Here's a look at today's local headlines:

CHAPEL HILL 2020: Blogger Ruby Sinreich's Tweet about "straight, white affluent men" may have caused a dustup in the town's comprehensive plan talks. But it's not the first time concern about lack of diversity's come up in community conversations about how Chapel Hill should grow. Read Katelyn Ferral's story to learn what the town is doing to bring more voices to the table.     

NO HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Here's an issue the Chapel Hill 2020 folks need to help figure out. When we wrote about Colony Apartments last summer (read my story here), I learned how the Section 8 housing voucher safety net was no longer working for many. Katelyn looked at the situation across the Triangle for today's follow-up. 

It's been a busy week. If you missed it, a jury needed just three hours to convict Laurence Lovette in the murder of Eve Carson. The state Court of Appeals ruled a former Orange County paramedic can be sued in the death of Chapel Hill High football player Atlas Fraley three years ago. And two more rabies cases were confirmed; in one case a dog that was not current on its rabies vaccination had to be killed. 

On our editorial pages, several readers respond (read their letters here) to Chapel Hill developer Carol Ann Zinn's guest column last week (read it here), in which she said anti-growth activists distort the development process and drive up housing costs. Tell us what you think at editor@newsobserver.com. And congratulations to associate editor Dave Hart for winning second place for editorials in the N.C. Press Association contest, announced earlier this week.

Got vintage Aretha playing on the eMac and a big dog at my feet before Christmas dinner this afternoon. I hope you are having a wonderful day, and best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. Thank you for reading the paper.

Mark           

File this under "Sentences I never imagined writing".

Holden Thorp is a mediocre dancer but a pretty good zombie.

The UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor took a couple steps outside the old comfort zone Monday, gamely taking part in a student re-enactment of the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. You know, the one with the ghouls and zombies.

Thorp was flanked by his wife Patti on one side and by Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt on the other.

 (Tar Heel basketball coach Roy Williams, standing nearby, could not be coaxed into participating.)

They joined about 30 students in trying to create some buzz for the Eve Ball, a Nov. 5 fundraiser for the scholarship named for Eve Carson, the student body president shot and killed in March 2008.

I could go on and on about the chancellor's jaunty toe stepping, shoulder shrugging and hip swiveling, but really, you should see it for yourself. Have a look below or at this link.

Demario Atwater has pled guilty to kidnapping, robbing and murdering Eve Carson, the much-admired student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Atwater entered his guilty plea in state court in Hillsborough today. Carson's family attended.

Anne Blythe reports.

 The new garden dedicated recently at UNC was the culmination of two years of emotional work led largely by students. It is a tribute to Eve Carson, the student body president gunned down in a residential roadway in March 2008.

Situated just to the west of Polk Place and behind the Campus Y, the Eve Carson Garden is intended to offer a place for reflection to honor Carson and all UNC students who die before graduating.

The garden sits under a massive oak tree and includes a semi-circular sitting area and a low, flat wall inscribed with one of Carson’s favorite quotations.
Jill Coleman, a landscape architect with UNC, led the planning and design of the garden. She spoke with the Chapel Hill News about that process. Here are excerpts.

Two years ago this morning, Eve Carson's body was discovered in a street just off the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.

The community was altered immediately. And the changes stuck. 

Carson was a popular, likable, bubbly personality on campus. She was the student body president and one of those people who could just look you in the eye and make you like her.

Which is why two years after her death, she is still being mourned. Hundreds turned out Thursday for the dedication of a new garden named for her.

And plenty of students told me that if there's a silver lining in Carson's death, it is that they are no longer naive to the dangers of the world. 

By all accounts, Carson's death was a random act of violence, which is disconcerting to those still clinging to the notion that Chapel Hill is entirely insulated from the outside world and all its dangers.

Stephanie Mazzucca isn't one of those people. She was enrolled at UNC-CH when Carson was killed, and the incident changed her.

"It drives home that this could happen anywhere," she told me just prior to Thursday's dedication ceremony on Polk Place on the UNC-CH campus. "You think of Chapel Hill as this great place where nothing bad could happen, but that proved it wrong."

Mazzucca was a senior at the time and is now two years removed from college. Yet, the wounds of the Carson killing are still fresh. 

But what of younger students?

Consider Ariana Rowberry, a freshman from New Mexico I spoke with Thursday. She has of course heard of Eve Carson, but was in high school when the killing occurred. Hers is a different perspective.

"Chapel Hill is so safe; you just have to use common sense," she said. "It's always good to be concerned for your safety. But I do feel Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town and safety is never really an issue."

UNC Chapel Hill will unveil a new memorial garden today in memory of Eve Carson, the former student body president killed two years ago.

The university will dedicate the new Eve Marie Carson Garden at 4 p.m. today on campus.

It will be a tribute to Carson, the popular student from Athens, Ga., found gunned down in a Chapel Hill neighborhood in March 2008.

 The garden is also intended as a place to honor all UNC-CH students who die prior to graduating.

The garden is near Polk Place behind the Campus Y building, just south of Cameron Avenue.

Read tomorrow's N&O for more.

Students, faculty and friends gather on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill to remember Eve Carson on the one-year anniversary of her murder.

Hundreds of students gathered in the Pit at UNC-Chapel Hill Thursday afternoon to remember Eve Carson, the student body president who was slain a ... more

UNC will remember former Student Body President Eve Carson on March 5, the date on which she was murdered one year ago. A ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. on campus in The Pit, with music starting at 3:45 p.m.

The gathering will include remarks by Chancellor Holden Thorp and a performance by the Clef Hangers, a male student a cappella group. The rain site is the auditorium of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.

"For many of us, the loss of Eve Carson continues to occupy our thoughts," Thorp said in a release today. "This ceremony gives us a chance to remember and celebrate Eve together after a difficult year."

A memorial service is in the works at UNC Chapel Hill for March 5, the first anniversary of the killing of Eve Carson, the popular student body president.

A ceremony that day will be held in The Pit at 4 p.m. Chancellor Holden Thorp will speak and the Clef Hangers, a student singing group, will perform.

If it rains, the event will move indoors to the student union, which is nearby.

"For many of us, the loss of Eve Carson continues to occupy our thoughts," Thorp said in a news release. "This ceremony gives us a chance ot remember and celebrate Eve together after a difficult year."

Carson's impact at UNC and in the community is seen in a variety of other ways.

A scholarship in Carson's name has been established and a campus garden bearing her name is in the works as well.

Click here for more information on the March 5 ceremony.