UNC-Chapel Hill student leaders invoked the name of Eve Carson last week as they tried to convince the Town Council to approve an emergency call box at the corner of Ransom and McCauley streets to complement previously-approved call boxes and pedestrian-level street lighting. $80,000 from student fees will pay for the lighting and call boxes in downtown neighborhoods.

"We’ve all become recently aware of how violence impacts us," said J.J. Raynor, who succeeded Carson as student-body president. "I know that since March 5 a lot of us having been asking ourselves if there’s anything we could have done to prevent what happened."

Katie Zellner, who worked with Carson in student government, talked about how the murder had affected her personally.

"I’m afraid to even walk down my driveway to take out the trash," she said. "That’s a pretty significant burden to live under."

What about our readers? It's been two months since Carson's death. Are you afraid? Of what? Gangs? Random violence? What would make you feel safer?

I got a message on my voice mail Monday morning from a woman whose son had been arrested in a series of car bashings last weekend in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. She asked that we not print her son's name. He was just 16 and a good kid.

Later that day, I got a call from a woman whose car had been vandalized. She wanted to know why the The Chapel Hill News had not reported the weekend vandalism. (Most of our Sunday paper goes to print Friday, so the earliest we would be able to report the story would be Wednesday.)

I asked if she would go on the record because victims' quotes make stories more compelling and, in this case, could determine whether we would report this as a news story or just an item in the police blotter. She started to talk, then changed her mind. She had kids and was afraid whoever banged up her car might come back.

The next day, the first woman came to our office in tears. She asked again that we not print her son's name. "Have pity," she said. I explained to her that 16-year-olds are adults under the law. I said it would be unfair to print the names of some of those arrested and not all. She suggested we just report that police had arrested four suspects and leave it at that.

We get these requests every once in a while. Wives don't want their husband's names in the paper for the sake of the children. A husband once asked us to keep his wife's name out because she had a mental illness.

But this was news. Police said the young people had caused $10,000 to $20,000 damage, that eight vehicles and three mailboxes had been bashed and that they expected more victims to come forward. The suspects' names answered the "who?" of the story.

What do you think? Would you have printed the teenagers' names? Here is a link to our story.

It's not often you get the story behind the highway marker. Susan Lefler of Brevard shared one today.

On May 17, in the little town of Cooleemee in Davie County, a highway marker will be dedicated to her father-in-law, the late Dr. Hugh Talmage Lefler, state historian and beloved professor of history at UNC.

Here's an excerpt from her e-mail:

Hugh Talmage Lefler was born on a farm near a crossroads they call “Greasy Corner” just outside of Cooleemee. He attended school in an eight-room schoolhouse. Dr. Lefler was head of the Departments of History and Political Science at N.C. State College (now N.C. State University) from 1926 to 1935. He then moved to Chapel Hill where he taught history for 35 years. His textbook "North Carolina: History, Geography, Government" was for many years studied by all seventh graders in North Carolina.

Lefler was resolute about recording only historical truth that could be documented and he resisted pressure throughout his career from politicians who only wanted him to write flattering things about the state and its people. Lefler’s iconoclastic edge was part of what endeared him to his students. He loved history and he invited his students to love it along with him. He was also a man who never forgot his roots. He always said: “I’m just a dirt farmer who loves to teach.”

On May 17 this dirt farmer will be honored with a highway marker commemorating his life and his contributions to the state of North Carolina. The marker will be located on N.C. Hwy. 801 South in Cooleemee. It reads:

Hugh T. Lefler 1901-1981. Preeminent historian of North Carolina, author, & editor. Professor at UNC, 1935-1972. His birthplace is one mile east.

