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I have high regard for Rabbi Fred Guttman, whom I know by reputation as a great humanitarian. But I don't agree with his column today, "Hate crime legislation essential."

If you didn't know anything about the revolting Matthew Shepard case, you'd get the impression from Rabbi Guttman's column that his killers got off free and clear because there was no federal hate-crime law protecting gay people.

"Although Shepard's murder was a clear example of homophobia-driven violence, local law enforcement in Laramie lacked the funds to prosecute the attack as a hate crime, furloughing five officers to cover the costs of the case," Guttman wrote.

In fact, the state of Wyoming did prosecute the case, and Shepard's killers were each sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison. The man deemed primarily responsible, Aaron McKinney, was spared the death sentence because of the intervention of Shepard's parents, an act that speaks volumes about their grace in terrible circumstances.

If Laramie authorities had to furlough five officers to cover the costs of prosecuting this case, it seems they would have had to do so for the prosecution of any murder case.

The question is what more could a federal hate-crime prosecution have contributed to the cause of justice. Maybe a third consecutive life term for the killers?

The purpose of hate-crimes laws is said to be protection of people who are singled out because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or some other characteristic. How far should the law go to extend special protected status? Two young men were attacked on the A&T campus the other night apparently because of the colors they were wearing. Would that incident demand a federal hate-crime prosecution?

For most of this country's history, to its shame, many people were not afforded equal protection under the law. There were countless crimes against members of minority groups, blacks especially, that were never punished.

Although those days are gone, we still have to make sure that the law protects the rights of everyone without regard to race, gender or other factors. It shouldn't provide additional protection to some because of race, gender or other special factors.

The law dealt with Matthew Shepard's murderers, exactly as it should have and just as it should in every other case, no matter the victim.

A moment of inspiration drew Karen Olsen into a ministry she's been urgently pursuing for more than 20 years now. The Summit, N.J., resident explained at tonight's Guilford Interfaith Hospitality Network dinner.

Olsen was divorced, raising two sons and managing a successful career in New York. Like everyone else, she stepped around the "scary" homeless people scattered along city sidewalks.

Until one day.

"My heart was aching to help someone," she said.

Suddenly she let her heart take over ... bought a sandwich ... gave it to a woman ... "ended up talking to Millie ... she had a name."

Soon, "my heart was working overtime." She began taking food to homeless people at Grand Central Station ... getting to know them ... bringing gifts at Christmas, with her sons ... "getting hugs and God-bless-you's."

"This was joy," she said.

She found there were homeless families in the Jersey suburbs, where she lived. Worse, children were being taken from their parents and put into foster care, because of homelessness.

"I turned to the religious community because I thought they would want to help if they knew, and they did," she said.

What they did became Family Promise, an organization now known in 38 states as Interfaith Hospitality Networks.

With nine chapters, North Carolina has one of the most active networks. More than 60 congregations in Greensboro, High Point, other Guilford communities, Thomasville and Archdale participate in providing shelter, meals and other services for homeless families with the goal of helping them return to permanent housing.

Olsen speaks with indignation in her voice when she describes a homeless woman whose family slept outside a locked church door after the minister denied them shelter because of fears about "liability."

The homeless "are crying out to congregations today," she said. "God is calling us."

The Guilford network welcomes families in need of support and shelter.

It still doesn't reach far enough. Somewhere in our community, a call for help goes unanswered, a family sleeps outside locked doors. Responding to their needs requires people who, like Karen Olsen, are willing to act on an impulse and work with a sense of urgency.

Wake Forest continues to lead my Tarheel Top Ten after a close loss at Virginia. I'm not convinced there's another team in North Carolina that could beat the Deacs.

Elon drops after losing to Furman, leaving room for App and State to move up.

Gardner-Webb, on the strength of a 66-0 win over Savannah State, replaces Wingate, which lost to Carson-Newman, at No. 10.

1. Wake Forest, 6-3 (No. 1 last week)
2. Appalachian State, 7-2 (3)
3. N.C. State, 4-5 (4)
4. Elon, 6-3 (2)
5. East Carolina, 6-4 (5)
6. Catawba, 9-1 (6)
7. UNC, 3-6 (8)
8. Winston-Salem State, 5-4 (7)
9. N.C. Central, 6-3 (9)
10. Gardner-Webb, 5-4 (not ranked)

Running for office, even in a city election, isn't cheap.

So I'm not surprised or upset that Greensboro candidates have raised more than $344,000 for their campaigns.

The final number will be higher when all the reports come in after the election.

The top fundraiser so far is mayoral candidate Yvonne Johnson at more than $77,000. Overkill? Why spend that much for a job that pays less than $15,000? And isn't Johnson's victory considered a sure thing?

Doesn't matter. If you're going to run, run to win.

A candidate has to motivate voters. That requires getting her message out, which costs money. In a city of 240,000 people, $80,000 is hardly going to buy saturation coverage.

By means of comparison, experts say Kay Hagan will have to spend at least $10 million to run a competitive campaign for the U.S. Senate next year.

That's $10 million in a state of 8 million people vs. $80,000 in a city of 240,000. Apples and oranges? Maybe. But we're still talking about the price of reaching voters.

The candidates may be spending more than the job is worth, but that's the wrong equation.

