Joe Carlson’s co-op on Hillsborough Road slaughters chickens three or four times a year.
They place the bird in a cone so the head sticks out. One person slices the bird’s neck. The other holds the body firmly but gently until it bleeds to death in about a minute.
“It certainly is a gruesome thing,” Carlson told about two dozen
people at the second annual Urban Farm Tour on Saturday. “But I certainly believe life and death are huge facts of life.”
Carrboro farmer Marilyn Kille was found guilty this morning of common law forgery for altering the plans for her barn to include an accessory apartment.
Orange County District Court Judge Joe Buckner sentenced Kille to a 15-day suspended sentence, a year of unsupervised probation and a total of $475 in fines and court costs. Assistant District Attorney of Jeff Nieman requested a mental evaluation of Kille, but the judge did not order it.
From Sammy Slade:
"We, the Carrboro Greenspace collective, are very sorry that some people have been upset by the inclusion of the Chicken processing skillshare as part of the Urban Farm Tour. We didn't anticipate the controversy it would cause. Our reasoning was that if we are serious about creating a sustainable food system, animal processing must be a part of the discussion. We do sincerely appreciate your very real concerns and the willingness to engage in this conversation. We feel continuing this conversation is absolutely crucial for our long term efforts in creating a sustainable small-scale food system which is what the Urban Farm Tour is about. As such, instead of the original skillshare we are inviting the community to participate in an honest and respectful discussion starting at 3:30pm at 'The Bog' (Pleasant Street and Crest Street in Carrboro)."
Organizers of Saturday's Urban Farm Tour may cancel a public chicken slaughter after a complaint to Town Hall.
The annual tour shows examples of small-scale sustainable
agriculture at about a dozen sites in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Planned workshops included honey harvesting, lasagna bed preparation and a slaughter of chickens for a community “stone soup” at the end of the event.
But news that chickens would be killed at this year’s event upset resident Gina Burns. She wrote to town officials saying the chicken killing was inappropriate for a private lot and could lead to slaughter of other animals kept for food.
The Urban Farm tour this Saturday has raised questions in Carrboro. As correspondent Rebekah Cowell reported in Wednesday's Chapel Hill News, organizers plan to slaughter three or four chickens at one of the 15 sites on the tour and then serve the chicken in a community "stone soup" at the end of the event.
Alderwoman Joal Hall Broun wants to know if the county has any rules for how the chickens may be killed and whether any special rules apply to serving the chickens to non-relatives. Town Attorney Mike Brough has recommended the town contact the Orange County Health Department and find out. "If they have a concern, they can deal with it," he wrote in an e-mail.
Hall Broun said she thinks the town also has a role to play.
"If they are having a publicly announced chicken kill and they are going to advertise to using those chickens in a public event; then I want to insure that whatever public health regulations, there may be, if they exist, be complied with," Hall Broun wrote in an e-mail to the town. "I buy my chickens at Weaver Street and Whole Foods, so I know where my chickens are coming from. Additionally, while I ate my grandmother's dead chickens, I knew her to be a person who believed cleaniness was next to Godliness."
At last week's forum, the Sierra Club asked Carrboro candidates if they supported more "high-rise" development. In Carrboro, high rise means five stories, half the 10 stories going up at the nearby Greenbridge project.
Alderwoman Jacquie Gist criticized Greenbridge, which will feature innovative technology that cuts energy use and which many say is a model for future environmentally friendly, in-fill development.
Last she head, Gist said, Greenbridge developers were counting on out-of-town investors and rich alumni coming to games to buy their units, some of which will cost more than $1 million. (She was referring to this story in The Daily Tar Heel.)
"That's real enviro," she said.
Candidates for Carrboro Board of Aldermen showed slight differences in a question on growth at last week's forum. The Sierra Club does not let all the candidates answer all the questions at their forums. Here are answers from those who were allowed to answer. (Remember, the Sierra Club holds a forum for candidates for Chapel Hill Town Council at 7 p.m. this Wednesday in Chapel Hill Town Hall.)
