Weekly Update, October 30

Hello, Carrboro--Anyone catch that stunning Hunter's moon this week? That splendorous full moon added autumnal spirit in the lead-up to Halloween. With temperatures finally seasonal, color has burst across trees in town, and plastic skeletons in many configurations are festooning yards. Enjoy the sound of crunching leaves, cracking acorns, and scampering squirrels. May the coming week have more treats than tricks!

If you were inside in Carrboro last Saturday night and could hear music, announcements, and crowd roars spilling out from the football team's overtime loss to Syracuse at Kenan Stadium, you can thank the controversial and generously compensated new head coach, Bill Belichick. He had the athletic department at UNC initiate upgrades for the stadium's 100th season, including a new Fulcrum Acoustic audio system with AHS loudspeakers installed by Precision Audio inside an end zone scoreboard.

Since many Carrboro residents have voiced frustration with the idea that every home game will be audible inside structures in Carrboro, we got to wondering: Does Carrboro consider Sections 5-11 and 5-12 of Town Code (the sections regarding General Offenses related to noise) applicable when the sound source is outside town limits but the disturbance occurs within Carrboro? If not, will the town raise the issue with UNC and Chapel Hill and request sound-level monitoring and adjustments to reduce off-campus spillover? There's another home game tomorrow night, so expect the strong possibility that the acoustic landscape on Halloween could be mixed with football noise.

Remember hearing rumblings this summer that Congress was looking into making Daylight Saving permanent? If the Sunshine Protection Act, which passed the House of Representative in July, hadn't stalled in the Senate, then we wouldn't be setting our clocks back tomorrow night. As it is, we'll fall back an hour at 2 am Sunday, shifting an hour of sunlight from the afternoon to the morning. Don't shoot the messenger!

The driver of the car that hit a baby deer near the intersection of W. Poplar Street and Raven Lane a week ago Wednesday sped on into town and unwittingly became part of a sad statistic. As deer activity ramps up during the rut in late-September and October, and as the angle of sun drops and days become shorter through October and November, hundreds of deer are hit by cars in North Carolina. Over the three-year period from 2022 to 2024, there were 984 animal-related crashes in Orange County, with about 90 percent of them involving deer, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.

To avoid such crashes, the DOT recommends that drivers maintain a safe driving distance, particularly at night; slow down in areas where deer are active; drive with high beams when possible and look for deer eyes; slow down upon seeing a deer and blow the horn with a single long blast; be aware that deer often travel in herds; avoid swerving, which could lead to a more serious crash; and, if a strike does happen, to get the vehicle off the road, if possible, and call 911.

The Orange County Artists' Guild's Open Studio Tour begins next week. It's a highlight of the calendar year, and with so many talented artists in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough opening up their homes and studios, the next two weekends promise to be inspiring. Pamir Kiciman has a preview for you in the November print edition and online next week.

Online this week

In early October we sat down with the Editor/Publisher and Senior Editor of The Sun magazine. Read a summary of that interview.

Guest contributor Delainey Traylor previews the stage production at Carrboro High School: Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Last night's community discussion about the proposal to merge Carrboro's police force with Chapel Hill's was well attended by over 100 people. Find our article here.

On The Carrborean Radio Hour

On Monday, John Rees interviewed Sharon Mosley, a licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor and owner of The Fit Talk, about preparing for holiday stress and navigating holidays with blended families. Listen here.

Tune in next week on Monday from 4 to 5pm when Jason Wares and his four-member band Are We Them? shares stories about the band and performs live from the WCOM studio at the Drakeford Library Complex.

News from CHCCS, Town, and County

The public is invited to learn about the Safe Routes to School Action Plan at the Carrboro Town Council meeting on Tuesday, November 10. Read the draft plan here.

For another week, Carrboro High School, along with East Chapel Hill High School, will be hosting 33 French exchange students from Dautet High School in La Rochelle, France. These students met with Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee last week. The Carrborean welcomes these students and their observations about life in our town!

The structure fire that broke out Morning morning in the Public Storage Facility at 515 S. Greensboro Street was large enough that Carrboro Fire-Rescue drew on mutual aid assistance from Chapel Hill, White Cross, New Hope, North Chatham, and Durham fire departments. One of the 54 firefighters sustained an injury and was transported to a hospital for evaluation; no civilians were injured. At this time, no cause has been shared publicly.

The Carrboro Town Council is scheduled to receive a staff presentation regarding the police consolidation proposal during its business meeting on Monday, November 10. The backlash to the proposal at the Thursday evening presentation at the Drakeford Library Complex was intense.

Council Member Fred Joiner acknowledged the importance of the community discussion. "I'm glad we had the session. I'm disappointed in the way some members of our community addressed Town Manager Toney in what I think was a disrespectful manner. But I'm glad people felt comfortable voicing their dissent. I'm comfortable advocating for pacing, barring a legislative reason that is compelling us as a small municipality to act quickly. I am in favor of adjusting our pacing on this issue."

Other Interesting Things

A special election-themed edition of the Morehead Planetarium's monthly Carolina Science Cafe will feature UNC Political Science Professor Dr. Jason Roberts, who studies relationships and collaborations in Congress. In his talk, he'll explore how friendships between members of Congress form and how they affect bipartisan collaborations and the legislative process. The free event takes place from 6 to 7pm Tuesday at the Haw River Tap & Table in Carrboro.

Cat’s Cradle's newest venue at 107 Brewer Lane opened last Friday with a "get out the vote" event for Senate-hopeful Roy Cooper. The Carrborean's November print edition has a description of the new venue.

Final Notes

The Community Bulletin Board has announcements and opportunities for giving and civic engagement and is updated weekly.

There's so much going on in Carrboro! Check out The Events Calendar to see what's happening and help us keep it up-to-date.

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Poetry Moment

English poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins felt great sadness when a row of aspen-poplar trees along the River Thames, near the town of Binsey, were chopped down in 1879. His poem was published posthumously in 1918. As we collectively absorb the sudden loss of 20 trees that shaded the area around North Greensboro Street at Parker Street, between Breakaway Cafe and Southern States, Hopkins's words in his poem "Binsey Aspens" resonate: