Names of the the fallen

Town Council challenger Matt Czajkowski recently wrote to Town Hall asking for the names of Chapel Hill soldiers who have been injured or died in Iraq.

"I am sorry, but we do not have that information at Town Hall," town information officer Catherine Lazorko replied. She referred Czajkowski to the Department of Defense and a Web site, www.defendamerica.mil/fallen.html.

"Can it really be true ... that the Town of Chapel Hill doesn't know which of its citizens have been injured or given their lives in Iraq?" Czajkowski wrote back.

LEADERS OF THE PAC: The Chatham Coalition recently appointed Jan Nichols chairwoman and John Hammond vice chairman.

The grass-roots political action committee, founded in 2004, supports candidates who support smart growth, open government, quality education and sustainable economic development.

Nichols lives near Pittsboro and works as chief technology officer for the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh.

Hammond, a Fearrington Village resident, is a retired professor in the UNC School of Medicine.

PLAYING BALL: The Chatham County Board of Commissioners appointed Treva Seagroves as the new county register of deeds. She replaces Reba Thomas, who is retiring. Seagroves has worked in the Register of Deeds Office for almost 18 years.

As he announced her appointment, commissioners' Chairman Carl Thompson said Seagroves has also been to known to sink a few on the court. The two went to Chatham Central together, where she was on the girls basketball team, and he on the boys team.

"She was an outstanding ballplayer," he said.

RELISHING THE OPPORTUNITY: At the Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting this week, a representative of The Village Project, a Carrboro nonprofit that advocates walkable communities in North Carolina, promoted Car Free Day.

The representative asked the board to pass a resolution supporting President Bush's recently announced national goal of cutting gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years.

The board passed the resolution, but not before longtime Alderwoman Jacquie Gist made a sarcastic comment about Bush.

Alderman Alex Zaffron made the motion for the board to adopt a resolution.

"Relishing any opportunity to support a goal of our president, I second that," Gist said.

POLITICALLY SPEAKING:

"The issue raised is a personal matter, one that I hope to resolve soon. As I have said before, I deeply regret any distress this has caused for anyone. It is disappointing to see some people attempting to frame this as a political matter. ... [There are] substantive matters facing Carrboro, and that's what this campaign ought to be about."

-- CARRBORO ALDERMAN DAN COLEMAN,

RESPONDING TO A CALL BY MAYORAL CANDIDATE BRIAN VOYCE THAT HE STEP DOWN UNTIL A MISDEMEANOR CHARGE OF ASSAULT STEMMING FROM A TRAFFIC DISPUTE IS RESOLVED.