Chatham News & Record Vol. 147, Issue 13

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels performed at the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show in Havelock earlier this month. The Air Force’s F-22 Demonstration Team and countless others also appeared. For more from the show, turn to page A10.

the BRIEF this week

Malfunctioning tra c lights to become all-way stops

NCDOT is updating the state’s tra c signals so they will ash red in every direction following an equipment failure or something else that disrupts normal operation. Currently, a malfunctioning signal ashes yellow on the main corridor and red on smaller roads.

As drivers approach an intersection that is malfunctioning, the red ashing light should be treated as a stop sign.

NCDOT has more than 9,000 signalized intersections across the state, including those operated by municipal agreements in several cities. The department will phase in this change over the next year as part of the preventative maintenance it already conducts on tra c signals.

NCWRC warns:

Don’t feed the bears!

The NC Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding North Carolinians that the state’s bear population continues to grow and, with human-bear interactions increasing, to make sure to never feed or approach bears and to make sure bird feeders and garbage are secure.

Perhaps more important is advice to never handle, attempt to catch or feed bear cubs — even if they appear to be alone. Mother bears will frequently temporarily leave their cubs in a safe place but remain nearby and could defend their cubs or, worse, abandon them after interactions with humans.

“Mother bears have emerged from their den with their cubs, 1-year- old bears are leaving their family group and roaming to nd a new home, and, with breeding season just around the corner, male bears are starting to travel extensively searching for mates,” said Colleen Olfenbuttel, NCWRC’s game mammals and surveys supervisor and bear expert. “Also, bears are hungry after hibernation, so they are all roaming around looking for food.”

For more on black bears, visit bearwise.org

Bridge

out

The Rocky River Bridge is temporarily closed for several weeks so NCDOT crews can conduct a safety inspection. Detours are posted. The agency says bridges must be inspected at least every two years according to national standards, and that bridge maintenance crews will have updates after con rming the status and structural integrity of the 104-year-old bridge.

US 421 to become I-685 from Greensboro to Sanford

Upgrading the highway to interstate standards will take years

By Jordan Golson and PJ Ward-Brown Chatham News & Record

LIBERTY — State and local leaders gathered Monday in Randolph County to celebrate

upgrading US-421 to interstate standards will take place in phases over many years, coordinating with local governments. Two new interchanges are already under construction near the Toyota plant site and will open in the coming months.

the designation of U.S. Highway 421 as the future Interstate 685.

The event, held next to the under-construction Toyota Battery Manufacturing plant, featured the unveiling of new Future I-685 signs that will be going up along the route from Greensboro to Sanford.

“Today’s unveiling of the Future Interstate 685 sign is a true testament to the collaboration and teamwork that is fueling our economic momentum here in the Carolina Core,” said Loren Hill, Carolina Core Regional Economic Development Director, at the event. I-685 will eventually run from Interstate 85 to Interstate 95, improving connectivity and commerce across the region.

Chatham volunteer re departments receive nearly $23K in grants

The Fire Grant helps local departments with funding to purchase equipment

By Ena Sellers Chatham News & Record

THE NORTH CAROLINA

O ce of State Fire Marshal announced the recipients of the 2024 Volunteer Fire Department Fund, also known as Fire Grant, on May 15. Two departments in Cha-

tham County received almost $23,000 between them. Bennett Fire was awarded $10,586 and Bonlee Fire received $12,318. The money will go towards new equipment and must be paired with matching funds.

“Fire and rescue organizations protect our communities large and small across North Carolina, but sometimes their budgets don’t grow with their responsibilities,” stated Bri-

See GRANT, page A7

According to N.C. Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins,

The future interstate is expected to be a major draw for new businesses to locate in the area. “One of the main things (businesses) look for is the transportation network,” said Hopkins. “They all want to be adjacent to or near an interstate.”

Designating US-421 as a fu-

See HIGHWAY, page A3

Chatham schools local budget to rise by 12%

It will need $52.5 million in contributions from the county

By Robert Owens For Chatham News & Record

THE CHATHAM SCHOOLS Board of Education approved a $52.5 million budget request from Chatham County at its May 13 meeting, an increase of about $5.9 million, to help cover rising costs.

“Before you tonight is a budget totaling $52.5 million from the local side, which is about a 12.65% increase over the

current year,” said Chatham Schools CFO Tony Messer. “Our budget priorities are maintaining local salary supplement that’s competitive in the area. Focus on current and anticipat-

See SCHOOLS, page A7

PJ WARD-BROWN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

PHOTO COURTESY ANNETTE ROBERSON

accolades

SPONSORED BY

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Chatham County:

May 24

Lego Club 4 – 5 p.m.

Are you a Master Builder, or do you prefer to follow the instructions? Either way, Everything Is Awesome! Join us for a weekly free build Lego session in the Holmes Meeting Room. Work alone or in a team. Create from scratch and tell us about your creation! Duplo blocks are available for our youngest builders. For more information, contact Youth Services at 919-545-8085 or youth.services@ chathamlibraries.org.

May 28

Baby/Toddler Story Time

9:30 – 10:15 a.m.

Families with babies and toddlers (up to 24 months old) are invited to join us in the Lakritz Story Time Room for a weekly story time. These story times are designed to introduce babies, toddlers and caregivers to early literacy concepts through stories, songs, ngerplays and annel board stories. Then, stay and play afterward. Older siblings are always welcome. For more information, contact Youth Services via email at youth.services@ chathamlibraries.org.

Stretch and Smile: Family Yoga

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

This relaxing class is for families to enjoy mindfulness movement. Supplies are available if needed. Registration is required for this program. Please email or call the library. Wren Memorial Library is located at 500 N. 2nd Ave., Siler City, 27344. For more information, please call the library at 919-742-2016 or email wren@ chathamlibraries.org. Information about all Chatham County Library branches can be found at www. chathamlibraries.org.

Pittsboro rst Dunkin' opens

The rst Dunkin' in Pittsboro opened this week at 40 Ramseur Rd. The restaurant, which will employ some 35 people, opened Monday morning with franchise owner George Ross presenting a check for $4,000 to the Special Olympics of North Carolina. The restaurant includes a drivethru, free wi- and the brand’s modern next-generation look and feel. In addition to the traditional drive-up and in-store ordering, customers can also order co ee, doughnuts and other items from the Dunkin' app and get updates on their order from an in-store screen.

seniors experience joys of woodcarving

Crafting spoons, birds and even a horse

A submission from Chatham County Aging Services

ONE WOULDN’T expect to see a group of older adults facing each other with knives in their hands.

However, that is exactly what takes place each week during woodcarving class at the Pittsboro Center for Active Living.

Recently, the Pittsboro Center for Active Living hosted roughly 20 older adults as they carved spoons, birds and dolls — all under the leadership of Mickey Bowman. With tubs of wood casto pieces called “rough outs” from area furniture makers and sawmills, Bowman teaches his students how to use a variety of knives and woods to carve their items.

“None of the people had carved before,” Bowman recalled.

To combat this, Bowman starts new students carving mushrooms from basswood, a soft wood also referred to as American Linden.

Once they learn basic skills carving mushrooms, they move on to kitchen spoons. Typically, this uses maple burls, which are the knots growing on the trunk on maple trees.

“Maple makes a better spoon,” Bowman said.

MAY 12

Participant Bill Widman concentrates on the task at hand during weekly woodcarving classes at the Pittsboro Center for Active Living.

After carving, the spoons are coated with mineral oil, which protects the wood and is safe to use with food. Many carvers hesitate to use the spoons they have made due to the hard work involved in creation. Often, they are displayed or given to family members as gifts. Quickly, the older adults have adopted the craft as their own.

Anne Addabbo, originally from France but now living in Pittsboro, has a practical use for her creation.

“I’m working on my bird, then I am going to do a turtle,” Addabbo said. Bowman, also an older adult, is quick to dispense praise to his students.

“He said ‘I’m so proud of you,’” Juanita Gonzales said. “I

• Erubiel Santana Mondragon, 20, of Siler City, was arrested for carrying a concealed handgun, speeding, not having a valid operator’s license, and failure to appear. He was held without bond for some charges and issued a $3,000 secured bond for failure to appear.

• Wenceslao Arriolagomez, 22, of Siler City, was arrested for failure to appear. He was issued a $1,500 secured bond.

MAY 13

• William Nathan Kidd, 34, of Siler City, was arrested for multiple counts of failure to appear with combined bond amounts totaling $18,000.

• Stefan Arnold Willemson, 57, of Chapel Hill, was arrested for a DV protective order violation. He was held on a 48-hour DV hold.

can’t wait to tell my son about it.”

The older adults in attendance range from 60 to 90 years of age. Within those four decades of experience is a 94-yearold man who has carved three dozen spoons to date.

For Lynette Ginn, the products of her carving sessions represent an opportunity to continue giving back after retiring from her teaching career.

“I’ve given away 15 spoons,” Ginn said.

Yet one of Ginn’s proudest pieces is a carved horse, which was given to a friend who owned an Arabian horse. The horse, named Cid (short for El Cid), had passed away. Ginn said Cid was “dearly loved.” Once she carved the horse, Ginn painted it white with spots to create a resemblance.

“He had a great sense of humor,” Ginn recalled of the horse. “That was the rst thing I ever carved.”

Bowman’s contributions as a woodcarving instructor are valued by the older adults in attendance at each session, including student Jan Ross.

“Mickey is the most caring, generous and compassionate, giving us his time, his craft and his skills,” Ross assured. “He’s amazing.”

Jimmy Lewis is the grants and communications specialist for Chatham County Aging Services.

MAY 14

• Andrew Phillip Gerbing, 38, of Siler City, was arrested for third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. He was issued a $500,000 secured bond.

• Elezar Costilla Benitez, 56, of Pittsboro, was arrested for allowing animals to run at large prohibited and precautions against attacks by dangerous animals. He was issued a written promise to appear.

MAY 15

• Logan Max Zimmerman, 18, of Pittsboro, was arrested for second-degree forcible sexual offense and sexual battery. He was issued a combined bond of $110,000.

MAY 16

• Lamont Hakeem Dark, 34, of Siler City, was arrested for failure to appear-child support. He was issued a $10,000 secured bond.

Ch ch Ne

HANKS CHAPEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

Hanks Chapel’s annual homecoming service will be held on Sunday, May 26 at 10:30 a.m. Dinner on the church grounds will follow the service.

The church is located at 190 Hanks Loop Rd., Pittsboro.

MT. VERNON GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH

Mt. Vernon Global Methodist Church will hold its Annual Memorial Service on May 26. A business meeting will begin at 10:45 a.m. followed by the 11 a.m. service. A picnic lunch will follow the service.

OAKLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

We will be having our Annual Memorial Day Service on May 26.

The choir will be having a special singing beginning at 10 a.m. followed by The Worship Service at 10:30 a.m., concluding in the Cemetery.

A Covered Dish Meal will follow the service in the fellowship hall. Everyone is invited to Attend!

PRAISE CHURCH OF DELIVERANCE MINISTRIES

Pastor James & Prophetess

Pastor Callie Peoples

984-368-2942 – Pastor Callie 984-270-3011 – Pastor James

On May 26, our Youth Service will be having Elder Chris Taylor of Fellowship House of God, Carthage, N.C., with his youth ministry.

HIGHWAY from page A1

ture interstate has been a key initiative spearheaded by the Piedmont Triad Partnership since launching the Carolina Core brand in 2018 for the region anchored by Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Fayetteville. The region has seen $20 billion in investment and 50,000 new jobs announced in recent years from companies around the world.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and former Sen. Richard Burr were instrumental in getting congressional approval for the future interstate in 2021. Regional leaders are now seeking an additional future interstate designation for US-421 north of Winston-Salem.

“One of the main things (businesses) look for is the transportation network… They all want to be adjacent to or near an interstate.”

NC Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins

The Toyota battery plant and Wolfspeed semiconductor factory, both under construction a few miles apart, represent some of the biggest economic development projects in the state, bringing thousands of jobs and billions in investment to the region.

“This is really the heart of that interstate,” said Randolph County Commissioner Darrell Frye. “We’re just ripe for future opportunities like this,” added Hopkins.

PHOTO COURTESY CHATHAM COUNTY AGING SERVICES

COURTESY PHOTO

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

COLUMN | ANDREW TAYLOR-TROUTMAN

Humor as a step stool

For two people to grow closer together, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, it helps to laugh.

MY COUSIN WAS married last Saturday in High Point. There were beautiful blue hydrangeas on every table at the reception, the beef tenderloin was tender, and everyone boogied on the dance oor to familiar songs played live by the S.O.B. (Special Occasion Band). “Sweet Caroline, bum-bum-BUM!”