The right equation is what the election is worth to donors. If a contributor can spare $500 and believes in a particular candidate, then that donation makes sense. Add up a few $500 donations and you're way up in the thousands.

I'm not implying some sinister motivation on the part of donors. Maybe some expect some sort of quid pro quo, but most likely believe in the power of local government, guided by the right people, to make Greensboro a better city. Besides voting, supporting candidates with campaign contributions is how they choose to participate in the democratic process. As long as everyone follows the rules, they're perfectly entitled. In fact, more people ought to do the same.

And, by the way, my opinion would be no different even if the N&R didn't receive any advertising dollars from the candidates.

The only problem with campaign spending by the candidates is that it still won't draw more than maybe 20 percent of registered voters to the polls. I guess no amount of money can make people care about a local election if they just don't want to.

Has it seemed like a long City Council campaign? Candidate filing began exactly four months ago.

Consider that the presidential campaign still has another year to go ... and some candidates have been running for the last two or three years. I can think of one who's likely to announce his 2012 campaign before too many 2008 primaries pass.

I like the city campaign schedule. I wish county races like commissioners and school board followed the same timetable. Filing for those 2008 offices opens in February, creating a campaign that drags on for a long nine months. In fact, I wish those races were held in the same odd-numbered years as city elections. It would create more voter interest and separate the local races from the big state and national elections.

As I've written before, I think the few cities -- like High Point -- that have switched their municipal elections to even-numbered years are making a big mistake. They'll be lost under all the attention afforded the high-profile races.

In contrast, Greensboro candidates have gotten plenty of time in the spotlight, appearing at numerous forums and drawing lots of media coverage. It still may not produce a huge voter turnout, but the people who chose to vote today should have been well-informed. I have no doubt they will select a capable and interesting City Council.

Charlotte-Meck voters approve $516 million school bond package by a strong margin. By a similar margin, voters decide to keep a half-cent local sales tax dedicated to mass transit.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was heading to a big re-election victory over Beverly Earle. Makes me wonder when McCrory, elected for the seventh time now, will run for higher office. The Ragsdale grad is only 51.

After a bitter campaign, Durham Mayor Bill Bell fights off Thomas Stith III to win a fourth term.

Voters in mountain counties reject property-transfer taxes, The Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

No info yet on the Randolph County Board of Elections site about the ABC vote in Trinity.

Update: As you can see by clicking on the Randolph elections link now, the verdict in Trinity was NO: no beer, no wine, no liquor. Guess we'll still be seeing lots of our Trinity friends visiting High Point's plentiful alcohol outlets.

My column today:

President Bush's administration "has been about as hostile to the concept of a free and independent press as ever this country has had," another Triad newspaper stated in a recent editorial.

My, my. How did that old song go? "Don't know much about history ..."

I'm not writing to defend Bush's opposition to a reporters' shield law, the subject of the Winston-Salem Journal editorial, or the Patriot Act, electronic eavesdropping or other measures that critics call unconstitutional.

Rather, I want to look back at an earlier president who led the country into war and whose administration censored the press, prosecuted dissenters and deported foreigners whom it called a threat to national security.

Two of this president's strongest congressional allies were North Carolinians, one of whom -- though largely forgotten today -- was a forerunner of a more famous follower, Sen. Joe McCarthy.

This president, curiously, holds a generally positive reputation in national memory. His name? Woodrow Wilson. ...

The precinct breakdowns from yesterday's Greensboro municipal election are available on the Guilford County Board of Elections Web site.

Voter turnout, nearly 20 percent overall, wasn't evenly distributed throughout the city.

Neither was Yvonne Johnson's support.

She won a strong majority of votes in Districts 1, 2 and 5. Milton Kern won in Districts 3 and 4. Voter turnout was higher in Districts 3 and 4 than in 1, 2 and 5. Johnson's citywide margin of victory would have been greater if the turnout had been better in her stronger areas.

Here are some numbers:

District 1: 20 percent turnout; Johnson over Kern, 85 percent to 15 percent.

District 2: 14 percent turnout; Johnson over Kern, 82 to 18.

District 3: 24 percent turnout; Kern over Johnson, 56 to 44.

District 4: 24 percent turnout; Kern over Johnson, 59 to 41.

District 5: 13 percent turnout; Johnson over Kern, 57 to 43.

These numbers represent my own calculations rather than official Board of Elections figures.

The low turnouts in Districts 2 and 5 are surprising. No. 2 is Johnson's home district; the opportunity to elect a mayor from Northeast Greensboro and the city's first black mayor should have produced a much higher turnout. And I would have thought the Trudy Wade vs. Sandy Carmany contest in District 5 would have drawn many more voters.

In some individual precincts, voting was really lopsided. Kern was actually shut out in one District 2 precinct, 64-0. Johnson racked up a vote of 679-11 in a District 1 precinct. Kern didn't have any precincts in the city where his support was so overwhelming.

Much more analysis can be done with these election returns, but I'll leave that to more proficient numbers-crunchers.

Chris Gardner's talk at High Point University last night was inspirational and funny ... until a student asked him what his son is doing now.

You know Gardner's story if you saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will Smith.

The single parent of a young son, he struggled to accomplish his goal of becoming a stockbroker despite setbacks that left him and Chris Jr. without a home. Having never known his own father, his overriding goal was always to be a faithful parent.

