Tar Heel Bigfoot?

By William R. Toler

Is there a sasqutch running wild in North Carolina?

A frame from the infamous Patterson Film

Recent news reports would say so.

Several local media outlets reported on a June 5 sighting in Cleveland County. Timothy Peeler called 911 after seeing a 10-feet tall creature with a long beard.

“Well, he is what I would call a sasquatch,” Peeler told WSOC-TV. “He had gray hair, gray beard that came down to here [pointing to his navel]; had long hair that was yellowish gray.”

The Shelby Star reports that back in the 1970s there were multiple sightings of a large, ape-like creature dubbed “Knobby” by Charlotte journalist Robert Williams. The creature was given the name after being sighted several times near Carpenter’s Knob.

Hail and farewell

By Richard C. Evey

“We have met the enemy and they are us.”

I have tried to make people aware of what is happening and what is going on in and to this Republic. I have advised, informed, made reccomendations, revealed the truth in hopes that people will wake up and see and understand what is really, yes really, going on. But few have — or will — listen and learn.

I have been humiliated, condemned, called a nut case, ignorant, the village idiot and “just plain stupid!”

It appears to me that when I write, people look at it and cannot say anything to condemn or wrong me. But these people are so nit-picking that they will attack me on a comma, an “i” before “e” or any slight error. These people are nothing more than major anal-retentive creeps who have little in their mind but to condemn and find fault…any fault. They want to criticize but cannot find the errors or an argument for their criticism, so they nit-pick.

FDA milk ban has consumers sour

By William R. Toler

Recent statements by the Food and Drug Administration have natural food advocates crying out over raw milk.

In a dismissal brief to a lawsuit brought against the FDA by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, the agency asserts that people “do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.”

The suit was brought against the federal agency for its interstate ban on raw milk sales.

There has been a rise in individuals and families preferring to solicit their groceries from local farms and farmers markets instead of the processed foods being peddled by the corporate chains.

Unpasteurized milk, farm-fresh eggs and vegetables straight from the garden are believed to be much healthier and taste better than their mass-produced and sometimes genetically-modified counterparts.

FDA “experts” and those who drink the government’s Kool-Aid claim that the natural foods which haven’t been processed for your protection will harm you.

Federal bailout to pay N.C. teachers?

By Ryan Graczkowski

North Carolina has welcomed U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Durham.

This comes in the face of efforts by state officials to earn a cut of the Race to the Top plan. Gov. Bev Perdue is also pushing for a federal teacher bailout to help teachers retain their jobs in North Carolina, amongst states elsewhere.

She may be talking to the right person about this. Duncan has spoken in support of the bailout, going so far as to say that there are no other solutions. “I don’t have a Plan B,” he said. “Plan B is children around this country getting hurt.”

Under the thumb of Big Brother

By William R. Toler

A story out of the United Kingdom caught the eyes of liberty-concious Americans this week.

Students in Manchester, England are having to have their thumbprints scanned to check out library books, according to the Telegraph.

The article, which aptly refers to the transaction as a “scheme”, said school officials are defending the measure saying it is a “more efficent way” to loan out books. “We have researched this scheme thoroughly,” said Lesley Isherwood, the school’s headmaster. “It is a biometric recognition system and no image of a fingerprint is ever stored. It is a voluntary system.” [Note-she even called it a scheme!]

But privacy advocate Phil Booth, who strongly opposes the “scheme”, hits the nail on the head. “It conditions children to hand over sensitive personal information.” Booth added, “For such a trivial issue as taking out of library books the taking of fingerprints is way over the top and wrong.”

This isn’t the first instance of biometrics used in public schools. Welcome to the 21st Century.