Living in the Neighborhood, p. 2

GARDEN CLUB ORGANIZATION

Amanda Turano and Mary Alice Mitchell have agreed to serve as chair and vice-chair and start a neighborhood garden club. Initially the club would maintain the two butterfly gardens planted this spring in Ashby Park and possibly start two to four new perennial flower gardens where color is needed in the town parks.

The second purpose of the garden club is to consider starting a community garden for vegetables and flowers next to the gravel parking area off O. Henry Avenue in The Preserve. August would be the time to prepare the soil for the community garden.

Please call Amanda at 704.895.1594 or Mary Alice at 704.892.5070 if you want to participate.

HORSESHOES, BOCCE BALL, OR CROQUET ANYONE?

The lawn area south of North Faulkner Way can be remodeled to accommodate some permanent lawn sports for those who have an interest. Please contact Doug Boone at 704.987.5099 if you would like to know more or if you want to get involved.

UPDATE ON ROAD REPAIR & PAVING

Red Clay Industries has been contracted to repair the streets and byways. Work began the first week of August. Each day Red Clay will excavate the existing pavement as marked and replace it with new asphalt. Except when working in byways and on South Faulkner Way, the contractor will try to keep one lane of travel open at all times. When this is not possible, residents will need to seek alternate routes of travel. Once started, repair work should take six to eight days for the entire neighborhood, weather permitting.

As required by the Canons of Conduct, residents should not park on the streets or behind townhome garages in the byways. When Red Clay is working on your street, please ask guests and visitors to park on another street.

Boone Communities wishes to apologize in advance for any inconvenience this might cause.

ENFORCEMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Covenant Committee has prepared a detailed document covering Enforcement Policies and Procedures for Governing Documents of New Neighborhood. The document is currently under review by the Association attorney. At the regular Council of Stewards meeting on Wednesday, August 24, it will undergo final review and approval. By acceptance of a deed, each owner of property in New Neighborhood has agreed to abide by the Canons of Conduct and by the by-laws and rules set forth by the Association for the neighborhood. The “Governing Documents Enforcement Policies and Procedures” will clearly establish authority, duties, and enforcement of these canons and by-laws. Enforcement will include steps for assessment of reasonable monetary fines, creating a lien upon the property of the violator, and suspension of the owner’s voting rights (and possibly Association services). Upon approval by the Council of Stewards, the Covenant Committee will meet and decide the best manner to communicate and distribute copies of this document.

The Governing Documents apply to all owners and occupants of property within the neighborhood, as well as to their respective tenants, guests and invitees. Any lease on a unit shall provide that the tenant and all occupants of the leased unit are bound by and obligated to comply with the Governing Documents. To that end, it is again very important for all owners and residents to read and become familiar with the Neighborhood Covenant and Canons of Conduct. All owners should have been given a copy of the Covenant at the time of closing. If you were not given a copy or cannot locate these documents, you may obtain a copy from Abbott Enterprises, Inc. at a cost of $15.00.

Please note that the enforcement policy that is scheduled for approval by the Council of Stewards on August 24 is unrelated to enforcement of non-payment of assessments. That is covered by separate policy already approved and in effect.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE PRESENTS 2005 CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL OF STEWARDS

At the regular June meeting of the Council of Stewards, a Nominating Committee was appointed to select candidates for the two COS terms that will expire in August. Members of the Nominating Committee included Sherman Kahn (Chair), Virginia Hart, and Donna Howell. The two positions due to expire are held by Sammy Winthrop and Ed Riley (current COS Treasurer). Both members have stated that they do not wish to run for another term.

The Nominating Committee has selected two candidates for consideration at the election to be held at the Annual Members Meeting on August 9.

Stephen J. Baker (439 O. Henry Avenue)

Steve and his wife Tina were born and raised in Indiana. He moved to Atlanta in 1985 with Allstate and was transferred to Davidson in 1997. The couple moved into New Neighborhood in January, 2005. Steve is a past member of Optimist Club, Junior Achievement, and River Ridge Homeowner’s Association. He is also a current member of the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors.

Robert Ashton (180 Harper Lee Street)

Bob and Sandra moved into New Neighborhood in 2004. Bob quickly became active in neighborhood activities and served as Chairperson of the Townhome & Workplace Building Maintenance Committee. Recently, he accepted a position with Cunnane Group as manager of warranty work in New Neighborhood and for the development in Cornelius. He brings excellent experience in construction and contracting to the neighborhood.

No other nominations were submitted to Abbott by the August 2 deadline. However, nominations may be taken from the floor at the meeting on August 9.