Against all odds, he became an amazing financial success. But he told the standing-room-only audience of students and guests at HPU's Hayworth Fine Arts Center: "The most important thing I've ever done in my life is break the cycle of men not there for their children."

So what about Chris Jr., now in his late-20s?

"My children have become like little chocolate Kennedys," carrying a "sense of entitlement," said Gardner, who also has a younger daughter. He gave them all the things he never had himself, or acquired only through incredibly hard work.

His son enrolled at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte.

"The boy decided he didn't want a degree, he wanted tenure. ... He now says he works for me. Let's define work.

"He's a good kid. Let me say this about him, and then no more questions about him: Thank God I have a daughter."

Sad.

Otherwise, Gardner's narrative was nearly as dramatic and heart-wrenching as the movie -- but punctuated with more humor. Gardner is a funny guy in the sense of being able to laugh at painful experiences of the past.

* On being arrested and put in jail when a license check found he'd run up $1,200 in unpaid parking tickets:

"They put me in a cell with a murderer, a rapist and an arsonist. I'm there on parking tickets. (I told them) I'm here on attempted murder, and I will try it again."

* On being left by the mother of his son:

"Remember this: Unemployment will not help your relationships."

* On what she thinks of his success and fame now:

"Who cares?"

* On making the movie:

"Those people spent $70 million to recreate what I did with nothing."

* On a "Hollyweird" proposal to make a reality TV show, with Gardner as a judge, awarding prizes to the homeless person who can best lift his fortunes:

"Homelessness is not a game, but if it is I already won so send me my money."

* On going to work at Bear, Stearns & Co. with "Weinberg, Feinberg and Steinberg":

"They used to call me Gardnerberg. They said, 'You want to learn this business? Dress British and think Yiddish.' "

Despite the gag lines, Gardner offered thoughtful messages about parenthood, hard work and homelessness. As his bio notes, he supports programs to help.

What gives him "happyness" now? The ability to "do work that reflects my values," he said.

Oh, and about a sequel to the film: "I'll see you at the movies," he said.

Let's hope there's a happy ending for his son.

This is a tragedy that never should have happened.

It requires a full investigation to determine why a Durham police officer shot and killed a Greensboro teenager. Did the circumstances require use of deadly force?

However, the circumstances were definitely suspicious and raise questions about the role of parents. Like:

Why were 16-year-olds from Greensboro and Raleigh (and a 19-year-old) in Durham after midnight, apparently without adult supervision?

In a 2007 Jeep Commander?

With a gun?

The News & Observer reports that the 19-year-old admits to being an illegal immigrant. A Wake County judge put him in jail with bond set at $750,000.

The paper quotes the mother of one of the 16-year-olds:

"Once a teenage boy starts running with the wrong crowd, you know what's going to happen. You're either going to visit them in jail or visit them in the cemetery."

She's lucky because her son is in jail.

But what ought to happen once a teenage boy starts running with the wrong crowd is for his parents to put a stop to that behavior.

Easier said than done, but most parents will do anything to keep their sons alive and out of jail.

The Hillary tip tiff is going to be very good for wait staff in primary and caucus states.

Every time a server gets stiffed by a candidate, she or he can gripe to a reporter and it will turn into a national scandal.

So, the campaigns ought to be leaving generous tips from now on.

Any waiter jobs open in Iowa?

Clarence Page offered a sensible commentary today, which we printed on our Second Opinion page under the headline, "Hate crime media coverage brings hoaxes."

He concluded: "as we take incidents of racial vandalism seriously, our seriousness should include a dose of healthy skepticism. Overreaction only rewards the troubled souls who commit such offenses in the first place, whatever their sick reasons might be. They don't deserve that satisfaction."

No sooner could I nod in agreement than I had to shake my head in dismay at this report from Raleigh: "N.C. State investigates noose left in restroom."

The noose was made of toilet paper and found in a bathroom of a vehicle maintenance building -- in other words where hardly anyone would see it.

Yet Chancellor James Oblinger said the incident could be treated as a crime, adding: "Even if it is intended as a prank, it is disruptive and an offense to a safe learning and working environment."

I wonder how disruptive it would have been if the person who found the toilet paper noose had simply flushed it.

Just one footnote to today's editorial (written by Elma) and Lorraine's column Wednesday about the John G. case:

The Court of Appeals backed up Guilford County District Court Judge Susan Bray 100 percent.

Bray issued a gutsy ruling on behalf of this boy back in 2005, riling up the Social Services establishment.

Bray's an excellent judge who cares about kids. Like other District Court judges, she makes literally thousands of rulings every year and gets little public recognition good or bad. She deserves full credit for making the right call in this important case.

Credit also to Court of Appeals Judges Barbara Jackson, who wrote the opinion, and Ann Marie Calabria and Martha Geer, who signed on.

Hmmm ... Four judges, all women. Our judiciary is changing. For the better when it comes to cases involving families and children?

Appalachian State returns to the No. 1 spot in my Tarheel Top Ten after a massive 79-35 pasting of Western Carolina, as Wake Forest loses at Clemson.

State holds on against Carolina and plays at Wake Forest Saturday for the Big Four title.

