Thanksgiving.  As O Henry once said:  “There is one day that is ours.  Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.”  Yes, it is truly American and a wonderful chance to gather with family and friends to count our blessings.

Today Around Davidson focuses on one resident of Davidson we are blessed and thankful to have in our midst:  Leland Madison Park.  We have some notes from Leland and a few remarks about the award he received from the Town of Davidson. Read the full story

Davidson College’s women’s and men’s basketball teams played a double-header on Monday night, and both came away with wins. The women beat Gardner Webb, 67-46, while the men pulled away in the middle of the game to beat Presbyterian, 68-54.

Firefighters assisted police with a number of vehicle accidents over the past two weeks, including two incidents involving deer and one versus a parked car on Concord Road. Kitchen fires and the cross-town power outage on Nov. 14 (“Power outage hits Cornelius & Davidson; 3 schools closed”) kept emergency responders on the road, as did a number of false alarms resulting from construction projects on the Davidson College campus. Details on these calls and others (along with a tally of the past two weeks’ medical calls) may be found below. Read the full story

Leland Park, a longtime Davidson resident and retired Davidson College librarian who helped lead last year’s “Save the Library” campaign in town, will receive the town’s 2011 Jack Burney Community Service Award on Wednesday morning, Nov. 23. The 9 a.m. ceremony at Town Hall is open to the public and will include the award presentation and reception, with music by the North Mecklenburg Moravian Band.

The award is named for the late G. Jackson Burney, who served the town in planning and communications and other roles, and started the first town newsletter. Since 2004, it has honored Burney and those whose “unselfish service” benefits the Davidson community.

Leland Madison Park graduated from Davidson College in 1963, and the following year got his master’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta. For a year, he was a reference librarian at Charlotte Public Library, then did a two-year stint as a captain in the Army. He moved back to Davidson in 1967 to work as a reference librarian at the Davidson College Library, then went on to get a Ph.D. in library science from Florida State University in 1974. After a time as the college library’s assistant director, he was named director in 1975. He retired from the job 39 years later, in 2004.

Mr. Park was a member of the Davidson Library Task Force last year, helping to plan and carry out a fund-raising campaign that kept the branch on the Village Green funded during a county budget crisis. Working quietly behind the scenes, he personally sold dozens of the engraved bricks that the campaign used to raise funds.

“Leland is the very model of what this town is all about,” Davidson Commissioner Connie Wessner wrote in a nomination letter. “In a town full of characters, it is his depth of character that inspires and amazes.”

Downtown Manager Kim Fleming, who co-chaired the library fund-raising effort, added: “Leland Park truly lives his life for the service of others and this town which he loves so much. He seeks nothing in return, only the betterment of the places around him.”

He joins a long list of fellow Davidsonians who have been honored with the Burney Award. They include 2010 winner Ralph Quackenbush, a former downtown business owner and longtime local volunteer. Other past winners were Jane Ellithorpe; Scotty Nicholls; Baxter and John Fisher (of Fisher Farm fame); sisters Evelyn Carr and Annie Mildred Lowerey; Bill Mayhew, a former commissioner and postmaster; and John and Paula Kelton.

RELATED LINKS

See Brenda Barger’s Nov. 17, 2011, Around Davidson column with more about his award.

Read coverage of previous award winners on DavidsonNews.net, under the Jack Burney Award tag.

See a full list of previous winners on the Town of Davidson website.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Leland Park also has been a longtime friend of DavidsonNews.net was one of the first readers to provide financial support through voluntary subscription payments. Thanks Leland, and congratulations.]

Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel has won it. So has neurologist and best-selling author Oliver Sachs. Now add Davidsonian Julio Ramirez to the list. The Davidson College psychology professor recently received the annual “Award for Education” from the national Society for Neuroscience. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

The Town of Davidson plans to install brightly colored pedestrian signs in the middle of crosswalks on Concord Road in the coming weeks and has begun studying other measures to improve safety at all pedestrian crossings in town, public works chief Doug Wright told the Town Board Tuesday.
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BB&T said Wednesday it will move its Davidson bank branch to a new site at 130 Harbour Place Drive, off I-77 Exit 30, in late January after the lease ends at its current downtown location on North Main Street.

The Winston-Salem-based bank is losing its spot at the corner of Depot Street, because of Davidson College’s purchase of the 137 N. Main St. building. BB&T said it will close the current location Friday, Jan. 20, and open at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Suite 130, on Monday, Jan. 23, assuming it obtains regulatory approval. Read the full story

Family and friends of Davidson College math professor Robert Whitton are invited to a celebration of his life, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 19, at 10:30 a.m. in Davidson College Presbyterian Church, 100 N. Main St. in downtown Davidson.
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