News-Record.com

The News & Observer reports today:

"North Carolina's first lady, Mary Easley, visited some of the finest museums in France and St. Petersburg, Russia, during the past 14 months. She and entourages dined at first-class restaurants, slept in top-notch hotels and sat in the fifth row for a Russian ballet. The travels -- a 2007 trip to France and one to Russia and Estonia in May -- cost taxpayers $109,000.

"Gov. Mike Easley did not go on either trip, and neither was publicly disclosed at the time. Mary Easley did not respond to requests for an interview, but expense reports and other documents released in response to a public records request indicate the trips were considered cultural exchanges to build links between North Carolina and officials in the countries visited. The trips have so far produced no tangible benefits."

Good grief.

I tried to give Gov. Easley the benefit of the doubt for his recent first-class trip to Italy because it had a legitimate business purpose, even though he (and Mrs. Easley) spent too much.

But this is way over the top.

Note that her trips were not publicly disclosed. The governor's office apparently wanted no one to know. The Italy trip was publicized by the governor's office. Commerce officials went along. Despite the extravagant spending, it was on the up-and-up.

The supposed reason for Mrs. Easley's travels was "cultural exchange." That's a catch-all excuse that could justify any junket. These sounded more like currency exchanges -- a lot of North Carolina taxpayer dollars being exchanged for luxurious lodging, dining and entertainment for Mrs. Easley.

Where cultural exchange is needed is in our state capital. It's time to exchange the culture of arrogance, the attitude that political leaders can do whatever they want, for a culture of restraint and accountability.

Addendum: U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Dave Phillips from High Point hosted a reception for Mrs. Easley. Photos here.

My column tomorrow:

High Point's most notorious murderer comes up for parole consideration this month, only 20 years after his shocking, heartbreaking crime.

It gave me a headache trying to follow the details of this complicated child-support case from Guilford County, but I can tell that the N.C. Court of Appeals panel agreed unanimously that District Court Judge Joe Turner got it right.

After figuratively biting my tongue and holding my breath since yesterday, I have to say the proposed gang truce in Greensboro doesn't impress me.

Even if it happened, a gang holding a truce is still a gang. I'd rather hear "King J," North Carolina "Inca" of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, renounce the gang life altogether.

Instead: "Cornell called on all gang members to unify to fight against policies such as 287-g agreements, which give local law-enforcement jurisdictions broader authority to deport (illegal) immigrants charged with crimes."

To me, it's not encouraging -- it's not even news -- to hear a gang leader say he's opposed to law enforcement.

My column today:

Rob Coulthard gave his wife the final, fatal dose of arsenic on July 3, 1988 — 20 years ago tomorrow. She was a patient at Duke University Medical Center. She died there six days later.

No one suspected he’d been poisoning her since December 1987. Rob and Sandy Coulthard seemed like an ideal High Point couple — Wake Forest graduates, members of Emerywood Baptist Church, parents of two small children, the younger less than a year old. He was a furniture company’s vice president for sales and marketing, and they lived in an attractive home in one of the city’s nicer neighborhoods.

Sandy Coulthard turned 30 on the last birthday of her life. Rob Coulthard marked his 50th birthday last month at Pender Correctional Institute, a medium-security prison in Burgaw. He could walk out as a free man before he’s 51.

Coulthard’s crime unraveled quickly after Sandy’s death. The autopsy indicated she died of arsenic poisoning. Doctors had misdiagnosed her illness as possible Guillain-Barre syndrome. Hair samples showed spikes in arsenic concentrations, mapping each dose. Police found a record of Coulthard ordering arsenic two years earlier, learned he carried $350,000 in life insurance on his wife, that he had girlfriends and gambling debts.

In cold blood, without emotion, he slowly, persistently poisoned his wife, the mother of his children, watching her suffer, to erase her from his life. She never knew.

