Silly suspensions over fast food

By William R. Toler

What would you think if your child got suspended from school because of what you brought them for lunch?

Parents of Reidsville Middle School students had to deal with that last week, according to WHGP-TV.

When Charles Finney brought his daughter Brittney a hamburger from McDonald’s, the school sent a letter home warning against it. The next day, when he did it again, she was suspended for three days.

The same day, Destiny Mullins was given an in-school suspension and made to work as a school janitor after her mother brought her lunch from Wendy’s. That was the first…and last time the mother said she would bring fast food.

Another hair-raising suspension

By William R. Toler

A school district in Ohio has suspended a student for showing support for his favorite NFL team…on his head.

Dustin Reader, an eighth-grader at Garfield Middle School in Halmiton, Ohio was given in-school suspension by the principal for having stripes and a “B” shaved into his head in support of the Cincinnati Bengals, according to the News Journal.

The newspaper reports that Reader had barely gotten off of his bike when he was sent to the office. School officials say Reader violated the school’s code of conduct which bans “unnaturally colored hair, extreme/distracting makeup, haircuts and hairstyles.”

 His parents don’t see what the fuss is about. James Reader, the boy’s father, says it’s about his son’s pride in the team’s 6-2 season. “It’s not racist, not drug-related, not gang-related or anything like that. It’s about football.”

Wrong place, wrong time

By William R. Toler

I wouldn’t classify myself as a cop-hater…but several run-ins with law enforcement officials have left me with a less-than-favorable opinion. Two of those occasions happened to be with Jerry’s Brownshirts*. It may be due to my knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just that circumstance seems to infer guilty until proven innocent.

(* A less than flattering term I coined for Craven County deputies under Sheriff Jerry Monette….akin to Jerry Monette and his secret police as described by former Vanceboro Voice publisher Art Manning)

Back in the winter of 2004, I was feeling a little down and decided to take a drive. While meandering through the backroads of northeastern Craven County I felt like being by the water, which usually has a soothing effect on me. Since I didn’t want to go into New Bern, I opted for the Wildlife boat landing just north of Bridgeton. It has a nice open view of the river with a few lights sprinkled about on the other side.

As I drove up I noticed a burgundy Chevy Blazer bearing the markings of the Craven County Sheriff ’s Office. “Hmmm…,” I thought. “I wonder what he’s doing down here.” I decided to stay because I figured turning around would raise suspicion. Since I was doing nothing wrong I pulled up and parked. The view was dark, but nice on the dark December night.

Jones writes about his regret

By William R. Toler

A North Carolina congressman is writing a book about his regret in a controversial decision.

Walter B. Jones Jr. (R) is penning a book called “My Daddy’s Not Dead Yet” chronicaling his remorse for casting his vote giving former President George W. Bush the go-ahead to invade Iraq in, according to NationalJournal.com.

The title of  the book comes from the quote of a little boy in a school at Camp Lejeune whose father was a Marine serving in Iraq in 2007. “My daddy’s not dead yet,” the boy repeated, which made Jones even more uneasy about the decision he came out against in 2006. “I didn’t vote my conscience,” Jones said.

“We’re trying to police the world,” Jones said. “Every great nation prior to America that tried to police the world has failed economically. That’s why I tell people that I’m a Pat Buchanan American. I want to stop trying to take care of the world and fix this country. Our problems are so deep that there is no easy way to fix them.”

The right to restitution

By Richard C. Evey
Libertarian/Patriot

The platform of the Libertarian Party states “We support restitution of the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the criminal or the negligent wrong doer.”

To this end, if someone takes, damages, harms or destroys my property, they, the wrong doer, owes me restitution. That restitution would be payment, return of property or making the property whole again, if possible.

That being said: someone takes my life, my property, that person owes me restitution. I may be dead but do I not deserve restitution for loss of my property, my life, my right to live? It will not return me to life but they took my life, should they not give up their life?

