Hemlock Bluffs

Cary, NC – The Woolly Adelgidis an aggressive hemlock destroyer. They have been discovered at Cary’s Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, the Town of Cary has reported to the CaryCitizen. The Town is working with local, state, national experts to finalize and implement treatment plan.

From the TOC Alert:

The bug has the potential to decimate Hemlock tree populations when left untreated.  Initial research revealed the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, an invasive, non-native aphid-like insect, has impacted about 11 of the Preserve’s 235 Eastern Hemlock trees to date.  The Adelgid, when left unchecked, kills Hemlocks by feeding at the base of their needles, preventing nutrients from flowing to the needles; the needles drop, and the tree dies.  It can take just a few years for Woolly Adelgids to kill even large Hemlocks.  The Woolly Adelgids were found during a routine tree mapping project that was being conducted as Town staff worked proactively to update a proposed Hemlock Woolly Adelgid management plan originally created in 2005 and last updated in 2008.

“The Town of Cary is bringing the necessary resources and best minds to bear on the Woolly Adelgid presence here,” said Doug McRainey, Parks Planning Manager. “We are committed to developing and implementing a treatment protocol and long-term management plan that effectively preserves our Hemlocks while minimizing impacts to other natural inhabitants.”

Hemlock Bluffs

Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve is a unique 158-acre site in southern Cary where Eastern Hemlocks grow along north-facing bluffs, far from their normal range in the foothills and mountains of North Carolina.

The Preserve is a partnership between the Town of Cary— which maintains the Preserve, operates the educational programs and owns onsite structures—and the State of North Carolina, which owns most of the land and helps guide its stewardship.

Approximately 100,000 visitors come each year to enjoy Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve and the Stevens Nature Center.

Fighting the Bug

The Town of Cary is collaborating with divisions of the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the United States Forest Services, North Carolina State University, Bartlett Tree Experts, and others to finalize a multi-phased approach to eliminate existing Adelgids and manage recurrences.

Officials are planning to begin killing the Adelgids during the next few months.  Common methods for controlling the Woolly Adelgid population include injecting treatments into the soil surrounding the tree or into the tree itself and/or spraying trees with special soaps or horticultural oils; there is even research being done on introducing predatory insects to attack the Adelgids, but this treatment has not yet been proven as an effective alternative.

“Despite a handful of anticipated future schedule modifications when we are actively treating the Hemlocks, the Preserve is open and we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy themselves,” McRainey said, adding that the Woolly Adelgid poses no health threat to people, pets or other plants.

Interested parties may subscribe to a list of closures during treatments by clicking the green envelope found at www.townofcary.org.

To reduce the likelihood of recurrences, this September the Town will launch a Hemlock Health Inventory, which will be designed to map all of the Hemlocks in and around Cary and provide property owners and landscape professionals with resources to identify trees impacted by the Woolly Adelgid and encourage appropriate treatment protocols for private property owners.

Citizens wishing to share ideas, questions, comments or concerns about the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve may email hemlocks@townofcary.orgor call (919) 387-5980.  For regular updates and project information, visit Woolly Adelgid at www.townofcary.org or follow the Town on Twitter.

News on CaryCitizen is sponsored by Crossroads Ford.

Photo from the "Run With HEART 5K" Facebook page

Morrisville, NC -  Hatcher Grove Baptist Church located on the corner of Davis Drive and Morrisville Parkway  held the “Run With Heart 5K” this past Saturday. The pack of runners (and walkers) left from Town Hall Drive in Morrisville in the early morning and finished anywhere from 18 minutes to about an hour later in the 3.1 mile race.

Erik Olsen of Durham took the top spot at 18 minutes. All of the runners should be congratulated for finishing on one of the hottest days of the year!

Proceeds from the race will benefit Remnant Outreach Centers of Kindness, Inc. (ROCK).  ROCK is a non-profit organization started in 1999. It is committed to addressing the needs of the communities of Morrisville, Cary, Holly Springs, Apex and Raleigh.  Rock pledges to build healthy minds through educational enrichment opportunities for youth including tutoring services and pre-college programs.

From the Run With Heart web site:

“This was my first 5K and I had a great time. I was very impressed with how organized everything was. All the the volunteers were amazing and went out of their way to help participants. I don’t know if it’s typical in these kinds of races to offer so many snacks (oranges, powerade, shaved ice, etc.) but that was really great.”