“By all reports, Coulthard was a prodigious actor, with a gift for promoting himself and enlisting others’ trust,” Davidson College English professor Cynthia Lewis wrote in an article published recently in the University at Albany Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. She’s studied the Coulthard case and others where husbands have plotted murder in place of divorce.

Despite the cruelty of the crime, Coulthard was ruled ineligible for the death penalty by Superior Court Judge William Helms, who found insufficient evidence of aggravating factors. Instead, represented by two of the state’s top defense attorneys, Coulthard pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a sentence of life in prison. Under sentencing guidelines then in effect, he would become eligible for parole in 20 years.

The time has come. A parole review process begins later this month, Parole Commission Administrator Patsy Joiner said Monday. Members of Sandy Coulthard’s family have a 30-minute appointment with parole commissioners next week to express their views.

“We’re strongly opposed to him ever getting out,” her brother, Stephen W. Coles, said Monday. “The children feel the same. ... They’ve had no contact with him and want none.”

Coulthard’s prison photo shows a middle-aged man with a lean face and close-cropped gray hair, wearing wire-rimmed glasses. He works as a groundskeeper at Pender, where he’s been housed since April 2006. In 20 years, he’s incurred an unusually low number of infractions — only six, none since 2001.

Pender’s assistant superintendent for programs said Coulthard doesn’t stand out among the nearly 800 inmates.

“He hasn’t created any management issues,” Brian Wells said last week.

“We knew all along that he’d be a model prisoner,” said Coles, a lawyer who practices in Greensboro, adding that his former brother-in-law is “conniving, calculating ... he has no conscience at all.”

Coulthard has never expressed remorse, and even has claimed in letters to mutual friends that he’s innocent, Coles said.

High Point police Maj. Jim Tate was part of the three-member investigative team that linked the murder to Coulthard. He opposes parole.

“It was one of the worst, most heinous crimes I’ve seen in High Point,” Tate said last week.

“Obviously we would be opposed to his making parole. It was a very bad case,” Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson said Monday.

Inmates at Pender sleep in dormitories and follow a basic routine, Wells said. Three meals, eight hours of work. They can spend leisure time in the yard and receive visitors by appointment. Educational programs are offered.

Coulthard’s life may be dull, but it’s a life — more than he allowed his wife.

Now, with his release a possibility, Coles said, the two children, in their early 20s, and his parents, who raised them in Lexington, “are scared to death.”

Who can blame them? The man coldly murdered a woman who loved and trusted him. Trusting him with freedom only 20 years later is a truly frightening idea.

The Parole Commission accepts comments from the public. Letters may influence its decsion in this case. Its address is 4222 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-4222.

Thanks for reading. You can call me at 373-7039, email me at dgclark@news-record.com or, even better, post a comment here.

Carolina Journal's Don Carrington reports today:

"On the same day her lavish spending on an overseas trip was front-page news, Gov. Mike Easley’s wife Mary received a $79,700 pay raise for her job at North Carolina State University, according to public records obtained from the school.

"Ms. Easley began working at NCSU three years ago with the title of executive-in-residence/senior lecturer. Until June 30 her salary was $90,300, but as of July 1 it was raised 88 percent to $170,000. Her position title remains the same, according to records."

Yesterday, asked about Mrs. Easley's first-class travel, accommodations and dining abroad, the governor said: "I don't pick out the menus. I don't decide the venues."

What will he say today? How about ...

"I don't set her raises. I just sing her praises ..."

Has our governor taken leave of his senses? Now he says criticisms of his wife's expensive tax-paid travels and huge salary increase in a state job are based on sexism?

"If she were a man, it wouldn't be an issue," he said.

Heaven help us. How stupid does Gov. Easley think we are?

To state the obvious, if she were a man she wouldn't be first lady. She wouldn't be going on "cultural exchanges" that, in cost, exceed the bounds of reason. Whether she would have a high-paying job at N.C. State is open to question.

