Charlotte.com: Neighbors of Union County
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• Creating Christmas for the needy
  When the doors opened at the Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau on Arrowood Road last Tuesday morning, Maj. Todd Smith gave volunteers some simple advice, "All I can say to you is: Hold on!"The volunteers were scheduled to serve 200 families per hour, eight hours a day, for the next four days as families came to pick up presents for their children.The process began in October when the Christmas Bureau opened registration.Each family had a face-to-face interview with Salvation Army staff in which the families showed proof that they were within certain income guidelines and provided documentation for each child in their family 14 or younger.Once the children were registered, the parents prepared a Christmas wish list for each child and were assigned a pickup time when they could come back to the Christmas Bureau to pick up presents.When registration closed on Nov. 10, Salvation Army folks got busy making paper angels with the names and wish lists of the children. Many in the community adopted the angels, bought presents and returned them to the Salvation Army.The angels that weren't adopted had their wish lists filled in-house with toys that were received through community toy drives and purchased with funds from The Charlotte Observer's Empty Stocking Fund, which readers contribute to each year.In Union County, adults and children also picked up gifts and other items at the Christmas Bureau on Skyway Drive. That bureau also receives some funding from The Empty Stocking Fund.The Salvation Army's Women's Auxiliary spent the past few months stuffing more than 6,000 stockings and checking an additional 4,000 that came from the community to make sure the contents were safe and age-appropriate.The Spokes Group bought more than 2,000 bikes and helmets that were carefully lined up Tuesday morning waiting for new owners.Finally, as the doors opened, people streamed in to collect their gifts.They walked out with bikes and gift cards and a stuffed stocking for each child, pushing buggies with bags filled with dolls and dinosaurs and books and games and roller blades and basketballs and all the stuff that Christmas lists are made of.As they left the building, the smiles on their faces told the story -- there really was a Santa Claus, thanks to the generosity of the entire community and the Christmas Bureau.Christmas Bureau6 Number of weeks registration took place$240 Average value of gifts given to a family of 22,500 Number of Christmas Bureau volunteers4,300 Number of families registered10,285 Number of children served15,000 Number of white plastic bags used to hold toys$1,032,809 Estimated value of toys donated by the community for 2007 Christmas BureauHow to giveCheck should be made out to: The Empty Stocking Fund, P.O. Box 37269, Charlotte NC 28237-7269.On the WebYou can find a list of donors and more coverage of The Empty Stocking Fund at www.charlotte.com/esf.Who gaveSee a list on Page 2U
• Fairview fights gas pipeline
  Some Fairview officials and residents are opposing Monroe's plans to lay an underground natural-gas pipeline through the town.Monroe plans to build a 40-mile natural gas pipeline to Mooresville, where Monroe can tap directly into a major interstate pipeline running from south Texas to New York.Monroe has formed a partnership with Mooresville in Iredell County and Midland in Cabarrus County to install the $24 million pipeline. The city would purchase gas directly from suppliers on the Gulf Coast, rather than go through its current distributor, Piedmont Natural Gas. City officials say this would save money and double the city's existing capacity.But Fairview landowners say the city's not offering them a fair price for easements. Fairview officials say the 10-inch steel pipeline would run right through Fairview's planned commercial districts.If the property owners don't accept Monroe's offer, the city could obtain the rights of way through condemnation. State law allows a municipality to condemn a utility easement outside city limits if the easement is within the same county.Mooresville and Midland are handling the land purchases in their counties. As Monroe moves to build the pipeline in Union County, it will mainly stick to the right of way along U.S. 601.One exception is the 31 acres owned by Hurley Campbell. Monroe wants an easement on his property, much of which would run through the middle. That's because a house on a neighboring lot is too close to the road for crews to use the right of way, Monroe Energy Services director Don Mitchell said.So crews would have little choice but to dig up what Campbell, 88, calls "the best part of my property." The city, through a contracted agent who met one-on-one with Fairview landowners, is offering $5,180 for roughly 1,600 feet of easement. State law generally requires a city to pay fair market value of a piece of land it wants to condemn. It's not clear what the easement's fair market value is worth, but Campbell says the city's offer is too low.Mitchell said it would have been too costly to send an appraiser to each parcel along the 40-mile route to calculate the market value of fractions of land parcels. So the city's offers most often are based on a sampling of values."I think we've made fair offers in Fairview," Mitchell said. He said other Fairview landowners have accepted the city's offers. Campbell said he intends to fight any condemnation in court.Elected officials in Fairview also oppose the city's plans because the right of way goes through the town's planned commercial district."I daresay that if Fairview tried to go through the business district of Monroe and condemn land for a pipeline without a public meeting ... there would be an outcry of Biblical proportions," Town Council member Libby Long recently wrote to Monroe Mayor Bobby Kilgore.In the letter, Long acknowledged that the law doesn't require the city to hold a public meeting. But doing so "would be the right thing to do."Kilgore said he would be glad to meet with town officials. He said the city wasn't trying to force anything on Fairview."If they don't want us, certainly we'll look at what options we can do to go around it," he said.Monroe officials, including Mitchell, City Manager Craig Meadows and City Council member Bob Smith met with Long and other Fairview officials in September. Smith described it as an informal "information-sharing meeting." Smith said the council has no plans to hold a formal meeting."We feel like that's between the individual landowners and the right-of-way agent," he said.
• We all can believe in peace and goodwill
  An old Baptist preacher I know once told me that when God gets ready to change the world, a child is born.He supported his statement with a long list of people he said were born to have worldwide impact.We're now two days from Christmas, a religious holiday that's completely about a child being born. And no matter what your belief, the birth of that child has worldwide impact, even 2,000 years later.Without that event, we would have no Christmas. Can you imagine that?What would children do if there were no Santa? There wouldn't be the tradition of making a list. No child would have sat on Santa's knee and pondered his thoughts, wondering what would be under the tree. If there were no Christmas, why would we put up Christmas lights and trees? Why would we buy gifts? Why would anyone organize a parade during cold weather?Wouldn't Christmas carols be a bit pointless?Even more importantly, this is the time of year that many people from many faiths spread as much joy as possible. We reach out as best we can to ease the suffering of those in need.We drop coins in kettles. We donate money. We buy gifts and toys for adults and children we may never meet.I don't believe people are more selfish the rest of the year. I believe people are just more inspired now.It's not necessary to give you a Sunday School lesson about Mary, Joseph and Bethlehem. You probably know it.You may even have visited some live Nativity scenes with real babies in carefully fashioned mangers.I understand everyone doesn't accept the story of Jesus' birth. But the core tenets are almost universal -- peace, goodwill, giving to others.I can't measure how much the world has changed since that night 2,000 years ago in a stable. In fact, some things haven't changed. There still is evil. There still are wars. There still is poverty.However, on Christmas Day, a good portion of the world seems to turn attention away from evil to focus on what's good.Amid the celebration of Hanukkah, just before the start of Kwanzaa, the gifts have been bought and we've safely arrived with our loved ones. A single event takes center stage: A child was born.And that has translated into one grand message of peace and goodwill. IN MY OPINION CliffHarrington
• Shocked by lack of se