News on CaryCitizen is sponsored by Ashworth Drugs

Cary, NC – Hard on the heels of acquiring Memex, SAS, headquartered here in Cary, has made another acquisition. This time, it’s VSTI, a move that aims to help the U.S. intelligence community speed predictive analysis and decision making to ultimately “defeat and deter threats and save lives”. 

VSTI is a provider of advanced software systems that assist with analytic discovery and information dissemination,  particularly within the US federal government intelligence community. It was founded in 1997 and is based in Ellicott City, MD. VSTI employs 60 people.

Customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, Navy, Air Force and the State of Maryland Consulting and Technical Services. All VSTI staff and the current management structure will be retained, according to the SAS announcement.

News on CaryCitizen is sponsored by SAS Championship

Cary, NC – Sunrise Assisted Living of Cary on Chatham Street is hosting a celebration this coming weekend – July 23 and July 24 - to celebrate their “first birthday”. There will be free 20 minute massages on July 23 from 1:00-4:00 pm.  The massages are being donated by Miller-Motte Technical College, here in Cary. Donations will be accepted to benefit Alzheimer’s NC.

Call 919-462-9147 to schedule your time slot.

There will also be a kid-friendly carnival on Saturday the 24th from 2:00-4:00 pm with free hot dogs, sno-cones, spoon races, cornhole and more - and even a chance to douse the Executive Director, Rich Murray, in the “dunk tank”. There will be tours of the facility available.

“We are so happy to celebrate not only our first birthday, but also our 85th resident to this wonderful community.  We want to celebrate it with the residents of Cary,” Director of Community Relations Brigitte Specht told the CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – Bob Evans is hosting a Community Fun Night supporting Zach’s Toy Chest.

Zach’s Toy Chest is a local non-profit benefiting children undergoing cancer treatments at local North Carolina hospitals.  They provide toys and other essential items children need to pass time during the long hours of treatments, such as chemotherapy.  Zach’s Toy Chest will earn 15% of sales when customers check out with a flyer.

Head on over to Bob Evans, located at 2001 Walnut Street, Cary on Thursday, July 29^th from 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM and help.

You can email zachstoychest@gmail.com for a flyer if you do not have one - good for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Georgina's of Morrisville - one of 72 eateries

Morrisville, NC – Last week we talked to Mayor Jackie Holcombe and she briefly mentioned the Morrisville Dine Local initiative to support the 72(!) eateries there.  I got the full story from Morrisville Chamber of Commerce President Sharon Rosche and Morrisville Councilman Tom Murray. They contacted me when they saw me post a question about it on Mayor Holcombe’s Facebook page! 

“The object of the project is to increase traffic in our local restaurenat by local residents,” Tom Murray told the CaryCitizen.

They had a small work group – Council Members Tom Murray, Pete Martin and Linda Lyons that volunteered to work with Sharon Rosche.  Then they had a logo contest to promote the idea. By the way, congrats go out to the logo contest winner, Chuck Vitello!

Chuck Vitello's winning entry

“The Chamber and our Mayor are big advocates of the shop local concept. New businesses have popped up everywhere in Morrisville. We want our citizens to know they don’t need to travel to out of town anymore to find good eateries,” said Sharon Rosche. “We will also advertise these promotions to local companies for their employees if the restaurant is a Chamber member.”

Good idea!

 News on CaryCitizen is sponsored by Crossroads Ford.

Story by Matt Young. Photos by Hal Goodtree.

Morrisville, North Carolina – Here in Cary, we are fortunate to have a good neighbor in the Town of Morrisville. The folks of Morrisville are fortunate to have a Mayor who is “in it” for the good of the town she loves.

We were greeted warmly by Mayor Holcombe in Morrisville’s beautiful Council Chambers on Thursday of last week.

“I ran for Mayor of Morrisville simply because I thought I could help.  I feel like I am a problem solver, and a good listener. I believed that Morrisville had challenges, but not insurmountable ones. But we are kind of at a crossroads. We had the opportunity in front of us to become innovative leaders, but at the same time act as one body coming to a consensus to make decisions that were in the best interest of this town.”

