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Mary Copeland: I'm Mary Copeland, and I've been a resident of Orange County far 72 years. And I'm proud that Orange County has two of the best school systems in the State. And I sit here listening tonight, and you would think that Chapel Hill was utopia and we were the ghetto. And I don't understand. We are better funded than Alamance County, Person County, Caswell, and actually, I think we're better funded than Durham. But we're comparing ourselves with Chapel Hill because they get a nickel more than we do. I think if you have kids at Christmas, and na matter what you give them, they see a brighter bicycle next door and they've just gat to have one like that. I'm proud of our Orange County schools. And they say we're under funded, but the County Commissioners gave northern Orange 85% of what they asked for in their budget. Our new superintendent came in and found $1.2 million more. That made northern Orange completely funded far what they asked. And you know when they came to you with a budget, it's a wish list. And I think if northern Orange is sa bad off, then you need to look at where the funding is going and not merge the schools. Don't tear up the children's lives and the parent's lives. We need smarter school districts instead of larger. And I hope you'll vote against the merger. Thank you. Pang Yao: Good evening. I have two questions for the Commissioners and for everybody here that's still awake. First, does it make sense that we let five Commissioners make the decision for us about our own children's education? I'm an immigrant from Taiwan where democracy just started about 20 years ago compared to the long 230 years of democracy in the United States. We learned democracy from this country, and I looked forward to being a part of it. But how shocking it is when I found out that a decision that would have a long lasting impact on 17,000 students, including two of my own, can be decided by three Commissioners and not by us -parents who will be directly affected by this process -not by school boards, not by teachers who are responsible far educating our children. This is not only undemocratic, it is backward, and it is ridiculous. I do not think we elect the Commissioners to merge schools. It is our children. To merge or not to merge? Let parents and teachers and not you Commissioners decide what's best far our kids. Second, why am I here? It's 10:15. Well, it has something to do with Commissioner Moses. I think Commissioner Moses has made it abundantly clear that he wants the school systems to merge. I really admire his courage on his tough issue. And he's entitled to this, his opinion. After all, this is a democratic society, isn't it? Mr. Moses, 20 years of research has concluded that more money does not necessarily translate into better education. Bigger is not always better. And the diversity and flexibility provided by two school systems is actually a strength. What about the concern about bussing kids around if two school systems were merged? Chapel Hill Herald just reported that a merger would eventually move 1,600 students in the City school. That's a big number. Would this fact ever change your mind about school merger? But why am I here trying to convince you that merger may not be a good idea? After all, it's you Commissioner, but not me or the majority of the people sitting here who brought up this idea. So with all due respect, you should be the one who bears the responsibility to convince me and the people in bath City and the County that merger would be good far the majority of us, that merger will make students from the County school better, that merger would make students from the City school better, and that merger would not bus my kids around and deprive them