Tuskegee Airmen invited to inauguration

Wake County Commissioner Harold Webb was planning on attending Barack Obama's inauguration anyway. Now he will have a better seat.

Webb, 83, learned Wednesday that he and the other surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen have been invited to the inauguration. They, along with former members of Congress and others, will be seated in the terrace below the lectern where Obama will be sworn into office Jan. 20.

"If the logistics provide, I will have one of those special seats," Webb said. It will be his fourth inauguration. He also attended those of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Touch Sir Walter for luck

You know it's a slow news month when the Raleigh Public Affairs Department issues a four-page news release about the city's Sir Walter Raleigh statue being moved -- three months ago -- to the front of the convention center. Apparently, the statue of the city's foppish Elizabethan namesake is "starting some buzz" among conventioneers and has become a good-luck charm for tourists wandering downtown Raleigh. The city's growing army of rickshaw drivers reports that tourists have begun rubbing the bronze statue's boot for good luck, according to the news release.

We were skeptical, but apparently there's some truth to it.

"It's definitely a source of pride for the city," said Amedeo Rosa with Raleigh Rickshaw. "Folks are always impressed by him. He's 14 feet tall or so."

Sir Walter is actually 11 feet tall, but anyone who saw him take the stage after Eddie Money at Raleigh Wide Open II can understand the embellishment.

Tales of wives

Durham leaders don't have to talk to their constituents to know residents are feeling the squeeze.

"I know when we got our water bill my wife was, 'What's all this about?' " Mayor Bill Bell said at Tuesday's State of Durham's Economy breakfast.

The city recently adopted tiered water rates to encourage year-round conservation.

"I had to explain to her we really had no alternatives," Bell said.

Moments later Michael Page, the new chairman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, stepped up.

"Mayor Bell's wife talked to him about water," he said. "My wife talked to me about taxes, so we're kind of even."

Fair share for books

With Mayor Kevin Foy out sick with the flu, other Chapel Hill Town Council members renewed the mayor's call Monday for Orange County government to fund a more equitable portion of the Chapel Hill Public Library budget.

A report from Town Manager Roger Stancil said the county pays about 11 percent of the library's operating budget, but county residents from outside Chapel Hill account for about 40 percent of the annual circulation. In dollars, the county pays $250,000 a year toward the library's $2 million budget while receiving about $800,000 worth of services.

"I don't know why we have to talk about it and talk about it every year and grovel for this," council member Laurin Easthom said. "It's just ridiculous."

The town will ask to have the issue put on the agenda for the next county Assembly of Governments meeting scheduled for March, in the midst of budget season. The Town Council is considering charging an annual fee of $60 to $100 for out-of-town patrons.