Rain barrel auction to benefit farmers

This Friday, Raleigh's Whole Foods Market is hosting a silent auction of nine rain barrels painted by local artists to raise money for an emergency farm assistance fund. The 30-gallon barrels will be auctioned off during a wine and cheese reception, with live music by The Paul Bomar Trio. The event begins at 6 p.m. at 3540 Wade Ave. The barrel pictured here will be among those up for bid.

One environmentalist's thoughts on the Dix debacle

I know it's a cause near and dear to the hearts of many of my environmentally minded friends here in Raleigh, but the campaign to convert the Dorothea Dix Hospital property near downtown into a park hasn't gotten a great deal of attention here at Raleigh Eco News.

That's because I've been conflicted about the proposal.

On the one hand, I do think we need to increase public open space in our fast-growing city -- and there's a certain poetic justice in converting an old mental hospital into a health-enhancing place like a park. After all, science has found that access to nature via parks plays a critical if still not fully understood role in human health and development. Some think that addiction, for example, may sometimes represent an attempt to fill the void left by the loss of contact with nature.

But on the other hand -- maybe because I'm a social worker by training -- I can't help but worry about how we will meet the local community's mental health care needs. Deepening my worry was the News & Observer's outstanding recent series on the state's botched mental health privatization effort, which introduced us to people like Johnnie P. Yarborough:

In 2006, the 47-year-old Yarborough, suffering from bipolar disorder and addicted to crack cocaine, was so desperate for treatment that he beat on the doors of state-run Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh and a private mental hospital, seeking to be admitted.

Because of the 2001 reform law, treatment once offered by Wake County's mental health agency had become spotty or nonexistent. Yarborough was admitted to Dix 14 times during 2006, but never for more than a few days. He began fearing that he might commit a murder. He's drug-free now and working, but that's thanks to the nonprofit Raleigh Rescue Mission, where he now lives.

It's bad enough for someone in need of health care to be reduced to pounding on a hospital door. But now we want to eliminate even that lousy option and force ill Raleigh residents to go to a new facility 30 miles away, Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

And as it turns out, there are still serious problems at Central Regional. With patients expected to start arriving by the middle of next month, the $120 million facility still has a host of safety hazards -- including hundreds of door handles and bathroom handrails that present risks for the suicidal, as the N&O reported this week.

State mental health workers rallied today against the Dix closure plans, calling them a "disaster in the making," according to the paper:

"This is our Katrina,” said Beverly Moriarity, a nurse who helps coordinate staffing at Dix. "This is a train wreck waiting to happen. The administration knows it’s going to be a catastrophe and they’re moving ahead anyway. I don’t understand it."

State employees say they're worried about expected shortfalls in the numbers of nurses, doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists needed at the facility. They're also concerned about the readiness of the staff that has been hired, since their orientation consisted of a two-hour walk through one floor of the building and a packet of instructions to read at home. To date, they have received no training on using the computer system, securing medications, or evacuating in case of fire.

They're also rattled by the long commute to Butner -- especially given the rising price of fuel:

"Half of my salary would go to gas," said Floyd Mims, a health care technician. The starting pay for his job is less than $11 an hour.

I think it's become clear that closing Dix doesn't make sense from a strictly human perspective. But neither do I think it makes sense from a broader ecological perspective to demolish a local treatment facility and force patients and staff to commute to a new one 30 miles away.

My dream is that Raleigh's conservationists, state mental health workers, mental health advocates, and mental health patients and their families would join forces to keep Dix open -- and turn it into a world-class park. With a campus of more than 300 acres, there's room for both. Let's make Dix into a place that continues to care for patients in need and also enhances the well being of the wider community.

(Dix property photo by Karen Tam from Friends of Dix Web site)

Raleigh chicken coop tour set for Saturday

This Saturday marks the 3rd annual "Henside the Beltline Tour d'Coop," when backyard chicken keepers from across Raleigh invite the public to visit their operations. This year's tour promises to be bigger and better than ever, with more coops, informational booths and a special guest appearance by The Chickenman.

The tour is a benefit for Urban Ministries of Wake County, and participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food or cash donation. Last year's tour collected 1,500 pounds of food and raised over $2,000 for the interfaith organization, which helps local families in need.

On the day of the tour, maps of participating coops will be available at the offices of dentist Steven B. Andreaus (1637 Glenwood Ave., across from the Rialto Theater); Ornamentea (509 N. West St., one block south of Peace Street); CupAJoe (2109-142 Avent Ferry Rd., in the lower level of Mission Valley Shopping Center); Whole Foods Market (3540 Wade Ave., in the Ridgewood Shopping Center); and Seaboard Ace Hardware (802 Semart Dr., across from Logan Trading Company).

The tour begins at 10 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m. For more information about the event, e-mail Kirsten Reberg-Horton at kirstenrh@yahoo.com. For information about keeping chickens, contact local poultry expert Bob Davis at radavis413@msn.com.

To learn more about the history of the event and what motivates Raleigh residents to keep chickens, click here for my 2006 News & Observer story about the original Tour d'Coop.

Beware of PCB-contaminated fish from Raleigh's Walnut Creek, Rocky Branch and the Neuse River

State health officials are warning of health risks from eating fish caught in Walnut Creek and Rocky Branch in South Raleigh, and from the Neuse River just below Crabtree Creek to Auburn-Knightdale Road.

