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Historic is an understatement when discussing the progress of Chatham in 2022. With more than $9 billion and 9,000 jobs in promised economic investment through Wolfspeed and VinFast, the future of the county was altered in significant ways by news that broke in the past year.
It was a year also defined by primary and midterm elections that saw Democrats win every contested race in Chatham, and where events at Chatham County’s schools — in and out of the classroom — also made headlines.
From bustling businesses to ballot battles, the Chatham community showed us resilience, inspiration and reasons to hope for a better future. While it’s hard to capture all the emotions of this incredible — and occasionally trying — year that was 2022, there are highlights worth a look back. Here are 22 stories that defined 2022 in Chatham, broken down by category.
The beginning of the 2022-2023 school year was the first time since the pandemic began that masking became optional in Chatham County Schools. And just as the masks came off, it seemed the gloves did, too.
The classroom became a political battleground both nationally and locally. Debates over Critical Race Theory, religious expression in classrooms and masking showed the pervasiveness of sometimes-competing ideologies. But through these debates, CCS also gave plenty of reason for hope with improvements in test scores across the board and increased focuses on equity in the school system under the leadership of sophomore Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson. Here’s a few stories that showed the power of education in Chatham:
Speaker Jessica Winger's addresses members of the Chatham County Board of Education. Winger, a vocal critic of mask mandates, ended her remarks by declaring she intended to seek a seat on the board of education. She lost her race against Del Turner. (Staff photo by Kim Hawks)
1. In contentious 3-2 vote, CCS set for optional indoor masking in March
At the beginning of February, Hannah McClellan reported on the debates surrounding masking in the classroom. In a contentious 3-2 vote Feb. 14, the Chatham County Schools Board of Education began a gradual transition to optional masking “on or about March 7,” dependent on the community transmission metrics set by the state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We believe we came up with a balanced approach to move this forward,” CCS Superintendent Anthony Jackson told the board regarding the district’s proposed roadmap to optional masking. “We believe that with the support of our public health officials, we can manage this. We believe that given the appropriate structures, we can continue to do what we’re doing.
“The only caveat I will put out there is that if the data begins to go back up,” he said, “We may have to come back to you and ask for a reversal.”
The board had voted on masking policies monthly since the pandemic began, but the February vote marked the first time the BOE opted for optional masking in the classrooms.
In her remarks to those gathered for the community rally outside First Presbyterian Church in March, CCS parent Ashley Palmer said the March 4 incidents weren’t the first of a racial nature her children experienced at J.S. Waters. (Staff photo by Keith Barber)
2. Community rallies around family of student who was subject of ‘slave auction’ at J.S. Waters
Concerned community organizers and activists rallied around the family of a J.S. Waters student whose mother says was involved in a mock slave auction at the school in March, Bill Horner III reported.
The incident gained the attention of organizations across the state and beyond.
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization — the Council on American-Islamic Relations — weighed in, condemning the incident and calling on Chatham County Schools to respond.
“Racist acts of bullying and intimidation cannot be tolerated in schools,” said National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison in a statement released on CAIR’s website. “We urge the school district to offer anti-racist curriculum to students to help ensure these kinds of alleged hate incidents do not continue to occur.”
CCS Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson and the board of education condemned the incident at a meeting the following week. Jackson also laid out several action steps to focus the district on equity to ensure incidents like the “slave auction” did not occur in the future. Recommendations included staff trainings, improved resources for students and staff and revisions to the Student Code of Conduct.
The new 'Parents' Bill of Rights' would make it so teachers would have to 'out' LGBTQ+ identifying students to their parents. (Submitted photo)
3. LGBTQ+ students express concern over ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’
North Carolina Republican legistlators proposed House Bill 755, known as the “Parent’s Bill of Rights,” in June. The bill would ban teaching about gender or sexuality in kindergarten through 3rd grade and could force school employees to “out” LGBTQ+ students to their parents. The bill would also require that if students in any grade tell teachers or counselors about issues related to their gender or sexuality — or about anything else related to their “mental, emotional or physical health or well-being” — then school employees would be prohibited from keeping that a secret if the parents asked.