The Mayor’s Bio

Jackie went to the University of Florida (College of Engineering), where she also met her husband, Rick – a chemical engineering student at the time. They were soon married and moved around the south.

In 1989 they left Jacksonville, Florida for Cary for Rick’s job at Reichhold Inc. The White Plains, NY-based company had relocated their corporate HQ to Research Triangle Park.

The Holcombes spent 13 years in Cary, then moved to Morrisville 8 years ago. “Morrisville was closer to RTP, it had a small town feel, and we found a home with space that could be converted to an apartment for our daughter with special needs,” she told us.

They have two children: Lindsay and Kristin.  Kristin lives in Asheville.

Becoming the Mayor

Jackie Holcombe was involved in the Town of Cary while she lived here.  She held a small role in Mayor Glenn Lang’s (1999-2003) successful bid to become Mayor of Cary. She got involved “in a small way” in Cary politics and “was fascinated by it and interested in it”.

After they had become residents of Morrisville, in 2005, she ran unopposed for a Town Council slot.  Jackie ultimately was forced to resign from the Morrisville Town Council as a result of some health problems.

“Little by little, as I recovered, I got more and more involved in what was happening in Morrisville. Some folks were glad to see me in Town Hall, some…not so much,” she told us laughing.

Ms. Holcombe then became a member of the committee working on the Land Use and Transportation Plan in 2008. She had concerns about the way growth was happening and believed that infrastructure needed to exist to support growth – and that the town needed to increase its focus on careful planning.

Meanwhile, her children were getting older and becoming self-reliant. In 2009, with the support of her husband Rick, she ran for Mayor and won with 62% of the vote. ”We knocked on a lot of doors, pretty much every one. A lot of people helped, but Rick was amazing. Every day during the campaign he asked me what he could do to help that day.”

Today’s Issues

Today, she works “crazy hours” and is tackling the issues she discussed while on the campaign trail – sepecially transportation, long term financial health and responsive government.

“Together we need to define the direction for Morrisville,” she said. ”I want the Town of Morrisville to be a place where a wide range of people are comfortable to call it home.  You know, young families, seniors, diverse cultures. A lot of people don’t know this but Morrisville is the only Wake county municipality to issue more single family residential permits in 2009 than in 2008.”

At the same time, she says, the town needs to be frugal with its budgeting processes, avoid raising taxes and ensure that adequate infrastructure (such as traffic controls) accompanies growth.  On Tuesday, July 13, the Council will vote on the Town Center Code.

Her vision is that Morrisville will one day have a more enhanced ”center of town” – with a community gathering space, a cultural arts center and small shops and restaurants.  ”I am also working with Jan Faulkner (Morrisville’s previous Mayor) and others on the creation of a philanthropic organization called ‘The Morrisville Community Foundation,’” she told us.

The Mayor said, “Tuesday we expect to pass our plan for Town Center Zoning Plan.  We will strive to become more aesthetically pleasing, to have sensitivity toward our environment and give defintion to downtown Morrisville without raising property taxes.”

Buckwheat Hulls

Jackie owns a buckwheat hull business called It’s Lagniappe where she sells the hulls in 2 pound, 10 pound and 18 pound packages.  She came on it quite by accident.

She had made a pillow as a gift using the hulls for a friend in 2004. The hulls are used to make meditation pillows and the like. She sold the leftover buckwheat hulls on eBay and in the process found a niche market. She then created “an accidental business”. This then became a means to provide part time employment (a few hours a week) for her daughter Lindsay and Lindsay’s peers.

Jackie also contacted N.C. State to see if they could come up with a way to automate the packaging. “Did you try using a scoop?,” was the first question she was asked by the Mechanical Engineering Department. ”Uh yes, we tried that,” Jackie replied, laughing.  Eventually it became a senior design class project and the State students put together a low-tech packaging system using a workshop vacuum cleaner.

Lindsay and her friends do the work of packaging the hulls in the Holcombe home.

Life With Cary

“Yes we’re good neighbors. Mayor (Harold) Weinbrecht and I talk. I knew Harold and Belinda years ago when our kids went to preschool together”. They talk about budgets and land use and transportation issues. They formally meet at the monthly Wake County Mayor’s Meeting. Next month they are going to catch a Mudcats game together.