People take property, destroy property to the point that it could never be returned to it’s original state. Restitution must be paid, one way or the other.

Local Muslims against vaccine

By William R. Toler

Last week, WCTI-12 reported on a group of Muslims in Pitt County who are against the H1N1 vaccine.

“It’s a vaccination that has been placed out and not been fully experimented and may cause injury to those who are injected with that vaccination,” Remonia Muhammad told the New Bern-based television station. She believes that the vaccine was contrived purely for profit. “The question needs to be asked how much money are the pharmaceutical companies making off producing the vaccination…of course it’s a money making business.”

Muhammad is not alone in her assessment. Dr. Len Horowitz and Dr. Sherri Tenpenny have both issued their concerns about the swine flu vaccine as well as vaccinations in general. Nurses have also expressed concern over mandatory vaccinations and being threatened with their jobs should they refuse.

Four years ago…

Four years ago, something new came to the “Bear City.”

House Ad on the back page of the first issue.

Four years ago, the dream of three young men came true.

Four years ago, the first issue of the Independent Register hit countertops, wire racks and crude news boxes across Craven County.

It was the result of a college camaraderie, several months of planning and an entire weekend with almost no sleep.

It was a small paper: Eight pages-two sections with color fronts. But in this case, size didn’t matter.

The three-man staff of Corey Friedman, Eric Voliva and William R. Toler took every picture, designed every page and wrote every article, with the exception of a short article from friend and frequent house guest Danelle Wylder,  a front page story by CCC student Charlotte Bird about a visit to the college from Frank Capra, Jr. and a pro-marijuana op-ed by New Bern High School senior Amanda DaSilva.

Less tar, less nicotine, less freedom

By Corey Friedman

Sometimes, explained Sigmund Freud, a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes, it’s the First Amendment.

Craven Community College recently banned all tobacco products on campus.

Craven Community College sneaked an unconstitutional prior restraint rule in its tobacco-free campus policy this spring, and administrators appear unwilling to revise the problematic provision.

Included with the college’s ban on cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco on campus property is a declaration that student publications may not publish ads for tobacco products and student groups can’t accept money or gifts from tobacco companies. While this arrangement may sound palatable to some antismoking advocates, it violates students’ First Amendment right to free speech and free association.

Student newspapers are shielded from administrative censorship by an impressive and ever-growing body of constitutional case law. Colleges may not choose which advertisements their campus papers may accept. Federal courts have struck down a Michigan community college’s ban on ads for a nude dance club in its student paper and ruled that state officials in Pennsylvania couldn’t oust ads for alcoholic beverages.

As a former CCC student and former college newspaper editor, I was appalled to learn that a public health initiative had been misused to prohibit protected speech. I wrote to Dr. Catherine Chew, the college president, and Kathy Beal, a vice president, on Aug. 26.

Government, media promoting scams

By William R. Toler

It seems there have been a number of scams in order to rip off the public in the past several months. But these scams are actually encouraged and promoted. The government even had its hand in one of them.

During the Cash for Clunkers scam, motorists were encouraged by the government and the mainstream media to turn in their older vehicles for up to $4500 cash for the purchase of a new, fuel-efficient car. There were several problems with this deal.

First off, dealerships had to pay the cash out of their own coffers, to be later reimbursed by the government after filling out convoluted paperwork. As of Sept. 11, only 40 percent had been paid back.

Second, it was just unneccesary government spending that created a false spike in the economy. I guess Congres decided to follow the old adage, “You have to spend money to make money.”

School uniforms are worthless

By William R. Toler

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am completely against school uniform policies.

Courtesy: WRAL

Supporters of these stringent policies that turn all of our children into look-alike robots, purport that uniforms help keep order and children behave better.

Pat Whitford, the head football coach at Pamlico County High School once told me that he could see a difference in the attitudes of students with the policy in place.

While I respect Mr. Whitford and his opinion, I will have to respectfully disagree with him on that point.