Reporter Ben Rappaport discussed the bill with members of Northwood High School’s Pride Club, which advocates and educates students about LGBTQ+ issues.
“When I was younger, I had an unsupportive parent,” Aiden Vigus, who identifies as non-binary, said. “The fact this bill allows for the disclosure of counseling notes of students with regards to orientation is scary to me.”
N.C. House Dist. 54 Robert Reives II, who represents Chatham County in the N.C. General Assembly, also expressed concern over the bill. He said it creates unnecessary controversy.
“I am concerned that we are villainizing educators and creating another culture war — as we did with HB2 — around our classrooms, where there is none,” Reives told the New + Record. “Anyone who has watched the news over the past few weeks can see that there are far more pressing issues for public schools, the safety of our children in classrooms being the first.”
If HB 755 became law, teachers could face lawsuits if they violate provisions requiring them to report students to parents.
“This whole bill gets people arguing about something that shouldn’t be controversial in the first place,” Northwood student Ray Brock said. “My right to exist and go to school as a queer person is not controversial, nor should it ever be.”
The bill has not yet passed the Senate, nor do Republicans have the necessary votes to override a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper.
Three Northwood High School students — Christian Poteat Jr., Tony Keck and Cassandra Sibrian — died in separate accidents within the span of a week in June 2022.
4. Northwood mourns the death of three students
Three Northwood High School students — Christian Poteat Jr., Tony Keck and Cassandra Sibrian — died in separate accidents within the span of a week in June, Ben Rappaport reported.
“Northwood has experienced several difficult days with the deaths of three students in the past week,” read a statement released by Chatham County Schools. “Last Thursday (June 16), Christian Poteat, a 2022 graduate, died in an accidental drowning. On Tuesday (June 21), Cassandra Sibrian, a sophomore, was killed in a car accident and (Thursday, June 23) night, Tony Keck, a freshman, was hit by a car and died while riding his ATV.”
“These three students, and the two we lost in the fall, have left a huge hole in the Northwood family,” said Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson said in a statement. “We mourn the loss of bright futures, friendships and family that these students had. Please reach out for help if you need it during this sorrowful time.”
5. CCS scores show promise, despite pandemic decline
Chatham County Schools administrators characterized year-over-year student performance gains as “substantial,” lauding the growth and performance shown in statewide standardized test scores released in September, Ben Rappaport reported.
Chatham County saw many of its public schools improve in some key measurements from recent years, despite academic challenges created by the pandemic. For the 2021-22 academic year, CCS saw 18 of 20 schools meet or exceed growth; statewide, only about 70% achieved the feat.
The district also did well on School Performance Grades (SPG). Seventy-four percent of the schools in the district also earned a grade of “C” or better. Grades of D or lower are considered “low-performing” schools; CCS had five such schools: Bonlee School, Chatham Middle, Jordan-Matthews High School, Siler City Elementary and Virginia Cross Elementary.
CCS schools also did better than most of the state in reading, writing and math end-of-grade (EOG) tests. CCS saw sharp composite EOG increases, with gains ranging from 10 to 20 percentage points per school.
“Generally, a performance composite gain of three to five points is considered good. When you see gains of 10 and higher, it is substantial,” said Dr. Amanda Moran, CCS assistant superintendent of Academic Services & Instructional Support. “We are extremely proud of how well these schools did, and want to celebrate the work students and staff members put in to achieve this.”
6. Parents lash out at school board after claims of religious discrimination circulate
In a fiery school board meeting, eight community members spoke out after they claimed a student at Bonlee School was bullied for her faith, Ben Rappaport reported in September.
More than 70 people came to the meeting at Chatham Grove Elementary School, after reports surfaced online the prior week of a student being “bullied” by a teacher because of her love for the Bible.
