Aug. 8 - 14, 2019
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Tales from under the tent Vendors at Oak Ridge’s farmers market are motivated by childhood hobbies, family recipes, a dog rescue and the illness of an infant by CHRIS BURRITT
Akasha Santos and Devon May are new vendors at From the Earth farmers market in Oak Ridge, selling jewelry made from dried flowers to recognize the cancer fight of Santos’ 15-month-old daughter, Rue.
OAK RIDGE – George Page was riding his bicycle home from his job at a grocery store in Lincolnton, North Carolina, when he spotted a swarm of bees in a tree at his house. He helped catch the swarm, starting a lifelong fascination with beekeeping.
Sixty years later, Page, 75, is one of about three dozen vendors who gather Thursday evenings at Oak Ridge’s From the Earth Farmers market. Tales of how they got started are as rich and plentiful as the yellow squash and sunflowers, jewelry and jam they sell from folding tables under tents. “They have wonderful stories,” said Laurie Brackett, the organizer of the market that draws several hundred people Photos by Chris Burritt/NWO weekly to a vacant lot next to Finley Miller of Summerfi eld makes Finley’s the Village Quality Mart conveFizzies bath bombs in lavender, peach mango nience gas station on N.C. 68 and other flavors. She sells her products just south of N.C. 150. every Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at From the Since starting in early May, Earth farmers market in Oak Ridge and on ...continued on p. 10 her Facebook page.
Former councilman has another day in court After attorneys present oral arguments in the Todd Rotruck vs. Guilford County Board of Elections and Janelle Robinson case on Aug. 6, a decision by an N.C. Court of Appeals’ three-judge panel is pending by PATTI STOKES SUMMERFIELD – Former Summer-
field Town Councilman Todd Rotruck maintains that he moved from his Greensboro home to Summerfield in the fall of 2016, and lived Todd Rotruck there for about 12 months before temporarily moving back to the home in Greensboro that he and his family still owned and had kept furnished. But whether Rotruck,
elected to Summerfield Town Council in November 2017, lived in Summerfield in April 2018, 30 days prior to the May 8, 2018, primary, has been at the center of much debate and several lawsuits since the Guilford County Board of Elections unanimously upheld a voter registration challenge filed by Janelle Robinson a few months earlier. The BOE voted that Rotruck had not established permanent residency in Summerfield 30 days prior to the May 2018 primary election – a requirement to be an eligible Sum-
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IN THIS ISSUE News in brief .............................. 2 ‘Crazy’ water system? .............. 3 Your Questions .......................... 4 Oak Ridge Town Council ......... 6 Bits & Pieces ............................... 8 MLB’s Pitch Hit & Run winner... 12 Crime/Incident Report ........... 14 Calendar Events ...................... 15 Grins and Gripes ..................... 16 Classifieds ................................ 19 Index of Advertisers ................ 23