1. Appalachian State, 8-2 (No. 2 last week)
2. Wake Forest, 6-4 (1)
3. N.C. State, 5-5 (3)
4. Catawba, 9-1 (6)
5. Elon, 6-4 (4)
6. East Carolina, 6-5 (5)
7. UNC, 3-7 (7)
8. Winston-Salem State, 6-4 (8)
9. Wingate, 7-4 (not ranked)
10. N.C. Central, 6-4 (9)

Big Four

Wake, 2-0
State, 1-0
Duke, 0-1
UNC, 0-2

In an editorial today, the Charlotte Observer echoes my comments in last week's blog post about N.C. Courts of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough.

My blog post received a lot of attention, including an e-mail alert sent out by the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers. And now the Observer edit. I hope this sends a message to judicial candidates that campaigns should be nonpartisan and run according to the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Cabarrus County and Concord can fork out as much in incentives to Bruton Smith as their taxpayers can stand, but the state shouldn't kick in a penny.

Local leaders are trying to assemble a $75 million deal to keep Smith's Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord -- with hopes that the state will provide one-third of the amount.

Forget that. This is a big, fat scam. Keep state tax money out of Smith's hands.

Greensboro attorney Marshall Hurley eviscerates same-day voter registration in remarks submitted to the U.S. House Committee on House Administration.

North Carolina now allows same-day registration during early voting, and a bill pending in Congress (H.R. 2457) would federalize that process. Hurley, who has extensive experience in election law, says it's not only unnecessary but potentially harmful to election integrity.

I think he's exactly right.

This legislation is premised on the notion that registering to vote 25 days before an election is so difficult that some people are denied their right to participate. Hardly, says Hurley.

The N.C. State Board of Elections Web site lists places where voter registration is available.

"The efforts to ease any and all possible burdens upon registrants is apparent working," Hurley says: "as of the last presidential election, more than 85 percent of the North Carolina voting age population was registered to vote ..."

(As an aside, a friend in High Point recounted her experience the other day. The last time she renewed her driver's license, she was asked if she wanted to register to vote. Not giving much thought to the fact that she already was registered to vote, she said yes. So, at the next election, she found her name on the voter registration roll twice. "After I voted, I could have turned around and voted again," she said. How often does that happen?)

Closing the registration books 25 days before an election, Hurley contends, frees election administrators for other duties as they prepare for Election Day. Among those duties is making sure that every voter is assigned to the correct voting districts and receives the correct version of the ballot on Election Day.

"Same-day registration requires these decisions be made on the fly, and they may or may not be accurate. Those who oppose same-day registration believe that voting for members of congress and state assemblies is important enough to make sure that election officials have the time to make sure that eligible voters vote in the races in which they are entitled to vote and in only those races."

Then there's the matter of acceptable identification. North Carolina allows an applicant to present a current utility bill, fishing license or birth certificate.

None of that would suffice for cashing "a $5 check at the local grocery store," says Hurley.

A birth certificate says nothing about an individual's current residence, but Hurley notes there are stricter guidelines for fishing than for voting: North Carolina's Wildlife Resources Commission requires "anyone exercising the privileges conveyed by the license shall carry a picture identification card and show it to any wildlife enforcement officer upon request."

"Sadly," says Hurley, "North Carolina cares more about properly ascertaining the identity of fishermen than voters. Apparently, North Carolina is more concerned about fraudulent fishing than fraudulent voting."

Hurley, who anticipates an opportunity to present his testimony in person in the next couple of weeks, doesn't expect same-day registration to usher in "massive election fraud."

Rather, it "signals a nonchalant relaxation of orderly standards and a retreat from an unwavering public commitment to complete, reliable and fair election results. This legislation chips away at a proven and reliable election safeguard."

People who care about voting should care 25 days or more before an election. That gives election officials adequate time to make sure the registration is correct and can be properly processed.

I've never been to Iowa, but I assume "lost in the cornfields" is not a good place to be.

But that's John Edwards' presidential campaign, Newsweek reports in its current issue.

The lead:

"Is John Edwards in trouble in Iowa? Peg Dunbar thinks so. She signed up as a county chair for Edwards in the northeastern town of Waverly earlier this year, after backing the former senator's campaign in 2004. Now she has changed her mind and switched to Hillary Clinton. "John Edwards has been in Iowa for four and a half years and he's in third place," she says. "He should be in first place. Granted, it's very, very close. But I don't see him going anywhere and I don't go with a loser."

The Iowa caucuses are still several weeks away, so Edwards hasn't lost yet. But, because he's spent so much time out in the cornfields, he really needs to win. He's gambled on a strong showing there. Why is he failing?

I'd guess three reasons.

First, he's veered too far to the left politically. The most liberal of the Democrats would be the least likely to win a general election.

Second, his personal contradictions and hypocrisies. He hammers on the rich vs. poor theme while conspicuously living the life of the very rich.

And third, the "four-and-a-half years" in Iowa has become a detriment. He's a full-time campaigner while rivals Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and others are actually working. Clinton and Obama have won Senate election campaigns since Edwards began running for president the first time back in 2002 or 2003. Edwards hasn't won an election since 1998.