But before we ate and danced, there was the ceremony. It was short and sweet. The bride and groom beamed at each other as they repeated their vows to love always and forever. Just before the rst kiss, the groom reached behind the altar and pulled out a step stool for his bride. He stands at 6 -foot-7. My cousin is 5 feet tall in her wedding shoes. As was written of old, “Love is patient, and love is kind.” I don’t know if I have any other marriage advice, but I believe that humor makes the di erence. Marriage is not a joke, but as Anne Lamott says, “Laughter is carbonated holiness.” It will bubble up, even in tough times. For two people to grow closer together, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, it helps to laugh. The happiest

COLUMN | BOB WACHS

couples I know don’t take themselves too seriously.

The day after the wedding, my own bride and I picked up our kids from their weekend spent with her parents. We had traveled no more than ve minutes down the road when one of our kids puked in the minivan. My father-in-law came and took all three kids back to his house, while my wife and I drove to the nearest car wash. With three kids, we are no strangers to vomit, but this was the rst time we had to ride with our heads hanging out of the windows for fresh air.

Then, as I was vacuuming up the vomit, I realized there was yet another o ensive smell. Someone had recently washed cow manure from their vehicle, and I had parked right beside this pile of you-know-what. I looked incredulously at my wife. We still had cleaning to do and many miles to go, but our laughter was a step up to a better state of mind.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church as well as a writer, pizza maker, co ee drinker and student of joy.

Driving toward helping take care of our friends

Most of them make it but not all; but, hey, Mr. Buzzard also has to eat.

I HAVE A HIGH REGARD for life — the living, breathing, moving kind.

Doesn’t matter if it’s plant, animal or human, most of the time I’m into “live and let live.”

Now that doesn’t mean I cultivate poison ivy or am against drawing a bead on a coyote with my ri e, especially if he’s hanging out around some baby calves. I’m also not adverse to doing away with the yellow jacket that just stung me. And if a y gets into my soup, he’s not going to stay there long. But it does mean that I sort of live in a place that says “I didn’t create or give life so as a normal mode of operation I’m not going to do away with it just because I can.”

But lest my vegan, non-meat, non- egg or milk or other dairy product- eating friends raise their eyebrows, I’m also not talking about the New York Strip I like to see on my plate once in awhile. I’m talking about the random wanton destruction of life that conveys, I think, an attitude of “I- don’t- care.”

One of the places we see that is on the highways and byways of our world, especially for those of us who avoid the concrete sidewalks of urban life. Obviously sometimes it can’t be helped, this taking of wildlife life. Bambi and her friends lead the list or are right there at the top. I’m not sure where deer fall in the animal kingdom ranking of bright beings, but if I had to say, I’d say not at the top. If they did they wouldn’t try to cross the road in front of a semi hauling a load of hogs.

One year my better half and I got ve of the white-tailed eet-footed creatures, including the one that saw us, turned back away toward the woods from which she came and then did an about-face and broad- sided us. Maybe she was having a bad day or maybe she saw and remembered when we got one of the other four. … I don’t know, but I do know it was not a good decision on her part.

In addition to the deer, Mr. Squirrel is also on the list of roadway endangered species. If you’ve ever driven up behind one of the furry little rodents lolly-gagging in the middle of the road you see them — as soon as they see you — run here and there, take a couple of steps to the left, then zig right before trying to outrun you or bolting o to the other side. Most of them make it but not all; but, hey, Mr. Buzzard also has to eat.

The bottom line, I think, is this: People and animals share much of the same territory. Most of the time, we’re bigger than they are so it pays to pay attention. Don’t have a wreck trying to avoid Mr. Possum and it’s not a good idea to get out of your vehicle to move something.

I’ve hit my share of animals through 50 -plus years of driving and still remember how sick it made me when years ago I couldn’t avoid a dog that appeared from a grassy shoulder and tried to outrun me before I could slow down to miss him.

But — and here’s the big but — it’s not cool to go out of your way to smush something. On a nearby paved road the other day, I saw a perfect example of that random wanton destruction of life. Mr. Turtle did not make it on his journey from one side to the other. I’ve always heard those folks cross the road on their travels looking for water. Unfortunately for them it can take awhile to complete the task and they either need a better travel agent or to ask the chicken how to cross the road.

The thing that struck me as I motored on was that Mr. Turtle met his end not on the edge of the pavement or near the center line where the left wheels would ride. Instead he was lying there in bits and pieces dead (no pun intended) in the middle of the travel lane. I’m pretty sure unless the o ending driver was skimming along in something only two inches above ground that he could have spared Mr. Turtle over to another day.

That was especially noticeable and galling to me because earlier in my travels on that same road, while going in the opposite direction, I had observed Mr. Turtle in the middle of a lane just sort of hanging out apparently enjoying life as a turtle.

So why do it? Don’t know… Maybe a sense of power and control, maybe because the driver is a jerk. I do know it’s not a nice thing to do.

As you come and go on the highways and byways, drive safely; make sure you get home.

And do your best to make sure the critters get home to their families, as well.

Bob Wachs is a native of Chatham County and emeritus editor at Chatham News & Record. He serves as pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church.

Excuse me, what kind of obsession?

Friends who know me well are aware of my pack rat tendencies.

HERE GOES. Deep breath. I am documentobsessed. (Perhaps, pack rat might be a kinder description? Whatever.) I cannot stop, desist from, or even resist saving information to my computer document les. I just can’t! My document saving is akin to a behavioral tic. A behavioral tic that I have immense di culty controlling. For instance, I derive comfort from knowing that, deep in the innards of my saved documents, I’ve stored the mechanics for how a Chatham County, NC ood plain determination is made. Silly me, but it’s still such a relief to know I have that information at my ngertips. Friends who know me well are aware of my pack rat tendencies. Just being forthright, folks. Heaven knows, some of these aforementioned documents date back to my early Macintosh days, circa the mid-80’s. (No, no, I didn’t know Steve Jobs.)

Responding to a friend’s request for information, I can never o er JUST one digital document. Are you kidding? Just one? NEVER! Usually 3-4, at the very least, and more as my aging memory kicks into gear. This becomes the juncture when folks suddenly recollect they’ve solicited info from a a document-obsessive. A document-obsessive who just knows YOUR life can only bene t from her perception of everysingle-thing you need to know regarding the inquired-about topic. Everything…. Cycling o committees, I often ask the incoming chair-person whether they’d like the pertinent docs from my three year (or six-year) service on that committee. Par for the course, I

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

often receive the classic, wide-eyed, deer-in-theheadlights look, of “Oh please, how can I decline without being rude?” My tendencies (realities, realities!!) are known to others.

Composing this paean to my “cannot believe how many documents I’ve stockpiled!” tic, I have to sit back and wonder. Why in the heck am I writing about, of all things, my downthrough digital antiquity, document-stashing tendencies (realities, realities, for the umpteenth time!!)

Admittedly, I’m in need of a topic, today, about which to write. Courtesy of excavating my document dumpster for suitable topics, I discerned, actually discerned, a clear understanding of my years-long document obsession. (Kudos to the specter of deadlines.)

We all need harbors of emotional safety in our lives. People, places, beliefs, or objects that support us in breathing deeply, nding some semblance of calm. In this new digital world, total information hound that I am (a resonance from a past life, perhaps?), my document saving provides such a harbor for me. A life preserver in an uncertain world. Yep, that’s it! The longsaved documents have become the memories and history by which I can track my growth and evolution as a human being. Who knew?! I just love nding light in unexpected venues. Saved documents, no less! Gee, wonder what’s next?

Jan Hutton, a resident of Chatham County and retired hospice social worker, lives life with heart and humor.

The world’s — and the Pacific Rim’s — disastrous population implosion

Even as Japan, South Korea and China boomed economically, their fertility rates fell below replacement — Japan in the 1970s, Korea in the 1980s, China in the 1990s.

WILL THE WORLD be better o with fewer people?

For years that has been a hypothetical question posed to suggest an a rmative answer. Fewer people, it was claimed, would mean less depredation of natural resources, less urban overcrowding, more room for other species to stretch their (actual or metaphorical) legs. Mankind was a parasite, a blight, and overpopulation a disease. Fewer people would mean a better Earth.

Not everyone has agreed. More people, argued the late economist Julian Simon, means more inventors, more innovators, more creators. Benjamin Franklin was the 15th of his father’s 17 children. Would America, and the world, have been better o if his father had stopped at 14?

More people also means more consumers and taxpayers. More consumers to pay for the goods and services of private-sector workers. More taxpayers to pay for, among other things, bene ts for the elderly and in rm.

Whatever you think, whether the world would be better o with fewer people is no longer a hypothetical or rhetorical question. It is, it seems, a question squarely presented, or just about to be presented, by reality.

“Sometime soon, the global fertility rate will drop below the point needed to keep population constant,” Greg Ip and Janet Adamy write in The Wall Street Journal. “It may have already happened.”

The global replacement rate, they point out, is 2.2 children per woman, with the 0.2 representing the children who do not grow into adulthood and the excess of boys over girls in countries where many parents abort female babies. Demographers have long noticed the world is heading toward 2.2 but expected it to take longer to get there. The United Nations pegged it at 2.5 in 2017. It fell to 2.3 in 2021, and incoming data suggest it’s declined signi cantly since then.

Previous traumatic events have produced higher birthrates, like America’s and eventually Europe’s post-World War II baby boom. But the COVID-19 pandemic, after an initial spike in births resembling ones occurring nine months after electricity blackouts, has produced even fewer births than pessimistic experts predicted.

Total world population won’t start falling immediately. One estimate is that world population, now about 8.1 billion, will peak at 9.6 billion in 2061. The fears that overpopulation would lead to mass starvation have proved unfounded, and population control e orts by the likes of the Rockefeller Foundation and Warren Bu ett have petered out.

As technology historian Vaclav Smil points out, the discovery in 1908 of the Haber-Bosch process for producing synthetic ammonia has led to food production that can feed the world’s current billions and many more.

BE IN TOUCH

The prosecution has made its case

DID DONALD TRUMP falsify business records to cover up his payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels? Did he do it to hold onto women voters in the days leading up to the 2016 election?

Reading the daily press accounts of the New York trial leaves little doubt that the prosecution made its case.

Michael Cohen is a liar, convicted as one, but his testimony addressed and answered the key questions in the case. Daniels at one point denied having an a air with the former president, but she did not waver at the trial.

Her account of her interaction with the former president was searing. The records were clear. Hush money is not a legal expense. Cohen did what he was told. Trump was fully on board. What more could you expect from the prosecution?

With closing arguments expected to come as soon as next week, the defense has yet to introduce an alternative narrative of what happened here. There is no alternative narrative. They may claim it was all to protect his family, to shield Melania from embarrassment, but Hope Hicks made clear there was a political imperative. And who would believe that it was all for Melania? It was for Trump. Even the most cynical of the talking heads acknowledged that over the course of the trial, the chances of a conviction increased. The question, and it has always been the question, is to what end? Will the jury convict?

Thomas Malthus, who in 1798 wrote that any population increase would result in famine and disease, is dead.

Today the negative e ects of sub-replacement population growth are already being felt. Government pensions and elderly medical care are proving di cult to sustain in the United States and western Europe.

Economic growth seldom rises to pre-2000 levels because the labor force is growing little, or even shrinking.

More striking e ects are seen in East Asia, as set out by American Enterprise Institute scholar Nicholas Eberstadt for Foreign A airs. Even as Japan, South Korea and China boomed economically, their fertility rates fell below replacement — Japan in the 1970s, Korea in the 1980s, China in the 1990s.

Decades later, the result is that East Asia’s working-age cohort is now shrinking. By 2050, it will have more people over 80 than children under 15.

These countries, Eberstadt writes, “will nd it harder to generate economic growth, accumulate investments, and build wealth; to fund their safety nets; and to mobilize their armed forces.” China may not be able to amass huge armies to overcome the U.S. and its allies as it did in Korea in 1950. But Japan and South Korea will not be able to raise troops in numbers they once did. And will China attack Taiwan before its cohort of military-age men shrinks further?

“The long-heralded ‘Asian century’ may never truly arrive,” Eberstadt writes.

And on the other side of the Paci c Rim, between 2020 and 2023, California’s population fell by 538,000, or 1.4%. This is a reversal of more than 150 years of above-U.S.-average growth and despite the state’s physical climate and beautiful scenery.

This astonishing trend owes much to dreadful public policies that have incentivized modest-income people with families, including immigrants, to move out, even though California still attracts highly skilled college graduates from “back East.” But how many children will they produce? Will a declining-infertility America produce enough o spring to replenish Silicon Valley and Hollywood?

Absent a horri c military clash, the Paci c Rim that has produced so much innovation seems about to settle into an increasingly uncomfortable, hardscrabble and uncreative old age, with no gaggles of nephews, nieces, grandchildren and cousins who give hope that things will keep improving.

Not the paradise the population control people promised.

Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime coauthor of “The Almanac of American Politics.”

Juries like judges, and this one, by all reports, should command the greatest respect of the jurors. He has controlled the courtroom, been even-tempered and even-handed. The judge will read the instructions, inform the jury of the elements of the crime and ask them to apply the law to the facts they nd. It should not be di cult.

