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2 <br /> <br /> Ms. Steele read a poem. <br /> <br /> Commissioner McKee arrived at 7:05 p.m. <br /> <br />2. Public Comments <br /> <br />a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br />Jim Merritt, Co-Chair of the Veteran’s Memorial Committee, invited everyone to the 1st <br />annual Veteran’s Memorial Bike Rally on May 28th, as well as the commemoration service at <br />7:45 a.m. on May 28th at Southern Human Services Center. He said this service will include a <br />dedication and placement of a memorial wreath, and then the bikes will take a tour of Orange <br />County. He said there are still a lot of memorial bricks for sale to commemorate friends’ and <br />family’s service to the country. <br />Commissioner Price said anyone who is interested in riding in the motorcycle tour <br />should contact Officer Whitehurst. <br />Commissioner Rich asked if there is an update on fundraising for the memorial. <br />Jim Merritt said about $50,000 has been raised. <br />Terri Buckner and Allan Green read the following statement: <br /> <br />On December 4, 2017, we, the local friends of the MST, petitioned the board to adopt an official <br />trail map for the southern section of the trail. On January 23, 2018, you agreed to our request <br />and adopted a “concept” map while also expressing your support for moving the trail forward at <br />a faster pace. <br /> <br />On March 2, a small group of us met with DEAPR staff to map out the Cane Creek area of the <br />trail route in more detail and identify for DEAPR staff the most feasible location for trail <br />easements. We also identified 2 tracts of land that were for sale at the time, one of which would <br />have made an ideal trail head. That "ideal trailhead" now has an offer on it, not from Orange <br />County. <br /> <br />To the best of our knowledge no action has occurred to move the planning on that section of <br />the trail forward since the March 2 meeting. We were told in that meeting that we could expect <br />to see trail in the Cane Creek area within 3-4 years. We are not sure if that time line is simply to <br />establish the trail map or to actually open the trail to hikers. Our expert trail builder estimates it <br />will take well over a year to build the ~8 miles trail from Ed Johnson’s property on Buckhorn Rd <br />across to Mebane Oaks. We feel like construction on that section could have begun this fall if <br />staff had started formalizing the freely-offered easements after the January 23 map adoption. <br /> <br />On January 25, I attended an NCDOT meeting on the Hwy 54 corridor, made them aware of the <br />intent to link the Alamance County section of the MST with the Orange County section near the <br />intersection of Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road and Hwy 54. I discussed with them the <br />possibility of including a trailhead, like the one at the Haw River on 15-501, around that <br />intersection. They expressed willingness to discuss this with Orange County, and I passed that <br />contact information along to DEAPR staff. On May 2, I attended a follow up meeting with DOT <br />and saw the trailhead was not drawn into their revised map. I was told they have contacted <br />Orange County but haven’t received a response. <br /> <br />As part of our attempts to partner with DEAPR to make the MST a reality, the Friends agreed to <br />provide the volunteer labor for a February trail building session at Seven Mile Creek. We <br />expended considerable effort to recruit skilled volunteers for that session in order to establish a