PARTING WORDS, PART I: Two of the three departing Raleigh City Council members quoted others on their way out of office this week. Tommy Craven quoted country star Toby Keith, while Joyce Kekas went quite a bit more highbrow and quoted Ghandi and told a story about an old man and a fig tree.

The sourcing was unusual in that it's typically Councilman James West who does the quoting on the council, usually offering up bits of management wisdom so obscure that Triangle Politics must Google them.

Beyond the famous quotes, the most interesting thing about the last council meeting of the year was when Craven, Kekas and Jessie Taliaferro said their goodbyes. Mayor Charles Meeker surprised all three by having them give parting speeches at the beginning. As they began their farewell speeches, all three council members made a point of saying they thought Meeker was going to wait until the end of the meeting to solicit last words.

Maybe he got a little excited thinking about the working majority he'll have when the council reconvenes in January.

PARTING WORDS, PART II: This week marked the last hurrah for Thomas Stith III as a Durham city councilman, at least for the foreseeable future.

The man who made a name as a frequent dissenter among his council colleagues -- and sacrificed his seat in a losing bid to unseat Mayor Bill Bell -- spent his lame-duck meetings unusually quiet.

He did get one last lone dissenting vote Monday, opposing buying a parcel of land for $725,000 because the city doesn't have a set plan for what it will do with it.

At a Tuesday work session, he was relieved that the council voted to support a renewed effort to get a state historical marker at the site of a 1957 sit-in protesting segregation at Royal Ice Cream in Durham.

He said he was glad to make that his final vote, "before you guys boot me off."

POLITICAL TRAIL

* REPUBLICANS: The next meeting of the Western Wake Republican Club is Monday. They will be electing officers and directors for 2008.

Dinner is available from 6 to 7 p.m., and the meeting is 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The event is at Bentley's American Grill, 2007 Walnut St. in Cary, across from Home Depot. The public is invited.

For more information about WWRC, visit www.westernwakegop.org. And for more information about Wake County GOP, visit www.wakegop.org.

For additional inquiries call Vinnie DeBenedetto 363-1967

* REPUBLICAN WOMEN: The Republican Women of Cary and Southwestern Wake County will meet Dec. 6 at the Prestonwood Country Club.

The social is at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is at noon. The cost is $13.

Call Jeanine Mennear at 469-3658 for reservations.

* DEMOCRATIC WOMEN: Democratic Women of Wake County will meet Thursday at the N.C. State University Club, 4200 Hillsborough St.

The buffet lunch lines open at 11:30 a.m., and the program starts at noon.

The cost of the luncheon is $13. For reservations, contact info@dwwc.net or call Martha Farmer at 782-1272.

The deadline for reservations is 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The featured speaker for November will be Dr. Hadley Callaway, the new president of the N.C. Medical Society.

(Compiled by staff writers David Bracken and Matt Dees.)

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