Do you support more high-rise buildings in Carrboro? [Background: Carrboro has a five-story limit, half as tall as Chapel Hill, where the Greenbridge condominiums will rise
seven and 10 stories, the planned 140 West Franklin condos, eight
stories.]
Amanda Ashley, running for mayor, called for a moratorium downtown until the town sees the effects of the five-story projects already approved. Several of those projects are on hold because of the recession. "Let's digest the pig before we go slithering after any more," she said.
Mayor Mark Chilton said he would supports high rise development in the Harris Teeter/Carr Mill Mall area because the infrastructure supports it. "I don't know if I would call five-story 'high rise,'" he said.
Sharon Cook said she was glad the town limited development to five stories and would evaluate projects case by case. "If I wanted to live in a big urban city I wouldn't have been living here," she said.
Incumbent Jacquie Gist said she voted against five stories when the board set the limit and would do so again. The only place she believes that height is appropriate is in the ArtsCenter/Cat's Cradle shopping center, where Gist publicly agonized over the planned redevelopment before ultimately supporting it. She questioned the premise that higher-rise development in the downtown area will keep pressure off the town's outskirts. She also said 'I am terrified about what the rents in those [high-rise projects downtown] are going to be, not only for the residents but for the businesses."
CORRECTION: There are five candidates seeking three alderman seats this fall. They are incumbents Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven-O'Donnell and challengers Sharon Cook, Tim Peck and Samy Slade.
Carrboro Alderman John Herrera had already said he would not seek re-election this fall. Now he has resigned five months before the end of his term.
Town clerk Sarah Williamson announced this morning that Herrera, a native Costa Rican and one of the first Hispanic immigrants elected to municipal office in the state, has moved out of Carrboro and resigned effective immediately.
Herrera had thrown his support behind candidate Sammy Slade in this fall's election when he announced he would not seek re-election. Three candidates are seeking three seats. The others are incumbents Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven O'Donnell.
The Board of Aldermen is on summer break and has not decided how to respond to Herrera's resignation.
Herrera, a founder of the Latino Community Credit Union, had expressed frustration with the pace of government decision making. He recently remarried and said he needed to spend more time with his family.
Ed Camp has been named the new executive director of The ArtsCenter.
Camp has resigned his position as general manager at University Mall as of August 21.
We'd like to tell you more, but the ArtsCenter didn't send us anything. Thanks to Susan Reda, from University Mall, who did let us know.
By the way, Dar Williams returns to the ArtsCenter next Friday night, Aug. 14. I saw her for the first time there when she opened for Joan Baez many years ago. She did "The Christians and the Pagans," which may still be her best known song.
But "Mortal City" off the same album slays me every time.
Saturday night's "10 x 10" performance -- 10 plays, 10 minutes, 10 bucks -- sold out. But artistic director Emily Ranii appealed to the audience for donations to keep theater at the ArtsCenter going.
I wondered if that might be a story, so I asked Ranii if her program was on the chopping block. She referred me to executive director Jon Wilner, who recently announced his resignation but is staying on until a new director is found.
We've reported the struggles arts programs are having in the recession. Wilner said there was no new story, just the same story. "There is no imminent plan to cancel anything," he said. "The ArtsCenter has to find a way to increase its revenue or cut its expenses."
The agency went from a $1.6 million budget to a $1.4 million budget last year and expects to do with another $100,000 less this year. Wilner doesn't want to see programs that make money -- any money -- cut. But the annual 10-minute plays are an exception. They are the most popular theater the ArtsCenter stages all year. Other works attract far smalller audiences.
Inside Saturday night's program was a slip of paper. Ranii asked us to write what having theater at the ArtsCenter means to us. I didn't fill mine out, but if keeping theater going means getting to see more from three-time "10 x 10" veteran Eric Swenson, I'd be willing to pay more.
In a cast of standouts, Swenson was funny, riveting, adorable. He went from manic in a hilarious Mamet/Dr. Seuss mashup to impish as a talking heart flummoxed by a beautiful girl. Worth my 10 bucks, when the ArtsCenter needs all the bucks it can get.