Edwards still might have had a good chance to position himself as the alternative to Hillary if it hadn't been for Obama. Now the Illinois senator has taken that place. He's the fresh face of this campaign. Edwards had that role in 2004. He still couldn't overtake John Kerry, just as Obama probably won't catch Clinton this time. But now Edwards is much farther behind the leader, and he's running out of time to gain ground.

If he finishes third in Iowa, his campaign probably won't last very long into 2008.

Edwards became infected with the presidential bug about halfway through his first, and only, term in the Senate. He should have shaken it off. If he'd concentrated on doing his job, he might have become an effective senator for North Carolina, won re-election in 2004 and gained enough credibility to sustain a successful presidential campaign later.

Update: MSNBC carries this New York Times report on Edwards' Iowa campaign.

A key quote from Gordon Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, about Edwards' "attack dog" demeaner this time:

"It really made me question his authenticity as a person and as a candidate. I wasn't sure which John Edwards was the real John Edwards. Was it the Southern moderate of 2004 or the full-throated liberal of 2008?"

Many North Carolinians who helped elect Edwards to the Senate in 1998 might not recognize the Iowa version today.

"N.C. beach residents get grim forecast on sea level rise," The N&O reports.

So, here it is: If you believe the dire predictions about global warming, rising seas and more frequent and more intense hurricanes, there's only one sensible coastal policy.

Stop building on the beach.

No new homes, businesses, roads, anything.

Instead, start the retreat.

We can begin to replace fossil fuels with alternative sources of energy, take the bus to work, keep our homes colder in winter and hotter in summer, all the things we should do to conserve our resources and improve our environment ...but none of that will have a discernible impact on climate change and the predicted consequences.

Unless I've missed promises from the scientific/political/environmental community urging these actions that they'll produce results.

So, if we're serious, we have to accommodate ourselves to a changing environment.

One of the first things to do is back away from the beach.

Who's going to start?

Carolina Journal's Paul Chesser reports that, despite public records requests, the North Carolina Climate Action Plan Advisory Group isn't forthcoming with data used by its consultant, the Center for Climate Strategies, to form 56 policy recommendations for the state to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.

The recommendations are designed to cut North Carolina's carbon emissions to 1990 levels, but it seems unclear what that would cost, what the benefits would be and exactly how that target would be reached. That's the data Carolina Journal wants to see.

Carolina Journal is published by the John Locke Foundation, which is a critic of this process. Nevertheless, the state's Climate Action Plan Advisory Group should be able to back up its work with solid data so that any plan the state adopts will make sense from a cost-benefit standpoint.

Addendum: Ed Cone cites reports of possible bias by the Locke Foundation, based on funding from Exxon-Mobil, etc.

Readers should take that into account, but by no means does it argue against release of information used to influence state policies.

I took some Russian classes in college long ago and, even though I've never been to Russia or even met many Russians, I'm glad I had a chance to learn a little bit of the language.

Why? Because learning to speak and read Russian, albeit on an elementary level, went hand-in-hand with my interest in Russian history, culture and literature. I think knowing something about the language helped me understand more about Russians. How people speak and write gives you an idea of how they think.

That's one reason, it seems to me, why Americans should study foreign languages. Sure, we need to improve our global communication skills, but more than that we need to expand our understanding of the world and the people who populate it.

So, it's good news that foreign language study in increasing in American colleges and universities. There's a real surge in the study of Arabic and Chinese, but other languages are at least holding their own.

Of course, Spanish remains the most popular foreign language. We've had a healthy debate on the letters blog about Spanish recently. I can understand a little resentment at the notion that we should learn Spanish so we can better communicate with Hispanic immigrants. But we have to get over that resentment. I was at a car-rental office last week where the service rep switched easily from English to Spanish to converse with a Hispanic customer. I thought that was cool, and smart business.

Still, I think it's even more important for Americans to learn other languages when we're dealing with people and cultures beyond our borders.

I'm not talented at foreign languages but I find it fun to add new words to the vocabulary. Before traveling to East Africa last year, I picked up a Swahili-English dictionary and phrase book and spent quite a few hours with Swahili instructional tapes. I still wasn't all that conversant when I got there, but at least I'd learned a few basics. And part of picking up words and phrases was learning some cultural lessons -- like how important it is to be polite and formal in greeting people. One reason American travelers often appear rude is that they don't learn the proper way to say hello or introduce themselves in other countries. Maybe you can get away with that if you're a tourist, but it's a lousy way to try to form business relationships.

Unfortunately, my Russian is really out of date. I don't think people call each other tavarish -- comrade -- over there anymore. I'll have to brush up if I ever decide to visit.

How about your experiences with foreign languages?

There was nothing "excellent" or funny about the rude question, referring to Hillary Clinton, put to John McCain the other night. He should have said so.

The right answer would have been:

"I respect Sen. Clinton as a colleague, and it's completely inappropriate to refer to her as you just did. I disagree with her on the issues, but I'm not going to tolerate name-calling in this campaign."

By the way, anyone remember when Barbara Bush referred to Geraldine Ferraro in a similar way? The believe the term she used was "rhymes with rich."

Yep. Here's a reference.

The secret to Skybus success? Keep your assets moving, the airline's chief financial officer, Mike Hodge, said at today's annual meeting of the High Point Economic Development Corp.

