VOLUME 147 ISSUE 15 | THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2024
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
inside Two Chatham girls’ soccer teams played in for state championships. Left, Woods Charter senior Leyla Noronha is consoled by Coach Graeme Stewart after the Wolves lost to Christ the King in the 1A title game. Meanwhile, Seaforth won the first girls’ soccer championship in school history in the 2A finals.
GENE GALIN FOR CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
For more sports, turn to Page B1.
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BRIEF this week
Pittsboro seeks Parks and Rec advisory board member The town is seeking a volunteer to serve on the Pittsboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Appointed by the Board of Commissioners, the member will serve a three-year term to advise, foster and promote Pittsboro Parks and Recreation facilities and programs. Interested applicants can get more information at pittsboronc.gov. The application deadline is June 20 at 5 p.m.
COURTESY CHATHAM COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Oh deer! COURTESY THOMAS BUILT BUSES
N.C. gets $19M for electric school buses The EPA awarded school districts in North Carolina $19 million to purchase 56 electric school buses. This was part of nearly $1 billion in nationwide grant awards announced this week. The Clean School Bus Program grants were funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which authorized a total of $5 billion for electric and low-emission school buses. $3 billion has already been allocated across several years of grants. Freightliner, the parent company of Thomas Built Buses, has significant operations in North Carolina and manufactures electric school buses at its facility in High Point.
Ohio man sentenced after threats to kill N.C. state senator Nicolas Alan Daniels, of West Portsmouth, Ohio, entered a plea to one felony count of threatening a legislative officer in a Wake County court last week. The 38-year-old received a suspended sentence of 6-17 months in addition to two years of probation. Daniels was arrested in February after he sent messages to Republican state Sen. Todd Johnson on Facebook last fall threatening to kill the Union County lawmaker and his family.
Officers with the Chatham Sheriff’s Animal Resource Center were able to help this dehydrated, injured fawn in downtown Pittsboro last week, bringing it to Holly’s Nest Wildlife Rehabilitation in Sanford. During baby fawn season, avoid handling fawns even if they appear to be alone. Often, their mother is nearby, and leaving them undisturbed is the best course of action. If a fawn has been left for more than 24 hours, call animal services.
Proposed county budget sees property tax increase The property tax rate would increase by $0.04 By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Board of Commissioners considered the nearly $200
million county budget for fiscal 2024-25 at its May 20 meeting. The proposed budget totals $193,344,509, an approximate 4% increase from last year. It includes an increased property tax rate of $0.04 to $0.725 per $100 valuation. “Essentially, every $100,000 of property value is about an in-
crease of $40 on an individual’s tax bill,” said Assistant County Manager Bryan Thompson. The budget allocates an additional $4 million to Chatham County Schools to cover increases in staff pay and benefits, operational costs, local teacher salary supplements and capital outlay.
It includes a 4% raise for Chatham County employees and an additional $2.8 million for the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office to cover additional staffing and other items. The board will give final approval to the budget at their June 17 meeting. “We are feeling a lot of significant financial pressures in the upcoming fiscal year, primarily around education, public safety and utilities, but our organization is well positioned to address our continued growth, and we are very optimistic about that See CHATHAM, page A2
Siler City to get 157 new NC ballot to have more jobs from $40M project presidential candidates Innovative Construction Group will begin construction on a new facility once annexation is approved By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record SILER CITY — The Siler City Board of Commissioners approved an economic incentive agreement with Innovative Construction Group, a building materials manufacturer, at its May 20 meeting. “This company is based in Jacksonville, Florida,” said
Chatham Economic Development Corporation President Michael Smith. “They also looked in two major metro areas, so it was exciting for us to win this project versus a site in Arizona and a site in Texas. It was competitive, as most projects are, and one of the things about this project is that since they’re a national firm, they had lots of choices, so we’re certainly grateful that this is the location they chose.” The proposed facility, located northeast of the Wolfspeed facility in the CAM site, will be See SILER CITY, page A3
RFK Jr. and Cornel West will likely be on the ballot this year By Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH — This fall’s presidential ballot in battleground North Carolina appears poised to lengthen after three political movements seeking to run candidates filed voter signature lists with state election officials by a Monday deadline. Groups that want Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West
on the ballot — the “We The People” party and Justice for All Party, respectively — as well as the Constitution Party had initiated petition drives to receive official party designations. That would allow the See BALLOT, page A2
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