FROM THE HILL
Thanks for
the (no)
Airport
It won’t always be
like this, chancellor
— a thank-you party
featuring Carolina blue
ice cream for a tough
decision. But shortly
after Holden Thorp
’ 86 announced UNC
would not pursue
creation of an airport
authority (see story,
this page), Maple
View Farm Country
Store rallied concerned
residents to show
gratitude for his
sparing western
Orange County an
airport they didn’t
want. “I’m delighted.
Not many people have
their own sundae,”
Thorp told The Daily
Tar Heel.
JOHN ROTTET/THE NEWS & OBSERVER
This is How It’s Done, Kids
Here’s what happens when you turn mostly adults loose with Legos. For the fifth year, the Morehead Planetarium and
Science Center hosted Lego-palooza on the last weekend in January. A skyscraper dominated a room filled with plastic
building block displays which also included a medieval castle and village and a Harry Potter-themed scene. This is the work
of the North Carolina Lego Users Group.
Thorp: UNC Mistaken in Seeking Airport Authority
Lbly hard for permission to establish an airport tion Centers, whose planes are close by at Horace
authority, which ultimately would build in rural Williams when they need to travel to medically
ast year, UNC pushed the N.C. General Assem- who work with the UNC-based Area Health Educa-
DAN SEARS ’ 74
Orange County a replacement for Horace Williams underserved areas of the state. After Horace Williams
Airport. The University got that permission, but now is closed for the development of the Carolina North
it is backing away from the airport business. campus, AHEC will rely on a facility the University is
Chancellor Holden Thorp ’ 86 announced in Janu- planning to build at Raleigh-Durham International
ary that UNC would ask the UNC System Board of Airport.
Governors to not create an airport authority. The Thorp said that at one time he thought that seek-
decision came after months of loud criticism from ing a new airport site through an airport authority
landowners who feared an airport would compromise was the best approach but that he changed his mind.
the character of quiet, farm-dominated southwest “There is a great deal of distrust, not necessarily of
Orange. the authority, but of the process by which it came to
Thorp acknowledged that a University-initiated be. That distrust would likely extend to the authority
effort to get a replacement airport was a mistake and when its members were appointed.”
that any future endeavor should be “widely and Of the Carolina North project, he said, “While we
openly discussed. And the decision should be made by will keep Horace Williams Airport open as long as we
the county and its citizens.” can, to realize the full potential of Carolina North, we
He said he had spoken to several medical people must close the airport.”