Ryne Smith claimed his daughter was participating in an assignment where the students were asked to list their favorite things. Smith said his daughter listed art, basketball and the Bible. Smith claims the teacher of the class, Wes Lail, took exception to her comments and explained to her “what atheism is and why God is not real.”
At the packed school board meeting, Smith claimed the entire school board was unfit for office and should step down for failing to do their jobs.
“I do not see how this board has the audacity to sit and let teachers bully and indoctrinate our kids,” Smith said during the public comment period. “All y’all are good for is telling people what they want to hear by sweeping it under the rug. There’s too much going on in schools that we don’t know about. Do us all a favor, stop wasting our tax dollars and just step down so we can advocate for our children and their rights.”
Smith ultimately pulled his daughter from the public school system after refusing to meet with school officials about the incident.
A poster hung up on the wall during a "culturally responsive teacher" training that took place in Chatham County Schools. These trainings have recently sparked rumors that CCS is teaching critical race theory in the schools. (Photo Courtesy of Malinda Quinn)
7. Is CRT taught in Chatham County Schools? Spoiler alert: School system says it’s not
A collection of documents from a recent training program for teachers and administrators in Chatham County Schools made the rounds on social media in 2022.
Ben Rappaport reported on the controversy in September, saying that CRT training, held in August, was meant to help teachers understand equity and race as part of improving inclusivity efforts in the classroom. Instead, it sparked claims that CCS is teaching CRT, or Critical Race Theory, to students.
A selection of documents, published in an opinion piece on the online “Chatham Journal,” on Sept. 1 showed outlines of diversity training materials. The article’s inaccurate claims, which purported to illustrate how the system was engaged in CRT teaching, quickly drew outrage from some parents and community members who lambasted CCS administration and board members.
CCS teachers told the News + Record that looking at the documents, it’s hard to see these trainings as problematic or out of the ordinary. The outlines discuss helping teachers identify white privilege, understand unconscious bias and point out the ways race and class play systemic roles in determining educational outcomes.
Between a primary and local election in May and the midterm in November, 2022 may have felt like one long political ad to many in Chatham. The May elections saw a group of four Siler City newcomers running for office with big promises for revitalizing the town and rooting out racism under the “Unity 2022” ticket. The four each lost their races after major red flags about their motives were raised in the community.
Then in November, Chatham showed it still bleeds blue with Democrats sweeping each contested race on the ballot. The Dems victories came despite fiery election controversies in the school board races and a slew of negative mailed ads in the race between Rep. Robert Reives II and Walter Petty. Let’s look back at this year’s two election seasons:
The 'Unity 2022' candidates seeking office in Siler City include, from left, Nick Gallardo, Dean Picot II (sitting), Jared Picot and Samuel Williams. (Photo via unity2022.org)
8. ‘Unity’ bloc pledges prosperity, but raises red flags for some
Bill Horner III reported in May about four newcomers to Siler City, running as a bloc, making sometimes outlandish charges against the town’s current board of commissioners. They also made audacious pledges to bring prosperity to the town, including a $100 million privately funded affordable housing loan, a promise to cap costs for residents who rent apartments or homes, and a plan to revitalize health care here by bringing two urgent care centers to Siler City and “seven or eight” clinics from Duke University Health Systems.
And that was even before the online revelation — on the candidates’ “Unity 2022” website, at unity2022.org — of a list of more than 70 additional proposals addressing community prosperity, inclusivity, sustainability, public safety and housing access for Siler City.
The group — mayoral candidate Nick Gallardo and town commissioner candidates Dean Picot II, Jared Picot and Samuel Williams, all new to Siler City — each registered to vote in Chatham County only over this winter of 2021-22. They never said how they’d pay for the proposals nor provided much detail on how they’ll execute them, and their sudden appearance, bold pronouncements and vague hints about malfeasance occurring within the town’s board have raised red flags with locals. Each of the four finished last in their respective elections but continue to make various promises and pronouncements through their social media accounts.