NEWSLETTER DELIVERY VOLUNTEERS

Many thanks are due our newsletter delivery volunteers each month. The July newsletter was delivered by Tom & Barbara Doster, Tom Fischer, John Hart, Sherman Kahn, Nick Macos, Norm Reid, Dave Smith, and Chuck Womack..

WHAT’S IN A NAME? NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS AND BYWAYS [INSTALLMENT 9]

We continue our discussion of the streets and byways of the New Neighborhood this month with the biography of one of the great writers of the twentieth century, Thomas Clayton Wolfe. His name has been given to the short section of road that exits the neighborhood onto Gray Road. With the exception of Fairview and Caldwell Lanes, the primary streets and roads throughout the neighborhood are named after Southern authors and writers. The narrow “byways” are all named for local people who were in the chain of title for property purchased for the New Neighborhood.

WOLFE STREET

Thomas Wolfe, the youngest of eight children, was born on October 3, 1900 in Asheville, North Carolina. His mother, Julia Elizabeth Westall Wolfe, was a third generation North Carolinian. Julia had a rather unusual “hobby” for women of the era. She was a successful real estate speculator. Thomas’ father, William Oliver Wolfe was from Pennsylvania German-English-Dutch farming country. He was a tombstone maker by trade and drank heavily, often shouting at family members and quoting from Shakespeare.

Wolfe attended a private school in Asheville at age eleven and entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at age sixteen. He began his writing while at UNC and was the editor of the Tar Heel, the school newspaper. After graduating at age twenty, Thomas went to Harvard where he studied playwrighting and received a Masters Degree in 1924. While at Harvard, he did write two plays, but did not consider himself successful at this form of writing and turned to the novel instead. Wolfe taught English at New York University from 1924 until 1930.

On a vacation to England in June of 1926, Thomas Wolfe began writing his first autobiographical novel, Look Homeward, Angel. This was to begin a close relationship with Scribner’s Publishers and the famous editor, Maxwell Perkins, who also handled writings by authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Wolfe finished Look Homeward Angel in 1929 and followed it with a sequel, Of Time and the River, in 1935.

In 1937, Wolfe signed a contract with Harpers and created the manuscripts for two other novels. Diagnosed with tuberculosis of the brain (tubercular meningitis), Wolfe died on September 15, 1938 while undergoing surgery. His last two novels were published posthumously, The Web and the Rock (1939) and You Can’t Go Home Again (1940).

Thomas Wolfe is best known for his autobiographical novels. He firmly believed that great art must, by necessity, be autobiographical. As I have written each installment, I attempted to read some of the works by that particular author. I decided to read Look Homeward, Angel, but opted to read the original manuscript of his work. The book was originally entitled O Lost: A Story of the Buried Life. Scribner edited about 25% of this manuscript before publishing Look Homeward, Angel. Critics of Thomas Wolfe feel that he uses language to excess and gets lost in detail. However, I would side with others who see magic in his use of words and his extensive vocabulary. In one scene of O Lost, he spends several pages elaborating on the process of making bread from scratch and the use of flour. The description is vivid and, for me, evoked very real images of my own grandmother at work in her kitchen.

Thomas Wolfe is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His mother’s boardinghouse (a key setting called “Dixieland” in Look Homeward, Angel) was his home as a child and is now the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, a National Historic Landmark. A fire damaged the house in July, 1998, but architects are working to restore the home to original condition.

Information for much of this article was obtained from the Thomas Wolfe Web Site.

• • • • • • •

This concludes the biographical series on the names of our neighborhood streets.If you are new to New Neighborhood and missed some of the early articles on our roads, the entire series has been preserved on the neighborhood website.

SPECIAL COUNCIL OF STEWARDS MEETING

A special Council of Stewards meeting was held on Wednesday, August 3, with focus on preparation for the Annual Meeting of the Members scheduled for Tuesday, August 9, in St. Alban’s Church at 7:00 p.m. Minutes of this meeting and the regular COS meeting in August will be covered in the September newsletter.

NOTE: The Council of Stewards meets regularly the fourth Wednesday of every other month in St. Alban’s Church library (lower level) at 7:00 p.m. Special meetings are called as needed throughout the year. Meetings are open to residents. The next regular COS meeting is August 24, 2005.

MARK NEIGHBORHOOD CALENDARS NOW!

Save the date – Saturday, October 1! The Outreach Committee of St. Alban’s Church invites the entire neighborhood to come share in mission opportunities to benefit various local charities. Bring everyone and participate by giving “The Gift of Life” at the church blood drive or by helping at nearby sites. Finish the day by attending the annual “Pig Pickin’” barbecue. A complete brochure of all activities will be printed in the September newsletter.

Give to the community and share in great food!