“I’m a mom, wife, mayor, disability rights advocate and facilitator of www.BuckwheatHull.com. But this… isn’t about me. It’s about the 10 square miles affectionately known as “The Heart of the Triangle.” That quote is from the Mayor’s blog. Quintessential Jackie.

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News on CaryCitizen is sponsored by YMCA of the Triangle

Kangaroo Express has announced a $200,000 donation to Victory Junction Camp – a summer camp founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their late son Adam, dedicated to providing life changing experiences for children dealing with chronic medical conditions.

The money was raised through an in-store promotion with partnership support from Coca-Cola, the North Carolina Petroleum and Convenience Marketers and the South Carolina Association of Convenience Stores.

“Thanks to Kangaroo Express and all our corporate partners, dozens of children will enjoy a wonderful summer camp experience in the company of others who are enduring the same frustrations.”  Victory Junction Camp, located in Randleman, N.C., has welcomed 13,000 children and families since opening in 2004. “The Victory Junction camping experience empowers children by giving them a sense of independence. Thanks to the generous donations and hard work of our sponsors, we are blessed to be able to help make a difference in these children’s lives,” said Kyle Petty.

Kangaroo Express Vice President of Operations Brad Williams commented, “Kangaroo Express is extremely proud to participate in programs and events that make such a huge difference in the communities we serve.”

The cost of sending a child for one week to Victory Junction Camp is $2,500.

Story: Matt Young. Photos: Hal Goodtree

Cary, NC – We drove up to a neatly trimmed golf course cul-de-sac where every modest house had a American flag hanging from it, in the exact same spot next to the garage. I was early and waiting next to my car with Hal Goodtree, the publisher of the CC. Out of an open garage came Koka Booth waving us in.

We shook hands and he told us with a wink that we needed to get in the house quickly because “Blanche will fuss at me for letting you in the garage”.

I had never seen a garage quite like this. No garden tools, no grease stains, clean as a whistle.  Its walls were covered with mementos of Mr. Booth’s 40-year role as a key “founder” of our town as it is today and our Mayor from 1987-1999.

Coming to Cary

It was 1971. The town’s population was 7,640. Cary’s park system consisted of a ball park. The concept of Planned Urban Development (PUD) had just been conceived for Cary to accommodate new people moving here for RTP “mostly from IBM” .

Koka (his wife, Blanche calls him “Kokie”) told me, “There was no sewer or water, Kildaire Farm was really a farm on a two lane road. We had two traffic lights. If you needed anything you went to Raleigh…I loved it. But I had seen the town I was from go downhill from lack of progress and I didn’t want that to happen to my new home.”

Mayor Booth went on to tell us that he was a coal miner in Kenova, West Virginia  as a young man. He had watched the town go from 120,000 people down to 49,000.  Ultimately he had bought an interest in the coal mines and sold his share at a handsome profit.

One of the reasons he and Blanche decided to come to Cary was the Cary High School Band’s reputation (for their son).  He was told about Cary by a “dear friend”.  After moving here the family soon became active in the Cary High School band and in the Town of Cary itself.  Jimmy Burns – the CHS Band Director - ”soon had them  performing at the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl and 140 other events”.

With development of Research Triangle Park in the 1960s, Cary began to grow as a bedroom community for the park from a quiet town of a few thousand people. Growth escalated during the 1970s, with the population nearly tripling to 21,763. The population doubled during the 1980s, and doubled again during the 1990s.
- From the TOC web site.

The New Mayor and New Cary

Koka soon was a member of the Town Council and was elected Mayor of Cary in 1987. Research Triangle Park was booming. IBM was hiring. Firetrol came here. American Airlines and Container Graphics came here.  Then Hunter Industries. SAS came to Cary in 1980. The tax base was quickly going from residential to industrial.

He welcomed this growth, taking advantage of it to clean up and develop downtown and adopting a new sign ordinance.  Water treatment facilities were built along with new roads, sidewalks, neighborhoods, parks and recreation facilities.

The Mayor recruited people to work on the new Cary. He told me the story of developer Jeff Sugg. Koka wanted him to join him in Cary politics. Mr. Sugg was resistant. “Koka I’ll do it if you kiss a pig,” he said. Jim Graham, who passed away in 2003, was Agricultural Commissioner at the time. “Well Jim brought in the cutest little pink pig. Kokie kissed it. It was in all the papers. Jeff kept his word,” Blanche said.

