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Trump’s election doesn’t change the county’s values, Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle, Chapel Hill Mayor <br />Pam Hemminger, Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens and Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />Chairman Earl McKee said in the joint letter. <br />“As we move forward with this transition, we need to listen to each other and pay special attention to <br />our values of inclusiveness and respect. While not perfect, this is the way democracy works in our <br />country, and we believe this ultimately makes us a stronger nation,” they said. “In the meanwhile, we all <br />need to work hard and keep advocating for our very important community values.” <br />But listing those “community values” – on immigration, climate change, universal health care and <br />common-sense gun laws – lit a Facebook firestorm. <br />More than 100 people responded to an online post from Hillsborough resident and former Town Board <br />candidate Ashley DeSena about the letter. The post – “Thanks for the reminder that I need to keep my <br />head down and my conservative mouth shut” – was meant to start a conversation, DeSena said. <br />The letter is insulting to roughly 23 percent of local voters who supported Trump, she said, because it <br />conflicts with their values. <br />“I understand the local elected officials want to do their best to provide good governance to us and they <br />want to ensure that we have the sort of community that everybody wants to be part of, but when they <br />get into specific values – what values are welcome vs. what values are not – you start excluding a lot of <br />people,” DeSena said. <br />The letter’s advice to call 911 about verbal harassment drew jeers from some. DeSena said it encourages <br />a climate of fear and victimization. <br />“I don’t want anybody to feel like they’re not welcome,” she said about Hernandez’s experience. “As <br />long as they’re peaceful, productive members of society, they should be treated with more respect than <br />that.” <br />McKee, who was called out by name on the page, posted that anyone with concerns should call him. <br />Orange County is a diverse community with views from the far right to the far left, he said later. While <br />he may not agree with every line in the letter, it was his duty as the board’s chairman to sign it, he said. <br />“The letter was in some ways intended to calm down the situation, and it seems to have not done that,” <br />McKee said. “Personally, I think people just need to take a deep breath and calm down. The election is <br />over; the election is what it is. It’s not going to be the end of the world.” <br />The letter responded to public concerns they had been hearing, Lavelle said, from Hernandez’s <br />experience to emails about a spike in anti-gay harassment. <br />“It’s hearing from those vulnerable communities that they are genuinely, really, not just sad, but scared <br />and worried, and so we wanted to offer some reassurance to them,” Lavelle said.