After Attorney Betsy J. Wolfenden testified at her January 29, 2010 deposition regarding the dysfunction and corruption in Orange County District Court, the North Carolina State Bar unscussfully attempted to seal her deposition transcript from the public. 

In 2003, Emily, a young mother who was raised in the Mormon faith, was assaulted by her daughter’s father in Nevada. She fled with her infant son, Matthew, to the safety of her brother’s home in Orange County, North Carolina. When Emily decided to return home to Nevada a few weeks later, her brother encouraged her to leave her son with him in North Carolina until Emily determined it was safe to return to Nevada with Matthew.

I'm a big supporter of the IFC and its mission.  And I support its desire to create a new type of facility, a transitional facility for homeless men and the need to relocate somewhere.  And I'm disappointed that there is opposition to the proposed site for that new facility.  But I also think that the dialogue has gone beyond civility and that the neighborhoods adjoining the proposed site are being unfairly demonized.  In the 12 years I have served on Town advisory boards I have seen many neighborhoods oppose many projects for many different reasons - some good, some bad, some rational, some irrational.

Dan Pollitt was a dedicated activist and leader in our community for decades. He passed away this morning after a lifetime dedicated to peace and justice. My heart goes out to his wife Senator Ellie Kinnaird and the rest of his family. But the loss is all of ours. Pollitt was a beacon, lighting the way forward from just a little ahead of the rest of us.

Here's the Independent's profile of him from 10 years ago:

Chapel Hill attorney Bill Massengill nails it: "He's the aggressive-liberal gentleman. Dan can aggressively press his ideas without offending people." Even when those ideas are quite hopelessly out of fashion--as they so very often are.

Take, for example, Pollitt's defense of free association amid Red Scare panic. Or integration in the Jim Crow South. It took the times some time to catch up with Pollitt on those two.

"This is a local event,” Mayor Kevin Foy said in an official Town video. “If you can walk to Halloween, you’re invited. If you can’t, don’t come.”

Wow. Watch the Youtube clip. Lame.

(3 min 15 sec) CUE CREEPY MUSIC and Watch Mayor KEVIN FOY DISAPPEAR INTO A MISTY FOG CLOUD. REALLY? Really Chapel Hill? You can't make this Homegrown Halloween initiative "cool" with special effects or rationalization. Limiting the growth of events like Halloween hurts the "Brand" of our Town and ultimately has a negative effect on our Local Economy.

It's happening right now. Today is also national coming out day. And President Obama gave a speech yesterday on the eve of this event. A busy weekend for gay rights.

National coming out day "is an internationally-observed civil awareness day for coming out and discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues" (wikipedia). And today is also the day of the National Equality March which comes just as the Hate Crimes law (Matthew Sheppard Act) is about to be signed into law, and just before Congressional hearings on repealing DADT are going to take place.

http://www.ncpride.org

I'm sure everyone has seen the rainbow flags downtown, and in case you were wondering, it is pride weekend here in NC.  The biggest events were the speeches, festival, and parade over in Durham today, but it is something the whole triangle & to some degree the state gets into.  If you check out this site, you'll see events all over, including several in Chapel Hill.  It marks the 25th anniversary of this celebration.  There were speeches, festival grounds, food, vendors, booths, and lots of fun to be had.  I believe it is important to see this as not only a good time, but also as a large political rally with a positive message since this was the first NC Pride since prop 8 & the protests