Carrboro High to add 4 A.P. classes

CARRBORO -- Carrboro High School will add four Advanced Placement courses after parents complained the new school was being shortchanged.

A.P. biology, A.P. chemistry, A.P. French and A.P. Latin will be offered next year, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen said Thursday.

The classes will be smaller than their counterparts at Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools. A.P. Latin, for example, has only six Carrboro High students signed up, Pedersen said.

"These are a stretch in terms of numbers, but we do recognize the school has to go through sort of a transition period," Pedersen said of the school, which gets its first senior class next school year.

Carrboro High will offer 15 A.P. classes next year, while Chapel Hill and East will offer 18 and 19, respectively.

Carrboro's A.P. slate is now close to the other two high schools, but its enrollment is not. Carrboro projects 769 students next year, compared to 1,387 at Chapel Hill High and 1,541 at East.

Jenny Kopczynski, the parent of a rising Carrboro High sophomore, is pleased her son now gets to take A.P. chemistry.

"I think the school board and Dr. Pedersen have a difficult challenge," she said.

-- Matt Dees, 956-2433; matt.dees@nando.com

Bail set for suspect in Avalon shooting

HILLSBOROUGH -- A judge set bail at $500,000 for Willie James Mayo, who is charged with first-degree murder and acting as an accessory after the fact in the fatal shooting of a man outside a downtown Chapel Hill nightclub two years ago.

Assistant District Attorney Lamar Proctor said Mayo, 29, drove alleged shooter Christopher Shipley, 26, back to the Avalon after they and Montaray Martese Self, 22, had left together following a fight inside.

Proctor said Mayo gave Shipley an SKS assault rifle to rob victim Kedrain Swann of a jewelry chain to replace one Shipley had lost in the fight.

"But for Mr. Mayo handing Mr. Shipley a loaded assault weapon, this crime never would have happened," Proctor said. "You don't just hand someone a loaded assault rifle and go back to the scene of a dispute and think we're just going to scare somebody."

Authorities say Shipley fired the rifle 11 times, hitting Swann seven times, and that Mayo had a handgun but did not fire it. Proctor asked that Mayo continue to be held without bail. But the district attorney's office does not intend to pursue the death penalty in the case, so Superior Court Judge Carl Fox said Mayo is eligible for bail.

-- Jesse James DeConto, 932-8760; jesse.deconto@nando.com

County confirms two more rabies cases

HILLSBOROUGH -- Orange County had two confirmed cases of rabies last week, its 11th and 12th of the year.

Last Sunday a resident in the Nick's Road and Oak Grove Church Road area in Mebane found his dog fighting with a raccoon. He used a broom to get the raccoon and dog away from each other, killed the raccoon and called Animal Control to remove it for testing.

The dog was already vaccinated against rabies and was taken for a rabies booster within 72 hours as required by state law. An unvaccinated cat or dog that comes in contact with a rabid animal must either be killed or quarantined for six months.

The case has been referred to the Orange County Health Department. A nurse will determine if any member of the household could have been exposed to rabies.

The rabid raccoon follows a rabid skunk found last Sunday in Hillsborough.

Of the 12 cases in the county, there have been nine raccoons, one bat, one skunk and one fox. Last year there were 19 cases, and in 2006 there were 27 cases.

If you suspect possible exposure from a rabid animal, call 911.

The Orange County Animal Services Department will hold $5 rabies clinics in August. For dates and times go to www.co.orange.nc.us/animalservices/rabies.asp.

-- From staff reports