Peripatetic pig puzzles pursuers

An escaped pig, dubbed “Babe” by one family who saw it last week, eluded capture by police officers who chased it briefly on Monday.

Davidson Animal Control Officer Ken Latzer said the roving porker was spotted Monday near College Street and Lorimer Road. Ken was out of the area, so Davidson police officers responded, but were unable to catch the pig.

Police corporal and K-9 Officer Scott Searcy and Officer Shawn Padgett got the call. “We chased the pig around college street for around 30 or 45 minutes,” Searcy said Wednesday. Searcy pursued the animal with a 30-foot dog leash fashioned into a lasso. Unfortunately, “My lassoing skills aren’t good enough,” he said.

Searcy described the suspect as a small pig about 18 inches high, about 2 feet long and weighing 40 to 60 pounds. “It’s been a lot of fun,” he said.

As of Wednesday morning, “Babe” was still on the loose and authorities still had no leads on who owns the animal or where it came from. Pig sightings or information about the pig’s origins may be phoned in to Officer Ken at 704-892-5131.
Read more in Monday’s report.

Streets to close for Christmas in Davidson

The town has announced the following street closures and parking restrictions during Christmas in Davidson the evenings of Thursday, Nov. 30, through Saturday, Dec. 2:

• Main Street will be closed from Main and Jackson to Main and Concord Road.
• Chairman Blake will be closed at Main Street.
• On South Street, you must travel along Walnut to reach Main Street.
• Jackson Street, Concord Road and Lorimer Road will remain open.

No Parking signs will go up and cars parked on Main Street will be ticketed beginning at 5 p.m. each day.  For more information please call the town at 704-892-5131.

Prowling porker spied on neighborhood streets

A runaway pig has been spotted repeatedly near downtown Davidson during the Thanksgiving holiday week.

In the latest sighting Monday morning, the porcine escapee was rooting about near the intersection of Lorimer Road and College Street. Lorimer resident Rachel Stewart told us her family spied the pig as she walked her kids to school.

“At first we thought it was a dog. But then we looked and saw it was a pig,” she said. Stewart said the animal appears to be about half-grown.

Davidson Animal Control officer Kenn Latzer said Monday morning he has been getting calls about the pig since last Tuesday, when one of his neighbors in the Twin Oaks area told him about it. So far, he has been unable to nab the runaway porker.

Observer article focuses on developments

In case you didn’t see it, Sunday’s Charlotte Observer carried an article about the rush of real estate development in our neighborhood.

“Davidson’s Main Street on the Move,” by Kathryn Thier, includes a map locating the Walnut Grove, Spring @ Walnut, Village at South Main and South Main Square developments. Click here to read the article. And Click here for a scan of the map, which does not appear on the Observer’s Website.

Comments? Leave them here by clicking on “Comments” below.

North rail line survives transit commission vote

When will the Charlotte area’s North commuter line get built?

That question may be no closer to an answer this week. All we can say at this point is that the project isn’t dead yet.

The Metropolitan Transit Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to move ahead simulaneously with both the north commuter rail line and a light-rail line to the UNCC area.

Officials from Davidson and other north Mecklenburg County towns have been lobbying to keep the north commuter rail line project on track, amid similarly intense lobbying from residents and employers in the University area for the proposed light rail.

Builder wins approval for Spring@Walnut plan

The Town Board on Tuesday night approved developer Rodney Graham’s plans for a nine-unit project off Walnut Street called Spring@Walnut (EDITOR’S NOTE: This development name has been changed to Davidson Springs).

Graham, of John Marshall Custom Homes, agreed to save trees on the site as a condition of the approval. In an email message this morning, town planning director Kris Krider said: “The developer is required to acknowledge each tree on the plan that shall be saved and not disturb an area within the drip line per ordinance requirements. Further, a mitigation plan will be described for those trees which must be removed for the development.”

Previous plans had included eight units, but the final plan approved Tuesday calls for nine new units on three existing lots near the intersection of Walnut and Spring Streets.

Town board member Margo Williams said this morning that she asked for the tree mitigation plan. And she said we in the neighborhood can help by keeping an eye out on work there.

People: Stasack composition premieres Saturday

The planets are aligning for a rare musical event in Davidson this weekend, and one of our neighbors is at the center of it all.

On Saturday night, Nov. 18, the Charlotte Sympony Orchestra will perform the world premiere of a new musical work it commissioned from Jennifer Stasack, a composer and music professor at Davidson College. Her “Crossing Rivers V” and works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Kernis will be on the program Saturday at 8 p.m. at Davidson’s Duke Family Performance Hall. Click here for details.

Jennifer was interviewed last weekend by Rachel Jeffreys on radio station WDAV-FM. It’s worth a listen, both to learn more about her and to hear other compositions by someone in our midst. Click here for an archived recording of the interview on WDAV’s website.

Leaf collection schedule update

The town sent this update this morning about fall leaf collections:

During the fall months, the Town of Davidson Public Works Department will be collecting leaves to clear roads and streets. Here are some tips to assist with collection efforts:

Bagged leaves – BFI will collect bagged leaves when picking up yard debris. By using
brown biodegradable trash bags, you help crews work more efficiently and easily identify your bags as leaves.

Unbagged leaves – The Public Works Department collects leaves every day in the fall. The intended collection route is as follows:

Dust-up over Walnut Grove construction traffic

Construction of the Walnut Grove development has begun off Walnut Street (See Oct. 8 item, “Walnut Grove site work to begin soon“), and problems with the resulting truck traffic have prompted complaints by neighbors at either end of Walnut Street nearby.

Walnut Grove is an “infill” development that will include 23 townhomes and two single-family detached homes. The town has a site plan on its website here.

Heavy trucks and the dust and mud they create are likely to be a nuisance for a year or more, according to construction company officials working on the project. Nobody’s happy about the traffic and the best solution — allowing traffic in from South Main Street – is apparently stalled because of a dispute with a property owner.

So residents are asking what town officials and board members can do to make life better as construction proceeds.

In a letter last week to town officials (also signed by other homeowners), Liz and Walt Pierce lamented the turmoil created by the project. “Over the past few weeks the residents of Walnut Street have come to realize that our quiet neighborhood no longer exists. Now we have constant construction traffic,” they wrote. (Read the full letter here: Pierce Letter to town on Walnut traffic)

One street over: Art show/sale, 2007 calendar

The Lake Norman Art League Fall Show (and art sale) is on display Nov. 1-19 at Wooden Stone Gallery on South Main Street in Davidson. Come on down for a reception with the artists Friday (Nov. 10), 6-9 pm.

The show includes entries by Art League members and other area artists, as well as the winning images selected for the newly published 2007 calendar “Images of Home,” which is being sold to raise money for the Davidson Housing Coalition’s Hammers emergency home repair program.

Artists featured in the calendar and show include Lori Neill, Kathie Kemp, David Kaylor, Felicia van Bork, Betty Casey, Jim Elliott, Ann Nolan, Belinda Armstrong, Missy Kuykendall (that’s her “Country Home” above), David Merck, and even yours truly. Our juror for both the Art League show and the calendar was Charlotte artist Laura McCarthy (www.lauramccarthy.net).

Here’s a flyer about the event. If appropriate, please post and share this with your contacts. All work is available for sale … Thanks!