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been stated by others in the past weeks. Quite honestly, at this point, I am confused by the actions ar inactions of the Board of County Commissioners and am somewhat disappointed. I've been a resident of Orange County far over 20 years. I love living here. One of the truly wonderful aspects of life here has been a caring and responsible local government. The Board has consistently guided our County in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. We wrestle with issues involving land use, the environment, taxation and fiscal issues, health care and social service issues, and educational matters in tireless and in a fair and equitable way. You've always supported the public schools. You spend a higher percentage of our County budget in the schools than any other County in North Carolina. I commend you far your support and service. After the hearing last week, I was encouraged by comments attributed by Board members in the press. Commissioner Halkiotis greeted one speaker by saying, "We really need to have informed decision making, not imposed decision making. And I think that cuts to the heart of the matter." Commissioner Jacobs said, "People need to become acquainted before they become married. There's not that kind of communication yet. You have to first improve communication and understanding, and then you move into along-term committed relationship. I think evolutionary change will be a lot easier to achieve than revolutionary change." Commissioner Gordon said, "The bottom line forme is that we do need to work on equality of funding and collaboration." Commissioner Brown noted, "This is an educational process. We are trying to educate ourselves as Commissioners." After last night's Board of County Commissioners' meeting, Commissioner Jacobs is reported to have said in the paper today, "This Board needs to take more control over the situation. There's a public vacuum in which we haven't stated anything. We are a group that can offer same assurance if there is a method here." Commissioner Brown said that, "We've been very deliberate about collecting this information for eight months." Commissioner Gordon said, "It would be really helpful if we could tell the public what the process is." Finally, Commissioner Halkiotis said, "People are genuinely upset ar generally confused." Count me in. I'm genuinely upset and generally confused. Commissioner Carey, whom I respect, has disappointed me with his comments and actions. He first painted merger as a civil rights issue, an issue of fairness and equity. That hurt. Last Monday, I heard him say on the radio that even if the funding matter was resolved, he still wanted merger to occur. This time he claimed it was a divisive community issue. Please, Mr. Carey, the only thing divisive at this paint is dragging this process out any longer. Thank you very much. Mark Peifer: Hi, I'm Mark Peifer, I have two daughters across the street at Grady Brown, and I, like Patrick and some of the other people here, think it's a terrific school. I'd like to thank the Commissioners in contrast to what the previous speaker said, far actually doing something that I don't think most political bodies would do today -take on an issue where, I think we'd all agree, the majority of the residents in both parts of the County oppose a merger. But taking an an issue that may be right and thinking about it in a very serious way. I think we should focus for a moment on the things that we all agree on. The fact that we're all here in this room today is an indication that we all feel that our children's education is the future far Orange County and it's everybody's tap priority. We all agree on that. The second thing that I think we all agree an, and I certainly do from my own background, is that every child should have the opportunity to