Hi Ray and Nyal!
Horace Williams is still fighting. As you both know I had an Ercoupe
there from Sept. 2001-Dec. 2003. Dr. Smithies still had his Grob there
when I left, althought I didn't see him fly it much and never got a
chance to meet him. He had been swiped from the University of
Wisconsin by a better package from what I've heard, and as you know I
left North Carolina to come back to the University of Wisconsin, so I
was very interested in meeting him, but never got the chance.

The dim wit chancellor has had this idea about "Carolina North" for
years, and Horace Williams (IGX) was squarly in it way. He wanted it
gone, but the medical school staff really balked at closing it down.
There were some NIMBY types who didn't want it open, but there were
also some very interesting (and powerful) North Carolinians who lived
elsewhere who saw the value of the UNC outreach program (called AHEC)
for healthcare in rural areas. Those outreach programs then directly
translated into patients coming to UNC for their specialty care. It
was also very popular with UNC alumni to fly back to Chapel Hill.

A good friend of mine, who is a local lawyer in Chapel Hill (and very
prominent EAA Young Eagle supporter) has been one of many key people
who have helped fight the closing of Horace Williams. The fact that it
still is open today is testament to his work. On two different
occasions (in '02 if I remember correctly) I received certified
letters kicking me out of the airport and telling me I had to
relocate. It didn't happen either time due to legislative fancy work
to keep it open.

This Carolina North thing hasn't moved much from what I understand
(Ray, help me out here) since I left in early '04. There were all
sorts of additional issues such as a toxic waste dump (bordering on
Superfund status) in the woods that the university had been dumping
crap from labs into for a very long time. So the airport was only one
part of the puzzle.

I hope and sincerely desire that Horace Williams stays open FOREVER!
I've told my wife (a graduate one of UNC graduate programs) that we
will not donate a cent until the current chancellor goes away and
Horace Williams stays open. It has a long and interesting history that
deserves to be preserved. (Presidents Bush and Ford both learned to
fly there when it trained pilots during WW2).

Ryan