News Briefs

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CCCC 12-week classes begin Sept. 15

Whether you are looking for flexible course choices to meet your personal schedule or starting a new program of study, Central Carolina Community College’s 12-week term allows you to find courses that fit your academic and career goals.

The next 12-week classes begin Sept. 15.

To register for courses, contact your advisor or the Admissions office at 919-718-7300 (Lee Main Campus), 919-545-8025 (Chatham Main Campus), and 910-814-8827 or 910-814-8867 (Harnett Main Campus).

See www.cccc.edu/12and8 for a list of classes.

For more information on Central Carolina Community College, visit www.cccc.edu.

Collection Centers closed

All 12 Solid Waste & Recycling Collection Centers and the Main Office will be closed Monday, Sept. 7, for Labor Day. All 12 Collection Centers and the office will be open as usual Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 7 am.

Siler City Fall-O-Ween Trunk ’R Treat Drive-Thru

Promote your business, organization, church, group, agency, etc. by giving away free candy/treats and promotional material at the fourth annual Fall-O-Ween Trunk ’R Treat Drive-Thru. The event will be held in Bray Park from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30. Attendees will remain in their vehicle and are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes while they drive through the park.

Community members look forward to the Fall-O-Ween Trunk ’R Treat experience each year as we have noticed attendance increase throughout the years; however, the safety of all participants and park patrons remain a top priority. While ensuring compliance with state and federal COVID-19 guidelines, the department has decided to proceed with planning the annual event with a modified unique twist.

All businesses, non-profits, groups, churches, civic groups, agencies, etc. are invited to register your trunk for the Siler City Trunk ’R Treat. Registration is free and the deadline to register your trunk is Oct. 29. Registration forms can be submitted by emailing recreation@silercity.org, mailing completed forms to P.O. Box 769, Siler City, or at City Hall (311 N 2nd Ave) or online. If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Spivey at 919-742-2699 or email dspivey@silercity.org.

Chatham native gets Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award

CANYON, Texas — Coral Kazaroff, an M.S. student in Nuclear Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and native of Chatham County, has been awarded a prize in the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Technology R&D. Kazaroff’s award is in the Undergraduate Competition. Her award-winning research paper, “Economic Benefits of Higher Enriched Assays for 24-Month Cycle Length,” was presented at the American Nuclear Society Global/Top Fuel conference in September 2019, while she was an undergraduate student in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering.

In order to be successful and retain its leadership role in nuclear technologies, the United States must foster creativity and breakthrough achievements to develop tomorrow’s nuclear technologies. The Department of Energy has long recognized that university students are an important source of breakthrough solutions, and a key component in meeting its long-term goals. The Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program was developed for this purpose.

The Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program is designed to: 1) award graduate and undergraduate students for innovative nuclear-technology-relevant research publications, 2) demonstrate the Department of Energy’s commitment to higher education in nuclear-technology-relevant disciplines, and 3) support communications among university students and Department of Energy representatives.

The program awarded 24 prizes in 2020 for student publications relevant to innovative nuclear technology. In addition to cash awards, award-winning students will have a variety of other opportunities.

For more information on the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program, visit www.nucleartechinnovations.org.

N.C. Board of Elections launches new website

RALEIGH — The State Board of Elections has launched a new and improved website to better inform North Carolinians about their options for registering to vote and casting a ballot in 2020 and beyond. The website URL remains the same: NCSBE.gov.

“At the State Board, we wanted the best user experience for voters and candidates in North Carolina,” executive director Karen Brinson Bell said. “We believe the new website is a huge leap forward in keeping voters informed about elections.”

The website was designed to be easier to understand and navigate, more mobile friendly, more accessible and more secure than the legacy site.

The website features much more information about voting by mail, including step-by-step instructions on the process. Another important feature is the revamped and redesigned Results & Data section. The State Board has always provided a wide variety of public data, and the new website builds on that tradition. The new section ensures that our data is not only available, but also accessible, transparent, and easily navigable. The new section of the website houses election results, candidate lists, polling place data, voting maps/redistricting information, absentee data, voter history data, and voter registration data.

A third highlight is that the new site is more mobile friendly at a time when the majority of voters look for election information on their smartphones or tablets.

The website is on the Digital Commons platform of the N.C. Department of Information Technology, which hosts the websites of many other state agencies.

DIT staff worked alongside the State Board’s Communications Team to create an accessible and functional site that will greatly improve the user experience.

“The team at DIT was instrumental in making this website project a success,” Brinson Bell said. “We appreciate their hard work and willingness to share their time and knowledge to help us each step of the way.”

Cary shells out $13.6 million for land in Chatham

The Town of Cary has closed on the purchase of a major tract of land in Chatham County, according to a story published in the Triangle Business Journal.