The circumstances of her suddenly much more lucrative employment have provoked some serious grumbling, The N&O reports today:

"Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said Easley's raise is way out of line compared with what state employees might expect.

" 'It looks like there is obviously preferential treatment going on,' said Cope, whose organization represents 55,000 state employees and retirees. 'That seems to be ridiculous. When state employees get additional job duties, very oftentimes they will get at best a 5 percent pay increase of what they were making.' "

As to the "sexism" issue, The N&O continues:

"Jim Martin, a chemistry professor at NCSU and the elected faculty chairman, said there is sexism at the university. A 2006 report from the American Association of University Professors said that just 18 percent of the university's tenured faculty are women. At UNC-Chapel Hill, the figure is 28 percent.

" 'Yes, we have sexism problems,' Martin said, 'but it's not paying the first lady $170,000.'

"The average salary for a full professor at NCSU is $110,000, said Martin, who is paid $101,000 as a full professor of chemistry."

Mary Easley's boss at State says she's "uniquely qualified" for her position. Well, there's only one first lady.

The issue, if not outright favoritism, is the appearance of it.

Imagine the public reaction if, next year, either Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama lands a job in a federal agency and a nearly $200,000 salary. Will she get it because of her unique qualifications or because her husband is president (or is that a redundancy)? What would the public think?

Yet Easley doesn't seem to get it -- any of it.

You have to spend vast amounts of money in Europe, he says. Don't we dumb hicks know that a cheeseburger and onion rings cost $60 over there? Oops, that ridiculous exaggeration was busted in about five minutes. And now any grumbling about the first lady is brushed off as sexism. Yeah, only mean-spirited bigots would be so rude as to question how the Easleys spend our tax money.

Thank goodness it's an election year.

The state Democratic Party blasted Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory the other day for presiding over high taxes as mayor of Charlotte.

“Pat McCroy is trying to have it both ways,” said NCDP Chairman Jerry Meek. “His city has had the highest tax rate in the state for seven years running and now McCrory wants to be a fiscal conservative. That’s like drinking Slimfast and eating ribs.”

McCrory didn't need to respond. Charlotte Observer editorial writers answered for him.

Meek got his facts wrong, the newspaper said today. He relied on a report (ironically from the conservative John Locke Foundation, which Democrats normally discredit) that added the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County tax rates.

"In 2007-08, Charlotte's property tax rate was .4586 cent per $100 property valuation," the Observer stated (note: I actually believe that's incorrect; it should be 45.86 cents per $100, although the error doesn't negate the point made). "That's lower than the rate in, for instance, Mr. Meek's Fayetteville (.5300). It's also lower than the rates in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, Greenville, Salisbury, Hickory, Chapel Hill and Rockingham, to cite a few.

"Charlotte raised its property tax rate only once in the past decade. Mayor McCrory vetoed the increase, but City Council's Democrats overrode his veto."

Meek and the Democrats struck out this time. Maybe they can find something to use against McCrory in their recent $100,000 public records request. And, if it taxes the city's budget to pay for it, they can blame the mayor.

I'm enjoying the most Fabulous Fourth of July celebration anywhere in North Carolina.

If you're not here, have a good one anyway.

The Defense of Marriage Act reappeared in General Assembly this week, with 66 sponsors in the House -- a majority of members.

The bill calls for a state constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

Despite its show of support among the rank-and-file, the measure isn't likely to pass in the House because Democratic leaders oppose it. They're afraid of allowing the public to vote on it in November because the hot-button issue could draw out more conservatives to the polls.

I support the traditional view of marriage but I've never been an advocate of the constitutional amendment. State law limits marriage to a man and woman and no one is clamoring to repeal it. Furthermore, I suspect there's a political purpose behind introduction of the measure, and I really can't approve of a ploy to manipulate the electorate.

At the same time, Democratic leaders won't find it so easy to sweep this away. They might succeed only in shifting the focus to the courts.