This is not a complex fact situation. It was a straightforward payo for an obvious purpose — and it worked, until it didn’t. If the jury does what the judge instructs them to, and there is no reason at this point to think they will not, it should not be di cult for them to reach a verdict.

Will they be swayed by the fact that they are convicting a former president? It could happen, of course, but they have been sitting in a courtroom with him for over a month. He has, in all likelihood, been reduced to human size.

They’ve watched him squirm and smirk and struggle to stay awake. Whatever kismet he brought to the room when they rst confronted him should have worn o by now. He is human-sized. Their job is straightforward, for all the historical footnotes.

No, the big question is not whether the prosecution has made its case — it has — or whether the jury will accept it — they should — but whether it all will matter. Signi cant numbers of voters have told pollsters that a criminal conviction will make them less likely to vote for Trump, but will it really?

Will they simply accept this, as they did the E. Jean Carroll verdict, as yet another example of Trump being Trump? So he paid hush money to a woman with whom he had an exploitive sexual relationship. So he did it to try to protect himself in the presidential election. So he falsi ed it as legal expenses. So what? At what point is enough enough?

At what point will people with morals and values be unwilling to compromise on a leader who is de cient on both scores? The parade of Republicans who have shown up at the courthouse to support Trump during this trial is a testament to the moral bankruptcy of the GOP. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Only half in jest, they were willing to risk control of the House oor to get in line for the cameras and kiss the ring. Someday, hopefully, we will look back on all of this and wonder how so many people who should know better took temporary leave of their senses to stand by a man who does not deserve their support. But between now and then, the jurors and then the voters must decide.

Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.

Mark “Joe” Ellis

March 24th, 1960 –May 19th, 2024

Mark “Joe” Joseph Ellis, 64, of Pittsboro, NC, passed away Sunday, May 19th, 2024, at Hospice House of Davidson County surrounded by family.

Joe was born on March 24th, 1960, in Orange County to James Ellis and Wilma Hackney Ellis. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother, James Michael Ellis, and his sister, Louise Riddle.

Joe is survived by his son, Samuel Ellis, Sr. and his wife, Ashley; one grandson, Samuel Ellis, Jr.; and one sister, Ann Headen – all of Pittsboro, NC.

Joe enjoyed cooking, having family gatherings, participating at charitable events at Pittsboro Church of God, and enjoyed working. He really enjoyed raising his son, playing with his grandson, Samuel, Jr., and spending time with family and friends.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at a later date.

GWENDOLYN LORETTA GILLIS

SEPT.18TH, 1949 – MAY 13TH, 2024

Gwendolyn Loretta Gillis Daughter of the late Carlee and Odessa Thomas was born on September 18, 1949, and went to her heavenly home May 13, 2024.

Gwen was born and raised in Robbins, where she learned hard work, discipline, life skills and unconditional love from her parents. She started High School at Pickney but transferred to North Moore in 1965 and was one of the rst African American classes and the second graduation class in 1967. She worked at Ithaca for many years and retired from Good Year after 20 Plus years in 2012.

Gwen Joined New Zion AME Zion church at an early age and was a faithful member and served on many board ministries. She was a member of the Young Adult Choir, Treasure for the Missionary board, Head of the kitchen committee, Stewardess board, foodbank, and Sunday school teacher.

Gwen loved Traveling, spending time with her son, grandchildren, great Grands. She also loved family gatherings with her siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends. She loved hanging out with “The Golden Girls” Eating out, movies, shopping and more. She made sure she attended every signi cant event in her son, grandchildren, and great grands life, whether it was birthdays, graduations and the birth of all of her great grands. Gwen had a nurturing spirit, providing love, support and care to all who knew her. She was a giver, provider and caretaker for her family and friends. She thoroughly loved watching her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. She loved the yearly ritual with her nieces, after Christmas shopping and lunch, also spending time with her rst cousin’s crew, eating and fellowshipping or just talking on the phone.

Gwen was a ride or die partner, yard sailing with her sister or doing boy work with her brother. She loved listening to music and line dancing. Her favorite song which she shared with her cousin Cindy was Satin Soul by Barry White.

Along with her parents, Gwen was preceded in death by her brothers, Clyde and Phillip Thomas, and her Sister Vermestine Thomas. It has left a void in the hearts of those left to continue life without her.

Memories of her will be treasured by her son, Maury Gillis, Five grandchildren, Teasya Bradley (Andrew), Petrice Caddell, Markius Bradley, Kiaya Bradley, Jordan Caddell. Three Great Grandchildren, Genesis, Elise, and Ezekiel. One brother Gerald Brower (Brenda), One Sister Leitha Frye (Jr), Six Nieces, Latonia, Yolanda, Regina, Tara, Teika and Ciera, three Nephews, Terrill, Demaris and Kelly. Two Aunts, Beulah Shamberger and Eula Johnson a Bonus Brother Reggie (Sharon). One Godson, Nicolas Maness, one Goddaughter, Nya Taylor and many cousins, friends and extended Family.

Davis Randolph “Butch” Jarman, Jr.

Feb. 18th, 1944 – May 15th, 2024

Davis Randolph Jarman, Jr., known by friends and relatives as Butch, went to his heavenly home on May 15, 2024. He was born on February 18, 1944, in Kinston, NC to his parents, Hilda Grady Jarman Mills from Kinston, NC and Davis Randolph Jarman, Sr. from New Bern, NC.

Callie Ann Jones

May 14th, 2024

Callie Ann Jones, age 57, died at The Laurels of Chatham in Pittsboro, NC with her sisters by her side on Monday, May 14, 2024. She was born in Chatham County, NC to the late Charles Layton Jones and Wilma Goodman Jones.

Callie Ann is survived by her

Russell Perkins

June 9th, 1928 – May 11th, 2024

Russell Perkins, 95, of Bear Creek NC, passed away on May 11, 2024. He was born in Tucson, Arizona on June 9, 1928. He was the eldest of 12 children. He grew up in the southwest of the United States, frequently moving with his family, including one year going to ve schools. A child of the Great Depression, he grew up in di cult times that shaped the strong man he became. He leaves behind three sisters; Barbara Osborne in Arizona, Dawn Santeford in Washington State, and Robin Martin in Washington State. He was preceded in death by his son, Michael Perkins. He

Butch served in the United States Air Force for 4 years. His service took him to Turkey where he supported communications for the Vietnam o ensive for one and a half years. He attended NC Central University.

The communications training he received while in the Air Force took him to employment with the Long Lines Division of AT&T and later to the Network Division, NCP&D. After 32 years, he retired as a Technical Trainer teaching employees how to use, monitor and repair network electronic equipment. After retiring from AT&T, he worked for Mastec as a trainer.

Butch gave his time and talents to a variety of churches and organizations, including Pittsboro (NC) Baptist Church, Midway (SC) Baptist Church, Limestone Presbyterian (SC) Church, Little League Baseball, Little League Football, and as a Girl Scout Leader. He was an avid fan or UNC-CH basketball.

Butch was married to Barbara Ann Lewis of Pittsboro, NC for 57

sisters, Kay Jones of Wilmington, Dianne Jones Culp of Gold Hill, brother, Danny Jones of Pittsboro, nieces, Carmen Sargent of Gold Hill, Natalie Whitley of Gold Hill, Melissa Hinson of Gold Hill, nephews, Adam Culp of Gold Hill, Jacob Jones of Sanford, great nieces, Hannah, Grace, Amelia and great nephews Leo, Tucker, and Ben.

First and foremost, Callie Ann loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and was steadfast in her faith and it showed through her encouragement of others. She celebrated other’s successes. She loved all shades of purple, even as a child. She was a loyal, faithful, and active member of The Church of Living Water in Staley. She was an 18-year childcare attendant with Robyn’s Nest. Prior to that she worked at Carolina Meadows. Callie Ann was an avid NC State Wolfpack fan. She loved working with her hands doing crafts and

is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Catherine Perkins, his son Lancel Jones, as well as Michael’s wife, his daughter in law Susan Silverstein-Perkins; his grandchildren Ayla Perkins, Winston Salem, Lotus Perkins, Richmond, VA, Shana Perkins, Raleigh, Logan Perkins, Durham, and Nolan Perkins, Durham; as well as his great grandchildren Mikahl and Nicolai Dunn, Richmond, VA. Russell was a Navy veteran, who served in the Korean War on the Destroyer USS John R.Craig. After serving his country, he worked for many years as an engineer on Military, FCC and NASA contracts. Russell worked on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects until putting a man on the moon. He traveled all over the world and told of working in all 50 states and in many countries, including places in Africa, South America, Paci c Islands, Philippines, Japan, China, Russia and other Asian areas.

After traveling all over the country, Russell chose to settle down in North Carolina 50 years ago. He decided he would run a farm and live the good country life in what he thought were his older years. Turns out, he had plenty more

years. In addition to his wife, he leaves behind two children, David Henry Jarman (Pamela) and Tonya Sue Jarman Buice (Je rey). Grandchildren are Michael PaulDavid Webster (Reno, Nevada), Ryan Lewis Buice, Elizabeth Morgan Jarman, Connor Jacob Buice, and Matthew Elijah Jarman (all of Ga ney).

Services, with military honors, will be held at Limestone Presbyterian Church at 3:00 PM on Thursday, May 23, 2024 with Dr. Lynn Miller o ciating. Attendees are invited to visit with the family immediately following the services.

In lieu of owers, memorials may be made to Limestone Presbyterian Church, 109 S. Limestone Street, Ga ney, SC 29340.

The family will be at the residence, 126 Hunters Creek Road, Ga ney, SC 29341. An online guest register is available at www. blakelyfuneralhome.com

Blakely Funeral Home & Crematory, Ga ney, SC

making jewelry which she shared with others. She dearly loved hummingbirds and pet sitting for her friends. The mountains and the beach were special places to her as well as taking and sharing pictures of sunsets. Callie Ann dearly loved her family, especially her nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews. She fought courageously a long battle with ALS. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her. Visitation will be Monday, May 20, 2024, at Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory from 6-8PM. The funeral service will be at The Church of Living Water in Staley, NC (10646 US 64 Staley, NC) at11AM on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, with Reverend James Mitchell presiding and the burial following in the Hanks Chapel United Church of Christ Cemetery in Pittsboro, NC. Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory is honored to serve the Jones family.

years to come! After trying his hand at farming for years, he found his way into another worthy venture, establishing needed infrastructure for handicapped adults in his now home of Chatham County. He helped establish the Sheltered Workshop for Chatham County, and the Chatham County Group Homes for special needs adults. He was made Administrator for the Chatham County Group Homes until his nal retirement at age 74. They had established 10 homes and are just another example of the wonderful things he did on this earth.

Russell had a variety of interests, including his cowboy hats and Jeopardy, but almost none compared to his love of Cribbage. He was an avid cribbage player and a Charter Member of the American Cribbage Congress, where he eventually earned the status of Life Master. This was a passion and hobby he shared with his beloved wife. A private ceremony for friends and family to honor the life of Russell Perkins will be hosted soon. We are saddened at the loss, but joyful at what he had brought to all our lives. Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory is honored to serve the Perkins family.

Last student who helped integrate the UNC’s undergraduate body dies

Ralph Kennedy Frasier died May 8 at age 85

By Gary D. Robertson

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — Ralph Kennedy Frasier, the nal surviving member of a trio of African American youths who were the rst to desegregate the undergraduate student body at UNC Chapel Hill in the 1950s, has died.

Frasier, who had been in declining health over the past several months, died May 8 at age 85 at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, according to son Ralph Frasier Jr. A memorial service was scheduled for Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, where Frasier spent much of his working career.

Frasier, his older brother LeRoy, and John Lewis Brandon — all Durham high school classmates — fought successfully against Jim Crow laws when they were able to attend UNC in the fall of 1955. LeRoy Frasier died in late 2017, with Brandon following weeks later.

Initially, the Hillside High School students’ enrollment applications were denied even though the UNC law school had been integrated a few years earlier. The landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregation happened in 1954.

The trustee board of UNC — the nation’s oldest public university — then passed a resolution barring the admission of blacks as undergraduates. The students sued and a federal court ordered they be admitted. The ruling ultimately was a rmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The trio became plainti s, in part, because their families were insulated from nancial retribution — the brothers’ parents worked for black-owned North

Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

Co. in Durham, for example. The brothers were 14 months apart in age, but Ralph started his education early. After the legal victory, it still was not easy being on campus. In an interview at the time of his brother’s death, Frasier recalled that the school’s golf course and the university-owned Carolina Inn were o -limits. At football games, they were seated in a section with custodial workers,

Ralph Frasier, right, the nal surviving member of a trio of black students who were the rst to desegregate the undergraduate student body at UNC Chapel Hill, died May 8 at age 85 in Florida.

tending UNC “was extremely tough on them. They were tired,” Ralph Frasier Jr. said this week in an interview.

