In most communities in North Carolina, elected officials stay on top of critical municipal needs, such as having enough space to dispose of solid waste. However, as Pulpsters know, Orange County isn’t like most of North Carolina.

At way past midnight on the trash transfer station timeline, Chapel Hill mayor Kevin Foy suddenly has a thought about a site for the trash transfer station. How about putting it next to the Chapel Town Operations Center?

The reaction of the local media and other local politicians is as informative as it is entertaining. (See Chapel Hill Herald Epiphany Site Story.)

Rip Van Winkle's Hollow

On Friday, 8 May 2009, Mayor Foy led a select entourage around the 32 acre site off Millhouse Road. In his decisive and immortal words, “The question isn't whether we should put a transfer station there. The question is, is this something worth talking about?” Talk, it's the fragrant and somnambulant lingua orange of Pulpville.

None other than Commish Mike Nelson opines that “It can't be a shock to anyone that a waste transfer station in that location would be very strongly opposed by residents of northern Chapel Hill. It will take an inordinate amount of political will — in a town election year no less — to site the waste transfer station there.”

Dr. Rick Kennedy, a Nelson supporter, a family practice physician, a rural buffer resident, and a critic of those criticizing local government finally found something that he didn’t like about local government. Seems the issue only has to be at his doorstep (he lives within less than ¼ mile from the site) in order for him to “see the light”. In his words, ““People ought to share the things in the community that nobody really wants. Why doesn't that resonate here like it does on Rogers Road?”

“Physician heal thyself” has taken on new meaning. Perhaps Dr. Kennedy hasn’t yet attained the enlightment that comes from a constant flow of smelly trash trucks, the piquant essence of rotten garbage, and the sights of soaring flocks of buzzards.

What’s missing from the local media story of Mayor Foy's epiphany about locating the trash transfer station?

Even Commish Valerie Foushee, the Sphinx of the Orange County board recognizes something is amiss. In her words, the county asked the towns “months ago… and probably more than once” about a transfer station site. “Nothing was forthcoming.”

So what happened? Never fear. The Pulp will reveal a most southern of pastimes is to blame for the sudden awakening of Mayor Foy. He read the local obituary section. Lo and behold, the answer was revealed to him from an end of April 2009 item.

“Mrs. Julia Blackwood, 88, died Easter weekend at her home in Chapel Hill. Julia was born in Clinton, NC to Herman Stewart and Jenny B. Merritt. She came to Chapel Hill as the young bride of Eugene M. Blackwood. Soon after, she went to work as a secretary at the American Tobacco Company in Durham. (See Carrboro Citizen Blackwood Obit.

What does Ms. Blackwood have to do with a trash transfer station? Well kick back and follow how “bidness get dun” in Orange County.

The Blackwood family has owned property around Millhouse Road since 1752, before Chapel Hill was founded. They came under assault from the town in 1996.

After the firestorm surrounding then Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee forcing a landfill on to the Rogers Road community in 1972, Chapel Hill went looking for an alternative site for solid waste. It, the county, and Carrboro all thought they had the new site, Ms. Blackwood’s property on Millhouse Road.

The past is prologue in Orange County. As in the present trash crisis, the answer is revealed not at the beginning of the process, but in a surprise move at the end. In 1996, the politicians had a citizen group working diligently on site selection for over a year. Sixteen sites were considered. Then, magically, at the end, a 17th site (OC-17) was added, the Blackwood – Duke Forest site.

None other than Mr. Gayle Wilson denied hanky-panky in the latecomer OC-17 becoming the odds-on favorite back in 1996. Yes, it's the same Gayle Wilson who is surprised in 2009 by Mayor Foy’s magical announcement about the town operations center space, which just happens to be next to – you guessed it – the property of the now deceased Ms. Blackwood. Back in 1996, Mr. Wilson was the town of Chapel Hill’s solid waste administrator. In 2009, he's Orange County's solid waste administrator. (Any wonder the new county solid waste facility has just been built on Eubanks Road?)

Recycling is not left simply to bureaucrats in Orange County. Politicians and pundits are recycled too.

Guess who voted for the OC-17 landfill site? None other than then Chapel Hill Councilman, now Carrboro mayor Mark Chilton. As reported in the N&O in 1996, although Mr. Chilton was a “favorite of the local Sierra Club”, he voted for the OC-17 without any debate by the local enviromentalists. So did Carrboro Alderman Jacquie Gist, So did then Carrboro mayor, now county commish Mike Nelson.

Guess who was in opposition to the county picking any landfill site? None other than then Green Party member, now Democratic Party member and Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman. In his words, ”the people in the Blackwood Mountain area come across as NIMBYs. I’m particularly troubled by sone of their suggestions that we should ship our waste somewhere else. Why should we take advantage of another community’s poverty?” Strong words for someone with no visible means of occupation, then or now.

Then as now, technical arguments didn’t matter. Who cares if the site was too rocky and had a slave graveyard? What really mattered was raw political power. The county’s mistake was in going after some Duke Forest land. The Commishes can steamroll working African-Americans and land grant farmers. But, they are revealed as eunuchs where it comes to facing up to the Duke power block.

So let’s go back to the present.

Ms. Blackwood dies. Mr. Foy reads the obits. Shazam! We have a new spot for the trash transfer station.

The local media doesn’t ask the searchlight questions.

“So Mr. Foy, where have you been for the past three years in the trash transfer station debate?”

“When did you first think about the town operations spot next to Ms. Blackwood’s property?”

“Did you really wait until she died to screw up the courage to announce the site, while her grave is still fresh?”

Yes, local progressive profiles in courage abound.

Shame and embarrassment is in the eye of the beholder.

UNC officials were embarrassed by the repression of free speech on the Chapel Hill campus during April 2009 by progressive brand usufructers, the new Students for a Democratic Society. As reported by the Pulp, Morehead Scholar Haley Koch was arrested for her spirited rabble rousing that deprived former Representative Tom Tancredo of his right to speak at a scheduled university event.

However, there’s no shame and embarrassment either for Ms. Koch or her repressive supporters. Using the power of ignorance, fostered by misleading web posts, these supporters have started a campaign to flood local Orange and UNC officials with emails demanding freedom from responsibility.

The impressive sounding International Action Center (IAC) is hosting a petition to drop charges against Ms. Koch and the six non-UNC students who have boorish manners and peevish ethics.

Who’s the IAC, you ask? To ask that question is to reveal your mindless participation in the imperialist, capitalist oppressive regime of America.

The IAC is anonymous group of anarchistic progressives “committed to the building broad-based grassroots coalitions to oppose to U.S. wars abroad while fighting against racism and economic exploitation of workers here at home. With every mobilization or campaign, the IAC strives to draw from the leadership, connect the struggles, and bring together communities of color, women, lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, youth and students, immigrant and workers' organizations in order build a progressive movement for social justice and change.

Ultimately it is our goal to work towards the liberation and freedom of all peoples living in the U.S. and around the world.

IAC defines itself as an 'anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist' organization. We want to see an end of the human suffering caused by living under a system that puts profit before peoples needs. We want to shut down the multi-national corporations and banks based in the U.S., Europe and Japan that extract resources and debt payments from the rest of the world. We want to put a stop to the role of the Pentagon and the CIA play by protecting and expanding this wholescale plunder of these private businesses.”

Some people have way too much time on their hands and no need to provide for a family.

Here’s the IAC petition in all its glory:
TO: Chancellor Holden Thorp, UNC System President Erskine Bowles, UNC Chapel Hill Chief of Police Jeffrey McCracken, UNC Chapel Hill Dean of Students Winston Crisp, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, members of the media, and others

I am writing to express my full support of the students who protested against Tom Tancredo at UNC Chapel Hill on April 14.

All the charges should be dropped immediately. Protesting and speaking out against hate speech, bigotry, and white supremacy is not a crime. The real criminals are the likes of Tancredo and the YWC, whose racism serves as a call for hatred and violence against a large section of the population, a call that is answered by the likes of the Minutemen and other right-wing groups.

I further demand a full investigation of the actions of the campus police and the violent way that they responded to the protest. I fully support Students and the student protestors’ demand for the immediate creation of a standing student review board to oversee all police conduct on campus and to investigate the police conduct on April 14.

Drop all the charges now!
Stop the intimidation of student protestors!
Investigate and condemn police violence against protestors!
Protesting hate speech is not a crime!
No One is Illegal! Solidarity with all Immigrants!

According to the IAC posting, the real criminal is Mr. Tancredo. “Campus police violently attacked the demonstration with pepper spray and tasers, dragged two women out of Bingham 103 and threw them to the floor in the lobby, which caused an escalation that led to the event being shut down.” (Pulpsters should note the “violence” in the video above.)

“Speaking out against [aka repressing] hate speech and white supremacy is not a crime — the real criminals are Tancredo and the YWC, whose racism serves as a call for hatred and violence against an already vulnerable section of the population. ”

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall says, ““I think I've received around 6,000 or 7,000 of those.” Showing his deference to these thoughtful emails he continues, “I deleted over 800 for several days in a row.”

As reported by the Chapel Hill Herald, the heroic email campaign has influenced Mr. Woodall. The effect has been ““Zero. Absolutely zero… For us, that's not what it's about. It's about whether those protesters disregarded the officers' commands on that day.”

With local politicians experimenting with restricting individual campaign donations and public financing for town office, Pulpsters should expect further creative and progressive uses of campaign moneys. One needs to look no further than local former presidential candidate Mr. John Edwards.

Federal investigators are sifting Mr. Edwards’ presidential campaign records to see if campaign money has been diverted into love child hush money.

According to Mr. Edwards, “I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly. However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion.” (See N&O Edwards Finance Blurb.)

What’s missing from Mr. Edwards' statement? He didn’t refer to actions by the political action committees and non-profit entities that swirled around his presidential campaign.

What the local southern Orange media has failed to inform you is that as he prepared for his second presidential run, Mr. Edwards paid for advisers and burnished his image through a bevy of political action committees (such as Mr. Edwards' One America Committee, which raised almost $7,000,000 from 2002 to 2008) and other nonprofit groups. Now, those groups are among the potential targets for that federal investigation into Mr. Edwards' finances.

Mr. Edwards has belatedly admitted to having an affair with Ms. Rielle Hunter, but has continued to deny that he fathered her child, Frances Hunter, conceived around the time he was having that affair, and born in February 2008. No father is listed on the birth certificate.

Ms. Hunter was paid about $100,000 to travel and to film Mr. Edwards (up close and personal) for four months on a charity trip across Africa. However, that money came from the One America political action committee and may have transferred before he declared his candidacy officially.

Of chief concern to federal investigators is the claim by Mr. Edwards' campaign committee that Ms. Hunter was also paid $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007, through One America. Some of that money was allegedly expensed on “furniture purchase”. Part of the investigation is focused on the fact that at the time of the ~$14,000 furniture purchase, One America only had about $7932.95 in cash. Mr. Edwards’ presidential campaign was a going concern. It allegedly paid One America $14,034.61 for that furniture purchase. (See News8 Edwards Finance Story.)

The One America treasurer is none other than Ms. Jeannette Hyde, a very influential North Carolina Democratic maker of politicians, and former US Ambassador to Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and to Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda from 1994-1997. She dispensed over $41,000 of her money for political campaigns in 2008 alone. She says she didn’t personally pay Ms. Hunter any money, although the records show One America making such payments. (See WRAL Edwards Finance Story.)

Mr. Hans von Spakovsky, a former FEC commissioner, notes there is a very strict provision in federal campaign finance law prohibiting candidates from using campaign contributions for personal use. Supposedly, if the Edwards campaign is unable to show that $14,000 in furniture was purchased for the campaign, then the former senator will be "in big trouble.”

Mr. Edwards faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if found guilty of violating federal campaign finance laws.

Of further note is the fate of an Edwards related non-profit foundation that paid for a college tuition charity in Greene County. It was shut down the same month the Hunter affair was revealed. Mr. Edwards touted that charity while on the campaign trail. ( See Washington Post Edwards Finance Story.)

Of even further note is that Ms. Hyde held a “Perdue '08 Victory Tour” fundraiser at her home in June 2008, months prior to the actual formality of an election. “Sponsor” level tickets went for $1,000, “Patron” level tickets at $2,000 and “Host” level tickets for $4,000.

Over the past two decades there has been a “sea change” in the administration of for-profit private enterprises. Greater operating efficiencies have been achieved by implementing computerized information technologies and re-designing flattened management structures. The elimination of redundancies and the organizing of similar tasks have produced leaner administrations. The incentives have all been to reduce, not increase, administration expenses.

And then there’s UNC at Chapel Hill. As a tax exempt organization funded by the public, none of the above appears to apply. At UNC, administration IS the growth industry.

Change may be coming. Chancellor Holden Thorp comes from the financial investment arena. His interest in maximizing profit opportunities for the lucky few private investors in coming UNC research spinoffs means that he also has been trained to look at the expense side of the business ledger. His attention has been on the expense ledger of UNC recently.

The Byzantine Labyrinth
One look at the UNC organization chart is probably enough to cause Mr. Thorp to hire a business investment and consulting firm like (Bain & Co.) to look closer at the UNC administrative structure. Luckily, charity begins at home. Mr. Thorp's desire is being satisfied by an “anonymous donor”. (Of course, more attention is spent trying to out the anonymous donor as opposed to understanding the work of Bain.)

Here's the structure Bain found in place at UNC.

Currently there are over 400 departments in the 14 UNC schools and the general administration. Administrative layers are headed towards China, being in some cases ten levels deep. Over 50% of UNC managers manage ONLY between 1 to 3 direct reports.

Apparently, there can never be too much university administration.

The Admin Honeypot
While UNC revenues have grown 32.8% from 2004 to 2008, the student population has only grown about 7.5%. Where has the money gone? You guessed it, “administrative expense” is largely the answer. Over the last five years UNC has added over 1000 full time and part time employees. The majority of hires have been in support staff positions.

In 2004 the administrative expenses per UNC student was about $47,900. That’s right, for each student you spent about $48,000 (minus tuition and fees) keeping them at UNC. No wonder some call UNC the “Public Harvard University”. Incredibly, by 2008 that number had increased to $59,000 per year, a 23% increase in five years. That’s just administrative expenses.

Here’s the breakdown.

The 17,000 plus students of UNC are backed by nearly 12,000 employees.

The Party’s Over???
There’s no crueler moment in collegiate life than when the keg foams. The beer is gone. The kegger party is over. The foam is starting to appear at UNC. With bad economic times, it’s harder to keep the administrative drinking fountain flowing.

Between 2009 and 2012, the student population will grow an additional 7.5%. However, revenues will only grow at 3%. The state “hasn't got the cash”. In order to grow those revenues at even that paltry rate, tuition must be raised about 6% to 8%, per year, or about 18% to 24% in just three years. (That’s happy news for UNC parents.) Without introducing change, overhead is expected to rise about 3% to 5% per year, or about 9% to 15% in that same period.

A cursory look by Bain at the UNC structure reveals the following: 1) insufficient finance control systems; 2) needless redundancy; 3) needless shadow systems; 4) many manual paper based systems; and 5) fragmentation and lack of scale in many operations.

No word on how many administrators will review the report on excessive administration.

No word on how much the retirement benefits of over 12,000 employees will cost in the future.

Perhaps no quainter throwback to the virtues of direct democracy is the concept that the local populace should elect their local judges. After all, who knows better than one’s neighbors the timber of a person for judging others? Or so the local media would have you believe.

Of course, the truth is put to that canard every election cycle. People enter the voting booth knowing little to nothing about the candidates. Many leave the judge elections blank. Others throw a dart. A prime example as to why locals often are incapable of making an informed vote can be seen in the Young case.

On a late winter Saturday night (14 March 2009), Mr. Juan Barbee Young (41) was found mortally shot in White Cross, just a little west of Carrboro. He was sent to UNC hospital, Unfortunately, he died within hours of receiving his wounds. It was the first murder of 2009 in Orange County.

Within 24 hours, Mr. Eric Jermaine Bradshaw (30 of 8015 Sandberg Lane, Chapel Hill) was arrested for the murder. The details from the Orange Sheriff’s office spoke of an argument at 3400 Butler Road involving the victim, the alleged shooter, and a Mr. Keitha Burnett. Curiously, all were African-American. None lived at the house where the shooting occurred. (See Carrboro Citizen Murder Story.)

Less than three months later, an Orange County district court judge dismisses the murder case against Mr. Bradshaw. No explanation for the dismissal is given. The judge is not identified. (See N&O Dismissal Story.)

In a jurisdiction having a murder a day, that lackadaisical reporting might not be a big deal. However, Orange County has at worst a handful of murders a year. If one believed that locals should elect their judges out of better knowledge, then what does it say when the local media doesn’t report who let a homicide perpetrator go?

An eyewitness identified the shooter. Yet, the anonymous judge let him go. Why?

For that matter which judge let him go? Is this a drug deal gone bad? Or is it a case of self-defense?

No word on how many will vote in the next election for the anonymous judge without even knowing the curious behavior behind the Young murder case.

Most jurisdictions having the option to charge new residential construction impact fees (for capital costs like upgraded school capacity) would strive to keep those fees current. By doing so, the trust fund containing those fees would grow in anticipation of the next new school occasioned by the residential growth associated with those fees. By doing so, much of the public school capital spending wouldn't come from property tax increases.

However, Orange County isn’t like most places in North Carolina. Having fought to get local authorization for residential impact fees, Orange County Commishes have been lax in keeping those fees set to the maximum allowed by state law. As reported earlier by the Pulp, Commishes have only recently raised impact fees from rates set back in 2001. Moreover, rather than raise them to the maximum, Commishes have settled for a fraction of the permissible rates. Developers have been underpaying impact fees by 77%, paying only 23% of what they could be charged by the county for a city district infrastructure impact fee. For the county, developers have been underpaying impact fees by 68%, paying only 32% of what they could be charged by the county. The difference has been paid by taxpayers, almost $15,000 per house.

How much did the Commish raise the fees?
The commishes approved $7616 for the city school district and $3749 for the county school district. However, the current maximum allowable support impact fee of the city school district is $19,039. For the county district, that fee is $9,372. (Pulp readers should keep in mind that the city school district has built nearly twice as many schools as the county district in the last 20 years.) In other words, even with the increase the Commishes are foregoing $11,423 (or over 150% of the raised city impact fee) in the city school district and are foregoing $5623 (again over 150% of the raised county impact fee).

(Pulpsters should remember the school equity/merger debate of several year ago when Commish Mike Nelson, then Carrboro mayor, spoke about the free ride of city school district residents. With current impact fees, the “free ride ” of city district residences pay almost twice as much in impact fees as county district residents.)

Such developer largesse has its financial consequences.

On 28 April 2009, the Commishes told the board of the city school district some “shocking” news. They don't have enough money to build the 11th elementary school in the city school district, scheduled to be opened in Fall 2011. The projected Northside neighborhood school, home to the Greenbridge gentrification controversy, must be put on hold immediately.

According to city school board chairperson Lisa Stuckey, ”It really does come as a shock tonight that we need to lay off our architect and everyone involved with that project.”

Shock doesn't overcome empty pockets. “None of us want to change the direction in which we were headed for Elementary 11. The county’s ability to do it right now is just uncertain.” (See N&O School Fund Bankrupts.)

How much money left on the table?
If you figure that OWASA has gained 3100 users since 2001 in the city school district area, and that $15,000 has been left on the table for each user, then the total missing moneys from the school construction trust fund is over $46,000,000. That's enough money to pay for about two elementary schools.

OWASA water demand is 16% down from FY 2001. That's a significant achievement considering that customer accounts have increased by about 3100. What’s the reward for OWASA user conservation? Is it lower costs? No.

OWASA (fresh off telling off Orange County Commishes to keep their hands off ten acres of a spray sludge area for a trash transfer station) proposes to reward OWASA water and sewer users with a 9.75% monthly user charge. (That's in addition to the 17% increase last year.) A public hearing is set for May 28th to approve this increase for FY 2009-2010.

Here’s what the proposed increase means to you as an OWASA individually metered user.

This increase comes in spite of OWASA eliminating 10 full time filled employment positions and freezing hiring on 8 full time vacant positions.

OWASA blames increased chemical costs. OWASA is silent as to whether or not the chemical increase stems from inflationary pricing or from inflationary usage due to a change in practices, such as the odor reduction programs recently put in place.