Model Cooperation By Town and Club

“Town and gown" is a time-honored phrase that refers to the relationship between colleges and the municipalities in or near which they're located. That relationship is often uneasy and sometimes downright hostile.

The Moore County version of "town and gown" is the interconnection and interdependence between local governments and the dozens of golf courses and resorts that are such a mainstay of the local economy.

That kinship, too, can be rocky on occasion. One has to look no further than the village of Pinehurst and Pinehurst Resort. They are as mutually interdependent as Siamese twins, but they've been known to get crossways with each other from time to time over fences and taxes and traffic control and the very name "Pinehurst" itself. Fortunately for all, that relationship seems to have smoothed out of late.

For a while there, things also threatened to get a little tense between the town of Carthage and the golf/residential development Forest Creek. Though they are not intertwined like the two Pinehursts, they share a critical dependence on a finite natural resource: Nicks Creek.

During last summer’s drought, Carthage became concerned that Forest Creek’s creation of a reservoir might leave the town high and dry. More recently, that concern grew with concerns that golf course irrigation might return chemicals to the water that Carthage’s new treatment plant couldn’t remove.

But Forest Creek moved quickly to commission an independent study that laid Carthage’s fears to rest, and now the Town Board has moved just as quickly to meet and withdraw any objections to the impoundment.

“We are happy with these results,” Mayor Larry Caddell said.