Community schools a segregation tool?

By Ryan Graczkowski

In a 5-4 vote, the Wake County school board decided to end the diversity policy.

The diversity policy achieved nationwide acclaim on account of being based on socioeconomic factors, and not on race. Schools were not to have more than 40 percent of their student bodies relying on free lunches, and no more than 25 percent of the students reading below grade level.

The efforts by the school board to end the policy met with much resistance, leading to a lengthy and emotionally charged debate. Opponents of the school board fear that community schooling is an attempt to resegregate schools, and the board has been painted as a body of old white men largely disinterested in progress. The Rev. William Barber, head of the state chapter of the NAACP, has threatened legal action if the new policy leads to resegregation.

Smoking ban chokes individual rights

By Sami Birdsong

On Jan. 2, a smoking ban was instated, prohibiting smoking in all bars and restaurants in North Carolina. This ban was meant to help protect people from the horrid health effects that secondhand smoke causes. The violators of this ban are fined $50 for continuing to huff and puff after they have walked into an establishment which enforces this law.

Now, this ban is very beneficial in many ways, like keeping the filtered air inside clean and safe to breathe and protecting us from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. However, there is also a very important downfall to this ban, one that has been severely overlooked and almost forgotten. That downfall is the question of morality.

We, as American citizens, live in a free nation. This nation is one of religious tolerance and opportunity. It is one of the many reasons why people ever came to this country in the first place all those years ago. This freedom, however, is taken away when morality is forced upon us. There have been many examples of this throughout history, one of the most famous being prohibition. One would think after that epic failure, people would have learned that it is impossible to impose morals upon others.

At CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern, N.C., smoking is not allowed on the grounds, which forces people to stand out by the busy highway and smoke. This is the part of the smoking ban that I feel has gone too far. I can understand not being able to smoke in a restaurant due to the simple fact that people have a right to not choke on smoke while having a nice dinner with the family, but not being able to smoke in bars or having a designated smoking area at a hospital is just going too far.

Stop the tax-free gravy train

By Richard C. Evey

There are many organizations that are — and have been for the best part of this Republic’s history — tax-exempt. These groups are formed under what some call religion. The place of these religions are called churches, synagogues, mosques, holy places and places of worship. I will use the term “churches” in referring to all religions; if I offend someone, get over it.

These places are, in this Republic, tax-exempt; also tax-exempt is the residence that the “churches” own for the Grand Pooh-bah of that religion. Then there are the other buildings that the “churches” use for many other things that are also tax-exempt: buildings used for schools, day care, various offices, rental office space, apartments, hotels, strip malls, etc.

This tax-exempt status also goes to those religious originations based overseas: the Vatican, Church of England, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto, Judaism, Protestants and many more, too many to count.

This was my wake-up call to government and taxation.

Sent home for silence

By William R. Toler

An Onlsow County middle school student was sent home today. His offense: refusing to take tape off his mouth.

Thirteen-year-old Patrick Richmond was participating in “Silence for Christ Day” by wearing duct tape over his mouth, according to WCTI-TV.

Richmond had informed his teachers at Trexler Middle School ahead of time what he had planned to do, but when he refused to take it off in class, his teacher sent him to the principal.

Richmond and his sister were among several students symbolizing silence. Patrick, however, was the only one to hold his ground.

“The teacher asked them to remove the duct tape because it was interfering with instructional time,” said Dr. Barry Collins, assistant superintendent of Onslow County Schools. “When the teacher asks them a question, then they can’t interact, that does interfere with the academic learning process.”

The price tag: An 8 percent tax hike

By Ryan Graczkowski

One of the local controversies that has plagued Raleigh has concerned the construction of a new public safety building.

The idea of it is that the current facilities for the police, fire and emergency response departments are out of date and ultimately not able to serve the city’s needs. The center’s purpose is to consolidate these departments within an updated central location, one that presumably can meet the city’s – and ultimately the county’s – needs better.

It seems like a fairly standard building procedure. But there’s a catch to it. The city of Raleigh is also aiming to put through an 8 percent increase on the city property tax. The two are considered to be far too closely timed to be a coincidence. As a result, the city council’s been locked up in debate about this for at least the past month.

