contractors to speed
the process along so we could hook into their lines."
Brower said
the City of Sanford has been providing water to the 3M Corporation,
which is south of Pittsboro.
"We are talking with Sanford
about hooking on to the lines at 3M and getting one million gallons
daily from them," he said.
more- See Thursday,
October 25,2007 paper:
Vol 87, No.47
Flu season
here; shots available
By Spencie Love
Flu season
officially began on October 12: if you don’t want to suffer from the
flu this winter, the sooner you go get a flu vaccine, the more
likely it is you’ll sail through the season unscathed.
It’s possible
that if you’ve never had the flu, you might not be sufficiently
motivated to go to the trouble of getting a shot.
But if you
have been struck down, even just once, surely you’ll rush right away
to your doctor’s office or to one of the many free clinics that the
Chatham County Health Department is offering in the coming weeks.
Chatham
County Public Health Director Holly Coleman, because she worked in
public health offices and regularly got a shot,said she
never came down with the flu until one winter when she failed to be
inoculated because she wasn’t working.
"It was
terrible," she recalled recently. "I don’t think I’ll ever again
miss getting the vaccine."
Coleman
pointed out that not only is the sickness itself very
uncomfortable—a high fever, aches and pains, sniffles and
congestion, sometimes a hacking cough and sore throat—but the flu’s
aftermath can be almost as bad. One often feels dull, very low in
energy, and extremely tired for days or even weeks afterward.
more- See Thursday,
October 25,2007 paper:
Vol 87, No.47
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Jeff Davis
photos
Greeting students . . .
Virginia Cross Elementary
School, located on Alston Bridge Road in Siler City, opened its
doors to students Monday morning for the first time. Students have
been having their school day in mobile units at Siler City
Elementary and Chatham Middle Schools. Above, retired Chatham County
teacher Virginia Cross, left, greets students at the school named
after her, Monday morning. In the bottom photo principal Julie
Vandiver looks with students down the hallway towards the new
lunchroom. The school will be holding an open house for parents
within the next week with a dedication ceremony slated for later
this fall.
Eager students
happy to have new
school home as
Virginia Cross opens
By Spencie Love
At 8 a.m.
Monday, the brand-new Virginia Cross Elementary School in Siler City
opened its doors.
A total of
500 young kindergarten through fifth grade students streamed in for
the first time, most of them very excited.
Norma Brooks,
grandmother of one of the new young students, Devani Ledwell, said
he had been so eager for opening day, he hadn’t slept the whole
night before.
Yuri
Casarrubias Briceno, picking up her two sons, Christian and Kevin,
at the close of the school day, said she couldn’t wait to see the
inside of the school at its upcoming open house; she thought the
outside of the two-story brick school was "so pretty."
Students
found a special surprise as they entered Monday morning. Virginia
Cross herself sat in a chair in the entry hall, a sign next to her
reading, "The Virginia Cross!"
Now retired
and in her 80s, Cross taught third graders for 52 years in the
Chatham Schools. She obviously enjoyed greeting and welcoming
students as they walked up to her. She plans to tutor at the school
in the coming months.
Teachers had
less than a week to get in and decorate their new classrooms. Having
taught the Cross students in cramped quarters at Siler City
Elementary School and Chatham Middle School since the beginning of
the school year, they were delighted with the new school’s spacious
classrooms, the big windows letting in lots of light.
more- See Thursday,
October 25,2007 paper:
Vol 87, No.47
Pittsboro bans
development while waste options sought
By Bill Willcox
After hearing
from representatives from two engineering firms, the Pittsboro Town
Board on Monday established a new moratorium on the approval of
major subdivisions, planned unit developments and non-residential
development within the town and its extraterritorial zoning
jurisdiction.
The
moratorium replaces one that recently expired that had been in
effect for the past 18 months..
The board
needs the two-year length of the new moratorium to complete ongoing
efforts to expand Pittsboro’s wastewater capacity.
Jay Johnston,
vice president-engineering for Hydrostructures, PA, presented data
showing sewer demand projections.
By 2012, the
projected demand will be .99 million gallons per day, far in excess
of the .75 mgd permitted at the plant.
Water demand
projections will outpace treatment capacity even sooner, in 2010, he
said.
The Board
adopted the ordinance with minor changes to the wording in Article
Eight, said attorney Patrick Bradshaw, who suggested the changes.
"The idea was
to make it consistent with a state statute," Bradshaw said.
Only one
person, local businessman and developer Ricky Spoon, signed up to
speak at the public hearing on the moratorium during Monday’s Town
Board meeting.
"You’re going
to have to upgrade the existing plant," Spoon said.
"Find out how
much it is," he said, adding that he might help pay for it. "It’s
very frustrating. I know we’re going to have to do the moratorium."
"The Board of Commissioners
is committed to preserving the health and welfare of the citizens of
the town.
more- See Thursday,
October 25,2007 paper:
Vol 87, No.47
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