likely accident

Police say there is no sign of foul play in the death of a Fort Bragg soldier whose body was found in a creek last fall.

Chapel Hill Police Lt. Kevin Gunter said all signs indicate the death of 24-year-old Sgt. Shane Scott Pease of Decatur, Mich., was an accident.

Pease's body was found by a jogger on a trail Nov. 19.

Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill.

Gunter says there is evidence Pease fell into the creek.

Police don't know why Pease was in the area.

Pease was an infantryman in Company A, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

Fire departments

attend state class

HILLSBOROUGH Leaders from Orange County fire departments attended a class taught by the North Carolina Office of the State Fire Marshal recently.

The sessions focused on the requirements for improving the fire insurance ratings, which could reduce the cost of fire insurance premiums for property owners.

Insurance premiums, both residential and commercial, can be impacted by multiple variables, including installation of smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, construction material, square footage, number of stories/floors, distance from a fire station, etc. Insurance costs are also impacted by the ISO rating of the primary fire department covering a home or business.

More than 20 types of forms are potentially required for evaluating each fire department. As a sampling, form content ranges from water source volume, signed by a certified soil and water engineer to NCDOT certified weight rating of each fire truck.

Each requirement comes with a price tag and at times requires prioritization. Certified personal protective equipment or turnout gear with air pack runs about $5,000 per firefighter. OSFM requires a minimum of 20 members over the age of 18 for a single station and 28 members for a two-station department.

Orange County has 12 rural fire districts.

Library now has

EReader program

CHAPEL HILL Book, eBooks, Kindles and more! What do you think about the shift to digital library services?

Please fill out the Chapel Hill Public Library's community survey at www.surveymonkey .com/s/ L3YMRBT .

In December, the Library launched a eReader lending program. Each of the five Kindles available from the library will have the same content (i.e. eBook titles) preloaded. Borrowers will not be able to download more titles to the Kindle, nor will they be able to copy or remove titles from the Kindle. Program costs, benefits, and user satisfaction data will be gathered during a seven-month period. In July 2012, staff will analyze this data and recommend whether to continue, cease, or alter the eReader lending program.

For more information, contact Meeghan Rosen at 919-969-2046 or mrosen@townofchapelhill.org