Thomas McKim, an attorney for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., became the chairman of the Forsyth County Airport Commission by acclamation yesterday after serving six years on the commission.
The former chairman, Bill Whiteheart, lost his seat on the airport commission when his term on the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners ended Dec. 1. He was the county board's appointee. Commissioner Ted Kaplan took Whiteheart's place on the airport commission yesterday, and he nominated McKim to be chairman. Kaplan also nominated Keith Comer to continue as the vice chairman and Howard Martin to stay on as the secretary and treasurer.
Tom Ferrell, the airport commission's newest appointment, took the oath of office but won't start his term until next month. He will replace Bill Brown, who stepped down from the airport board after yesterday's meeting.
Whiteheart's bid to return to the airport board as a county appointee failed on Monday when the county board voted 5-2 to pick Ferrell.
UNC system gets $10 million from foundation led by Spangler
CHAPEL HILL -- The UNC system has received a donation of $10 million from a foundation run by its former president.
C.D. Spangler Jr. of Charlotte took the check personally to UNC President Erskine Bowles yesterday. The donation will be used to create a challenge grant program to increase the university's ranks of endowed professorships.
Spangler said that the gift to the 16-campus university system comes at a time when residents need the help of the state's university system.
Yesterday's donation was just a down payment. The foundation has pledged a total of $20 million over five years if state legislators offer a matching annual grant of $4.6 million. Spangler was president of the university system from 1986 to 1997. He has helped create more than 50 professorships.
Lewisville, Clemmons boards change meeting schedules
The Lewisville Town Council is changing its meeting schedule for January because of the New Year's holiday.
The council will hold its monthly briefing at 6 p.m. Jan. 8 at Town Hall. It will hold its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Reynolds Community Center. Its regular meeting schedule will resume in February.
Also, council members will have their annual retreat beginning at 2 p.m. Feb. 13 and at 8 a.m. on Feb. 14 at the Village Inn in Clemmons. Residents are invited to attend.
In observance of Christmas, the Clemmons Village Council will not have its regular meeting on Dec. 22. The council will next meet at 5 p.m. Jan. 12, when it and the planning board will discuss the village's transportation plan.
Conservation group gets land along Tennessee-N.C. border
ERWIN, Tenn. -- A conservation group has acquired nearly 10,000 acres of land for eventual public use on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
The Conservation Fund, based in Arlington, Va., said it has acquired 9,624 acres, which it intends to transfer to the state of Tennessee and the U.S. Forest Service. Another 2,237 acres of the tract was purchased by the Forest Service and is now part of the Cherokee National Forest.
Fund spokeswoman Vanessa Vaughan said that the privately owned land is in the mountains in Greene and Unicoi counties and is known as the Rocky Fork tract.
Vaughan said that the agreement reached with the previous owners protects the land from development while money is being raised to pay for it.
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