The brothers later graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham, a historically black college. LeRoy Frasier worked as an English teacher for many years in New York. Brandon got his degrees elsewhere and worked in the chemical industry.

Frasier also obtained a law degree at N.C. Central, after which began a long career in legal services and banking, rst with Wachovia and later Huntington Bancshares in Columbus.

Ralph Frasier was proud of promoting racial change in the Columbus business community and by serving on a committee that helped put two black jurists on the federal bench, his son said.

Relationships with UNC improved, leading to the 2010 campus celebration of their pioneering e orts, and scholarships were named in their honor.

who were black. The three lived on their own oor of a section of a dormitory.

“Those days were probably the most stressful of my life,” Frasier told The Associated Press in 2010 when the three visited Chapel Hill to be honored. “I can’t say that I have many happy memories.”

The brothers studied three years at Chapel Hill before Ralph left for the Army and LeRoy for the Peace Corps. At-

SCHOOLS from page A1 ed state driven compensation and bene t increases. And let me tell you, they are increases this year.”

Reductions in funding coming from the state directly impacts how much of the weight of the budget must be carried by the county. Messer also noted that there remained unknowns, something unusual for this point in the budget cycle, including the number of students that will actually be in school.

“We don’t know what our unassigned fund balance is going to be,” Messer said. “We usually have state and federal planning allotments six or seven weeks ago … so trying to put a budget together without those is kind of throwing darts.”

When it comes to local education spending, the largest line item is employee supplements, or additional funds used to bolster the salaries of district employees, with another 12% assigned to charter schools to cover the 1,100 students the district must help fund.

Though the state helps cover the cost of most teacher salaries, it does not cover maintenance or non-instructional sta like front o ce, custodians, some assistant principals, guidance counselors, nurses and social workers.

The average teacher wage increase for the year will be roughly 3%, while the base income for certi ed sta will increase by $2,700 per step and $500 per classi ed employee.

Insurance was mentioned as a speci c expense, with insurance companies asking for

GRANT from page A1

an Taylor, State Fire Marshal in the announcement. “Our emergency service personnel should be supported with the best equipment and supplies needed to do their jobs correctly and safely.”

The letters notifying each re department of the grant award and thanking them for their hard work and dedication were sent last week.

According to the OSFM these funds must be matched dollar-for-dollar for up to $40,000, unless the re department receives less than $50,000 per year from municipal and county funding, in which case the volunteer re department will need to match $1 for each $3 of grant funds. The grant award is ad-

Still, Ralph Frasier Jr. said it was disappointing to see the current UNC Chapel Hill trustee board vote this week to recommend diverting money from diversity programs for next year.

“It’s almost a smack in the face and a step backwards in time,” Ralph Frasier Jr. said. The action comes as the UNC system’s Board of Governors will soon decide whether to rework its diversity policy for the 17 campuses statewide. Frasier’s survivors include his wife of 42 years, Jeannine Marie Quick-Frasier; six children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

$5.9M

Increase in this year’s school budget.

more information than they have in the past. The county’s HR department, though, was praised for improving processes that led to lowered workman’s compensation costs.

“Let me tell you the the insurance renewal process this year has been extensive. They have dug in, they’ve asked for all kinds of information that never, ever asked before. And rates are going up,” Messer said, also noting that an additional $300,000 was being budgeted to cover increased utility costs.

A unanimous board approved the proposal, which now goes to the county Board of Commissioners for nal approval, with any needed changes to be addressed in September.

In other business, the district is purchasing 145 new Apple laptops worth more than $175,000 out of already allocated budget. The laptops are part of a ve-year refresh cycle where one- fth of devices are purchased every year to spread out the costs. These machines will go to educators at Virginia Cross, Bennett and Chatham Middle Schools. This purchase was also approved unanimously.

The next meeting for the Chatham Schools board will be June 3.

“Fire and rescue organizations protect our communities large and small across North Carolina, but sometimes their budgets don’t grow with their responsibilities.”

State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor

ministered through the NC Department of Insurance. The Volunteer Fire Department Fund was created in 1988 by the General Assembly to help volunteer units raise funds for their re ghting equipment and supplies.

RUDOLPH FAIRCLOTH / AP PHOTO

REAL ESTATE

LEARN ABOUT LAND - Chatham Land Experts, www.learnaboutland.com - 919362-6999.

FOR RENT

Oak View at Siler City - Now accepting applications for multifamily community w/ 1-, 2-, & 3-bedroom apts. Amenities include a playground, computer center, on-site laundry facilities, community garden, and much more! A ordable housing: applicants must meet income requirements. Come apply at 224 Campus Drive, Siler City, NC 27344 from 9:00 to 5:00pm or call 336-895-1128 or email: oakview@partnershippm.com Credit & criminal background check required. Handicap accessible units subject to availability. Equal Housing Opportunity. Professionally managed by Partnership Property Management.

Senior lady wanted, to share a 3 BR house with a family. Room and board. Must be a Christian and be independent. $600 a month. Call 919-542-8520.

FOR RENT

POWELL SPRINGS APTS. Evergreen

Construction introduces its newest independent living community for adults 55 years or older, 1 and 2 bedroom applications now being accepted. O ce hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 919-533-6319 for more information, TDD #1-800-735-2962, Equal housing opportunity, Handicapped accessible.

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS now for one-bedroom apartments, adults 55 years or older. Water included, appliances furnished, on-site laundry, elevator, keyless entry. Section 8 accepted. No security deposit. Application fee $25 per adult. Call Braxton Manor, 919-663-1877. Handicap accessible. Equal Housing Opportunity.

FOR SALE

RV FOR SALE - RV for sale, Damen Daybreak 2000, 75,000 miles, runs great, good tires, good air conditioner, good generator. $10,000, Financing available, 919-828-4247.

YARD SALE

Moving Sale. Fri., Sat., 24th-25th. 7222 Hwy 22-42, Bennett. See Gbo Craiglist for more info.

AUCTIONS

RICKY ELLINGTON AUCTIONEERS - Equipment, business, liquidation, estates, land, houses, antiques, personal property, coins, furniture, consignments, bene ts, etc., NCAL #7706, 919-548-3684, 919-663-3556, rickyellingtonauctions@yahoo.com,

SERVICES

RAINBOW WATER FILTERED VACUUMS, Alice Cox, Cox’s Distributing - Rainbow - Cell: 919-548-4314, Sales, Services, Supplies. Serving public for 35 years. Rada Cutlery is also available.

JUNK CARS PICKED UP Free of charge. Due to many months of low steel prices and unstable steel markets, we cannot pay for cars at this time. Cars, trucks, and machinery will be transported and environmentally correctly recycled at no charge. 919-542-2803.

LETT’S TREE SERVICE - tree removal, stump grinding, lot clearing. Visa & Master Card accepted. Timber. Free estimates. 919-258-3594.

DIGGING AND DEMO-Land improvements, mini-excavating, stump removal, mobile home and building teardown, all digging. French Drains, All your digging needs. Call John Hayes, 919-548-0474.

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E001249-180

SERVICES

ROOF WASHING – Softwash roof –Cleans ALL black streaks o roofs to make them look new again And to prolong the life of the shingles. Call John Hayes – 919-548-0474.

HELP WANTED

CHATHAM MONUMENT COMPANY

has an immediate job opening. This is a full time position and involves placing monuments in the cemetery in Chatham and surrounding counties.

Job requirements are: Must have a valid NC driver’s license, must be able to lift 75 pounds if necessary. Must have a good attitude, the ability to work well with others and be willing to learn. Also needs reliable transportation to and from work. Pay will be based on the individual and their ability to do the work. Apply in Person to 227 N. 2nd Ave. Siler City, NC 27344

FOOD SERVICES STAFF, Pittsboro Christian Village is accepting applications for Server, Pantry Cook, and Cook. Apply in person 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday – Friday, at 1825 East St. in Pittsboro.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, LANA GINN PARKER, having quali ed on the 15TH day of MAY, 2024, as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BARRY EUGENE PARKER, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 21ST Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 23RD Day of MAY 2024. LANA GINN PARKER, EXECUTOR 1091 MERONIES CHURCH RD BEAR CREEK, NC 27207 Run dates: M23,30,J6,13p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Lucy Buran Cornett of Chatham County, North Carolina, hereby noti es all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 27th day of August 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to the said estate are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 20th day of May, 2024 /s/ Joseph Buran Cornett, Executor c/o Charles N. Gri n, III Kirschbaum, Nanney, Keenan & Gri n, P.A. P. O. Box 19766 Raleigh, NC 27619-9766

Dates of Publication: May 23,30,Jun 6,13,2024

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

NOTICE TO CREDITORS COUNTY OF CHATHAM

THE UNDERSIGNED, having quali ed on the 15th day of September, 2022, as Executrix of the ESTATE

OF JOHN DRURY ADAMS A/K/A JOHN D. ADAMS, Deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 24th day of August, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This, the 23rd day of May, 2024.

JENNIFER DALMAN

EXECUTRIX

ESTATE OF JOHN DRURY ADAMS

A/K/A JOHN D. ADAMS

Post O ce Box 51549

Durham, North Carolina 27717

NOTE: For publication in The Chatham News on the following dates: May 23, May 30, June 6, and June 13, 2024. Please send the Proof of Publication to Post O ce Box 51549, Durham, North Carolina 277171549.

NOTICE

ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations holding claims against Randall Thomas Brown, deceased, of Chatham County, NC are noti ed to exhibit same to the undersigned on or before August 12, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This 9th day of May 2024. Carrie A. Brown Exec., c/o Clarity Legal Group, PO Box 2207, Chapel Hill, NC 27515.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed on the 23rd day of April, 2024, as Executrix of the Estate of Clarence E. White eld, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 2nd day of August, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This 2nd day of May, 2024

Anne W. Kennedy, Executrix of the Estate of Clarence E. White eld Post O ce Box 57579 Durham, North Carolina 27717

Julia G. Henry Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707

THE CHATHAM NEWS: 5/2/2024, 5/9/2024, 5/16/2024, and 5/23/2024

REQUEST FOR BIDS

Central Piedmont Community Action, Inc (CPCA) is opening its bid for HVAC, Electrical, and Plumbing contractors in Anson, Chatham, Orange, and Richmond counties. Bids will be received May 1, 2024, through June 14, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. RFP will also be available on our website through Sept. 15, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. If you are interested in becoming a contractor for Central Piedmont Community Action in any of our counties, please contact Cesar Carmona at (919) 742-2277, ext. 105, M - TH, 7 a. m. to 4 p. m. or via email at cesarc@ cpcanc.org.

WILLOW OAK MONTESSORI IDEA – PART B (611) GRANT PUBLIC NOTICE

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

(IDEA-Part B, Public Law 108.446) Project is presently being amended. The Project describes the special education programs that Willow Oak Montessori School proposes for Federal funding for the 2024-2025 School Year. Interested persons are encouraged to review amendments to the Project and make comments concerning the implementation of special education under this Federal Program. All comments will be considered prior to submission of the amended Project to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh, North Carolina. The IDEA-Part B Project is open to the public for review and comments during the week of June 6, 2024 in the o ce of Allyssa McNeal located at 1476 Andrews Store Road Pittsboro, NC 27312

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against the Estate of JULIA MAE TAYLOR MARSH, deceased, of Chatham County, NC, are noti ed to present them to the Executor listed below on or before August 26, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. All debtors of the said estate are asked to make immediate payment.

This 13th day of May, 2024.

Margaret Bynum, Executor Post O ce Box 2147 Sanford, NC 27331 (Run 4 times)

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS

CHATHAM COUNTY

HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of Bobby Deese Lineberry, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 22nd day of August, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 14th day of May, 2024.

Donna Lineberry Smith, Executor of the Estate of Bobby Deese Lineberry

165 Fellowship Church Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344 MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE

ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Virginia M. Reid are hereby noti ed to present those claims to Maria Mercedes Garcia Espitia and Luis Villanueva Ramons, co-executors of the estate of Virginia M. Reid by August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of such claims.

c/o Lace L.W. Bullock, attorney Berman & Associates 123 West Main Street, Suite M-08 Durham, NC 27701

NOTICE

ALL PERSONS, rms, and corporations having claims against Rhoda Samuels, deceased, of Chatham County, N.C., are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before August 16th, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 16th of May, 2024. Joy Samuels King, Executor of the Estate of Rhoda Samuels, c/o Amanda Honea, Attorney, 1033 Wade Avenue, Suite 104, Raleigh, NC 27605.

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE CHATHAM COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 24E001231-180 IN RE: ESTATE OF RUTH ELLEN FALSTAD NOTICE TO CREDITORS THE UNDERSIGNED having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Ruth Ellen Falstad, Deceased, in the O ce of the Clerk of Superior Court of Chatham County, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the said Decedent to present them to the undersigned on or before August 16, 2024, said date being at least three months from the date of the rst publication or posting of this Notice as indicated below, or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment. This Notice is given pursuant to the provisions of G.S. 28A-14-1.

