Carolina crop circles

By William R. Toler

Courtesy WCTI-TV

Alien intervention, paranormal prank or weather weirdness?

Mysterious crop formations in western Craven County have locals buzzing.

According to NewsChannel 12, the formations appeared in several wheat fields nearly two weeks ago along Rollover Creek Road. The stalks were bent, not broken, as in most crop circle cases. Unlike most circles, some of the edges were squared off.

Six years gone and the dream lives on

It’s now been six years since the first issue of the Independent Register rolled off the presses and was distributed across CravenCounty.

A dream of three budding journalists fulfilled after three days of writing, editing and designing. The product of blood, sweat, tears and ink.

Sadly the life of the alternative newspaper was to be short. Five months to be exact. Nine issues in (mostly) glorious black and white.

But in 2008, new life was breathed into the dream when the current blog which you are reading was launched.

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.

Free speech updates

The First Amendment still exists in eastern North Carolina…for now. The following reports come from WCTI-12.

Phipps' Gallows

Last week, District Attorney Dewey Hudson announced that Lacy Phipps could not be charged with anything for his display of local and state justice officials hanging in effigy in Duplin County.

Hudson was one of those represented in the gallows along with former governor and state attorney general Mike Easley, plus a local judge and sheriff among others. “What Mr. Phipps has done, although distasteful, it is protected by the 1st Amendment,” Hudson told reporters.

The wrong man walks away

By William R. Toler

A recently arrested man is back on the streets thanks to an incompetent jailer in Craven County.

Newschannel 12’s Aisha Howard reports that while Sheriff Jerry Monette was holding a press conference lauding the arrest of Jonathan Staton and two other men in a drug bust…Staton was walking out.

According to Monette, Staton offered fellow inmate Ricky Bryant $5000 for his release papers. Staton was under a $2 million bond…Bryant’s was unsecured. When the jailer called for Bryant, Staton stepped up and stepped out.

Stimulating the GTP

By William R. Toler

Gov. Bev Perdue announced Tuesday that $64 million from the president’s stimulus package will be dedicated to the construction of a parkway connecting U.S. 70 to the Global Transpark, according to the Kinston Free Press. 

The Free Press reported that the four-mile connector will consist of 12 bridges and should be completed within four years. This road is one of several of the “state’s ‘shovel-ready’ transportation projects” funded by the $466 million in federal dollars provided by the so-called stimulus.

At the announcement, Perdue also used one of the president’s newest catch phrases stating that extension could “save or create 1,900 secondary or primary jobs.”

To paraphrase Rush Limbaugh, how do you calculate a saved job?

Corrupt Craven clerk of court?

By William R. Toler

It’s been six months and Kenyatta Burrus is still trying to figure out why she was arrested…and fired.

The former deputy clerk of court was arrested April 23 and charged with second degree trespass. The arrest report states that she was told to vacate the premises and not to return by Jan Cahoon, clerk of court for Craven County.

But Burrus tells a different story.

Burrus explained to the Independent Register that she had a good relationship with Cahoon and the rest of her coworkers. However, she had a slight problem with her supervisor, Tami Cahoon Thomas.

Local GOP stands by embattled Harper

By William R. Toler

When asked if the Craven County Republican Party intends to support Bill Harper, who is facing accusations of voter intimidation, chairman Michael Speciale said, “I intend to stand by him.”

By showing his support, Speciale sent a letter to the Sun Journal and the Independent Register criticizing the actions taken by Sheriff Jerry Monette and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Here is that letter:

Harper: ‘This is just intimidation…’

By William R. Toler

One week has passed since Craven County deputies under the command of Sheriff Jerry Monette seized — without a warrant — a coffin owned by Bill Harper from a polling site east of New Bern.

It still hasn’t been returned.

As you may have read in previous posts, it is being held as evidence for a pending federal investigation of Harper brought on by the NAACP.

Complaint filed in casket controversy

By William R. Toler

Political activism apparently isn’t OK if you’re a conservative.

The North Carolina NAACP filed a formal complaint Nov. 3 with the U.S. Justice Department charging Bill Harper with voter intimidation.

The complaint accuses Harper of displaying the casket “with the intent of intimidating Black voters with the image of death. Mr. Harper placed on the casket at least two pictures of Senator Obama with what some said made them think of a red noose-like circle around his head with the intent of intimidating and suppressing African American voters who wanted to vote at this polling site.”