Senator sings for Willie

By William R. Toler

A white-haired politician sings in support of the red-headed stranger following a raid that may have been planned.

Sen. Charlie Albertson (D)

State Senator Charlie Albertson recently recorded a song based on a late January bust of Willie Nelson’s band by Alcohol Law Enforcement, according to the Wilmington StarNews. “Leave The Man Alone” is a classic-country-style ballad about the events that unfolded.

Prior to a scheduled show at the Duplin County Events Center, ALE agents entered Nelson’s tour bus after smelling marijuana. Upon entry they spied “non-tax paid alcohol” and issued citations for the illegal substances to six band members. Shortly thereafter, the show was cancelled.

The official explanation was that Nelson was suffering from carpal tunnel pain and couldn’t perform.

But suspicion was raised after news of the bust and the cancellation.

“A lot of people think it was planned and contrived,” Albertson told the StarNews. “It looks like a special effort was made to bust the guys on the bus.”

And it did sound a bit premeditated.

Oh…Willie Nelson’s coming to town! We know he’ll have weed. Oh look…the boys have got moonshine too!

Many Willie fans and Duplin County residents were upset over the incident. The event center lost $30,000.

Was it worth 6 citations?

Child soldiers in parents’ holy war

By Ryan Graczkowski

The News and Observer ran a story from the Chicago Tribune. A couple undergoing a divorce is currently warring it out over the religion of their child.

When they married, the husband converted out of Catholicism to Judaism; as such, they had agreed to raise their daughter in the Judaic culture. Following the divorce, he returned to the church and saw to his daughter’s baptism without his former wife’s permission.

I believe that one of the lawyers, Jeffrey Leving, put it best: “This is parental war. The parents are using the child as a tool of revenge.” And I agree. As the daughter is 3 years old, I am skeptical that deep theological lessons are taking root here.

This is something that, as I grow older and my walk goes deeper, I repeatedly fail to understand. Religion is truly a matter of choice. Things like baptism are meant to be an outward sign of an inward conscious decision on the part of the believer. How in the world can a 3-year-old be said to have a deep conviction in this sort of thing one way or the other?

S.C. rep calls for ban on dollar

By William R. Toler

A state known for bucking up against the federal government could ban Federal Reserve Notes.

Mike Pitts, a South Carolina state represenative, has introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of the nation’s current paper currency, according to the Palmetto Scoop. Instead, South Carolinians would use gold and silver coins.

Pitts said he wants the state to be able to survive following a possible implosion of the economy in which the dollar would become worthless. “If our federal government keeps spending at the rate we’re spending I don’t see any other outcome than the collapse of the economic system,”he said.

The fourth-term Republican said that the bill was also a statement about state’s rights, a South Carolina tradition predating the war between the states. “”The bill basically gives the state the ability to honor gold and silver coinage…and it also gives the state the ability to say ‘we won’t use printed legal tender as currency within the state.’”

Liberals falling for sound-bite populism

By Nina Kilbride

I am thrilled at the initial success of North Carolina citizens of all political inclinations in transforming the process of curriculum development in the state. But I am troubled.

Why? Because the few people who persist in advocating, “let the DPI do its job” are liberals like me! I think their understanding of the issue boils down to sound bites, and stems from a knee-jerk reaction to a story brought to national attention by Fox media. Whose fault is it that Fox had a better read on the pulse of its constituents than the liberal media?

State of emergency causes firearms firestorm in N.C.

By William R. Toler

North Carolina gun owners beware. If you get caught with a weapon during a declared state of emergency, you could be a criminal.

That’s what the people of King in Stokes County had to learn the hard way during a winter storm that passed through the area earlier this month.

According to WXII-TV, “Residents in King were fumed over the weekend after a state of emergency declaration restricted the sale of alcohol and the carrying of firearms in vehicles.”

The authorization for the authoratative act comes from state statute 14-228.7 which reads “it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area…In which a declared state of emergency exists; or…Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.”