This the 16th day of May 2024.

ESTATE OF RUTH ELLEN FALSTAD Tamara Kirtser, Executor 108 Trellingwood Dr. Morrisville, NC 27560 Matt McGonagle NARRON WENZEL PA 3737 Glenwood Ave, Suite 200 Raleigh, NC 27612 [May 16, 23, 30, June 6, 2024]

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E001239-180 The undersigned, DIANNA R. BRAFFORD AND JEFFERY LEE RACHEL, having quali ed on the 2ND day of MAY, 2024, as CO-EXECUTORS of the Estate of BARBARA T. RACHEL, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 7TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 9TH Day of MAY, 2024.

DIANNA R. BRAFFORD, CO-EXECUTOR 495 WILLIAM LANE LEXINGTON, NC 27295 *JEFFERY LEE RACHEL, CO-EXECUTOR 1471 PLAINFIELD CH. RD. SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M9,16,23,30p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#2024E000185

The undersigned, DEBRA THORNBURG HUCABY, having quali ed on the 5TH day of APRIL, 2024, as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BOBBY HENRY THORNBURG, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 21ST Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 23RD Day of MAY 2024.

DEBRA THORNBURG HUCABY, EXECUTOR 7216 VALLEY LAKE DR. RALEIGH, NC 27612 Run dates: M23,30,J6,13p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E001246-180

The undersigned, SHARRON LAVONNE REGAN, having quali ed on the 7 TH day of MAY, 2024, as EXECUTRIX of the Estate of CABELL JONES REGAN, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 14TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This is the 16TH Day of MAY 2024.

SHARRON LAVONNE REGAN, EXECUTRIX 365 THOMPSON ST. PITTSBORO, NC 27312 Run dates: M16,23,30,J6p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed on the 3rd day of May, 2024, as Executor of the Estate of Rosemary L. Smith, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 23rd day of August, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This 23rd day of May, 2024.

David T. Smith, Executor of the Estate of Rosemary L. Smith Post O ce Box 57579 Durham, North Carolina 27717 Gwendolyn C. Brooks, Attorney Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707 THE CHATHAM NEWS: 5/23/2024, 5/30/2024, 6/6/2024, and 6/13/2024

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#2024E000204

The undersigned, LEWIS FADELY, having quali ed on the 15TH day of APRIL, 2024, as ADNINISTRATOR of the Estate of CURTIS ALLEN LEE, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 31ST Day of JULY, 2024., or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 2ND Day of MAY, 2024.

LEWIS FADELY, ATTY – ADMINISTRATOR 119 NORTH FIR AVE. SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M2,9,16,23p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E00082-180

The undersigned, FRANCES GAIL PARKS, having quali ed on the 15TH day of MAY, 2024, as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of FRANCES M. PARKS, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 21ST Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 23RD Day of MAY 2024.

FRANCES GAIL PARKS, ADMINISTRATOR 1905 INVERNESS LN WILMINGTON, NC 28405 Run dates: M23,30,J6,13p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#24E001257-180

The undersigned, BARBARA ANN JOHNSON, having quali ed on the 8TH day of MAY, 2024, as EXECUTOR of the Estate of JOHN A. JOHNSON, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 14TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 16TH Day of MAY 2024.

BARBARA ANN JOHNSON, EXECUTOR

1601 ED CLAPP ROAD SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M16,23,30,J6p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E001229-180

The undersigned, CARRIE VANDYKE LONSKI, having quali ed on the 29TH day of APRIL, 2024, as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of LEWIS JENNINGS VANDYKE, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 14TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 16TH Day of MAY 2024.

CARRI VANDYKE LONSKI, ADMINISTRATOR 1420 WEST 3 ST SILER CITY, NC 27344 *LEWIS FADELY, ATTY Run dates: M16,23,30,J6p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E233

The undersigned, JEAN FOUSHEE TYSON, having quali ed on the 26 day of APRIL, 2024, as EXECUTOR of the Estate of MARGIE MARIE FOUSHEE, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 14TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 16TH Day of MAY 2024.

JEAN FOUSHEE TYSON, EXECUTRIX 1344 GEORGE BASON ROAD GRAHAM, NC 27253 Run dates: My16,23,30,J6p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CHATHAM IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION FILE NO.: 22JT000087-180 IN RE: “D.M.T.”

DOB: 11/10/22

NOTICE OF SERVICE BY PROCESS OF PUBLICATION

TO: Chris Smith or any possible biological father/ Father/unknown father of the above female child, born at Central Carolina Hospital to Lisa Thomas. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a Petition has been led to terminate your parental rights to the above-referenced minor child. You have forty days from 5/9/24, the rst date of publication of this Notice to respond to said Petition by ling a written answer to the petition with the Chatham Clerk of Court. Your parental rights to the juvenile may be terminated upon failure to answer the petitions within the time prescribed. Any attorney appointed previously in an abuse, neglect or dependency proceeding and still representing you shall continue to represent you. If you are indigent and not already represented by an attorney, you are entitled to a court-appointed attorney by contacting the Chatham County Clerk of Court.

STEPHENSON & FLEMING, L.L.P. BY: /s/ ANGENETTE STEPHENSON Attorney for Petitioner, CHATHAM COUNTY

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES 109 Conner Dr. Suite 208 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514

Telephone: (919) 869-7795

5/9/24; 5/16/24; 5/23/24

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF MARIAN RUTH PHILLIPS FILE NO: 2024 E 001258-180

ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations having claims against Marian Ruth Phillips, deceased of Chatham County, N.C., are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned Leslie Sue Stiehle, Executor on or before August 25, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the Decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This

NOTICE ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations holding claims against Alsona Chun Wong,

Zekon Wong Exec., c/o Clarity Legal Group, PO Box 2207, Chapel Hill, NC 27515.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#24E000212-180 The undersigned, CANDICE PIKE CLARK, having quali ed on the 30TH day of APRIL, 2024, as EXECUTRIX of the Estate of WYLMA JEAN MCCRARY, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 7TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 9TH Day of MAY 2024. CANDICE PIKE CLARK, EXECUTRIX 321 CLYDE CLARK RD. SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M9,16,23,30p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#24E001230-180

The undersigned, JULIE P. FRYE, having quali ed on the 29TH day of APRIL, 2024, as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of MARK DARRYL PERRY, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 14TH Day of AUGUST, 2024, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 16TH Day of MAY 2024. JULIE

FILE NO: 2024 E 000137 ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations having claims against Tamra Ellen Ste en a.k.a. Tamra Stout, deceased of Chatham County, N.C., are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned Eugene Albert Ste en,

4030 Wake Forest Rd., Ste. 300, Raleigh, NC 27609.

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS COUNTY OF CHATHAM

THE UNDERSIGNED, having quali ed on the 1st day of May 2024, as Administrator of the ESTATE OF BOBBY AARON RODGERS, Deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the August 23, 2024 or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 23rd day of May 2024. Aaron Rodgers Administrator ESTATE OF BOBBY AARON RODGERS c/o Richard G. Long III, Attorney Walker Lambe, PLLC Post O ce Box 51549 Durham, North Carolina 27717

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION CHATHAM COUNTY FILE NO. 16 CvD 536 COUNTY OF CHATHAM

Plainti , NOTICE OF SERVICE OF vs. PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

The HEIRS, ASSIGNS, and DEVISEES of WILLIE LEE FOUSHEE, SR., et al Defendants. TO: The HEIRS, ASSIGNS, and DEVISEES of WILLIE LEE FOUSHEE, SR. and spouse, if any, which may include BARRY E. FOUSHEE and spouse, if any, ADESHA M. CONWAY and spouse, if any, THOMAS L. FOUSHEE’S SPOUSE, IF ANY, and The HEIRS, ASSIGNS, and DEVISEES of WILLIE LEE FOUSHEE, JR. and spouse, if any, or any other person or entity claiming thereunder A pleading seeking relief against you has been led in the above-entitled action and notice of service of process by publication began on May 23, 2024. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows: Foreclosure on tax parcel(s) more completely described in the Complaint, to collect delinquent ad valorem taxes (assessments). Plainti seeks to extinguish any and all claim or interest that you may have in said property. You are required to make defense to such pleading not later than forty (40) days after the date of the rst publication of notice stated above, exclusive of such date, being forty (40) days after May 23, 2024, or by July 2, 2024, and upon your failure to do so, the party seeking service of process by publication will apply to the Court for relief sought. This the 17th day of May, 2024. ZACCHAEUS LEGAL SERVICES

MARK D. BARDILL/MARK B. BARDILL Attorney for Plainti NC Bar #12852/56782

310 W. Jones St. P. O. Box 25

Trenton, North Carolina 28585

Telephone: (252) 448-4541

Publication dates: May 23, 2024 May 30, 2024 June 6, 2024

Navy wings are made of gold

The world-famous U.S. Navy Blue Angels are the premiere ghter demonstration team, though some Air Force a cionados might disagree with that assessment.

They appeared earlier this month at the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show, performing incredible feats of aerial acrobatics and tight-formation y-bys. Countless other aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor, which got its rst airto-air kill against that Chinese spy balloon last year (and perhaps the most capable ghter aircraft in the world), were also at the show.

The event generally takes place every two years and was voted as the best air show in the country by the readers of USA Today. The show was last held in 2021. Thanks to photographer Annette Roberson and her husband, Chatham County Sheri Mike Roberson, for these photos from the event.

PHOTOS COURTESY ANNETTE ROBERSON

CHATHAM SPORTS

This way and that Woods Charter senior Leyla Noronha (8) makes a move in front of the North Moore goal during the Wolves’ 5-2 win in the second round of the NCHSAA playo s. Noronha netted two goals in the victory.

New Seaforth basketball coach John Berry introduces himself to the school community at a meet and greet after being hired.

Good pressure: Berry’s preparation to take on expectations of ‘dream job’

The coach discussed his background and approach to leading Seaforth basketball

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

WHILE SEAFORTH High School was still under construction, John Berry would make a weekly 10-minute drive from his home to ride around and look at the progress.

Already coaching kids aged 6-14 through his own Youth Hoops Basketball Camps in Chapel Hill, Berry saw the upcoming high school as a new opportunity.

“I said to myself, ‘Man, this would be a place that I would love to go and coach down the street (and) turn into a winning program,’” Berry said. “I mean, that would be a dream come true.” Berry was able coach the

school’s boys’ junior varsity team for two seasons, and he served as the senior director of the girls’ varsity basketball team, however, he was never given the keys to the boys’ varsity program. But, after two winning seasons, a top recruit and a disappointing 2023-24 campaign for the Hawks, the opportunity became reality.

Seaforth o cially named Berry as its boys’ varsity basketball head coach on May 15, making him the program’s third head coach since the school opened in 2021. Given the school’s success in other sports in such a short time, the high standards set for the basketball team with the help of Jarin Stevenson and his father, Jarod, and the change in athletic directors from Jason Amy to Jared Worley, it seems as if the job would come with signi cant pressure.

But for Berry, the job can’t apply more PSI than he has al-

“I’m going to be harder on myself than anybody else could be.”

John Berry

ready put on himself in the past and now.

Good pressure

Growing up, Berry enjoyed playing basketball, but his small frame, standing only 5 feet tall while weighing 70 pounds as a senior, didn’t allow him to play in high school. “I’ve played basketball my whole life,” Berry said. “I was very good at it growing up, but my size just wasn’t conducive to playing at a higher level.” Instead, Berry decided to use

See BERRY, page B2

Chatham County athletes win outdoor track and eld state titles

Three area athletes won four state titles

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

CHATHAM COUNTY athletes took home plenty of rst place medals from last week’s North Carolina High School Athletic Association outdoor track and eld state championship meets.

On North Carolina A&T’s Marcus T. Johnson Track, the county’s athletes competed in the 1A and 2A competitions, and three of them won titles in individual events. They combined for four championship wins. In the 2A meet, the Seaforth boys nished third in thenal team results with 38 points. Northwood’s boys followed in 46th place with two points. For the girls’ team results, Northwood nished in 12th place with 21 points while Seaforth

nished 30th (six points) and Jordan-Matthews nished 40th (three points).

On the 1A side, Chatham Charter’s boys nished eighth with a score of 22 and Woods Charter’s boys nished 41st. In the 1A girls’ results, Chatham Charter nished 29th with six points and Woods Charter nished 36th with three points. Here’s a recap of the individual state champions from last week’s meets:

Jack Anstrom (Seaforth)

Seaforth junior Jack Anstrom won two state titles in the 2A meet Friday, nishing rst in the boys’ 1,600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 24.23 seconds and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:30.24. With those two wins, Anstrom now has ve state titles to his name, adding to his 2022

See TRACK, page B2

Woods Charter overcomes North Moore’s physicality in 5-2 win, advances to third round of playo s

The Wolves went without multiple key players and still prevailed

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

CHAPEL HILL — In the second round of the 1A girls’ soccer state playo s, No. 2

Woods Charter, missing multiple key players, conquered a sudden jump in intensity.