9. Primary winners featured plenty of new faces
More than 16,000 Chatham residents — 27.5% of the county’s registered voters — voted in May’s primary election, giving newcomers key wins and some familiar faces political promotions, the News + Record’s Taylor Heeden and Ben Rappaport reported after the May primary.
The mid-term primary set the table for a few intriguing local and statewide November races and established the makeup of Siler City’s board of commissioners in a vote that was originally scheduled for last fall.
No incumbents lost seats, and Siler City gained a new mayor, Thomas “Chip” Price, who’d been serving as a town commissioner.
The election sent a message about the trust in Siler City Commissioners and set the stage for the N.C. House and county commissioner battles in November.
As the November election approached, News + Record Reporter Maydha Devarajan wrote in August that elections officials in Chatham County and across North Carolina were preparing to deal with the growing presence of partisan poll watchers, including some trained by a group with ties to 2020 election conspiracies.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections had unanimously approved temporary rule changes for poll observers and precinct officials in response to reports of conduct violations during the May primaries, but another state agency rejected the changes in August.
Among the opponents to the amendments was Jim Womack, chairperson of the Lee County Republican Party. Womack also serves as a president of an organization called North Carolina Election Integrity Team, which has been holding summits this summer to train and recruit poll observers.
Though Womack described NCEIT a nonpartisan organization at a training summit held last week in Sanford, he also said the group is directly affiliated with the Conservative Partnership Institute of Washington and is partnered with the N.C. GOP and Republican National Committee.
With the midterms looming and as groups with connections to election deniers implement trainings of their own, bolstered with terminology like “election integrity,” conduct of poll observers remained a concern.
Examples of negative political mailers sent to Dist. 54 voters.
11. Petty, Reives denounce negative ads
The race for the Dist. 54 seat N.C. House of Representatives turned personal, as Maydha Devarajan and Ben Rappaport reported in early October, with both candidates decrying mailers sent to constituents containing what they believe are inappropriate and unfair attacks.
Incumbent Rep. Robert Reives II, who holds the Dist. 54 seat — which includes all of Chatham and a portion of Randolph County — took to Twitter in a video directly appealing to his opponent, former Chatham County Commissioner Walter Petty, to refrain from “dragging (his) family” into the political campaign.
Petty and his Republican colleagues have also claimed the ads attacking him are both quantitatively false and weaponize a nonpolitical issue. One mailer claims Petty missed one-third of Chatham County Board of Commissioners’ meetings in 2019, but public records from the Chatham County Clerk of Commissioners show Petty missed a total of 36 meetings, 17% of the 210 total meetings scheduled during his three-year term. In 2019, the year the ad calls him out for missing one-third of meetings, Petty missed five meetings out of 16 total before his April resignation. Petty resigned during a period of rapid growth for his business, Atlantic Power Solutions.
12. Winger challenges Turner in Dist. 3 race, bringing attention, outside cash — and drama
Chatham County School Board Dist. 3 incumbent Del Turner, who had been on the board since 2010, faced a challenge from Jessica Winger, a Chatham County Schools parent and substitute teacher calling for more transparency from the board. Ben Rappaport reported on the race in October.
The race brought sharp focus on issues such as Critical Race Theory, parent oversight in curriculum and school safety to the local stage. Bigger-than-usual donations, advertisements and social media posts have also swirled around the election, which turned contentious.
School board seats in Chatham County are technically nonpartisan, but Turner has frequently affiliated with and attended events with the Chatham County Democratic Party, while Winger has done the same with Chatham County Republicans. And as candidates, the two have differing opinions when it comes to what they believe is best for the students and stakeholders of Chatham County Schools. Turner ultimately prevailed in the close race.
