In a work session Monday afternoon, the Southern Pines Town Council approved a list of 20 people to form a long-range planning committee.

The process of narrowing the list down from the more than 100 people who had expressed a desire to serve on the committee became controversial with the introduction of former Gov. James Holshouser into the mix. Five former mayors had written a letter to the council endorsing Holshouser, a Southern Pines resident, as chairman for the group.

Last week, the council decided not to include Holshouser in the list of 20 people, ending up with a tentative list of 19 people willing to serve on the committee.

Beth Carpenter's name was added to the list, bringing it to the desired number of 20 before the council voted 4-0 today in approval of the committee members. Council member Abigail Dowd was out of town and not present for the meeting.

Joining Carpenter on the committee are Nora Bowman, Glen Bradley, Ellie Collins, Richard Dana, Caroline Eddy, Roy Harvel, Laura Israel, Earl Jones, Jeannie Carpentier, Veola McLean, Pat McGowan, Hugh Mensch, Edward Monroe, James Moore, Ray Ogden, Ray Owen, Anthony Parks, Deonte Thomas and Shanda Whitaker.

Bill Grimes, principal of Studio Cascade, the firm Southern Pines hired to lead it through the long-range planning process had said that he hoped to get two or three public hearings before Thanksgiving. He indicated recently that it didn't look like that was going to happen.

That may mean that the planning process will take longer than the year moratorium on subdivisions the council enacted to give it time to plan for the future growth of the town.