After all, in putting forward a "Defense of Marriage Act," legislators are seeking to defend their view of marriage against what the courts might do -- which is what the courts have done in Massachusetts and California, ruling that their state constitutions require same-sex marriage.

I don't believe the North Carolina courts would go that far, but one never knows. As long as the possibility exists that justices here could interpret our constitution as Massachusetts and California justices have interpreted theirs, this can be an issue in furture elections for high judicial positions. By trying to keep the question out of the political arena, Democratic leaders place it into the judicial square.

I would not welcome that. I firmly believe that candidates for our appellate courts should never declare publicly how they would rule in this kind of case or any other. Yet there are some who would, and do, proclaim their loyalty to "traditional" and "family" values, which relates a plain message. And then there's the chance that advocacy groups on either side could plunge into judicial campaigns and turn them into undignified, mudslinging, character-attacking free-for-alls. It could ruin our courts.

This will become a greater urgency if courts in more states re-write the definition of marriage or as voters in more states amend their own constitutions to forestall such judicial decisions. North Carolina voters may not be satisfied to sit and wait. In some ways, it would be better to get it over with and take the issue off the table for good.

Does the route to the U.S.Senate lead through Saluda? It might for Democrat Kay Hagan from Greensboro. She made a strong bid for Western North Carolina votes today by walking in Saluda's annual Coon Dog Day parade.

The event drew thousands to the little mountain town in Polk County, just up I-26 from Columbus.

The turnout of politicians wasn't overwhelming: 11th District Republican congressional hopeful Carl Mumpower, a few local candidates ... and Kay.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole was reperesented by one older gentleman hoisting a sign. There was no Pat McCrory, no Bev Perdue. A missed opportunity for all.

Hagan says she's covering the whole state. Saluda was the place to be today.

Update: Coon Dog Day coverage by the Hendersonville Times-News. Check out the slideshow and video.

My favorite race to watch on the track is the 1,500 meters, and the U.S. Olympic Trials finals last night produced a good one.

It was also notable because the top three finishers -- the three men who qualified to represent the United States in Beijing next month -- are naturalized American citizens.

They are:

Bernard Lagat, originally from Kenya ...

Lopez Lamong from Sudan ...

and Leonel Manzano, born in Mexico.

That's what makes this a great country.

Other notes:

A young American middle-distance runner to watch is Jack Bolas from Chapel Hill. He runs for the University of Wisconsin and made it as far as the Olympic trials semifinals.

Former Carolina runners will represent the U.S. in four events on the track: Alice Schmidt in the 800, Erin Donohue in the 1,500 and Shalane Flanagan in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Flanagan holds the American records in her events. Former Duke runner Shannon Rowbury led qualifiers in the 1,500.

Maybe inspired by Dara Torres, Mike Barber dove into an old issue and came up a winner tonight.

A first-class competitive indoor swimming facility is in play again.

Unhappy -- make that VERY unhappy -- with the proposed $20 million parks bond heading for the November ballot, Barber questioned why his advocacy for the swim facility had apparently been ignored. A sometimes-acrimonious discussion saw Barber and Mitch Johnson getting a bit testy with each other, Robbie Perkins snapping at Barber for wrongly characterizing his view on the pool and a disembodied Sandra Anderson Groat (on the phone from home) scolding everyone for talking over each other.

When it was done, Council voted 5-4 to back Barber's motion to include a swimming facility on the bond.

Except it wasn't done. Johnson, relishing the opportunity to splash some cold water on Barber's victory, asked Barber if he could define exactly what kind of swimming facility had just been approved.

"No, I can't," said Barber. But he mentioned a sum: $20 million.

"I'm not asking the price, I'm asking the intended purpose," said Johnson.

Barber was talking about a first-class competitive facility that could host major meets -- just the kind that voters rejected two years ago when the projected cost was $9 million.

Now it's a lot more -- up to $18 million, according to Johnson.

After all, the 2006 version was going to fall under the Coliseum umbrella, which would allow many efficiencies and cost savings.