13. Roberson, Globuschutz vying for top law enforcement position in county
The choice for Chatham County Sheriff was between an incumbent law enforcement veteran who viewed himself as a steady, unifying presence in the county and a challenger who saw himself as a necessary disruptor to an office which has suffered under failed leadership.
Their approach was reflected in their campaigning, Bill Horner III reported in October.
That challenger, Marcus Globuschutz, a Republican, used social media to portray Sheriff Mike Roberson, a Democrat, as someone who uses “smoke and mirrors” to create an image that the former describes, in a series of Facebook posts, as “fake.”
Globuschutz’s online campaign has been unrelenting, calling Roberson “irresponsible and careless,” saying he’s been wasteful with county resources, ignored the county’s drug trade, and has even taken authority away from deputies trying to prosecute crimes. Roberson has used social media to show the activity of his staff and office but not directly addressed Globuschutz’s charges on those platforms.
Sheriff Mike Roberson (left) and Rep. Robert Reives II (center) celebrate victories in their elections on Election night at the Chatham Democrats office in Pittsboro. (Staff photo by Ben Rappaport)
14. The results are in: Democrats take Chatham
November’s election day saw Democrats win each of the contested partisan races in Chatham, despite the state giving the N.C. General Assembly a Republican majority. Chatham bucked the trend through strong strategy from its local Democratic Party, led by new party chairperson Liz Guinan and vice chairperson Bill DeLano.
At the state level, Natalie Murdock won the race for Senate and Robert Reives II retained his seat in the House of Representatives.
At a local level, Sheriff Mike Roberson won his re-election bid, while Democractic Chatham Commissioners Katie Kenlan, David Delaney and Franklin Gomez Flores (incumbent) won their bids for office.
On the school board, each of the three incumbents — Del Turner, Gary Leonard and Jane Allen Wilson — won another term in office together.
The only Republican to win in November was U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson. Hudson won the Dist. 9 U.S. House of Representatives seat despite 56.68% of Chatham County voting for his opponent, Ben Clark.
With two megasites and plenty of rural charm — and the lack of large employers — Chatham has been ripe for business development. In 2022, the county became the hotbed of economic development in a year full of jobs announcements — setting a record for largest project in the state, then breaking that record just a few months later.
Roy Cooper and CEO of VinFast Global, Le Thi Thu Thuy, signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday afternoon bringing VinFast to the Moncure Megasite in Chatham County. (Staff photo by Peyton Sickles)
Roy Cooper and CEO of VinFast Global, Le Thi Thu Thuy, signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday afternoon bringing VinFast to the Moncure Megasite in Chatham County.
What had been rumored and speculated about — and hoped for — was made official on March 29, when VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer, was officially introduced as the first tenant at Triangle Innovation Point, the Chatham County’s huge megasite near Moncure.
The announcement, made by Gov. Roy Cooper at the Raleigh Convention Center in downtown Raleigh, was record-setting: VinFast plans a manufacturing facility that will produce a line of premium battery-powered SUVs and the batteries to power them — creating 7,500 jobs with a projected investment of at least $4 billion.
The average wage at VinFest is projected to be about $51,100 annually.
It’s North Carolina’s first automobile manufacturing plant — after a long line of “misses” — with construction starting in 2023, and the first EVs (electric vehicles) scheduled to roll off the assembly line in mid-2024.
Dozens of Chatham County officials and business leaders, along with state leaders, attended the announcement ceremony.
“North Carolina is quickly becoming the center of our country’s emerging, clean energy economy,” Cooper said. “VinFast’s transformative project will bring many good jobs to our state, along with a healthier environment as more electric vehicles take to the road to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
VinFast wants to eventually build 250,000 premium electric SUVs per year at the site, with production output initially starting at 150,000 annually. The private automotive startup, founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, will produce both electric batteries and vehicles at the site.
The TIP site’s proximity to rail, U.S. 1, the I-540 loop, Research Triangle Park and airports — it’s just six miles from Sanford’s Raleigh Executive Jetport and about 30 minutes from RDU — has made the site, with its 47 building locations and the capacity for more than 12 million square feet of space, an attractive potential new home for business and industry.
