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. 19. He was also suspended for three days. However, the arrest came four days after the incident.

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 Register, before sending it to Carteret Publishing to be printed.

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 world.”

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 “really upset” and had no intention of the dog getting shot.

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 waited within a barricaded section of Fourth Street until Obama took the stage to tremulous applause at about 1:20 p.m.  The Illinois senator blamed President Bush and his administration for the American economic crisis and demanded reform and regulation on Wall Street.

He busted the John McCain-fueled myth of higher taxes under an Obama presidency, promising the 95 percent of Americans who earn less than $250,000 per year that he wouldn’t raise their taxes by a dime.

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 Bear Stearns, housing lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and insurance giant AIG to the tune of $320 billion.

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 serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna …[which] converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be passed on to computers that can make use of it.”

Scary, huh? RFID tags are used in retail, packaging, transport, medical and defense…oh yeah…and people and animals.

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 shimmering pyrite awaiting us at the end.

But what would come at the price of our freedom? This little taste of Section 802 of the Patriot Act is only the beginning. Our government’s fist is ever-tightening around us, wringing every last ounce of guaranteed freedom from us. Slowly and surely our great democracy is dissolving layer by layer into a muddled puddle of socialistic ideals thinly veiled as national security.

The very civil freedoms for which the Bill of Rights was drafted to guarantee and protect are steadily being infringed upon by our government, being amended by Congress, and being re-written by legislators in an attempt to further protect us from threats abroad, threats domestic, and the threat of ourselves.

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 statesmen. That document is the U.S. Constitution.

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 is the River Bend Fuel Market on U.S. 17 south of New Bern. County residents have long suspected Fisher Oil of price gouging.