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.