Area students denied rights

By William R. Toler
Eastern North Carolina school systems have been in blatent violation of fundamental rights recently and they seem to be getting away with it.
CRAVEN COUNTY SCHOOLS
Adrian Solomon, a student at West Craven High School (my alma mater) was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for booing the principal, Karen Barrow, during an assembly Sept. [...]

Third anniversary of the first I.R.

By William R. Toler
Most people can’t remember what they did three hours ago…much less three years ago.
But I can remember exactly…well, approximately…what I was doing three years ago at this very moment…just after midnight on Sept. 27, 2005.
I, along with Corey and Eric, was putting the finishing touches on the first edition of the Independent [...]

MySpace goes green

By William R. Toler
The popular social networking site MySpace is trying to save the rainforests through an application called “Green Planet.”
“The objective of this application is to raise awareness on global warming,” an FAQ page for the application states. “We will use sponsorship revenue from advertisers/partners to make donations to save rainforests in the real [...]

Cruel cop kills canine

By William R. Toler
A Mount Olive Police officer gunned down a resident’s dog Thursday after receiving a mild complaint from a neighbor, according to the Goldsboro News-Argus.
The neighbor, whose name wasn’t mentioned, called police after mistaking a “playful lunge” for agression. Colby Mangum, owner of the 45 lb. Labrador Retirever named Durham, said the neighbor was [...]

A wish, a hope and a vote

By Corey Friedman
CHARLOTTE — Change was in the air. Really.
The six-letter word was slathered on hundreds of handout and hand-lettered campaign signs that danced above the throng at Sunday’s “Change We Can Believe In” rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in downtown Charlotte.
A friend and I stood in line from 9:30 to 11 a.m., then [...]

The downward spiral

By William R. Toler
In the past three years, I’ve met two people who have openly discussed and predicted a major collapse of the U.S. economy. One in Craven County…one in Beaufort County.
Some people may call these men crazy…or eccentric. Well, they may be. But they were also right.
Recently the government has bailed out investment bank [...]

RFID tags and you

By William R. Toler
Since we tend to discuss the goverment’s ever-encroaching into our everyday lives, I decided to take this opportunity to discuss radio-frequency identification devices.
What is RFID? According to RFID Journal, “RFID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects… the most common [method is] to store a [...]

Freedom to reform

By Eric Voliva
Just a passing thought on Mr. Toler’s eyebrow-raising article, Gestapo on the gridiron.
It would seem that our government would have us freely hand over our most treasured of civil rights and paint for us, in exchange, a multi-colored rainbow of bright reds and yellows and oranges, hoping that we are blinded by the [...]

A day forgotten

By William R. Toler
Richard C. Evey was right.
The significance of Sept. 17 went by unnoticed by the mass media.
Even the ever-patriotic FOX News neglected to edit together a package reminding the American public of the day’s importance.
After 221 years, the public has forgotten that one of the world’s most important documents was signed by 39 [...]

Fisher faces gas gouging inquiry

By William R. Toler
Local oil baron Brian Fisher is among one of nine store owners who were issued subpoenas for suspected price gouging of gasoline by state Attorney General Roy Cooper on Wednesday.
Fisher is proprietor of the Fisher Oil “cartel,” which owns and operates 11 Fuel Market stations in Craven County. The station in question [...]