The project — which was codenamed “Project Blue” by Chatham EDC officials — will bring lots of green to Chatham and the state: VinFast’s project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by at least $71.59 billion over 32 years, the time period when state grants could be active, and increase the region’s payroll by $383 million annually.
“This announcement is the culmination of decades of hard work by current and former EDC staff, Chatham County staff, our elected officials, local and regional partners, and support from local citizens,” Greg Lewis, chairperson of the Chatham EDC’s board of directors, told the News + Record. “Welcoming a major employer like VinFast to Chatham County will transform the area, positively impacting the tax base and will retain and draw people to the area for years to come. This has always been the vision for Chatham County, and we are very excited to witness it come to fruition with this project.”
Triangle Innovation Point is one of two megasites in Chatham County. Both it and the Chatham Advanced Manufacturing site in Siler City have seen a flurry of activity and interest in the last year or so — “unprecedented” was the word used both by Lewis and Michael Smith, the EDC’s president.
“Having two megasites is such a benefit to this county and this county’s future,” Lewis said.
VinFast, founded in 2017 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, is a global producer of premium automobiles. Headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam, it has a state-of-the-art vehicle production facility in Hai Phong, Vietnam, that has the capacity to produce 950,000 vehicles per year by 2026.
VinFast’s rapid growth has seen it establish global operations in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France and the Netherlands. VinFast currently provides an ecosystem of EV products in its home country of Vietnam, including e-scooters, electric buses and electric cars, charging station system and green energy solutions.
Wolfspeed President and CEO Gregg Lowe announced a historic investment in Chatham County at the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh on Friday. The company will invest $5 billion and create 1,800 jobs at the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site. (Staff photo by Peyton Sickles)
16. Wolfspeed announces historic economic development in Chatham County
In September Ben Rappaport reported from the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion, where North Carolina politicians and Wolfspeed executives made official what had been anticipated for weeks: the Durham-based semiconductor and chip manufacturing company is coming to Siler City’s Chatham Advanced Manufacturing site.
The company’s project, a facility to produce silicon carbide chips for industrial and commercial uses, set another a new record for the largest economic development win in state history — bringing an expected $5 billion investment, along with 1,800 jobs over the next five years paying an average annual wage of $77,753. It comes less than six months after Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast’s then-record-setting $4 billion announcement to build a production facility at Chatham’s other megasite, Moncure’s Triangle Innovation Point.
Wolfspeed, formerly known as Cree, is a global leader in silicon carbide technology providing power and radio frequency (RF) semiconductors. Its chips are used in electric vehicles, 4G and 5G mobile development, and several emerging industries.
“The jobs that Wolfspeed is bringing will pay 87% more than our current average wage. That is a huge win for Siler City, Chatham County and the region,” said Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chairperson Karen Howard. “I am so proud of Chatham and the town of Siler City for their tenacity.”
Also making news in 2022 were stories of perseverance and triumph, of tragedy, and of people from Chatham County working together to make the community better.
Attendees at the accepting of the historical marker by Chatham County Officials lays hand on the new marker honoring the six victims of lynching as Reverend Evan Harrison leads in prayer. (Staff photo by Nikki Witt)
17. County unveils historical marker to recognize lynching victims
Along Moore Springs Bridge on what was once Raleigh Road, there’s a tree that holds memory. Its limbs cracked from bearing the weight, its soil forever stained by the blood of a lynching victim.
It is the tree where Eugene Daniel was lynched in Chatham County in 1921.
Trees across the county hold dark memories in their roots, too — in the names of Jerry Finch, Harriet Finch, John Pattishall, Lee Tyson and Henry Jones.
This was the premise of a poem by North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green entitled “I Wanted to Ask the Trees.” She performed in September, at the unveiling of a historical marker donated by the Community Remembrance Coalition-Chatham and the Equal Justice Initiative between Chatham County’s old Agricultural Building and Justice Center, not far south of the old county courthouse.