The report said Cary paid $13.6 million for about 220 acres of former farmland on Earnest Jones Road, north of Morrisville Parkway west of Hwy. 540, after a year of negotiations.

The town will utilize the property for “recreational activities and open space preservation,” but specific details have yet to be determined, according to a press release.

“The feeling is these opportunities are limited with the growth of Chatham County and we need to take advantage of it,” said Doug McRainey, Cary’s director of parks, recreation and cultural resources. “The good thing with Cary is we’re always looking to the future.”

McRainey said the next steps include preservation efforts on the property, likely some cleaning and analyses of historic structures to determine to what extent they can be maintained.

The TBJ reported the sellers included Donna Kay Roach, James Ray Robertson and Joe Ervin Robertson. David Ferrell of Chatham East, LLC represented the sellers and approached the Town of Cary with the opportunity, according to the release.

The property features extensive open space including woodlands, fields and a portion of Indian and Turtle creeks. It’s adjacent to a town-owned property on New Hope Church Road.

Working to curb impaired driving

RALEIGH — This Labor Day, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program is joining forces with the North Carolina Trucking Association, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety also known as (NETS), the North Carolina Highway Patrol and members of more than 500 law enforcement agencies around the state to help curb impaired driving.

Over the 2019 holiday week, 10 people died and almost 600 were injured as a direct result of impaired driving across our roadways. In addition, 66 lives were claimed due to speeding and distracted/sleepy driving.

“This Labor Day, as we continue to monitor drunk-driving trends, we are calling on our partners in law enforcement to not only help remove drunk drivers from the roadways but to also encourage hard-working North Carolinians to find ways to safely unwind,” said Mark Ezzell, the director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program (NCGHSP).

Tiffany Wright with AAA Carolinas projects that amidst COVID-19, many will be traveling, but closer to home: visiting North Carolina beaches, mountains, as well as family members and friends. Unfortunately, she says, some will be impaired behind the wheel.

“In response to the troubling number of deaths on the road as a result of impaired driving, we’re united in the plea encouraging North Carolina drivers to travel sober, obey traffic safety laws and drive vigilantly,” Wright said.

In addition to high-visibility saturation patrols across all 100 counties, the NCGHSP is utilizing the voices of those who travel the most roadway miles across our state — truckers.

“I’ve seen a lot of bad decisions made behind the wheel; people getting dressed, texting, reading the newspaper, and putting on makeup,” said D. Luke Mallory, a road team captain with the North Carolina Trucking Association. “Some are even using prescription drugs, illegal substances and drinking while driving.”

North Carolina truckers travel about 7.7 billion roadway miles of the 111.9 billion driven annually by all motorists. That puts them and other essential workers from the fields of medicine, utilities, food, emergency, industrial and commercial industries at increased risk on our highways.

“Impaired and dangerous driving affects me and the other hard-working men and women who have been stretched thin working hard to replenish our supply chains,” Mallory said. “I’m personally asking people this Labor Day to make better decisions behind the wheel.”

Trucking industry positions account for about one in 16 jobs in the state. And while the North Carolina Trucking Association puts safety first through improved driver training, Tara Casanova Powell of the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, a national industry group, urges all employers to consider traffic safety as an important part of employee wellness.

“We’re asking each employer: what happens when that worker who manages your payroll, or your website, or other employees, gets arrested for DWI?” Powell said. “What happens if they hit and kill someone while under the influence? It doesn’t matter if this happens on or off the job. The cost of impaired driving is not one that is exclusively paid by the perpetrator, as you an employer also become a victim. Impaired driving costs lives, reputations, money and relationships, and it’s all preventable. Impaired driving costs incurred by employers include lost time, sick leave, and health insurance costs to name a few.”

Powell says while many companies are focused on shifting their office cultures, they should consider making pre-planning part of their business models as well.

“Encourage your workers to plan ahead, call a ride-share, take public transportation or phone a friend, maybe even you, before they get behind the wheel impaired,” she added. “Their lives and your bottom line are counting on it.”

But of course, if drivers don’t adhere to the harkening of these voices, they’ll be met by the keepers of the peace.

“Our roadways will not go unchecked by the Highway Patrol or any of the 500 law enforcement agencies across our state,” said Colonel Glenn McNeill of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. “If you are impaired behind the wheel, we will be there. If you are speeding, we will be there. If you are distracted, we will be there. If you are putting others at risk, we will be there.”

For those who have a social media platform, show NCGHSP how you are celebrating safely. Mention @NCGHSP on Facebook and tag @NC_GHSP on Twitter and Instagram with #KeysFreeNC and #NCGHSP to show that you are celebrating this Labor Day safely.