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my mind as I headed west on the interstate. I prayed that my wife would be okay (the Our <br />Father in Greek 3 times to be exact!) and made the sign of the cross several times as I implored <br />the services of the Highest in making sure she was okay. <br />Since December 1986 when I was first sworn in as an Orange County Commissioner, I have <br />spent many evenings and weekends doing the business of Orange County. With an <br />approximate estimate of 80 meetings a year (at 3-hours per meeting and 45 minutes round trip <br />travel time) this all equates to about 360,000 minutes or 6,000 hours or 250 days. This does <br />not include a trip with my 11-year old daughterto a refuse derived fuel facility in Minneapolis, <br />Minnesota with Fellow Commissioner Don Wilhoit on a hot July day many years ago. My hair <br />was very dark back in those days and sharing my daughter with a visit to a smelly, dusty, and <br />noisy waste to energy processing facility was the order of the day. Twenty years later, my wife <br />comes close to being killed and I am engaged in a park planning meeting. My wake-up call, my <br />epiphany, came on November 1, 2005. <br />For the most part I have enjoyed the past 20 years of service to the citizens of Orange County <br />as a Commissioner and have enjoyed working with you all and others in the past who have all <br />been proud Democrats with a deep sense of caring and compassion for their fellow human <br />beings. I use the word "caring" far all of us truly care about people in 5 very distinct ways. For <br />the past 20 years, this progressive group of Democrats supported and promoted 4 different <br />bond referendums to all the citizens of the County which resulted in aver $206,000,000 for <br />school construction, renovations, and technology upgrades; $5,800,000 in affordable housing <br />bonds, other millions for parks and recreation; $1,200,000 for the Efland Sewer System; <br />$4,000,000 and other monies for 2long-awaited Senior Centers in both ends of the County; <br />over $7,000,000 in Lands Legacy Projects (with over 1,500 acres and which leveraged another <br />$3,000,000 in matching state/federal monies); took the lead in acquiring and preserving the <br />beautiful Adams tract in Carrboro where some Carrboro officials once cited as a possible public <br />works site, preserved and protected the rural buffer for the past 20+ years and continue to <br />preserve and protect the rural buffer to this day. <br />No one Commissioner can take sole credit for any of these accomplishments, as they all are the <br />direct result of at least 3 votes in the affirmative and hopefully more. This is truly a team effort <br />on the part of all of us as a progressive and caring group of Democrats who also take pride in <br />non-departmental funded programs in excess of $2,000,000 which provide a myriad of services <br />to our entire community from promoting breastfeeding, to troubled teens, to OCIM, to HYAA, <br />and countless others. Many have waited in line to get elected to cut these programs and they <br />always have been kept from occupying these chairs. I hope it stays that way. During the past <br />several years, we have witnessed both the decline in both federal and state assistance monies <br />from a number of programs and once again this group of Commissioners rose to the occasion <br />and put in place a social services safety net to help those citizens in need of assistance. Local <br />County government would never pass on the ultimate unfunded mandate which results in pain <br />and suffering to its citizens. The buck doesn't stop in Washington or Raleigh, it stops at our <br />table in Hillsborough. Pain and suffering don't happen in Raleigh or Washington, but actually <br />happens back here at home when elected officials don't care. We have always cared and that <br />is what makes us different. <br />Orange County Commissioners continue to be committed to seeking more funding for quality <br />child care for they know that a parent can send a son or daughter to UNC/Chapel Hill for less <br />money than it costs for good quality child care in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, ar Hillsborough. Orange <br />County Commissioners are dedicated to finding solutions to help the homeless while policies in <br />Raleigh and Washington add to the ranks of the homeless. <br />