Ben Rappaport reported on the marker unveiling and the community organizing effort it took to erect the memorial.
The legacy of Daniel, along with the other lynching victims in Chatham County, is now permanently etched into the county’s landscape. The vibrant blue marker with yellow lettering erected Saturday marks a dark history of injustice and intolerance.
After the cover was lifted to reveal the marker, Karen Howard, chairperson of the Chatham Board of Commissioners, formally accepted the gift from the CRC-C and EJI. She said it was a momentous occasion for the community.
“The thing that touches me most about this day is the faces in the crowd,” Howard said. “I know it is absolutely essential that we change institutional practices, but more than that we need to be changing the hearts and minds of people.”
She said the marker is a small step in healing and taking action toward a more anti-racist community. While reconciliation of the past is never a finished process, Howard said it begins with taking ownership of all aspects of our shared history.
Sharron Bouquin, 60, is leading the effort to preserve the church’s history. She pointed to the NCDOT plans, which show a 6-lane road replacing Merry Oaks Baptist Church. (Staff photo by Anna Connors)
18. Despite threats, Merry Oaks community persists
After several months of attending services and interviewing church members, Ben Rappaport and Anna Connors reported on the historic N.C. church facing an uncertain future due to roadway plans from NCDOT for an upcoming VinFast facility.
In Merry Oaks, the past is part of the present. Few places in the rural South still exist where you can find a preacher whose grandfather grew up a quarter mile from the church. A place where one of the congregation members is the great-granddaughter of someone who built the town; where the church has one unofficial car mechanic; or where every congregation member is just a few degrees of separation from every grave in the nearby cemetery.
The future of Merry Oaks, both the community and the church itself, is uncertain. The tall white steeple has stood on the border between Moncure and New Hill — on the corner of Old U.S. 1 and New Elam Church Road — since 1888. But under recent roadway plans from N.C. Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT), the church is set to be taken to make way for a highway into the new VinFast facility.
VinFast, the Vietnamese electric car manufacturer, has promised to invest $4 billion and bring 7,500 jobs to Chatham County over the next decade in the second-largest economic development project in state history — surpassed only by Wolfspeed, which will build in western Chatham County near Siler City. VinFast is planning a 1,765-acre facility in nearby Moncure at the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) site. The roadway plans from NCDOT into the facility include taking 27 homes, five businesses — and Merry Oaks Baptist Church.
Members of the congregation are frustrated and upset at the current NCDOT plans, but they also believe the future of the church is in God’s hands. In nearly a century and a half, the tall white steeple atop Merry Oaks Baptist has been no stranger to trying times.
The NCDOT plans are only the latest to come its way. The red pews of the sanctuary hold more memories than the aging minds of its members can recall. It holds the beginnings of awkward relationships that later became marriages, the echoes of old choir practices and maybe even the hidden crumbs of cookies made by the preacher’s wife every Sunday.
Beyond the walls of the sanctuary, the church is an important symbol because it is the last remaining pillar of the community that once was the town of Merry Oaks.
Danielle Minges, director of Chatham Recovery. (Staff photo by Peyton Sickles)
19. The Opioid Crisis in Chatham
The opioid epidemic is rampant across the county, and Chatham was no exception, according to reporting by Taylor Heeden.
In a News + Record exclusive two-part series, local law enforcement agencies and various organizations provided their perspective on the rise in overdoses in Chatham County, and what they’re doing to help combat opioid overdoses in the community.
In the first part of this series, the Chatham Sheriff’s Office and municipal departments provided insight on what they were seeing on the front lines.
Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson believed the drastic uptick in overdose calls correlates with the pandemic and quarantines. The isolation associated with COVID-19, he says, has led to more people becoming susceptible to overdosing on various substances. Siler City Police Chief Mike Wagner added he believed mental health plays a huge role in drug abuse and addiction. If there were no stigma around drug addiction, he said, maybe those who suffer from substance abuse would be more willing to seek treatment.
