Everyone who loves the outdoors knows that fall is the time of year when mushrooms appear as if by magic. Well, in Orange County the biggest mushroom of all has appeared: a full-blown campaign -- with supporting documentation -- to give Orange County an economic boost with a new, bigger airport!

Never mind that UNC holds the authority to plan this airport and acquire a site through eminent domain. Never mind that the county commissioners have not been privy to the plans. Never mind that there has been no public input. Never mind that nobody claims to have started this ball rolling.

The Talbert & Bright study (completed over four months ago) touting this great moneymaker was done for the UNC Foundation Inc., which "was established for the purpose of receiving gifts on behalf of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its schools and units" according to their Web site.

Interestingly, their Web site doesn't say anything about commissioning studies to make land-use and economic decisions for the county. Frankly, this is beginning to look like a well-planned conspiracy by UNC to take decisions of public good out of the hands of Orange County's citizens and elected officials.

Cathy Cole

Chapel Hill

Sociopaths should be kept off streets

I cannot, nor do I want to, imagine the horror that was in Josh Bailey's heart on that fateful day in July. For when I am forced to imagine this, I see my child -- I see your child as being possible victims of such inhumanity had the day been different.

What do we really know? That a young, funny, energetic, kind-spirited young man was robbed of his life by whom? We know at least one had already been up for rape charges in the past and should have never been allowed to walk the streets with decent human beings without shackles. But that doesn't explain his parents -- The "Ma and Pa Minton" cover-up team who police say assisted in the attempt to dispose of Josh's body a second time?

As a psychologist I know what I see: sociopaths. They prey. They intimidate. They kill. They do not have consciences -- and we do not know of any treatment (should we want to consider evil an illness) today which makes them grow one. We can only protect ourselves, our families and our friends by making sure these types of human beings are given the maximum punishment.

I have but one hope left -- that there will be justice for Josh Bailey! And, that these cold, Godless people who murdered Josh in cold blood will stand before man and God and be held accountable for what they have done.

Lynn Giddens

Chapel Hill

Town must get tough on sign-law offenders

"Sign, sign everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery breaking my mind" are the lyrics of an old song. I know how the songwriter must have felt. Chapel Hill is under siege by small commercial signs that seem to pop up daily at every intersection, advertising home-based businesses and other services.

Chapel Hill is an attractive town in part because of the strong sign ordinance, building set-back requirements, trees and lush landscaping. But these constantly proliferating signs are like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Not only aesthetically ugly, they are also visual distractions when drivers need to be watching the lights, pedestrians and other cars for safety's sake.

On Sept. 7, I complained to Town Hall because I had counted 32 signs advertising Tae Kwan Do, a furniture sale, cooking classes, tree and lawn services, pottery classes, horseback riding lessons, and a Web site for singles. I cannot begin to count the real estate sales and directional signs. The two town employees I spoke with were both professional and responsive, explaining that they went out weekly solely to remove these illegal signs -- as they did the day I complained.

Guess what? Last weekend as I went about my errands I counted 36 brand new ones. This morning, there were exactly 10 new identical signs at the intersection of MLK and Estes.

So where does this escalating problem end? I don't understand why these selfish businesses that have been officially notified about their illegal signs can't be meaningfully penalized to force them to stop littering our public right of ways.

John Bell

Chapel Hill

Column on death hit a nerve with this mom

Eunice Brock's column "Motherless daughters" (CHN Sept 6) really moved me.

I am a mom with two small girls, and I cannot fathom what it would be like for them if I was not around. Unfortunately, my best friend who also has two young girls has just been diagnosed with brain cancer and will not live for another two years. She is my age, 44 years old. Her daughters, ages 8 and 6, will grow up without their mom, whom I have loved as my "other sister."

Although she knows that she is not going to make it, sometimes she denies it, so puts off attempts to leave something behind for her girls to remember her by and advice for them on what to expect in life. I want to know how to tell her, how to tell her girls they will have a life without her and what to do when they feel as Brock does ... and has, throughout her life.

If I were better equipped with information, I could help my friend and her little girls. Although I live five hours away from them, I hope to be there for them through thick and thin.

Again, thanks to Eunice Brock for writing that. I hope to learn more from her in the future.

Laurin Easthom

Chapel Hill

Editor's note: To read Brock's column, go to www.chapelhillnews.com, click on "Opinion" and click on "My View"

Candidate fatigue? Try quitting

I can't remember an election producing such polarization. I detest the way I feel myself rush to judgments when I hear someone is supporting a candidate from the other side. For those, like me, who are looking for stress relief, I suggest quitting for your favorite candidate.