“We came up with the concept and consummated the Bond Park idea, for example, in a meeting at a motel.  There was nothing there. Nothing on High House at all. That was a deal that was a great one for us. And it was a bargain.”  Blanche was nodding her head. The Mayor’s eyes were twinkling.

The Booths Today

Their house is filled with awards, and pictures with celebrities and other memories of his service to our town. There’s a montage picture of Koka and Tipper Gore laughing. As the photographer snapped the picture Booth made the “bunny ears” gesture behind her head. In the next shot she is doing it to him.  It is signed “I don’t know who started this, Tipper”. “Kokie’s a Republican,” Blanche told us laughing.

These days Mayor Booth is recovering from a stroke he had in August of 2004, when he was 74. Mrs. Booth commented that he keeps busy these days with the yard. ”When there is a task to be done, he must always do it ‘right now’,” Blanche told us.

I looked at the player piano in their living room and commented on it. True to form and on cue, Koka ran upstairs and brought down a paper roll and inserted it into the 1903 antique. “THAT is his pride and joy,” Blanche said. “We had hours of fun with that in the old days.” Soon he was furiously pumping the foot pedals as it played some old tune.

Hal and I had to try it. And we did. We were all laughing like old friends. He began reminiscing about N.C. native Kay Kyser concerts in Rocky Mount, his coaching his church’s basketball team, his stint in public relations with SAS, and his love of his wife and his two sons.

Legacy

I asked him if he had any regrets as we ended our interview.

“I’d like to just pass them by. Know what I mean? We made a difference.” He soon got serious, and began sounding like “The Mayor” again. “Look, please don’t give me credit in your article for anything. I was just here. I loved Cary then and I love it now. I am happy with what our town has become. Any credit goes not to me but to a lot of amazing people that selflessly worked on the vision to make Cary a great place to work and raise a family.”

A Lasting Image

One of the items on the wall in the garage was an ink & paper sketch of Page Walker with some text. The words are reproduced below.

“Greetings family and friends. This year I decided to do a pen-and-ink of a significant landmark in the history of Cary, North Carolina - the newly restored Page-Walker Hotel which will be dedicated this evening and become the center for visual and performing arts. As I sat across the tracks and sketched this morning a man with a broom and a leaf blower drove up and began diligently tidying porch and walks for the ceremony. It turned out to be our mayor. Does this tell you something about the spirit of our town?  Tonight after the dedication the first art exhibit in the beautiful new gallery will be opened to the public. I hope each of you will have a wonderful holiday with loved ones. Pete Turner”   – Holiday Letter to Friends from Artist Pete Turner 1994

If you look carefully, you can see Koka on the porch with a broom.

Cary, NC – SAS has acquired Memex, an intelligence management solutions company working to help improve intelligence processes, enhance public safety, and prevent and deter crime, terrorism and other threats, the company tells the CaryCitizen.

Memex has a presence in the law enforcement and homeland security markets. SAS is already a player in the worldwide public security and safety markets and intends to carve out a global leadership position, according to SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. Ian Manocha, Managing Director, SAS UK and Ireland will serve as Memex Chairman.

“The Memex acquisition is a key element of our global initiative to enhance our law enforcement, criminal justice, homeland security and intelligence offerings. I want SAS to be the first company public security organizations call to help them apply analytics to solve crime and protect citizens.”

With the acquisition SAS plans to be able to target the emerging market for fusion centers, which combine the resources of multiple law enforcement agencies. Several US states and major cities have fusion centers that are using Memex technology.

Ian Manocha

The move is consistent with SAS’ strategy of acquiring companies with crucial technologies that enhance or extend SAS’ own product line.

Within the past two years, according to their media feed,  SAS has also aquired Teragram – a 40-person firm headquartered in Cambridge, MA, expanding SAS’ analytical portfolio with natural language processing and advanced linguistic technology and IDeaS Revenue Optimization, a 200-person Minneapolis firmworking on analytics, business intelligence and industry-specific solutions for the travel and hospitality industries.

Both SAS and Memex are privately held. Financial terms of the acquisition are not available.