Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday September 10, 2005

Last Thursday night, the Orange County Democratic Women sponsored the first forum for Chapel Hill Town Council candidates. Despite scant publicity other than to OCDW members, the meeting room at the Southern Human Services Building was pretty full and a sharp audience provided plenty of good questions. I moderated the discussion.

Here is my impression of how well the candidates succeeded in furthering their campaigns
that night.

The big winner has to be Bill Thorpe. Many Chapel Hillians are unfamiliar with Thorpe's previous two terms on the Council.

He spoke forcefully and eloquently, tying his experience from two decades ago to today's concerns. Particularly effective was the reminder of his vote against approving the Dean Dome out of concern for its impact on a neighborhood that today is not much more than a memory. He assured voters that he would always look out for their interests.

Congrats to the Independent Weekly whose September 9, 2004 cover story exposed FEMA's decimation in the service of "homeland security." Managing Editor Kirk Ross says the article is getting a lot of hits lately (Google counts at least 182 links). I would like other newspapers to note that this was only possible because they use permalinks for each story and keep their archives completely open.

"Disaster in the Making" was written by former Chapel Hillian Jon Elliston almost a year ago. Here's an excerpt: