Lang Gets Retort on Schools

The dispute hasn’t landed in court yet, but the oral arguments

have begun.

At the Cary Chamber of Commerce’s annual planning conference

in Pinehurst recently, Cary Mayor Glen Lang said he had asked the

town attorney to investigate whether Cary had grounds to sue the

school board over a new policy designed to keep magnet schools

from draining students from traditional schools. Under the

policy, students assigned to Swift Creek and five other

elementary schools can no longer transfer to magnet schools.

Cary’s Lochmere subdivision and other neighborhoods no longer

have the same school choices. Lang complained, saying the policy

is discriminatory and could hurt property values.

At a school board planning retreat — which was held,

coincidentally, in Cary on Tuesday — Wake County Schools

Superintendent Bill McNeal said he had heard Lang’s threats, and

he had a retort: “What would the property values be around Swift

Creek if we allowed the school to stagnate?”

Awaiting word: The week passed without a new police chief

appointed in Durham, though the overwhelming support in many

camps of the Bull City is still for interim chief Steve Chalmers.

The decision is with City Manager Marcia Conner, who said she

hopes to choose a chief within a few days.

A possible clue: She said in an interview that she hadn’t made

an announcement yet because Chalmers is out of town.

Asked whether that meant he’d get the job, she said, “No. No.

I just don’t want to make a decision without talking to all of

the candidates. No.”

Meanwhile, word from Louisville, Ky., is that the Jefferson

County police chief, William Carcara, has told some people there

that it’s between him and Chalmers.

The other candidate, recently retired Kansas City deputy chief

Gregory Watkins, was a favorite with interview panels in Durham.

Conner would say only that she has a tough call to make.

A trouper: Durham City Council member Howard Clement kept a

full schedule this week while grieving for his wife, Dolores, who

died Sunday.

Clement said he had gone to all the regular meetings — even

introduced a guest at the Rotary meeting Monday — because it

kept his mind busy.

“It’s therapy,” he said. “And Dolores would want me to have

kept going.”

Clement also displayed a sense of humor about it, telling

reporters: “Y’all would write about me missing meetings if I

didn’t keep coming. Not now. But come November, you’d say Clement

was missing meetings.”

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Political Trail

– Donnie Harrison, a Republican running for Wake County

Sheriff, will have a fund-raiser from 4 to 8 p.m. today at 3636

Auburn Knightdale Road. The cost is $ 10 per person or $ 25 per

family.

– Al Nunn, a Republican running in state House District 34,

will have a fund-raising reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

at the Brownstone Hotel, 1707 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh.

– The Wake County Citizens For A Sound Economy will have their

annual hot dog supper Thursday from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at Pullen

Park picnic shelter No. 4. Special guest speaker will be Jerry

Agar, talk show host of WPTF 680 AM. The event is free. To RSVP,

please contact Rheta Burton at 807-0100.