After cruising to a 17-0 victory over Henderson Collegiate in the rst round, the Wolves endured No. 18 North Moore’s physicality and solid on-ball pressure to beat the

See SOCCER, page B4

GENE GALIN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

GENE GALIN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

ATHLETE

Laney Babo

Northwood, girls’ track team

Laney Babo, a member of Northwood’s girls’ track team, earns athlete of the week honors for the week of May 13.

Babo, a sophomore, won her rst outdoor track and eld state championship Friday, claiming the 2A girls’ pole vault state title. She successfully vaulted 11 feet in the state competition, which was at least two more feet than any other competitor.

Babo recently won the 2024 1A/2A indoor girls’ pole vault state title in February, clearing 10 feet, 6 inches. She was the only Charger to win a state title in Friday’s meet.

his

physical abilities for wrestling in high school. In his sophomore and junior years, he wasn’t a very good wrestler as he matched up against guys who were 30 to 40 pounds heavier in the lowest weight class. It wasn’t until Berry’s mom set him up with George Ingram, a state-championship winning wrestling coach at Gratz High School in Philadelphia, that he starting seeing signi cant improvements.

“This guy was gracious enough to allow me to work out with him in the summers with his team,” Berry said. “(Ingram) pushed me physically, (I) got some skill, (and) got my condence up. I came back that senior year at my high school, (and) I was running through people. I went from winning no matches in the rst two years to being 17-3 my senior year.”

Said Berry, “That literally is the origin story of why I coach. From that experience of how he turned my life around by showing me how to do things and integrating value lessons, I now do the same exact thing for the kids that I coach here at Seaforth.”

Once Berry got bigger as an undergrad at Howard University, he started playing club basketball, and he eventually began playing in a semi-pro league after starting work at Hewlett-Packard. A friend from grad school named Rodney Tucker introduced him to one of the youth basketball teams he coached, piquing Berry’s interest to take his basketball knowledge to the sidelines.

In 1993, Berry coached his rst recreation team in Berkeley, California, leading the team for a few years. He moved to New Jersey in 1997, and after starting to coach another rec team, he never stopped. He eventually got into coaching an AAU team, following the boys to high school where he took over as the freshman team’s head coach.

Then, in 2006, Berry moved to Chapel Hill and took his rst high school head coaching job at Woods Charter where he coached the boys’ varsity team from 2007-17 and the school’s girls’ varsity team from 2016-19.

Now at Seaforth, a bigger school with talented kids, Berry is feeling

the weight. But, that’s not going to change who he is and how he prepares for this type of opportunity. Berry is a people pleaser, and he has no problem with it.

In fact, it’s his personal mission to make people happy, and in sports, people are happiest after a win.

“I’m going to be harder on myself than anybody else could be,” Berry said. “I have a natural desire to please people. I want people to be happy. I want people to be successful. … So, being successful and winning a few ball games is certainly something that I want to do.”

Said Berry, “And I certainly do feel some pressure in doing it. Not bad pressure, but it’s good pressure.”

However, winning isn’t just the only way Berry wants players, coaches and the community to have joy. Part of the weight of his title is pouring into the kids’ lives and bringing them happiness with the lessons that can be applied o the court, like what Coach Ingram did for him.

“Most importantly, with the kids, some of the value lessons and the stu that I’m trying to teach them, they’ll really take that and run with it,” Berry said. “They see these value lessons that we teach, like commitment, hard work and accountability. They’ll take that to heart and they’ll apply it to everything else in their life.”

Full-court pressure

Berry held his rst 6 a.m. workout and open gym session with members of the team just two days after being named head coach.

The school knows there’s no such thing as too early. Seaforth enjoyed early fortune under inaugural head coach Stevenson, who led a team featuring his son, a four-star recruit that now plays for Alabama, to a 12 -10 record in the 2021-22 season and a 18-9 record in its 2022-23 campaign. Both of those years ended in the state playo s. Though, in the only year under former head coach Leo Brunelli last season, the Hawks fell to a 10-15 record and failed to make the postseason. So, it doesn’t take long for things to change. For Berry, one year in a program with high expectations can

result in two things — success or failure.

“It all starts with expectations, and the expectation is this: I’m going to do whatever I have to do from a preparation standpoint to maximize our chances for success.”

Two weeks before even being approved by the Chatham County Schools Board as Seaforth’s head coach, Berry was already watching lm, looking at sets, and planning drills and development plans.

Basketball wise, he wants his team to apply its own pressure on opponents, centering itself around defense.

“I like smart, tough, (and) physical defensive-minded players,” Berry said. “I de nitely do not want to get into a track meet with a team.”

Other main focuses are being able to break a press and what Berry describes as “(valuing) the basketball.”

“One of the ways that we value the basketball, which permeates throughout everything, is playing as a team,” Berry said. “Team o ense, move the ball, back cut if they’re over playing you, being strong with the ball, making that extra pass, (and) minimize the turnovers.”

Berry understands that the new culture and improvements won’t be installed overnight, but by being around the program from the jump, he has an advantage of knowing where to start on day one.

From his rst day on the job, the boys are already scrimmaging in open gym sessions, jumping straight into competition six months before the start of the season and while they can still do activities before the last 10 days of school.

“If we do a little each day, and it’s positive and we’re learning and we plan as a team, then I believe that we have a chance of being successful,” Berry said.

If there’s anything Berry learned from driving around the school’s construction site years ago, it should be that building a program up to its expectations is a process.

Berry said that he sees himself coaching the Hawks for “a minute,” as in “six years, eight years, 10 years.”

But to deal with the pressure now, he’s moving like there’s no time to waste.

Should Estate Plans be Equal...Or Fair?

Should Estate Plans Be Equal … Or Fair?

When you’re creating your estate plan, your biggest priority may be taking care of your family — your spouse, grown children, grandchildren, and other loved ones. And as you think of where you want your assets to go, you also may be thinking about how to be fair — but is that the same as treating everyone equally? In estate planning, “equal” doesn’t always mean “fair.” Let’s consider some factors that can help explain the difference:

• Need – It’s highly unlikely that the individuals you want to include in your estate plan — especially your adult childsituations. For example, you could have one child who is extremely successful and has no children of their own, while another child earns much less income and supports three children. Clearly, your two adult needs — so, you need to consider whether you want to treat them equally or fairly. If you decide you want to treat them fairly, you may want to divide your assets in a way that provides more help to the child who needs it most.

• Abilities – You may well have some assets that you believe are more suitable for one child over another. This can be especially true if you are planning on passing on a family business. If you know that one child is the most capable of running the business or has been primarily involved in the business, then you may want to give that child control as a next-generation owner. Yet, this may not seem fair to another child, who might also express interest in the business, so you may want to look for ways to provide this child with enough assets to help make the overall inheritance more equal.

• Practicality – In some instances, you might think you can meet both the “fair” and “equal” criteria. Suppose, for instance, that you have a cabin or other vacation home that you think two of your children could share. In theory, this joint ownership

C Williams, AAMS® 190 Chatham Downs Dr Suite 103 919-960-6119

301 E Raleigh St Siler City, NC 27344 919-663-1051

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might sound good, but in practical terms, it could cause problems. Are both children equally willing and capable of paying taxes and upkeep on the cabin or vacation home? What if one child wants to sell their share? And then, there’s the question of who gets to use the property at various times of the year. All these issues should be resolvable, but they can also cause great stress within the family.

There’s no simple formula for solving the fair-versus-equal dilemma. But keep this in mind: Communicating your wishes to your loved ones while you are drawing up your estate plan can help reduce confusion — and hopefully lead to fewer hard feelings — when you are no longer around. By their nature, fairness and equality issues related to estate plans can trigger a range of emotions, and addressing these feelings beforehand can help provide a great service for your loved ones.

jectivity can be valuable. That’s why, when creating your estate plan, you may and tax advisors.

When developing your estate plan, you might well strive for equality and fairness but above all, you want to get things right. And careful planning, open communication and appropriate guidance can help go a long way toward this goal.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

advisors cannot provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your attorney situation.

Edward Jones, Member SIPC

and 2023 2A cross-country titles and the 2024 1A/2A indoor 3,200 meter run title.

“It feels good,” Anstrom said after the 1,600-meter run win. “It shows o the work I’ve been doing. Never mad to get another state ring.”

Anstrom won both races comfortably, nishing the 1,600-meter run 6 seconds ahead of the second-place runner and the 3,200-meter race 12 seconds ahead of the next nisher.

In the 3,200-meter race, Anstrom kept up with the pack for about six laps before he kicked into an extra gear and held a safe lead until reaching the nish line.

“I think there’s a lot of condence in knowing what you’re going to do for a race, and I kept that true,” Anstrom said.

Will Cuicchi (Seaforth)

18 – May 20, 2024 556 words

Seaforth junior Will Cuicchi also brought in another big win for the Hawks, claiming the 2A boys’ 800 meter run state title with a personal-best time of 1:53.83. That was Cuicchi’s third state title in his career as he won the 2023 and 2024 1A/2A indoor 1,000-meter runs.

“It felt great,” Cuicchi said.

“It’s been a very fun season. I’m glad I have one more year because I’m really loving it right now.”

Right before the race, the meet got postponed for nearly an hour due to inclement weath-

er. To stay prepared for the event, Cuicchi said he focused on staying out of his own head, performed a-skips, wandered and meditated.

Laney Babo (Northwood)

Northwood sophomore Laney Babo ran away with the 2A girls’ pole vault state title, successfully vaulting 11 feet. Because none of the other athletes vaulted higher than nine feet, Babo clinched the title after performing a successful 10-foot vault. She went higher to try to reach her goal of 12 feet which would have beat her personal best of 11 feet, 6 inches. Babo recently won her rst pole vault state championship in the winter, clinching the 2024 1A/2A indoor title with a 10foot, 6-inch vault.

“It makes me feel like I’ve improved,” Babo said. “All my work paid o . I made improvement throughout the season, and I was able to show that.”

Other notable performances

Chatham Charter senior Lucas Smith nished second in the 1A boys’ 100-meter dash (11.08), third in the 200-meter dash (21.80) and second in the 400-meter dash (47.80).

Seaforth sophomore Ryan Yoder nished second in the 2A boys’ pole vault nals with a mark of 12 feet, 6 inches.

Northwood junior Julia Hall ran a 5:22.77 in the 2A girls’ 1600 meter run nals, earning her a third-place nish.

ASHEEBO ROJAS / CHATHAM NEWS

RECORD

ASHEEBO ROJAS / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

Seaforth junior Jack Anstrom added two state titles to his impressive high school resume.

CCCC Foundation hosts Chatham Golf Classic

For the 11th year, the Central Carolina Community College Foundation Chatham Golf Classic helped raise money to assist CCCC students who need nancial help in order to stay in college and continue their education. The proceeds from the event help to fund scholarships and provide support for other needs.

The event was held on May 15 at The Golf Club at Chapel Ridge and was a four-person captain’s choice ighted competition.

“We are so grateful for the support we have received in Chatham County,” Emily C. Hare, executive director of the CCCC Foundation, said in a release posted on the school’s website. “Chatham County has given so much to us and we will use funds raised in the tournament to go directly back to our students, faculty, and sta .”

The team of Cameron Sharpe, Robin Williams, Brad McDougald and Todd Matthews — sponsored by Carolina Commercial Contractors — nished rst in the rst ight with a 54.

The team of John Crowell, Ashley Berry and Rob Church — sponsored by New York Life and NY Life Securities, Pittsboro — nished rst in the second ight with a 64.

Left, the team of Jimmie Boggs, Jay Bryant, Jason Ziebart and Mike Parnell — sponsored by The Wren Foundation — nished rst in the third ight with a 67. Right, the team of Bobby Powell, Jack Radley, Roy Eubanks and John Crumpton — sponsored by Julian and Cynthia Philpott — nished second in the rst ight with a 57.

Woods Charter senior Catherine Czyzewski (10) makes a move with the ball in a playo win over North Moore. Czyzewski scored the game-tying goal in Woods’ 5-2 win.

SOCCER from page B1

Mustangs in a much closer battle, 5-2, Thursday.

From kicko , North Moore made it tough for Woods Charter to get much o ense going.

The Mustangs did a good job of staying in front of ball handlers, using the pressure to force o -target passes and unsuccessful shots on the goal.

With the Mustangs also hustling to the ball in every ght for possession, some bodies hit the ground early on and throughout the game, giving Woods Charter something they’re not new to — but something to get re-accustomed to.

“It’s about matching the physicality which I didn’t think we did in the rst half a lot,” Woods Charter head coach Graeme Stewart said. “They imposed their one-on-one with us a little bit too much…The way to handle that pressure is to A, match it, and then B, move the ball quicker.”