Susan Lefler
667 East Main St.
Brevard, NC 28712
828-884-4728
susanbartee@citcom.net

Clara Daniels, currently principal of A.L. Stanback Middle School and the district's 2008 Principal of the Year, will take the lead at Central Elementary School, the district announced in a press release Tuesday.
Central Elementary has been at the focus of many school board discussions for more than a year as the board considered ways to increase enrollment and economic diversity at the school.
Central Elementary's current principal, Sheila McDonald, will be head up the district’s Positive Behavior Support Initiative.

The Chapel Hill News wants to list community volunteer opportunities and support group information.

Please send your listings to administrative assistant Clara Powers at cpowers@nando.com. Include a contact name, phone number and e-mail address.

Volunteer and support group lists will be published online at www.chapelhillnews.com and in the paper on a space available basis.

We reported online this morning that UNC will lease the town land on Homestead Road for a new men's homeless shelter. (That's IFC director Chris Moran at this morning's press conference with Mayor Foy, the Rev Rick Edens and Chancellor Moeser.)

The new shelter will open by 2011. Foy says it's too early to say how the town would use the current shelter building at 110 W. Rosemary St. Also not in our story is that the IFC wants next to brings it food operation -- the community kitchen now in the shelter building and its food pantry program now in its Main Street headquarters -- under one roof.

The shelter has been blamed for the panhandlers downtown, even though many of the panhandlers have been trespassed from the shelter and some are not even homeless. So some will see this morning's announcement as good news on that front. But even if the new shelter does not solve that problem, or provide housing for everyone who needs it, Foy says it's an important piece of solving the larger issue.

What do you think? Is the shelter move good news? Could the community be doing more things or more things differently to solve these vexing problems. Tell us here or in an e-mail to editor@nando.com so that we can publish your comments with our future coverage.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will consider the first names to be engraved on a marker outside the Franklin Street post office on Monday.

The council voted in 2006 to name the spot the "Peace and Justice Plaza" in recognition of the political gatherings that have taken place there.

In a 2007 story, we reported that the the council voted to engrave the names of longtime activists Charlotte Adams and Joe and Lucy Straley on a 5 foot by 5 foot granite marker outside the post office.

Now comes word, by way of Monday's Town Council agenda, that town leaders have decided to add some other names to the marker.

The council will consider a recommendation to engrave the following names: Joe and Lucy Straley, Charlotte Adams, Joe Herzenberg, Hubert Robinson, James R. Brittain, Henry "Hank" Anderson III, and Gloria Williams.

Weird week ... First my car gets hit outside the gym, while it was PARKED (And I watched it happen!) Then yesterday I'm interviewing a young mom who wants to freelance, when her adorable daughter brings me her apple juice box and ... pours it all over my slacks. Then Brooke gets voted off "Idol" (and you know her version of "I Am, I Said" was the best performance on Tuesday's show.)

But about the newspaper biz ... Met with Terry Maguire yesterday just before the unfortunate juicebox incident. He's a longtime reader who keeps pushing me (and before me, Ted Vaden) to innovate. Terry makes me feel guilty we're not doing more online and interactively, even though we're working our tails off. Yesterday, his message was we need to do a better job of establishing personal relationships with readers.

I've thought the same thing. Terry thinks in this day and age we ought to know enough about each of you to be able to send you a personalized message about something in the N&O or Chapel Hill News that would resonate with your lives. So if you've got dogs, for example, we could send you an article on the rising price of dog food or maybe about that new genetic test you can have done to see what your mutt is made of. (My examples, not his.)

He also said with so much information now competing for your attention, we need to promote the big advantage we have, which is professional journalists filtering some of that information for you. (I know, there is an advantage to non-professionals gathering news too.) He suggested beside each staff-written story we offer an udio link to a brief bio, a 90 second commentary or even a "How I did the story" type clip. Not a bad idea I thought.

He also said we could do more to "brand" our newspapers. He told me about Times Talks where apparently the New York Times invites readers to come meet journalists, who give their takes on their areas of expertise. Also not a bad idea, though I'm not sure how interested you might be. We already give such talks to journalism classes. A better idea, and one we've tried, is to invite guests into our newsroom staff meetings and open those meetings to the public. So far we have had few takers, but we could do them more often and publicize them better.

