Brief Bits

Hey, DOT! Turn on the lights!

The set of traffic signals at the N.C. 98 Bypass/South Franklin Street intersection have been decorating that site for two weeks, which is fine but hardly useful until the lights are activated and actually begin controlling traffic and preventing the accidents and near accidents which occur daily.

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The heat will not abate until next week. Wake Forest police officers are told to drink lots of water and rotate outdoor assignments on a more frequent basis, Captain Darren Abbacchi said. Also, “As for the public DO NOT leave children or animals in vehicles in this heat. Also make sure outdoor pets have shade and plenty of water.”

All of us should take note because heat can kill.

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A July 13 article, “24 years is a long time,” said Duke has about 9,200 customers in the Wake Forest town limits, a number Finance Director Aileen Staples received after asking Duke.

The good folks over at Wake Electric headquarters in Youngsville went, “No way!” They keep pretty good track of the other electric companies – Duke and Wake Forest Power – and knew that number was inflated.

Late last week Angela Perez, the director of communications and public relations at WEMC, turned up with a colored map showing where Wake Forest Power and WEMC serve customers and the areas inside town limits that are not served by either. That had to be Duke’s service area in town.

They looked at the detailed map, counted houses, and came up with a figure of 800 Duke customers. The editor has the map with the inked customer numbers in the different sections on the west side of town.

Perez also passed on some more statistics:

Wake Forest Power serves about 6,100 customers over 140 miles of high voltage power lines.

Within the Wake Forest city limits, Wake Electric serves about 8,100 members over 145 miles of high voltage power lines (136 miles or 94 percent underground). Also in the Wake Forest city limits, it operates about 200 miles of secondary lines (lower voltage) or services (190 miles or 95 percent underground).

About 11 percent of Wake Electric’s distribution system (345 miles out of 3,140 miles) is within the Wake Forest city limits.

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Planning is underway for the expansion of the Wake Forest Library on East Holding Avenue, Library Manager Valerie Pierce said last week. The building will grow from 5,000 square feet to 8,000, matching other community libraries in the Wake County Library System.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2018, and the library will be closed during construction. Construction dates have not been set yet.

Pierce said the library will reopen with all new furniture, fittings and books. Library Director Michael Wasilik said last year it will also, as a community library, be open four more hours with eight fulltime employees including two children’s librarians, a bigger book collection and more programs.

The Henry L. Miller Fund, established by his will and held by the county library system for use in Wake Forest, may help with the construction. The fund is now $66,216.16.

While the Wake Forest Library is closed, patrons can use the new Wakefield Northeast Regional Library on Green Elm Drive between Common Oaks Drive and Forest Pines Drive near Forest Pines Elementary.

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The editor was wrong recently. Well, that is nothing new. The new Caddell Street is really two-way and quite an improvement.

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During its annual meeting last week, the Friends of Wake Forest Public Library voted to amend its bylaws to suspend the nine-member board of directors and put in place a three person caretaker board comprised of Kris Wright, Kenille Baumgardner and Carol Pelosi. The board will use the current funds to support the library, its programs and its expansion. It will not accept new members or donations.

If at any time there are interested people who want to reactivate the organization, the nine-member board and its original functions, the caretaker board can be dissolved. If you have questions, send them to cwpelosi@aol.com.