Woods Charter played solid defense on their end, too, and combined with North Moore’s defensive e orts, that helped keep the game scoreless for the rst 16 minutes. With 24 minutes left in the rst half, North Moore freshman Joselyn Martindale took advantage of a rare breakthrough and got behind the Wolves’ defense to put the game’s rst goal on the board.

Now with even more pressure to get the o ense going, the Wolves continued to struggle offensively until six minutes later when Woods Charter senior Catherine Czyzewski decided to let loose on a long-range shot, hitting the back of the net just a few paces in front of mid eld.

“I saw (Leyla Noronha) had just won the ball, and it popped right back out,” Czyzewski said. “I kind of looked at her (and) I was just like, ‘I’m going to hit it.’ And, I did.”

Immediately after Czyzewski tied the game at one goal apiece, Woods Charter’s all-state senior Sienna Gray, who was one

of the girls not expected to play, checked into the game.

Gray impacted the game almost immediately, giving the Wolves another talented o ensive player on the pitch. Less than two minutes after her entrance, she put in a goal from close range to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead.

Ten minutes later, she scored once again, stretching the Wolves’ advantage to two goals before halftime.

“I saw them go down, and when (Czyzewski) got the goal back, I was really excited to go out and play,” Gray said.

Said Stewart, “We made the decision to put (Gray) on for a few minutes, and she changed the game. Her movement, her physicality, her decision making and the way she connects with the rest of the team just makes it a little bit of a di erent proposition.”

Coming out of the break with the momentum swinging its way, Woods Charter had a smoother start to the second half with better o ensive execution.

“In the second half in particular, we moved the ball a lot better,” Stewart said. “We saw the tackles come in, and we anticipated it a bit better. And, we continuously got the ball wide, which was part of the plan. And, I think we just made quicker decisions.”

Continuing her aggressive, fast paced play from the rst half, Noronha nally scored her rst goal of the game with 32 minutes left to play.

North Moore scored again about midway through the second half, bringing the score to 4-2 with plenty of time left, but that didn’t rattle the Wolves. Woods Charter had already tightened its grip on the game and put the icing on the cake with another goal from Noronha in the game’s nal minutes.

With the win, the Wolves advanced to the third round of the state playo s to play No. 10 East Wake Academy.

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

WITH THE SPRING season in its nal weeks, Chatham County teams are seeing their seasons end, while some still have life in the playo s. Here’s a rundown of who’s been eliminated and who is still standing after last week’s postseason action:

Softball

No. 7 Jordan-Matthews’ successful 2024 season came to an end in the fourth round of the 2A state playo s Friday. The Jets lost to No. 3 Midway, 8-3. Jordan-Matthews got itself in an early hole as Midway jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the rst inning. By the third inning, the Raiders grew their lead to eight runs, and the Jets didn’t get on the board until the fourth inning. Jordan-Matthews held Midway to eight runs for the rest of the game, however, it couldn’t nd enough o ense to rally back.

The Jets ended the year with a 20-5 overall record which is

their most wins in one season (including playo s) since 2016. They also made the fourth round of the playo s that year. Jordan-Matthews also nished as co-champions of the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference, sharing the title with Chatham Central. Before the fourth-round loss, Jordan-Matthews upset No. 2 Roanoke Rapids in the third round on May 15. Jordan-Matthews and Roanoke Rapids were tied at one run apiece from the rst inning to the top of the sixth. Roanoke Rapids took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Jets, like they’ve done multiple times this season, rallied back to take an 8-2 lead after the top of the seventh inning. Jordan-Matthews held on and got the nal three outs to secure the win.

Girls’ soccer No. 4 Seaforth continued its streak of destruction after beating No. 5 East Duplin, 7-0, in the third round of the 2A state playo s Monday. Sophomore So a Viana made her 100th career goal in the win. In the sec-

ond round Thursday, the Hawks also dominated No. 20 Bedding eld, 10-0. Against the Bruins, the Hawks once again ended a playo game in one half after unleashing a barrage of goals. Junior Caitlin Erman led the team with ve goals, and Viana poured in three while also assisting on a team-high four scores. The other two scores came from sophomores Carsyn Ward and Luisa Olmos. Seaforth will play at No. 1 Franklin Academy in the fourth round Thursday. No. 14 Northwood’s season ended in a 7-3 loss to No. 3 Roanoke Rapids in the second round of the 2A playo s Thursday. The Chargers ended their season with a 13-9 overall record which is their most wins in one year (including playo s) since 2019. Northwood won 16 games and made it to the third round of the playo s that year. In the second round of the 1A playo s, No. 2 Woods Charter beat No. 18 North Moore, 5-2. The Wolves took care of No. 10 East Wake Academy in the third round Monday, 5-1. They’ll host the fourth round Thursday.

Teachers, are you looking for new opportunities to fund projects for your classroom? Central Electric is awarding up to $15,000 in Bright Ideas education grants to local educators in K-12 classrooms for the 2024-2025 school year. e nal deadline for all grant applications is Sept. 15, but don’t wait to apply. Applications submitted prior to the early-bird deadline on Aug. 15 will be entered to win one of ve $100 Visa gi cards. Scan the QR code or visit NCBrightIdeas.com for more information or to apply!

GENE GALIN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

SIDELINE REPORT

PGA

Arrest, 8th-place

nish in hectic weekend for Sche er Louisville

Scottie Sche er nished o what he called a “hectic” week at the PGA Championship by surging to an eighth-place nish. The world’s top-ranked golfer shot a 6-under 65 to nish at 13 under for the tournament. The round came two days after Sche er spent time in a Louisville jail following his arrest on charges stemming from a tra c incident. Sche er is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The 27-year-old Texan says he’s not sure what’s in store on the legal front in the near future and he’s mostly focused on getting home to his wife and newborn son.

GYMNASTICS

Biles shines in return to mat

Hartford, Conn.

Simone Biles certainly looks ready for Paris with more than two months to go before the Olympic games begin. The gymnastics superstar began her bid for a third Olympic team looking as dominant as ever at the U.S. Classic. The 27-year-old Biles posted an all-around score of 59.500, nearly two points clear of runnerup Shilese Jones. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic champion, saw her hopes for a career comeback at 28 take a hit. Douglas fell twice on uneven bars in her rst event and pulled out of the nal three rotations.

BOXING

Usyk beats Fury to become the rst undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision to become the rst undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in 24 years. Usyk added Fury’s WBC title to his own WBA, IBF and WBO belts with a spectacular late rally highlighted by a ninthround knockdown in a backand-forth bout between two previously unbeaten heavyweight champs. Two judges favored Usyk, 115112 and 114-113, while the third gave it to Fury, 114-113. Usyk started quickly, but then had to survive while Fury dominated the middle rounds. Usyk rallied in the nal rounds.

MLB Bad Bunny sports agency sues baseball players’ union over ban, announces Acuña Jr. as client

New York Music star Bad Bunny’s sports representation rm sued the baseball players’ association Thursday, asking for a restraining order against the union that would allow it to keep working with the company’s clients. The agency also said it has added NL MVP Ronal Acuña Jr. as a client. Rimas Sports/ Diamond Sports LLC, sued in U.S. District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, accusing the Major League Baseball Players Association of violating Puerto Rico’s general tort claim and tortious interference with its contracts to represent players. The suit claimed the union’s actions blocked it from taking on Acuña as a client.

Seize the Grey wins the Preakness for D. Wayne Lukas

the Preakness, giving Lukas his seventh victory in the race, one short of the record held by good friend Bob Ba ert.

By Stephen Whyno The Associated Press

BALTIMORE — D. Wayne Lukas worked his way to Seize the Grey after his horse won the Preakness Stakes and kept getting interrupted by well-wishers o ering congratulations.

“I think they’re trying to get rid of me,” Lukas said. “They probably want me to retire. I don’t think that’ll happen.”

Not when the 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer keeps winning big-time races.

Seize the Grey ended Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid Saturday by going wire to wire to win

“I’m only one behind him — I warned him already,” Lukas said. “It never gets old at this level, and I love the competition. I love to get in here with the rest of them.”

The strapping grey colt took advantage of the muddy track just as Lukas hoped he would, pulling o the upset in a second consecutive impressive start two weeks after romping in a race on the Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. Going o at 9-1 as one of the longest shots on the board, Seize the Grey moved to the lead immediately out of the starting gate and never looked back, nishing 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Mystik Dan in 1:56.82.

“I thought his action down the backside was beautiful, and

I knew that he was handling the track,” Lukas said. “I said, ‘Watch out, he’s not going to quit.’” Mystik Dan nished second in the eld of eight horses running in the $2 million, 1 3/16mile race.

“My colt’s a fantastic colt and proud of him,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “It just wasn’t his day, but he’ll live to race again.”

Seize the Grey was a surprise Preakness winner facing tougher competition than in the Pat Day Mile on May 4. Though given the Lukas connection, it should never be a surprise when one of his horses is covered in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susan owers.

No one in the race’s 149-year history has saddled more horses in the Preakness than Lukas with 48 since debuting in 1980 and winning that one with Codex. He had two in this time,

with Just Steel nishing fth. Seize the Grey paid $21.60 to win, $8.40 to place and $4.40 to show. Mystik Dan paid $4.20 and $2.80 after nishing a head in front of third-place Catching Freedom, who paid $3.20 to show.

Mystik Dan was the 2-1 favorite, but he and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. could not replicate their perfect Derby trip to win that race’s rst three-way photo nish since 1947. Instead, Jaime Torres rode Seize the Grey to a win in his rst Triple Crown race of any kind, just two years after starting to ride.

“I have no words,” said Torres, a native of Puerto Rico who did not begin racing until seeing it on TV in late 2019. “I’m very excited, very excited and very thankful to all the people that have been behind me, helping me.”

Brissett embracing role of mentor during his 2nd stint as quarterback with Patriots

The former Wolfpack QB will mentor former Tar Heel Drake Maye

By Kyle Hightower The Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jacoby Brissett had no expectations the rst time he walked into the New England Patriots’ training facility in 2016 as a wide-eyed, 23-year-old rookie quarterback.

A third-round pick, he was joining a team that had a fourtime Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Tom Brady at the time and an entrenched backup in Jimmy Garoppolo.

Brissett didn’t know if he’d even make the roster.

“Third-string quarterback my rookie year. Took no reps at training camp or (organized team activities) with the rst team. And Week 2 I’m in the game versus the Dolphins,” Brissett recalled on Thursday. “You never know when your opportunity is going to come. You’ve just got to ready.”

Brissett couldn’t have predicted that Brady would begin that 2016 season by serving a four-game suspension as part of his “De ategate” punishment, or that Garoppolo would be injured in the second game of the season against Miami, thrusting him into the starting job for two games. But Brissett’s point is clear.

this and cadence and stu like that,” Brissett said. “He’s got a lot of talent. He can make all the throws.”

After being traded to Indianapolis by the Patriots in 2017, Brissett spent four years with the Colts and had one-year stops in Miami, Cleveland and Washington.

He’s appeared in 79 games with 48 starts along the way, growing into a respected veteran in the league. It comes with lessons that he feels will be helpful to a young quarterback such as Maye.

“He wants to learn football. He wants to get better,” Brissett said. “That’s what you want. Not only in your quarterback but anybody on the team. I’m excited to work with him.”

A chance to impact a team can come at any time. And that’s exactly how the now-31-year-old is approaching his latest stop in New England. With the one-year, $8 million free-agent deal he signed with the Patriots in March, Brissett joins a quarterback room in which he’s largely viewed as a transition player while rstround pick and former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye develops. Lucky for the Patriots, Maye and Brissett already have some

familiarity with one another. Brissett and Maye share a mutual friend in Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Howell. Maye and Howell both played at North Carolina, and Howell and Brissett were teammates on the Commanders last season. All three spent time together last summer. Since nding out they’d both be joining the Patriots, Maye and Brissett have gotten to know each other better.

“He’s already texting me about plays and how do I think about

Brissett is equally excited about rekindling his relationship with o ensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who served the same role in Cleveland when Brissett was there in 2022 and started for the Browns while Deshaun Watson served his 11-game NFL suspension.

“I’m just going to be myself. I have no ego in this,” Brissett said. “I’m 31 now. I’ve matured as a man, as a football player and learned from those experiences that I’ve had throughout my career. I’ve been fortunate to play along or play beside a lot of really good quarterbacks and a lot of good coaches. The things that I’ve learned hopefully will continue to propel my career.”

ELISE AMENDOLA / AP PHOTO

New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) throws a pass at practice, during the 2016 season. One thing Jacoby Brissett has learned during his eight-year NFL career is to maximize opportunity. That is how he is approaching his second stint with the New England Patriots.

The victory ended Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid

JULIO CORTEZ / AP PHOTO

Jaime Torres, atop Seize The Grey, crosses the nish line to win the Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course.

The 82-year-old Beatle ranks 165th on the list of the wealthiest people in the U.K.