This is how I discovered this cure. Last August a friend and I realized that occasional cigarettes were becoming a habit and we looked for a way to quit. We decided that for every cigarette we smoked, we would send $25 to John McCain (a candidate neither of us supported) and if we could hold off for three months, we would send support to our favorite candidate. I quit cold turkey!

Last week a friend complained that her aggressive upset over Palin was going to destroy the marriage to her husband, he being a quiet Republican and she being an almost rabid Democrat. I told her that every time she made an ugly comment, she should write a $25 check to Sarah Palin. It turned her behavior around overnight!

So if you, like me, are stressed and want relief, I suggest quitting for your favorite candidate. Whether you're Republican, Democrat, or Independent, this is your chance to lose weight, get yourself exercising or quit a bad habit. Just make a pledge to write a check to the candidate you oppose. For me, it helps me laugh a little, make others laugh, and eases the tension.

Susie Wilde

Chapel Hill

Please don't change historic Glen Lennox

Remembering many of the first apartment occupants in Glen Lennox, I come up with some familiar names such as Orville Campbell, Charlie Justice and Ty Boyd. The complex was so nice and there were interesting things about it known to all. Mr. Muirhead was greatly admired for having brought a part of his homeland to our town. Selecting names for the streets was special: Hamilton, Lanark, Hayes, Flemington, Audley, Maxwell, etc. I believe he named the streets to be reminiscent of places in Scotland.

Mr. McIntosh was the first manager I recall. I remember him as being a dear fatherly kind of man who was always kind and pleasant to me. Later came Mr. Croft, and he was a wonderful friend. I still keep in touch with his daughter in Washington, D.C., and she visits in Chapel Hill.

I lived on Lanark Road at one time and on Audley Lane later. Those were happy years in Glen Lennox. To even consider removing it or changing it seems totally wrong to me. I hope Grubb Properties will reconsider the plans they've been thinking about. It is a special place, and I've called it home all of my 82 years. Please do not change our first apartment complex.

Claudia C. Cannady

Chapel Hill

Fear kept McCain from facing Obama

Barack Obama proved to the country that he can handle the presidential duties with grace, poise, honesty and intellectual integrity. He showed his desire to be inclusive and to cross party lines by looking at McCain during the debate. McCain never glanced at Sen. Obama. I kept wondering why. Watching CBS the next morning, I learned that it is not rudeness but fear that keeps someone from looking another in the eyes. CBS's morning show has had a body language expert following the campaign and reporting his findings. I found his comments very interesting.

McCain spent the week before the debate "jerking" the public around by announcing the suspension of his campaign until a bailout bill was passed. Andrea Mitchell reported after the debate that McCain had spent three to four hours in an auditorium that Thursday night prepping for the meeting with Sen. Obama. Why didn't he admit that he was going to the debate until sometime on Friday when he knew he would attend on Thursday?

Sen. Obama made it clear during the debate that he will reduce taxes for people making less that $250,000 a year and that he will make it a priority to remove our troops from Iraq in a reasonable way. We need to be spending the money we will save leaving Iraq on domestic programs, especially in light of Iraq's $79 billion surplus.

Our economy, educational system, highways and bridges, just to name a few of many issues facing the United States, need new leadership. I am not better off than I was eight years ago, and I encourage everyone to register to vote and to vote for Obama-Biden in this life-changing election.

Peggy Akers

Chapel Hill

UNC wasting tax dollars with airport

The context of this letter comes as the economy implodes around us and we, the general public, are saddled with generations of debt in order that the wealthiest not feel the consequences of their greed (heaven forbid that!). Unfortunately we don't have to look far to find similar examples of outrageous government waste and coddling of wealthy special interests -- the proposed UNC airport project.

This is an appalling project that abrogates local government to take land from hard-working local citizens for a bloated project that will endanger our water supply, destroy thousands of acres of pristine countryside, and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars so that a handful of wealthy elites can save a few minutes time over flying into RDU. It's outrageous!

The results of UNC's own commissioned study in 2005 (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars) said that the best location for AHEC and for relocated Horace Williams traffic would be a new hanger at RDU, which would cost $2 million (rather than the upwards of $50 million or more to put a new airport in the county). UNC I guess didn't like that answer and, knowing that local citizens wouldn't approve of such a wasteful, unjust project, went around local government and got a rider slipped into a bill granting them the authority to simply take thousands of acres of private land through eminent domain and completely sidestep local elected government.

We absolutely do not need another airport in the county and I ask that UNC withdraw its plans and make the right decision and send the Horace Williams traffic to RDU.

Darren Dlugo

Chapel Hill

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