"You have to sweat your assets to keep your prices down," Hodge said in explaining the Skybus business model.

The High Point group -- meeting over a really terrific lunch at GTCC's Joseph S. Koury Hospitality Careers Center -- heard from Hodge, Piedmont Triad Airport Authority Chairman Henry Isaacson and Penny Whiteheart, executive VP of the Piedmont Triad Partnership. They were telling the very satisfying story of the courtship of Skybus, which is going to make PTI a whole lot busier.

Four-year-old Skybus, based in Columbus, Ohio, patterned itself after Europe's Ryanair -- a low-cost, no frills carrier. The concept is pretty simple: expand the customer base.

"People want to travel, and if you can get the price down they will travel," Hodge said.

Simple, yes, but "I was really blown away at how powerful this concept was," said Hodge, a Princeton/Harvard MBA grad. "As you push the price of air travel down, demand explodes."

Skybus rounded up $162 million in equity capital, bought some aircraft and went to work.

Those jets -- A319s -- are workhorses.

Hodge teased that he's not supposed to say how much they cost but each one represents an asset worth $40 million to $50 million. So, "The key to us is you've got to keep those planes in the air."

Skybus does -- 13 hours a day, more than any other U.S. carrier, Hodge said. He added that the jets are fuel-efficient and reliable, requiring almost no down time.

Other cost-saving strategies: "All our employees are owners." They sacrifice on salary now for the promise of greater wealth later. And, as owners, they have a stake in the company's success.

"When you've got skin in the game, you behave differently, you treat customers differently," Hodge said.

In addition to price -- an average of $50 per ticket (one-way), Hodge said customers care about schedules. He said Skybus achieved the best on-time record in the industry in just its third month, and it hardly ever loses anyone's bag.

It ought to be that good because it doesn't fly into the biggest, busiest airports, and it offers only direct flights. That means fewer opportunities for delay or losing suitcases.

Skybus expects to do very well here, eventually flying to as many as 25 cities from PTI. "We need 1.2 million to 1.5 million passengers a year, which will double your airport," Hodge said. It can do that because that's how many people were driving away from the Triad for cheaper, better flights at other airports. Skybus is about reversing that trend and enticing new customers into the air.

Just keep sweating those assets, guys.

Addendum: Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer is coming by for a chat with us Monday, and he's agreed to do a video interview.

The audio of the Smith High School music teacher's tirade gives the impression of a woman who has gone a bit over the edge.

There's no excuse for losing it in class like that.

But it's possible to sympathize. Teachers are subjected to extremely disrespectful behavior by students. Yes, they should be able to control that behavior, but they need backup from administrators and parents.

Our story reports that this teacher was dealing with students' complaints about their poor conduct grades. How ironic. And, even as she's yelling at them, they're still talking over her.

The hardest I ever came down on one of my sons for a school issue was when he brought home a conduct grade of C in fifth grade. I met with the teacher, found out the problem and assured her his conduct would improve immediately. It did.

I wonder how much support of that kind this teacher received.

Maybe she ought to find another profession if she can't manage this one. But the trouble is that too many teachers -- a lot of them good teachers -- can't manage the job these days because of students who are hostile to learning. Those kids spoill the atmosphere for everyone.

Smith's 2006-07 state report card looks like F's across the board. How much should we attribute that to teachers, how much to student behavior, how much to lack of support from parents?

Addendum: I visited Smith a couple of weeks ago and witnessed an orderly environment. Principal Noah Rogers seemed to have the school on the right track overall. But this has been a troubled school for some time, and it may have some persistent problems that can't be corrected overnight. Rogers seems to be a very hardworking principal, and that wouldn't be necessary if there weren't a lot of hard work to do.

Students who survived the fatal house fire at OIB Oct. 28 said they'd been drinking. Yesterday, the toxicology report revealed how much.

The BAC for six of the seven victims ranged from .16 to .29. The seventh had no alcohol in her system.

Officials seem reluctant to blame alcohol for the fire or the deaths. Sure, it's hard to say. Some students who had been drinking woke up and escaped; one of the dead hadn't been drinking. The fire spread rapidly, smoke quickly overcame the victims, who died in their sleep.

But let's get real. As Dr. John Butts, the N.C. medical examiner, said, alcohol affects response times. And a lot of alcohol ...

A level of .29, especially for an 18- or 19-year-old kid, likely produces extreme intoxication -- and someone who would be very slow to regain consciousness or react to an emergency.

A crude term is "dead drunk."

I know that's insensitive, but young people need to understand the risks associated with drinking.

Sure, most people understand it's dangerous to drive after drinking so much. But even drinking and sleeping can kill you when your body is drugged with so much alcohol.

Someone who's that drunk is more vulnerable to accident, assault, robbery, rape -- and death if he or she is unable to wake up in the event of a fire.

No one knows whether anyone else could have been saved if he or she had not had so much to drink. But I have to believe they would have had a better chance.

Other young people should think about their chances when they're drinking.

Wake Forest's 38-18 victory over N.C. State Saturday gives the Deacons their third consecutive undefeated Big Four campaign. Wake's last loss to a Big Four rival was to UNC on Nov. 13, 2004. The Deacons have won eight in a row since.

One Big Four contest remains: Duke vs. Carolina on Saturday, with not much at stake.