Finally, Terry said something that made me feel really good. He said he's a newspaper ripper. Or maybe it was tearer. I'm not sure now. But Wednesday, he tore five things out of the Chapel Hill News. My story on the new Orange County Organizing Committee (thanks, Ter...), Blair Pollock's My View column on the elections, the N&O story on Obama at the Dean Dome and our story on the Courtyard owner locking out 3Cups (it's back open now). He couldn't remember the fifth thing he tore.

In the news biz we call the first part of what Terry suggested "transparency," letting you inside the news gathering process. We call the second "utility," meaning we need to be useful to you, in your daily lives, if we want you to keep reading.

I appreciate readers like Terry who want us to do better. If you have suggestions, please send them my way.

Mark Schultz is the Orange editor of the News & Observer and the editor of the Chapel Hill News. readers can contact him at 932-2003 or mark.schultz@newsobserver.com

We reported today that 3Cups and Sandwhich had reopened after landlord Spencer Young changed the locks over the weekend in a dispute over rent (which stemmed from a dispute over parking).

Here is an e-mail from Young that says he plans to offer valet parking for Courtyard customers starting tomorrow. We can't tell from the e-mail and this week's events whether the service will start at 7 a.m. or 11 a.m., but if anyone finds out tomorrow, please let us know. Here's his e-mail:

Complimentary valet parking for patrons of The Courtyard of Chapel Hill will commence on Thursday, May 1, pursuant to a long term contract executed with Royal Parking. As you may know, Royal is a full service parking company currently providing valet parking services for a number of restaurants in Downtown Chapel Hill, pursuant to an initiative coordinated by the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, led by Liz Parham.

The valet parking service was originally scheduled to be in operation during The Courtyard of Chapel Hill’s daily hours of operation – typically 7 am to midnight; however, current demand does not warrant commencement of this daily service until 11:00 am. This is because we found it necessary to seize and lock up the premises of 3 Cups and SandwHich due to non-payment of rent – these two merchants, most especially 3 Cups, had attracted patrons during the morning hours. Please note that we intend to offer free valet parking for patrons of The Courtyard of Chapel Hill during all operating hours, as we are in discussions with several prospective tenants, whose business hours encompass the early morning.
Further details about this new service will follow.

Spencer Young

We received the following e-mail after Wednesday's story about a poster campaign against Carrboro's Hoop Path hula hoopers. It was sent from the e-mail address hoopsrlame@gmail.com.

Hey everybody,

I'm one of the folks that put up the hoop cult posters and I wanted to offer a little insight into the message and motivation that was intended.

I'll start off with a positive note so that I'm not written off as a hateful nut. I find a number of the hoopers to be very skilled and some of their routines are truly impressive and beautiful. I also understand the intense joy that can accompany the selfless immersion in a physical activity. I don't intend to discourage anyone from living the way they want to live.

Now on to the critique.

Sorry to disappoint the folks that want to blame the christians, but promoting the agenda of one cult over another was not the intention. The message was actually much simpler and more direct: the particular breed of hoopers that has infested the weaver st. lawn is a cult in the literal sense, and their inescapable public displays are really starting to grate on my nerves. The posters are intended as a humorous critique. I'm actually impressed by the number of humorous responses to the posters. If we can't laugh at ourselves, then everyone else will laugh at us.

=> Read more!

Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson talks about a new state law on his blog Leading from the Left that takes effect tomorrow. The law will allow hospital patients to designate who can visit them. Here's an excerpt from his post.

"If you are straight, you may never have thought about this.But, for LGBT people, visiting your partner in the hospital can be a nightmare. Under NC law, you two aren't married and you're not blood relatives. So, basically, you don't have any legal right to participate in key medical decisions involving your partner's care, you are no legal right to receive information about your partner's condition, and may not even be allowed into your partner's room."