Whatever. If this one indeed would cost $18 million, and the parks bond total is going to stick at $20 million, that's bad news for all the other parks projects contemplated.

Well, nothing's set in stone. There will be a public hearing on all this, and more, July 16. The pool is on the table. Let the people speak.

Sink or swim, this issue just won't quit.

Like Dara Torres.

Before she was brutally and sadistically murdered, Eve Carson was kidnapped and robbed. The additional indictments returned today were overdue ...

... but necessary for the prosecution to make the strongest possible case against defendants Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette Jr.

The new charges, if presented as aggravating factors on top of a first-degree murder conviction, raise the potential for a death sentence against Atwater. That would be rare for liberal Orange County, so it seems more likely to me that the prosecutor will use the threat as leverage to force Atwater to plead guilty and accept life without parole. Who wants the agony of a trial in this case, anyway?

Lovette, only 17, isn't eligible for the death penalty. If he's guilty as charged, spending the next 60 years or so in prison may be the worst and best he can expect.

Addendum: The new indictments in the case of the murdered state trooper in Haywood County give the DA there plenty of ammunition to support the death penalty. You can bet he won't be offering any plea bargain for a life sentence there.

A state trooper’s private travel diary:

This wasn’t what I signed up for.

When the sergeant called me in for this assignment, he made it sound like some sort of lark.

“Officially, your job is to provide security for the first lady on her trip to Europe. Of course, she won’t be in any danger. No one in Europe knows who she is. Heck, most people in the state wouldn’t recognize her. And there’s no reason anyone would want to do her harm, anyway.”

“Then why am I going, sir?”

“Because a state delegation that includes the governor or a member of his family rates a security detachment. That’s you.”

“Will I wear my uniform and carry my firearm, sir?”

“Absolutely not. No need to draw attention to yourself, and Europeans don’t cotton to Americans with guns, not even if they’re law-enforcement officers.”

“Will I be driving her in a rented vehicle?”

“No need for that. They’ll have a chauffeured limousine at their disposal around the clock.”
“Around the clock? Are they sleeping in it?”

“Don’t be an idiot. They’re staying in high-class hotels. The governor has cars and drivers on standby here, and the first lady will have one there.”

“Won’t that be expensive?”

“Obscenely. But it’s not your concern. You just worry about your own expenses. You’ll be responsible for your meals, and remember that state employee reimbursement rates still apply: $7.50 for breakfast, $9.75 for lunch and $19 for dinner. You won’t be reimbursed if you exceed those amounts. They ought to be adequate. Prices are on the high side over there, but it’s not like you have to pay 60 bucks for a cheeseburger and onion rings.”

“Of course not, sergeant. That’s ridiculous.”

“Right. Well, all you have to do is accompany the first lady everywhere she goes and make sure she doesn’t have any accidents. Questions?”

“Just one, sir. What’s the purpose of her trip?”

“Purpose? I suppose they’ll call it 'cultural exchange’ or something like that. Who cares? Just go along and enjoy the sights. It’s a plum assignment.”

As it turned out, I did see some sights all right. It was quite an experience to watch the first lady and her entourage — they took to calling her M’Lady or Your Ladyship — live it up, and never mind the cost. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres at the grand hotel, then dressing up for dinner at some pricey eatery. Ordering the finest dishes on the menu. I’d grab a meal at some modest cafe — good food but within my limits — and once or twice they invited me to try some of their fancy fare. Maybe they thought I was starving. I didn’t eat much of it.

Then they’d head to the ballet or theater. For what they paid for tickets, you could get a good seat at the ACC Tournament.

As for official business, well, they met with some artsy types and talked about bringing collections of this or that to the state art museum for an exhibit. Not much seemed to get done. I don’t know anything about it, but it seems to me a couple of phone calls could have accomplished as much.

