Jan. 25 - 31, 2018
bringing the local news home to northwest Guilford County since 1996
www.nwobserver.com
Theory, practice reflects improved safety with mini-roundabouts by KEVIN SPRADLIN SUMMERFIELD – Between 7:30 and 8 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of N.C. 150 and Summerfield Road, numerous vehicles rolled through from all four directions. Parents and children on their way to school. School buses. An ambulance responding to an emergency. Tractor-trailers. But the half-hour of observation shows that the most dangerous aspect during those 30 minutes was not the intersection itself but seemingly impatient drivers eager to turn left onto Summerfield Road from N.C. 150 as or after the light turned red. From
any of the four directions, the largest number of vehicles backed up at any one point was eight. That was on N.C. 150 headed east towards U.S. 220. The most consistent back-up seemed to occur on N.C. 150 headed west, from U.S. 220. The intersection is at the center of a Town of Summerfield redevelopment plan that aims to manage an increase in vehicular traffic along with a planned increase in pedestrian traffic – if, that is, plans to renovate the Gordon Hardware building and make it into a town meeting space comes to fruition. A concept of a plan made public dur-
Photo by Kevin Spradlin/NWO
Drivers approach the main intersection in Summerfield while leaving U.S. 220 and heading west on N.C. 150.
ing a Jan. 16 special-call council meeting at Community Lutheran Church indicated the cost could be between $250,000 and $300,000. The mast arm traffic signal would be removed and replaced with a mini-roundabout. To be sure, Jay Clapp, of Ramey
...continued on p. 4
STOKESDALE – Someone’s fun in the snow often means headaches for someone else. Last week’s snowfall gave owners of four-wheelers or all-terrain vehicles a chance to take them out for winter joy rides, but the damage they left led to some head-shaking. At Stokesdale Town Park, someone left tracks across the Town’s two soccer fields, tearing up an area on
the one closest to Town Hall by doing doughnuts. Someone also did a doughnut around one of the volleyball nets leaving ruts in the sand, and tracks were left in the snow beyond the fields close to the woods. “It looks like they just went around the (locked) gate,” Mayor John Flynt said. “We’re concerned about it. It would be hard to prove who did it.” Flynt said there was minimal damage, but said “no trespassing” signs may need to be posted.
News in Brief.................................3 Private email accounts okay.....6 Sign? Or art?................................8 Town selects new manager........9 “Robo Strong”............................ 11
Winter joy rides damage property by STEVE MANN
IN THIS ISSUE
Student Profiles.......................... 13
The Town spent about $20,000 to rejuvenate the soccer fields in 2016, cleaning out weeds, adding sand, elevating the pitch and sprigging with several types of Bermuda grasses well-suited for athletic fields. The fields were closed in late May 2016 after the end of the recreation soccer season and reopened in March 2017. In Oak Ridge, someone left ruts on land at the intersection of Oak
...continued on p. 5
Stokesdale Town Council......... 14 Mercy Hill Church...................... 18 Community Calendar............... 21 Pot likker, Southern elixir...........22 Grins & Gripes............................24 Letters/Opinions........................25 Crime/Incident Report..............26 Classifieds.................................. 27 Index of Advertisers.................. 31 NWO on the Go!........................32