Bee blight blamed on Bayer

By William R. Toler

A complaint filed by German beekeepers alleges a pesticide made by Bayer CropScience is responsible for the loss of millions of honeybee colonies on both sides of the Atlantic, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.

Opponents claim clothianidin, a neuro-active insecticide, is the chemical culprit behind Colony Collapse Disorder. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids cause fatal paralysis in insects.

Bayer claims that field studies suggest effects on bees are minimal.

Paranormal paranoia

By William R. Toler

My belief in the paranormal and unexplained goes back to early childhood.

I’ve always been interested in ghosts, UFOs, cryptids and the like.

Through the years I’ve had brief experiences that strengthen my views, but nothing like the following account from April 2007:

There are some people who don’t believe in the paranormal.

Then there are those who do believe.

Then…there are those who experience it.

My wife, Heather, and I fall into the last category.

Obama currency causes controversy

By William R. Toler

A novelty note has raised a ruckus in the state of Washington.

Three dollar bills feauturing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a Muslim have stirred up Republicans and Democrats alike in Snohomish County.

The mock money was sold for $3 each at a Republican Party booth at the Evergreen State Fair.

Complaintants on both side of the political spectrum claim the item is a bad joke and is racist.

Police padlock producer

By William R. Toler

The handcuffs on the First Amendment were tightened Aug. 27 when a producer for ABC News was arrested in Denver, Colo.

Asa Eslocker was manhandled by a cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant for taking pictures of Democratic leaders and high rollers leaving a secret meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel in the Mile-High City.

Officers on the scene would not say what the charges against Eslocker were, but ABC News reports that its lawyers were later informed by a police official that is Eslocker is “being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order.”  The official added that the arrest stemmed from a complaint signed by the hotel.

ABC News also reports that one officer was overheard saying, “You’re lucky I didn’t knock the f..k out of you.”

Dial ‘1’ and watch your mouth

By Corey Friedman

Where telephones are concerned, the Tar Heel State has a hangup about ribald jokes and salty language.

North Carolina prohibits the use of  “any words or language of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious or indecent character, nature or connotation” in phone calls, according to N.C. General Statute 14-196.

The ban on blue language is likely unconstitutional and should unquestionably be lifted. A few four-letter words or dirty jokes fail to even approach the nebulous but high legal standard of obscenity.

A First Amendment Center analysis of state telephone harassment laws indicates that North Carolina is one of only a few states that try to prohibit legal speech.

I.R. compatriot plays pirate…again

By William R. Toler

Trent Woods resident and friend of the Register’s founders David Carta will reprise his role as Captain Jack at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for the home football games of the East Carolina University Pirates.

Carta, who began last season, said this year’s gimmick will include shooting a .45 caliber flintlock pistol.

Smokers’ ‘Truth’ or dare

By Corey Friedman

Dear Antismoking Lobby,

I hope you choke on your indignant, pompous rhetoric and cough yourselves sillier than a wheezing octogenarian after chainsmoking four packs of unfiltered Camels.

Your “truth” television ad campaign is anything but truth. It is counterfeit counterculture of the highest order, peddling pretend edginess to a nationwide audience of would-be hipsters.

I.R. founders bleed red, white and blue

By William R. Toler

Let it not be said that the three founders of the Independent Register are not patriotic.

To the contrary, we are patriots in the truest form.

We stand for the ideals this country was founded on. We excercise and defend the Bill of Rights.

We observe the happenings around the nation and report on infringements of the rights of the people. From the arrest of a woman for uttering one obscenity in a public place to the government’s overzealous actions in the name of national security…we expose and chime in with our proverbial two-cents’ worth. 

It is our duty to inform. For those who are not informed will be easily manipulated by the government that is becoming increasingly out of touch with its original intent.

Wilmington ghosts seeing Redd

By William R. Toler

New Bern native Willam Redd is involved in some spooky cinema.

The filmmaker is now, also, a ghost hunter.

Redd is a member of Infinitus Paranormal, a ghost hunting team based in the port city, along with founder and fellow filmmaker Mike Roberts.

The Star News in recently feautred an article on the spectre specialists and their ecto-exploits around Wilmington landmarks including the Cotton Exchange and the battleship.

Olympic-sized thoughts

By Eric Voliva

Mention the word Olympics around me and I usually shrug, sigh, grunt, or use some other primitive gesture to express my general disinterest in the whole idea of competing for gold in games that involve wearing spandex, chucking spears and tossing oversized balls around.

Where’s the challenge, I ask?

I grew tired of the repetitious events in elementary school, I became bored of them in middle school, and today I’m as mind-numbingly apathetic as ever. It’s gotten to the point where there’s more entertainment value to be found in trying to pick out the all-natural Waldo from the rest of the crowded pack of performance-enhanced “athletes” than enduring two minutes of uninspired teenagers moving robotically through their routines.

Where’s Tanya Harding when you need her?

But after listening to hours upon hours of the all the hype surrounding this kid Michael Phelps—whom I’ve dubbed “Flipper”—I couldn’t help but tune in and see what all the fuss was about.