Nobody asked my opinion, and I wouldn’t give it if asked. My job calls for discretion. But I do know that expense reports of state employees are public records, so I’m sticking to what the sergeant told me. Then I won’t have any explaining to do when it all comes out, as it will sooner or later. I’m not about to risk getting fired for trying to bill the taxpayers for a hundred-dollar dinner and a bottle of French wine. If I want a European vacation, I’ll put it on my own credit card. Not that I could afford it. But some people don’t have to worry about losing their jobs.

At least no one got into any trouble over there, not even close, so I guess I did what I was supposed to for whatever that was worth.

They were all nice folks, but I didn’t feel I belonged on their junket. All in all, I can’t wait to get back on the highway chasing down speeders.

I might pull over the first chauffeur-driven Mercedes I see out there.

Thanks for reading this totally fictitious article, which is not based in any way on any real-life inviduals. I mean, how could it be?

You can call me at 373-7039, email me at dgclark@news-record.com or post a comment here.

The state bureaucrat who refused to lower the flag in memory of Jesse Helms was way out of line.

Enforced retirement might have been too harsh a response, but disciplinary action was required.

I'm sure some are hailing L.F. Eason III as a man of principle. After all, he gave up his job as head of the state standards lab after a 29-year-old career with the N.C. Department of Agriculture rather than honor a man whose views he abhorred.

I can't give him that much credit. After all, he not only defied a directive from the governor -- he ordered his subordinates to defy it as well.

"Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week," Eason wrote in an email to his staff, The N&O reported.

What Eason wants doesn't set state policy. No one elected him governor.

Furthermore, while he apparently felt entitled on account of his personal beliefs to disobey an executive order, he clearly expected his subordinates to obey his order -- no matter what their personal beliefs might be.

What if some of those staff members thought it was proper to lower the flag for Helms? Eason probably didn't want to hear it. Only his opinion mattered.

I'm truly sorry he lost his job, but he should have complied with the governor's directive. If he'd chosen to turn his back on the flag, or stand under the flagpole and make disparaging remarks about Helms, that would have been fine. But he chose the wrong way to protest.

Last summer, Kay Hagan told me she'd need to raise $100,000 a week for more than a year to run a viable campaign against Elizabeth Dole.

She exceeded that rate during the second quarter, although an earlier report showed she'd lagged far behind that pace prior to the second quarter.

I wonder if she'll be able to pick it up considering the intensive fundraising effort in North Carolina by the Barack Obama organization. I'm on the Obama email list, and I get an appeal for a donation just about every day. (Note to candidates: I don't give.) With Obama's decision to reject public financing, he's in high gear to rake in big, big money -- potentially at the expense of fellow Democrats.

However, he may more than make up for it if he pulls a huge turnout of Democratic voters to the polls in November, as he did in the May primary.

Those who vote for Obama are almost sure to vote for Hagan, too.

Because of the Obama factor, she might not be able to raise as much money as she thought she'd need.

And she might not need as much as she thought to give Dole a very close race.

When are the feds going to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants?

Now.

Maybe.

The human resources director for a poultry plant in Greenville, S.C., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 20 felony counts "charging that she instructed employees to use fraudulent employment eligibility forms," the Charlotte Observer reports.

If convicted, she could be slapped with up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

Would that send a loud enough message? Let's see if the courts follow through.

Somehow we're having a debate in North Carolina about educating illegal immigrants in our universities and community colleges so they can qualify for better jobs.

Who's going to hire them, if the feds crack down on employers?

We've either got to treat illegal immigrants as illegals, or find a way to put more of them on a legal path to education, employment and citizenship.

Earl Jones was catching praise from the libertarians at the Locke blog yesterday -- here and here.

Sure enough, the Greensboro Democrat has been sounding like one of them lately. Imagine: People want government to leave them alone.

That idea would put Democrats and Republicans out of business.

Maybe Jones should join the Libertarian Party.