Standings:

Wake, 3-0
State, 1-1
Duke, 0-1
UNC, 0-2.

Tarheel Top Ten:

1. Appalachian State, 9-2 (No. 1 last week)
2. Wake Forest, 7-4 (2)
3. Catawba, 11-1 (4)
4. Elon, 7-4 (5)
5. N.C. State, 5-6 (3)
6. East Carolina, 6-5 (6)
7. UNC, 3-8 (7)
8. Winston-Salem State, 6-5 (8)
9. Wingate, 7-4 (9)
10. N.C. Central, 6-4 (10)

There's this.

And then there are the people who have absolutely no idea how to drive in a traffic circle.

Has any of them run into you yet?

Less testing ... or better testing?

In a breakout session during this morning's Guilford Education Alliance summit, Joe Graves, dean of University Studies at A&T, faulted AYPs because they're based on state standards, not national or international standards.

How do we know how we're really doing in North Carolina if we can't compare our students to students in other states?

My column today:

Larry Sabato has a point:

"If we really want to make progress and achieve greater fairness as a society, it is time for elemental change. And we should start by looking at the Constitution, with the goal of holding a new Constitutional Convention."

The University of Virginia political science professor proposes 23 changes to the U.S. Constitution. He knows a lot more than I do, so I'm not going to address any of them.

Instead, I'd like to see a North Carolina constitutional convention with the goal of producing significant revisions to the basic law of our state. Here are some of my suggestions:

Why do you just know from the headline what kind of dog this is likely to be?

I'm not for banning any certain breeds of dog. Even defining exactly what is a pit bull might be tricky.

But if you choose to own such a potentially dangerous dog, you have a responsibility to minimize the chances that it might attack and seriously injure your neighbor.

Build a fence around it.

Greensboro City Council members had some sharp discussion about funding for the International Civil Rights Center and Museum last night (read down in Margaret's report).

I'll leave the issue of funding alone for now, although I do think the city must help facilitate the completion and opening of this important landmark.

Instead, I'd like to offer two suggestions. One is simple; the other would be more complicated.

The first is to make sure the museum carries a February One Place address.

It's located at the northwest corner of North Elm and February One Place. Its administrative office is listed as 301 North Elm. When the facility opens, its address should be February One Place in recognition of the lunch-counter sit-ins, which began on Feb. 1, 1960. That address will confer additional awareness of that significant date. "North Elm" means nothing.

Now, on to the second and larger suggestion.

The name of the facility is wrong. It should be called the Greensboro Sit-In Museum and Civil Rights Center. After all, it's about the Greensboro sit-ins. Greensboro is known for the sit-ins, and this museum will be better known across the country if "Greensboro" and "sit-in" are in its name.

What does International Civil Rights Center tell you? Where might such a place be? It could be anywhere. It doesn't automatically carry any association with Greensboro or with the sit-ins.

High Point recognized this issue when it changed the name of the furniture market from International Home Furnishings Market to, simply, High Point Market. Now everybody knows what it is and where it is.

Maybe if Greensboro were in the name of the sit-in museum, it would draw stronger support from Greensboro.

Today marks my son Andrew's third straight Thanksgiving far from home.

The difference this time is that he'll soon be on his way.

His Peace Corps service in Tanzania ends today after two years and two months.

He begins his long journey with a flight from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi. Then to London, New York and, if all goes well, he'll land in Charlotte about 6 p.m. Friday.

He's in for a heckuva reception at the airport.

Too many other American families are celebrating Thanksgiving without loved ones who have been sent to distant places in their country's service. Some of those selfless Americans won't be coming home.

Andrew's work hasn't put him in that kind of peril, but it's had its hardships and required many sacrifices. We're proud of all he's given, but now we're just looking forward to having him home.

And he's not really missing Thanksgiving this year. We've shifted it to Saturday.

I hope this holiday brings you your own happy homecomings.

Bonus photos: Andrew and Kenny at our campsite above the Ngorongoro Crater, June 2006; and Andrew and I in Mwanza, on the shore of Lake Victoria.

My mom lives in Hickory and voted for Republican Patrick McHenry in his first run for Congress in 2004.

But now she's very interested in the candidacy of Democrat Daniel Johnson, a 31-year-old Hickory native and military hero.

In this 1999 column, George Will describes the action aboard the USS Blue Ridge in which Ensign Johnson saved a seaman's life -- and lost both his legs below the knee in the process.

He was presented the Navy Marine Corps Medal, the Navy's highest award for heroism during peacetime.

After leaving the service, Johnson earned a law degree at Carolina. He's been an assistant district attorney in Wake County but is moving back to Hickory to challenge McHenry.

The Hickory Daily Record provides more background.

Not much has been reported about Johnson's political positions, although the HDR quotes an area Democratic leader as saying he holds moderate-to-conservative views typical of the 10th District.

The 10th has been solidly Republican for decades. Jim Broyhill, then Cass Ballenger, held the seat before McHenry.

But Democrats are getting smarter in their strategies in Republican territory. They're not going to win with liberal candidates. Their lone North Carolina gain last year came in the 11th District where Heath Shuler defeated Charles Taylor. Shuler holds very conservative views on many issues and probably makes a lot of Democrats in progressive Asheville uncomfortable, but winning in politics requires trade-offs.