We learned about Chatham Recovery, an opioid treatment program providing medication-assisted therapy to help combat symptoms such as drug withdrawal and cravings, and Chatham Drug Free, an organization aiming to curb the use of opioids, marijuana, alcohol and other substances among Chatham County’s younger population, and is a part of a “prevention coalition” working with local law enforcement agencies, the county school system and more, including promoting “the safe storage and disposal of medications.”
20. Local hemp business owners sound the alarm on SB 711
This year featured a lot of conversation surrounding the N.C. General Assembly’s Senate Bill 711, which would’ve legalized the medical use of marijuana. Taylor Heeden reported on how local hemp business owners in Chatham about how SB 711 may not be the best answer for medicinal cannabis legalization.
Aaron Puryear has been one of the co-owners of Oak City Hemp — located at The Plant in Pittsboro — since the company’s inception in 2018, when hemp-derived products were federally legalized across the United States.
Some legal hemp-derived products, though, offer psychoactive effects similar to marijuana, according to Puryear. The two main forms of hemp on the market in North Carolina are CBD — which does not have psychoactive properties — and Delta-8 THC, which provides users with a similar “high” the THC found in marijuana, known as Delta-9 THC, gives.
“Legally, I have access to every cannabinoid the cannabis plant has to offer with hemp, and there’s over 100 known cannabinoids,” Puryear said. “I tell people all the time legalization is here — it’s just in a different form than most people expected.”
21. 1,4-Dioxane, PFAS and how Pittsboro has answered the threat
The fight for clean water in Chatham County, most specifically Pittsboro, took a turn in 2022.
The town’s board of commissioners unanimously approved a motion to investigate and pursue litigation against industries or others responsible for repeated discharges of PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane — two families of compounds which have been deemed likely human carcinogens — into the Haw River, Pittsboro’s source of drinking water.
While the town’s legal team continued to investigate polluters, the Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Filtration System was installed at Pittsboro’s Water Treatment Plant. The GAC system filters 1,4-Dioxane to almost non detectable levels, giving residents better access to cleaner water.
In 2022, one team and several individuals won state championships in their respective sports. Starting with the winter sports championships in February and leading through the last few weeks of December, local high school athletes displayed why Chatham County is an area on the rise in the state athletic scene.
Northwood girls basketball players celebrate after winning the 2022 3A state championship with a 70-41 win over Enka on March 12. (Staff photo by Simon Barbre)
22. Chatham athletes bring home multiple state championships
The only Chatham County team to win a state championship in 2022 was the Northwood girls basketball team, which defeated Enka, 70-42, in the 3A state finals in Raleigh on March 12, with former sports editor Victor Hensley in attendance.
The win marked the first team championship for the Chargers since Northwood opened back in 1970. The Chargers were led by senior Olivia Porter, who totaled 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
After the game, Porter — who transferred to Pittsboro from Auburn High in Alabama ahead of the season — said she felt like she was playing for two teams at once.
“It feels amazing,” Porter said. I feel like I won for two cities ... I was kind of representing two teams, essentially, because I knew my old coach was going to be watching this game, so I knew I had to make him proud, as well as my teammates and coaches here. It just means a lot that I finally reached this point, and I’m the first in my family, so that proves I’m the most athletic one.”
There were other champions in 2022. Before moving on to the college ranks, 2022 Northwood grad Caroline Murrell had a historic senior season with the Chargers.
After winning the 3,200-meter race at the 3A indoor championships in February, Murrell — now a member of the N.C. State cross country and track and field teams — won both the 3,200- and 1,600-meter races at the outdoor championships in May.
And after a long season competing in a team setting, Chatham Central seniors Olivia Brooks and Ellie Phillips paired up for the 1A doubles state tournament, and eventually came out on top to claim a title.
