The News & Observer, Sept. 19, 1991
By SUSAN KAUFFMAN, Staff writer
CHAPEL HILL -- A state slip of the ax has caused some town residents to criticize the state Department of Transportation for cutting more trees than they say were necessary as it widens the bypass around town.
Two weeks ago contractors for the transportation department began clearing wide swaths of trees and foliage to expand the intersection of South Columbia Street and N.C. 54 -- another stage in the bypass widening project.
In the process, a state highway subcontractor mistakenly cleared a patch of hardwood trees and brush on private property in the Westwood neighborhood, which borders N.C. 54 to the north.
As a result some people are angry about the clearing in general that stretches west on N.C. 54 as well as the encroachment onto private property.
"It was quite a slaughter of trees, not just for the property owners immediately affected, but for drivers on Fordham Boulevard. It's an absolute disaster," council member Joseph A. Herzenberg said.
...
Riding herd on the state is what another Westwood resident asked the Chapel Hill Town Council to do last week. Brent Lambert, backed by a group of neighbors, informed council members that he had prevented more damage from occurring on the property of his neighbor, Sydenham B. "Syd" Alexander.
"I hope the council takes this example and acts upon it to prevent it happening in the future," Mr. Lambert said.
...
Council members said they shared Mr. Lambert's concern.
"The tree protection task force worked for well over a year on the ordinance and all the time, the bad guys we had in mind were private developers, utility companies or maybe a crazed anti-tree citizen," Mr. Herzenberg said. "We never seriously considered a government agency would indulge in massacring trees."
Thursday, September 19, 1991
Saturday, September 14, 1991
Group to seek gay candidates - Fund-raiser, meeting set
The News & Observer, Sept. 14, 1991
By MARLA COHEN, Staff writer
DURHAM -- A new organization wants to bring more candidates for public office out of the closet and into the state political arena.
The North Carolina Lesbian and Gay Political Action Agenda is gearing for its organizational meeting and fund-raiser on Sept. 21. One goal is to encourage openly gay and lesbian candidates to run for local and statewide public offices.
"We already know there are lesbians and gays in the General Assembly," director Mandy Carter said. "We want more to run, but we also want those who are already there to feel like it's not political suicide to be out."
...
One way the group hopes to achieve its goal is by putting money behind its endorsements. And development of a political action committee could go a long way toward that end, Ms. Carter said.
Although forming too late to tackle the 1991 elections, Ms. Carter and another organizer, Michael R. Nelson, have roughly sketched plans for the next five years.
...
After the 1990 Senate race in which Republican Sen. Jesse A. Helms defeated Democrat challenger Harvey B. Gantt, gay and lesbian organizers realized a need for an ongoing political organization to promote their interests. During that heated race, N.C. Senate Vote '90 was formed.
Senate Vote '90 sought to defeat Mr. Helms by conducting a campaign against him independent of Mr. Gantt's efforts. The group raised about $275,000 in its efforts, said Ms. Carter, who was the organization's only paid staffer.
Mr. Nelson, who ran as an openly gay candidate for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in 1989, said it would be premature to discuss specific goals of any political action committee that develops from these efforts. But generally, the group would aid gay and lesbian campaigns as well as those of heterosexual candidates that are supportive of gay issues.
Nationwide there are 56 openly gay and lesbian elected officials. Including political appointees, there are more than 1,000 out-of-the-closet officials, according to figures from the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a Washington-based political committee concerned about gay and lesbian issues.
But North Carolina's only openly gay office holder is Chapel Hill Town Council member Joseph A. Herzenberg.
And while political action committees have come under fire as a way for private interests to fill campaign coffers, organizers say they are part of the system.
"I have some reservations about them myself," said Mr. Herzenberg, who said he would not use any funds from this or any other political action committee in his re-election campaign. "But they are part of the political landscape, and an effective way of citizens getting their will across to elected officials."
By MARLA COHEN, Staff writer
DURHAM -- A new organization wants to bring more candidates for public office out of the closet and into the state political arena.
The North Carolina Lesbian and Gay Political Action Agenda is gearing for its organizational meeting and fund-raiser on Sept. 21. One goal is to encourage openly gay and lesbian candidates to run for local and statewide public offices.
"We already know there are lesbians and gays in the General Assembly," director Mandy Carter said. "We want more to run, but we also want those who are already there to feel like it's not political suicide to be out."
...
One way the group hopes to achieve its goal is by putting money behind its endorsements. And development of a political action committee could go a long way toward that end, Ms. Carter said.
Although forming too late to tackle the 1991 elections, Ms. Carter and another organizer, Michael R. Nelson, have roughly sketched plans for the next five years.
...
After the 1990 Senate race in which Republican Sen. Jesse A. Helms defeated Democrat challenger Harvey B. Gantt, gay and lesbian organizers realized a need for an ongoing political organization to promote their interests. During that heated race, N.C. Senate Vote '90 was formed.
Senate Vote '90 sought to defeat Mr. Helms by conducting a campaign against him independent of Mr. Gantt's efforts. The group raised about $275,000 in its efforts, said Ms. Carter, who was the organization's only paid staffer.
Mr. Nelson, who ran as an openly gay candidate for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in 1989, said it would be premature to discuss specific goals of any political action committee that develops from these efforts. But generally, the group would aid gay and lesbian campaigns as well as those of heterosexual candidates that are supportive of gay issues.
Nationwide there are 56 openly gay and lesbian elected officials. Including political appointees, there are more than 1,000 out-of-the-closet officials, according to figures from the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a Washington-based political committee concerned about gay and lesbian issues.
But North Carolina's only openly gay office holder is Chapel Hill Town Council member Joseph A. Herzenberg.
And while political action committees have come under fire as a way for private interests to fill campaign coffers, organizers say they are part of the system.
"I have some reservations about them myself," said Mr. Herzenberg, who said he would not use any funds from this or any other political action committee in his re-election campaign. "But they are part of the political landscape, and an effective way of citizens getting their will across to elected officials."
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