There's no Asheville in the 10th District, where the largest "city" is Hickory, so any Democrat with a prayer of winning has got to be fairly conservative.

But then, Johnson's military story is compelling. The fact that he's been a prosecutor also helps. He's the son of a Presbyterian minister and a high school teacher, also to the good.

His youth and political inexperience are only slight problems. McHenry was only 29, with a single term in the state House of Representatives under his belt, when he was elected to Congress in 2004. That makes him 32 now.

He's made his reputation as an attack dog for Republicans, which has turned off some of his constituents -- my mom, for one. At the same time, he's been active in pushing for benefits for his district, like a VA outpatient clinic in Hickory and drought relief for farmers.

I can't predict how this congressional race will shape up, but it looks like Democrats have a candidate in Daniel Johnson with proven courage and character. If he doesn't align himself with his party's Nancy Pelosi wing, the 10th District's moderate voters, like my mom, will give him a very close look.

1. Appalachian State, 10-2 (No. 1 last week)
2. Wake Forest, 8-4 (2)
3. Elon, 7-4 (4)
4. Catawba, 10-2 (3)
5. N.C. State, 5-7 (5)
6. East Carolina, 7-5 (6)
7. UNC, 4-8 (7)
8. Winston-Salem State, 6-5 (8)
9. Wingate, 7-5 (9)
10. N.C. Central, 6-4 (10)

Final Big Four:

1. Wake, 3-0
2. State, 1-1
3. UNC, 1-2
4. Duke, 0-2

Taking a few days off ...

... which allowed me to make the club scene in Asheville last night with Andrew and Kenny.

High Point native Evan Hill was playing at The Grey Eagle with his band, Wilson the Rocker.

No false advertising. They rocked. It was a fun show.

Evan and Andrew have been friends since Ferndale Middle School. Evan and other friends were at our house Friday night waiting for us to arrive home from the airport with Andrew. I'm glad we had a chance to take in WTR's show last night.

I also enjoyed the performance by opener Holiday Childress of the Goodies. He's a clever, quirky singer/guitarist.

There's a lively music scene in Asheville, as America learned from the Smashing Pumpkins' comeback engagement there this summer.

The Grey Eagle is a roomy, casual venue with lots of outstanding local beers on tap and a spicy gumbo simmering. It made for a great evening for our multigenerational outing.

Like Greensboro, High Point has serious problems with crime. But, from my observation, lack of police responsiveness isn't to blame.

Police were called about shots fired on my street Monday night. At least 10 High Point police officers arrived quickly. It turned out there was no hostile intent, but it's good to know police are prompt and prepared when needed.

Recently my wife was involved in an auto accident. She estimated a police officer was on the scene less than a minute after she called 911. A second officer showed up soon after the first.

The High Point Police Department has been proactive in trying to address crime in targeted neighborhoods, with generally good results. But some critics say criminals just move elsewhere -- probably true in some cases. Nevertheless, it makes sense to put a high priority on crime-prevention efforts.

As long as there's still sufficient manpower available to answer calls for help immediately.

I was jogging on High Point's Greenway, which runs behind Welborn middle and Andrews high schools, late enough in the morning that classes would have started.

So why did I pass kids trudging s-l-o-w-l-y toward school or just hanging around laughing and smoking? Must have been about a dozen in three different groups.

Is this the norm around our schools?

Hey, principals. Send someone out there to round 'em up and haul 'em in.

Rosemary's piling on Carolina athletics today, and I'm right there with her.

As it happens, I received an e-mail survey of former Carolina athletes from the athletics department this week. Basically, it was trying to find out what would motivate us to give money to sports programs. In the space for comments, I wrote: An athletics department that can pay a football coach $2.1 million doesn't need my money.

As a side note, it's just been disclosed that Penn State pays its long-time coach Joe Paterno $512,000.

Let's see ... Paterno's record at Penn State is 371-124-3, including 8-4 this year.

Butch Davis' record at Carolina is 4-8.

And Davis is paid four times as much as Paterno.

Rosemary, keep piling on.

Remember Newsweek's rankings of best high schools in America?

Guilford County Schools fared very well.

Now U.S. News & World Report joins the high school ranking game ... with very different results.

Guilford is shut out.

Although no North Carolina high school ranks among the U.S. News Top 100, or Gold status, 34 are listed in the Silver and Bronze categories. None of those is in Guilford.

In fact, none from any of North Carolina's largest school systems: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Wake, Forsyth or Durham.

Nearby, only Thomasville High School is named.

The U.S. News methodology is very different from that used by Newsweek, which bases its rankings on high-level courses taught.

U.S. News weighs AP tests but, unlike Newsweek, U.S. News considers how well students actually fare on those tests to compile what it calls a "college readiness" index.

I've probably been guilty in the past of hyping the Newsweek rankings. U.S. News throws in a monkey wrench. I am suspicious about the exclusion of the big-system schools, so maybe neither magazine has gotten it right. Nevertheless, both offer comparisons that should be useful on some level.

Look, we know we've got to do better throughout North Carolina in preparing students for higher education. The people at UNC and the community colleges have been saying that for years.

So, maybe it's time to look at what's happening at those Top 100 high schools that could and should be happening here.