Dear readers, As I have done in past years, I will take the week after Christmas as vacation and will not publish the Gazette. I need some rest, and since many other people take vacation at this time, local news is sparse aside from traffic accidents and other distressing events. I’ll get a tooth implant to replace one I broke, and maybe my husband and I will find a way to clean the office and discard at least half the paper that clutters both our desks and all other surfaces. We’ll take down the tree and store away all the Christmas decorations until next year; we’ll try to visit with the grandchildren, though they are busy with their own lives these days; and we’ll visit with friends. I’ll read. The current books are Ron Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton” and James Shapiro’s “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare 1599.” And

The Town of Wake Forest is encouraging residents to make recycling a holiday tradition by recycling their Christmas trees. Beginning Monday, Dec. 28, the town will collect and recycle live Christmas trees from residential homes according to its normal yard waste collection schedule. The trees will be ground into mulch and made available for free to residents upon request. All Wake Forest residents whose yard waste is collected by the town may participate in the “Treecycling” program. To recycle your Christmas tree, please remove all decorations, tinsel, nails, stands and bags from the tree and set it behind the curb for collection. Residents are reminded that artificial trees cannot be recycled. By recycling Christmas trees, Wake Forest saves space at the landfill and offers a valuable commodity to its residents. Orders for mulch are currently being accepted. For more information about Christmas tree recycling or to request mulch, contact Betty

Where are the traffic signals? People keep asking, particularly about the one planned where Franklin Street meets the N.C. 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway). The editor will not make a left turn there until the signal is installed. The sight distance to the right is too short. This week Wake Forest Town Engineer Eric Keravuori said there is still no update on when that signal and the one at the Marshall Farm Road/Rogers Road intersection will be installed. “Last I heard was that Marshall Farm and South Franklin were both designed, approved, funded and waiting on the contractor to complete others that are packaged in a big contract.” So it will be a 2016 project. Also, Keravuori said there is no update on the construction for Sam’s Club. “They are currently grading the outside lanes (of Capital Boulevard). The asphalt plants can’t produce surface asphalt between Dec. 15 and

The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts welcomes singer-songwriter and cellist Shana Tucker on Saturday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. Touted by Jazz Times Magazine as “a jazz talent…whose imprint and vitality has already been quite visible in North Carolina,” Shana’s style and sound has been described as a mash-up of Dianne Reeves, Joni Mitchell, and Tracy Chapman, with an efficient complexity that is reminiscent of Bill Withers. ChamberSoul™ best describes what the listener should expect when experiencing Shana’s music. “I’m intrinsically drawn to ‘real’ instruments, with resonance, tone and depth that can sound without amplification. Whenever and however possible, I always try to set a tone of acoustic intimacy with my colleagues on stage, and also with the audience, so that the music, performers and audience feel close and tangible, no matter the size the venue.” In 2014, Shana was awarded the prestigious Nevada Arts Council Artist Fellowship, as one of