"Well, as of this week, some of this has changed in NC. The state has adopted new rules that will allow a patient to designate anyone, regardless of relationship status, to visit his/her room. While this does not address the very real and very serious issue of participating in medical decisions, etc, it is a step towards fairer treatment for all."

The Chapel Hill Town Council once again had a full agenda tonight. Mayor Kevin Foy and Town Council member Bill Strom were absent.

-- The council passed a resolution supporting the Smithfield Food Workers' rights. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen also recently passed the resolution. The council's vote brought about a round of applause from the audience.

-- Joe Capowski, a member of the grassroots, nonprofit organization Orange Citizens for Schools and Parks, asked the council to support the Orange County land transfer tax. The alternative would be to raise property taxes. The council voted 6-1 to support the tax.

Town Council member Matt Czajkowski cast the dissenting vote, saying it was just a way for politicians to not be held accountable.

"We need to put greater restraints on property taxes," he said. "To me, this is a backdoor tax that allows politicians to avoid higher property taxes."

He agreed that the land transfer tax has "attractive" qualities, but "at the end of the day, it diminishes the accountability on politicians like us."

-- UPDATE: The council voted to refer to the town staff citizens' request to update the 1961 "Picketing Ordinance" to match the times. The staff will then come back to the council with recommendations. Several members of the Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee asked the council to authorize forming a Civilian Review Board and to update the picketing ordinance so as to hold the police accountable, and to ensure the civil rights of free speech and assembly are not violated by unnecessary force.

We reported recently how Somerhill Gallery had lost its lease and even more recently how owner Joe Rowand had agreed to move his gallery from Eastgate to Durham's American Tobacco Complex area. A memo from town economic development officer Dwight Bassett outlines steps Bassett took to try to keeo the galery in Chapel Hill. The memo is included in tonight's Town Councl agenda package.

THE MEMO
I began meeting with Joe Roland (sic) of Somerhill Gallery and having phone conversations with Phil Szostak after the Council meeting on February 18, 2008. I specifically met with Joe to discuss his needs and options beginning on February 21, 2008. Joe had already begun considering other locations including Durham before I first met with him. I felt my efforts were to help in offering locations for Chapel Hill and to encourage him to stay in Chapel Hill.

Joe looked at and considered three specific properties in Chapel Hill and was referred to numerous others that could not meet his needs. Joe was looking for at least 9,000SF, would have preferred a building that had a strong presence, from a design perspective and that the location is accessible to I-40. He also had concerns about rental rates and looking only at locations that he felt Somerhill could afford. He looked at buildings in different parts of Chapel Hill, including the downtown, the Southern Village area and the area near his present location at Eastgate.

I talked with Federal Realty to see if there were any options for Somerhill Gallery at Eastgate and discovered that there were none. I believe in hindsight, that there wasn’t enough property selection for Somerhill to consider in relocating in Chapel Hill and that there were specific needs that could not be accommodated with our existing inventory.

Chapel Hill coffee aficionados may have to look elsewhere for their morning cup of yirgacheffe on Monday.

Lex Alexander, owner of 3 Cups coffee shop in the Courtyard on Franklin Street, said his landlord changed the locks on the business over the weekend.

Alexander said the dispute had to do with rent payments, but said he wasn't behind, and that he'd been paying rent into an escrow account for seven or eight months.

Alexander said he would likely send a news release in the morning, so check back for an update.

The Courtyard is owned by Spencer Young, who this year has also been involved in a dispute over a parking lot near The Courtyard.

Mark Peters, who frequently posts on this blog, sent us a link to a video of the land transfer tax public forum at the Chapel Hill Town Hall last night, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. If you couldn't make it and would like to learn more about the tax or would like to hear what others had to say, you can watch the video.

Either of these links work:

http://tinyurl.com/4mktv6

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5556524378465645279&hl=en

Thanks for the heads up, Mark.