The Town of Wake Forest is again asking residents to be patient as crews work to collect large amounts of leaves along local streets and in neighborhoods throughout our community. Crews are working overtime and staff from other divisions have been reassigned to assist in the leaf collection effort. In addition, workers are using a vacuum truck, pull-behind vacuum trailer, and knuckleboom loader, but progress is slow due to the high volume of leaves and recurring equipment issues. In the meantime, officials are reminding local homeowners associations that contracted work performed by tree service companies or independent contractors will not be collected by town crews. Instead, it is the responsibility of the contractor to remove and properly dispose of debris. In addition, residents have the option of bagging their leaves for collection on their regular yard waste collection day. Residents who choose not to bag their leaves are reminded to

The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre is inviting local veterans and their families to the Operation A.R.T. Open House on Thursday, Jan. 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Arts Annex at 405 Brooks Street. From January through April, the Renaissance Centre will partner with The Joel Fund to offer photography, drawing, painting and writing classes for local veterans and their families through Operation A.R.T. – a collaborative project designed entirely for active and military personnel in and around our community. The Jan. 4 Open House is an opportunity for active military, veterans and their families to learn about these classes and register. The classes will meet according to the following schedule: Writing – Wednesdays, Jan. 3-31; 3-4:30 p.m. Painting – Thursdays, Jan. 4-25; 6-7:30 p.m. Photography (Session One) – Mondays, Jan. 8-Feb. 5; 6-7:30 p.m. Photography (Session Two) – Wednesdays, Feb. 7-28; 6-7:30 p.m. Drawing – Wednesdays, March 7-28;

The Wake Forest Historical Association will hold its annual membership meeting Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Wake Forest Historical Museum on North Main Street. The business meeting will be brief but the program after it may be lengthy as President Sanford Bailey has posed a number of conditions and questions to be covered. “Panel presentation will focus on still set up and sites selected; manufacturing process; transportation of raw material into still site; types of material needed at site such as grain, sugar, yeast; the distilling process; the finished product; marketing of finished product; transportation of finished product; ramifications of getting caught with illegal or non-tax-paid product; who were the law enforcement official during this time and how did they go about doing their work of finding and breaking up operating stills; what happened to those who were caught? Why was bootleggining and manufacture so popular during the decade of the

The Wake Forest Police Department is accepting donations from area residents and businesses for the 19th Annual Shop with a Cop through Monday, Dec. 18. Online donations are accepted via PayPal at www.wakeforestnc.gov/donate-to-shop-with-a-cop.aspx. Checks and cash are also accepted and can be mailed or delivered to the Wake Forest Police Department, 225 S. Taylor St. This year’s Shop with a Cop holiday shopping spree is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 19. On that day approximately 32 area children will visit the Wake Forest Police Department where they will be paired with their police officer “partners.” The kids and their partners will then go by bus to the Wake Forest Walmart, where each child will be given $200 to spend on a winter coat and other items of their choice. Parents are encouraged not to accompany their children. After the shopping spree, the children and their partners will be treated to a pizza party.

Safety is something most people look for when choosing where to live in and residents of Wake Forest may be in one of the safest areas in North Carolina, according to a new study. The Town of Wake Forest was named the fifth-safest city in North Carolina by SafeHome.org. The ranking calculates a Safety Score for major cities in the US. The higher the Safety Score, the safer data shows the city to be. With a population of nearly 40,000 and 46 reported violent crimes, along with several other factors, SafeHome.org gave Wake Forest a safety score of 81.48. The study considers several different factors when assigning a safety score. First is the FBI’s latest report of how many and what types of crimes occurred in each city over a single year. The city’s crime trends are also considered, so cities where crime is on the decline are given a higher Safety