The Associated Press

FOR 60 YEARS, royalties from The Beatles’ catalog had made Paul McCartney one of Britain’s wealthiest musicians. According to gures released Friday, the former Mop Top, now 82, is the rst British musical artist worth 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion). The annual Sunday Times Rich List has revealed that McCartney and his wife, Nancy Shevell, have grown their wealth by 50 million pounds since last year. The list cites McCartney’s successful 2023 Got Back tour, the lucrative Beatles catalog and Beyonce’s cover of “Blackbird” on her “Cowboy Carter” album as major contributors. The Sunday Times estimated that 50 million pounds of the couple’s wealth is due to Shevell, daughter of the late U.S. trucking tycoon Mike Shevell. McCartney ranked 165th on the newspaper’s respected and

widely perused list of the U.K.’s 350 wealthiest people. Gopi Hinduja and his family, who own the banking, media and entertainment conglomerate Hinduja Group, came in rst place with an estimated net worth of 37 billion pounds. The Sunday Times Rich List also features other notable entertainment gures, providing a comprehensive view of the U.K.’s wealthiest individuals. These include “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, whose fortune is estimated at 945 million pounds,

and singer Elton John, estimated to be worth 470 million pounds. Their inclusion on the list underscores the signi cant wealth generated by the entertainment industry. King Charles III ranked 258th with an estimated wealth of 610 million pounds. The king’s fortune includes the large inherited private estates of Sandringham in England and Balmoral in Scotland. The total does not include items that the monarch holds in trust for the nation, such as the Crown Jewels.

in

Solution for the puzzle in last week’s edition.

Solution for the puzzle in last week’s edition.

Halley’s Comet passed by Earth, Bonnie and Clyde Shot to Death

The Saturday Evening Post published its rst Norman Rockwell cover

MAY 17

1536: Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared England’s King Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn invalid after she failed to produce a male heir; Boleyn, already condemned for high treason, was executed two days later.

1940: The Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II.

1973: A special committee convened by the U.S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.

2012: Donna Summer, the “Queen of Disco,” died at age 63.

MAY 18

1896: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed “separate but equal”

racial segregation, a concept renounced 58 years later by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

1980: Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.

1910: Halley’s Comet passed by Earth, brushing it with its tail.

1934: Congress approved and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the so-called “Lindbergh Act,” providing for the death penalty in cases of interstate kidnapping.

MAY 19

1536: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.

1962: Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday to You” to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at Madison Square Garden.

1994: Former rst lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.

MAY 20

1927: Charles Lindbergh took o from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis.

1916: The Saturday Evening Post published its rst Norman Rockwell cover.

1932: Amelia Earhart took o from Newfoundland to become the rst woman to y solo across the Atlantic.

1956: The United States exploded the rst airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Paci c.

MAY 21

1471: King Henry VI of England died in the Tower of London at age 49.

1542: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto died while searching for gold along the Mississippi River.

1927: Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane near Paris, completing the rst solo airplane ight across the Atlantic

Ocean in 33½ hours

1955: Chuck Berry recorded his rst single, “Maybellene,” for Chess Records in Chicago.

MAY 22

1964: Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his “Great Society.”

1939: Germany and Italy signed the “Pact of Steel,” committing the two countries to a military alliance.

1960: An earthquake of magnitude 9.5 struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.

1962: Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed after a bomb apparently brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 occupants of the Boeing 707.

1992: After a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “The Tonight Show” for the nal time.

MAY 23

1934: Bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot to death in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

1430: The Burgundians captured Joan of Arc, who sold her to the English.

Anonymous public servants at heart of George Stephanopoulos’ ‘Situation Room’

solutions

The ABC News anchor charts the history of the White House room where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled

By Andrew DeMillo The Associated Press

THE ROOM itself is the biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled in recent decades. As a setting, it’s underwhelming.

In “The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis,” George Stephanopoulos describes how the room — a series of rooms — for much of its history didn’t live up to its reputation in popular imagination or media. The centerpiece of it, as Stephanopoulos writes, had “all the charm of a cardboard box.”

But what keeps readers engaged in Stephanopoulos’ history isn’t any behind-the-

scenes schematics or technology. It’s not a Tom Clancy novel, though it moves along as briskly as one. Instead, it’s the stories Stephanopoulos and Lisa Dickey share of the normally nameless, faceless public servants, the duty ocers who have sta ed the center since its inception during Kennedy’s presidency.

Stephanopoulos, a political commentator and ABC anchor who worked in the Clinton White House, wisely zeroes in on a single crisis during each of the Situation Room’s 12 presidencies. Along the way, he reveals much about the di ering management styles of the nation’s presidents and o ers plenty of interesting pieces of history.

This includes the granular level of detail Lyndon B. Johnson sought in regular calls to the Situation Room late at night or early in the morning. The book o ers a glimpse at the frenzied conversations that took place following Ronald Reagan’s shooting in 1981.

It should come as no surprise that the most riveting chapter centers around the

The duty o cers whose stories are at the book’s heart are portrayed as apolitical gures, with one saying they “serve in silence.”

moment that led to the most widely seen photo of the “Sit Room” — the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Stephanopoulos reveals that the photo — which showed former President Barack Obama in a cramped conference room receiving updates on the raid on the terrorist leader’s compound — could have looked a lot di erent. A larger room was available, but o cials were worried about losing the audiovisual link if they tried moving it from the cramped room. The duty o cers whose stories are at the book’s heart are portrayed as apolitical gures, with one saying they “serve in silence.” Stephanopoulos’ book is a tting tribute to them.

AP PHOTO

George Stephanopoulos’ “The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis” given a behind-the-scenes look at the American presidency at its biggest moments.

“We

famous birthdays this week

The Associated Press

May 19

Musician Pete Townshend of The Who is 79. Drummer Phil Rudd of AC/DC is 70.

Singer Shooter Jennings is 45.

Comedian Michael Che (“Saturday Night Live”) is 41.

May 20

Singer-actor Cher is 78.

Actor Dean Butler (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 68.

Actor Bronson Pinchot (“Perfect Strangers,” “True Romance”) is 65. Actor Tony Goldwyn (“Scandal,” “Ghost”) is 64. Rapper Busta Rhymes is 52.

May 21

Singer Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers is 83. Comedian and former U.S. Sen. Al Franken is 73. Actor Judge Reinhold (“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”) is 67. Actor-director Nick Cassavetes (“The Notebook”) is 65. Actor Mr. T (“The A-Team”) is 72.

May 22

Actor Barbara Parkins

(“Peyton Place,” ″Valley of the Dolls”) is 82. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 74. Singer Morrissey of The Smiths is 65. Actor Brooke Smith (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Silence of the Lambs”) is 57.

May 23

Actor Joan Collins (“Dynasty”) is 92. Actor Lauren Chapin (“Father Knows Best”) is 79. Comedian Drew Carey is 66. Drummer Phil Selway of Radiohead is 57. Singer Jewel is 50.

May 24

Jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp is 87. Comedian Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong is 86. Musician Bob Dylan is 83. Singer Rosanne Cash is 69. Actor John C. Reilly (“Chicago,” Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia”) is 59.

May 25

Actor Ann Robinson (“War of the Worlds”) is 95. Actor Ian McKellen (“Lord of the Rings”) is 85. Director-Muppetteer Frank Oz is 80. Actor-comedian Mike Myers (“Saturday Night Live” “Austin Powers” is 61.

AMY SUSSMAN / INVISION VIA AP

Left, famed musician Bob Dylan turns 83 on Friday. Right, Muppeteer Frank Oz will be 80 on Saturday.

MARY ALTAFFER / AP PHOTO Bouncer-turned-actor

JEFF ROBBINS / AP PHOTO

the stream

Kravitz releases rst full-length album in six years

“The Blue Angels,” premiering on Amazon, spotlights the daring U.S. Navy pilots who have thrilled air show audiences since 1946

The Associated Press

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for something new for your devices, there’s plenty of music, TV, movies and video games coming to your screens this week. Lenny Kravitz will drop his rst record in six years, “South Park,” mocks weight loss drugs and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” has hit the streaming service Max. Music documentary fans also have a lot to look forward to with Peter Jackon’s “The Beach Boys” on Disney + and “Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.” about Stax Records on Max.

MOVIES TO STREAM

The spice is owing on Max after Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” hit the streaming service on Tuesday. The lm continues the saga of Paul Atreides as he learns the ways of the desert-dwelling Fremen following his father’s death in “Part One.” It’s also a decidedly more action-packed spectacle than the rst lm, introducing a slew of new characters, including the demonic Feyd Rautha, played by Austin Butler. In his review, AP lm writer Jake Coyle wrote that “Like its predecessor, ‘Dune: Part Two’ thrums with an intoxicating big-screen expressionism of monoliths and mosquitos, fevered visions and messianic fervor — more dystopian dream, or nightmare, than a straightforward narrative.”

A di erent kind of eye-popping spectacle will also be available Thursday on Prime Video in “The Blue Angels,” a documentary about the daring U.S. Navy pilots who have thrilled air show audiences since 1946. Produced by J.J. Abrams and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Glen Powell, lmmaker Paul Crowder got unprecedented access to the pilots on the ground and in the air to give audiences a front-row seat. Stunts were lmed using a helicopter and mounted IMAX-certi ed camera — it was the rst civilian aircraft allowed to y in their per -

formance airspace — unlike in “Top Gun: Maverick,” there was no staging or second takes. The ever-proli c Jennifer Lopez already has another movie on the way in the sciaction pic “Atlas,” debuting Friday on Net ix. She plays the titular character, a data analyst who must learn to trust AI to save humanity. Lopez has said that, at its core, it’s a love story. “Atlas” was directed by “San Andreas” helmer Brad Peyton.

MUSIC TO STREAM

Lenny Kravitz is back with his rst full-length album in six years: “Blue Electric Light.”

(The album follows 2018’s “Raise Vibration.”) It is a testament to his status as one of the last remaining true rock stars, evident from the moment he released the album’s lead single, “TK421.” Last year, Kravitz described the album as “the album I didn’t make in my teens” to The Associated Press. You’ve seen nearly all eight hours of Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary “Get Back” on Disney+. Now, prepare for a denitive documentary on Amer -

ica’s band, the Beach Boys, on the same platform starting Friday. (Let the spirited rivalry continue!) Appropriately titled “The Beach Boys,” this doc boasts never-before-seen footage and all-new interviews with members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston.

At the epicenter of Memphis’ music scene in the ’50s and ’60s was Stax Records, home to Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Staple Singers and many others; a funk, R&B and soul label that celebrated interracial creative endeavors at a point in American history when doing so was life-threatening. “Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.” started streaming Monday on Max.

“The Tuba Thieves,” out Monday PBS’ app, is not about stealing tubas. Well, at least not completely: From 2011 through 2013, tubas started disappearing from high schools in Los Angeles. Filmmaker Alison O’Daniel, who identi es as deaf/hard of hearing, used these thefts as a jumping-o point in her experimental work, which attempts to understand the role of sound

in our lives. That’s music to anyone’s ears.

SHOWS TO STREAM

Has chef Gordon Ramsay met his match in season two of “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars?” He faces o against fellow Brit, restaurateur and reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump to nd fresh talent in the food and beverage industry. They each lead teams of contestants who compete in various challenges, and the winner gets $250,000 toward their brand. It’s like “Shark Tank” meets “The Voice” meets “The Apprentice.” Season two debuted Wednesday on Fox. The series also streams on Hulu, Tubi, and Fox.com. Shay Mitchell, best known for the original “Pretty Little Liars” series, is serious about her love of travel. She hosts her travel show on Max but with a twist. “Thirst with Shay Mitchell” is about seeking out beverages unique to each area and soaking up local culture. Mitchell is game to try it all one sip at a time.

“South Park” has never shied away from poking fun at hot-button topics. In a new spe -

cial, weight loss drugs are all the rage in South Park. The kids get involved when Cartman is denied access. “South Park: The End of Obesity” streams Friday on Paramount+.

“My Adventures with Superman” is back for season two on Adult Swim on Saturday. Jack Quaid voices Clark Kent/Superman as a young man who is roommates with his best friend, Jimmy Olson, played by Ishmel Sahid. Alice Lee voices Lois Lane. The lighthearted take on the DC Comics hero also streams on Max.

VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

Paper Trail also follows a young woman trying to make her way in the world, but it’s a much less stressful journey. Paige lives in a comfy home with loving parents, but it’s time to go to college. The road isn’t always straightforward, but Paige has a unique talent: She can treat her environment like paper, folding it to reconnect broken pathways. The result, from British studio Newfangled Games, is a series of colorful, 2D mazes with charming graphics that look handcrafted.

MARCO UGARTE / AP PHOTO

Lenny Kravitz’s new album, “Blue Electric Light,” comes out Friday.

AMAZON / AP PHOTO

“The Blue Angels” is available this week on Amazon Prime.