Fish found in those waterways may contain high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), toxic chemicals that were once widely used as coolants and lubricants in electrical transformers but have been banned in the United States since 1977. PCBs are known to cause cancer, they've been associated with neurobehavioral and immunological changes in children, and they're toxic to the liver.

Last month, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services issued advisories recommending that people limit their consumption of carp and catfish from those waterways to no more than one meal per month. It also advises people to limit consumption of all other fish from Walnut Creek and Rocky Branch to no more than one meal per week.

These latest PCB-related fish advisories come on top of others issued in recent years for Raleigh's Crabtree Creek and Brier Creek as well as nearby Lake Crabtree, a popular fishing spot.

In these earlier cases, the PCB pollution came from Ward Transformer, a Raleigh company that refurbishes electrical equipment near the RDU International Airport. In 2003, Ward Transformer's property in northwest Raleigh was added to the federal Superfund list, which puts it among the most toxic sites in the United States. Besides PCBs, other contaminants of concern from the Ward site are dioxins, furans, arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, and zinc.

Ward Transformer is also notorious for an incident in the late 1970s, when contractors hired by the company sprayed PCB-contaminated oil along hundreds of miles of roads throughout that state. After the dumping was discovered, then-Gov. Jim Hunt ordered the contaminated soil to be scraped up and dumped in Warren County north of the Triangle. The struggle that ensued involving residents of that majority African-American community -- first against the dumping and later to get the toxic dump cleaned up -- is often said to mark the beginning of the U.S. environmental justice movement.

As it turns out, Ward Transformer is also behind Raleigh's latest PCB woes. Back when the company was known as Electric Motor and Transformer, it had locations in the city at 1900 S. Saunders St. just north of the Beltline, 418 S. Dawson St. just south of Nash Square, and at the intersection of South Saunders and Jamaica Drive, near the turnoff for Lake Wheeler Road. As state toxicologist Luanne Williams reported in a March 2007 risk assessment [pdf]:

Rocky Branch Creek flows southeast along the south side of Jamaica Drive and runoff from the South Dawson Street area flowed to an unnamed tributary to the creek. Therefore, in the past runoff carrying PCBs from these facilities where transformers were reconditioned may have entered into Rocky Branch Creek and Walnut Creek. These waterbodies are approximately 7 miles from the Neuse River location of where elevated Aroclor 1260 levels have been found in catfish and largemouth bass. According to the March 30, 2006 North Carolina Superfund Section reports, Aroclor 1260 has been found in sediment samples all along Walnut Creek and Rocky Branch located approximately 7 miles from the Neuse River to where Walnut Creek enters the Neuse River. Walnut Creek leads into the Neuse River and Rocky Branch leads into the Walnut Creek about 6 ½ miles from where Walnut Creek enters the Neuse River.

Aroclor 1260 is a highly chlorinated PCB mixture that was manufactured by Monsanto. Environmentally persistent and resistant to degradation, Aroclor adheres to soil and sediment and builds up in the fat stores of fish and any creatures who eat the fish, including humans.

In an e-mailed statement about the recently discovered contamination, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks of the Neuse River Foundation said his group would be "dealing with the issue of liability and who is responsible for the clean-up for many years to come."

Coyote captured on film near Umstead Park

A Raleigh Eco News reader who lives near Umstead State Park shot this backyard photo a couple of months ago using a motion-triggered trail camera. The person, who shall remain unidentified in order to deter coyote- or camera-hunting trespassers, reports:

The coyote appears a bit larger than it really is because the camera is only two feet off the ground, however this one is obviously well-fed and stout. I've read that coyotes in this part of the state have interbred with wolves, and are thus thicker than the average skin-and-bones type that you usually see.

The other objects in the pic include a mineral block (dark block on ground), a timed feeder hanging from a tree, and a sewer pipe clean-out access (sticking out of ground to the left of the base of the tree).

We have been hearing them every so often at night, and it's really picked up in the last few weeks. Coyotes sound like a cross between a pack of hyenas and a basket full of puppies. We haven't heard any Hollywood-style howling, yet.

Environmental endorsements for Tuesday's primary

Tomorrow is North Carolina's primary election. To help voters make wise choices, environmental groups have issued endorsements relevant to voters living in the Raleigh area.

One is the Conservation Council of North Carolina's political action committee, whose endorsements for several contested primaries include:

* Winston-Salem City Councilman and longtime environmental champion Dan Besse for lieutenant governor (click here to read full endorsement as a PDF);

* State Sen. Janet Cowell for state treasurer (click here to read a PDF of the endorsement); and

* Josh Stein for state Senate District 16 in Wake County.

C-PAC has also endorsed a number of legislators who do not face a challenge in the primary but who have an excellent voting record on environmental issues. They include:

* Rep. Jennifer Weiss in Wake County's House District 35; and

* Rep. Deborah Ross in Wake's House District 38.

To read C-PAC's complete slate of endorsements, click here.

The North Carolina Sierra Club has also issued primary endorsements. Like C-PAC, it's also endorsed Besse [PDF] for lieutenant governor and Cowell [PDF] for state treasurer. It notes that that whoever holds the position sought by Cowell, a former Sierra Club leader, will have the opportunity to capture the emerging market in clean energy technology.

The Sierra Club has also endorsed Weiss and Ross, along with state Sen. Vernon Malone in Wake's District 14, Rep. Grier Martin in Wake's House District 34 and Rep. Linda Coleman in Wake's House District 39.

To read the Sierra Club's full list of primary endorsements, click here.