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drivers in cars coming to and from school. And we hope that our kids want to make their school the center of their activities -with sports, and clubs, and band, and chorus, and drama, and dances after school and into the evening. But as much as we talk to our kids about safe driving and teach them and try to model for them, they won't always make goad driving choices. And as the mother of two boys whose brains don't always seems to be able to process danger, I could see that they may be making bad driving choices to speed to school because they're late or speed home from school to make a curfew. And the farther their high school is from home, the more they are at risk. And this is not just Chapel Hill kids speeding down old 86, but also all kids whose schools are not close to them. And for every mile we add to their driving, we increase their chances of an accident. And if merger occurs, this will not only affect the Chapel Hill kids, but the County kids as well as if a massive redistricting process occurs. And I admire your thoughtfulness as Commissioners and new high school placement in the past, and I support equalized funding between the districts, but please think about our high school drivers and the negative affects that merger and an elimination of community high schools would have on the safety of these high school drivers and others who are on the roads with them. Thank you. Rick Kennedy: I'm going to tell you a story. I once related to you my grandfather's aphorism that to learn of a man's true character, watch haw he treats those who can do him no good. We will see soon enough your true character, but first let me tell you a story about a farmer from a small town. I believe it provides an example for all of us. This story is not so much about black and white as it is about finding courage to do what is right. The farmer glanced up from his chores one day to see the chief of police standing on his property. The chief came by to request of the farmer that he join the white citizen's council, which had just been created to obstruct integration. The farmer declined the request. On a second day the farmer again found the chief standing before him. He said no a second time, even though he was the only white man in town not yet a member. On a third occasion, not just the chief, but twenty men with him, confronted the farmer to press him on the issue of membership, but he again declined, and in a diplomatic attempt, he then mentioned his ambivalence about paying the five-dollar membership fee. The men confronting him then stated they would pay the fee for him. At that paint, the farmer pulled out afive-dollar bill and stated that he would flush that five dollars down the toilet before he would ever join. This man held no public office, had no public responsibility, and had nothing to gain from his stand that day. He had, in fact, much to lose, but he stood firm against twenty men because he believed it wasn't the way people ought to go. He truly believed in equality. His antagonists told him that he would come to learn the significance of his refusal. They ostracized him from his hometown. They boycotted his farm and also his seed and fertilizer business. But, in spite of his stand that day, or maybe possibly because of it, his neighbors and customers came back to him little by little as the months went by. Within a few years he was appointed by them to the board of education, and while serving as chairman, he led the charge for merger of city and county schools. He believed in equality of opportunity, and he knew that merger of the two districts would provide it. During this time, the hostility towards him was intense to the point where his property was vandalized, and petty to the paint where the only gas station in town wouldn't even sell him gas.