A brief update on the case of Rob Coulthard, who's up for parole review 20 years after his conviction in High Point of first-degree murder (please see my column if you missed it last week):

The family of victim Sandra Coulthard met with a parole commissioner this week and felt things went well, her brother Steve Coles informed me in an email today.

They learned that the commission has received hundreds of letters expressing opposition to parole. A decision should be made in about a month.

I'll follow up.

My opinion is that Rob Coulthard does not deserve to be released from prison. Unfortunately, his "life" sentence allowed the opportunity for parole after 20 years according to sentencing guidelines in force at the time. If he is denied this year, his case will be reviewed again next year, and every year until he dies or is let out.

His victim's family will have to mount its opposition all over again each time -- a sad annual reminder of the pain and heartache they've suffered.

Who's stupider: Phil Gramm or Jesse Jackson?

Update: Cartoonist Mike Lukovich on Jackson.

He's done a good one on Gramm, too, but it isn't posted at the link above yet (4 p.m.). It may pop up there anytime.

Letter writer Dusty Schoch is all worked up over congressional resolutions that he contends are devised by "neocon-Zionists" to provide authorization for pre-emptive war against Iran.

Maybe he missed this part of S. Res. 580: "nothing in this resolution shall be construed to authorize the use of force against Iran."

H. Con. Res. 362 makes a similar statement.

Oh, and in addition to Elizabeth Dole, whom Schoch names as the co-sponsor, the Senate measure is supported by 17 Republicans, 14 Democrats, including primary sponsor Evan Bayh, and independent Joe Lieberman.

Here's the bipartisan list of 222 co-sponsors of the House resolution. These are not Bush administration initiatives.

The Senate resolution urges the president to use existing economic, political and diplomatic authority, and to lead an international effort, to pressure Iran against the development of nuclear weapons.

Iran has a nuclear program -- to what end isn't clear. Its president has expressed a desire to wipe Israel off the map. Iran supports terrorist groups. This week, Iran test-fired missiles that may have the capability of reaching Israel.

But to some people, you're a "neocon Zionist" if any of that worries you.

Those same people seem to trust the good intentions of Iran's Islamic revolutionary government more than they trust the intentions of the democratically elected Congress of the United States.

Nobody ever even erroneously declared major combat operations over in Afghanistan.

We need more detailed reporting on this battle over there yesterday. Our troops are fighting an intense war, and their stories should be told.

Here's an update from cnn.com.

Worth re-reading: Tony Snow's article in ChristianityToday a year ago.

"Blessings arrive in unexpected packages — in my case, cancer".

Republican 11th District congressional candidate Carl Mumpower suspends his campaign:

"Job one for me is to get my party back to its principles. Without that foundation, we don't need me in Washington."

Wouldn't it be great if more congressional candidates took the same stand?

I admit I'm surprised, though. I thought any politician who'd march in the Coon Dog Day parade in Saluda was a serious contender.

"Go ahead and run," Becky Smothers' doctor told her last week.

So High Point's mayor is off and running for a third straight term and sixth overall.

At the moment, Smothers has the field to herself. Any potential challengers out there must know that knocking this woman out would take some doing. A rare form of breast cancer couldn't; political opponents wouldn't give her half the battle.

The mayor waited to see what her latest tests showed, she told me today. Last week her CT scans were clean, she got her doc's OK, and yesterday she filed her papers.

Smothers held the city's top office from 1992 to '99, and has been back since 2003. She's 69 and full of vim and vigor.

Still, she paused and asked herself whether she's served long enough. "Is it time to stop?" But she didn't see anyone else who'd invested the energy to prepare for the job. She also wants High Point to "be a player, not be left out" as Triad communities pursue regional issues down the road, like merging of services.

Smothers has been active in regionalism for a long time. She's a respected leader across the Triad. She's candid, focused and determined. She's been a natural as mayor, and it's good for High Point that, voters willing, she won't be giving up or giving in yet.

Long-time Ward 2 Councilman Ron Wilkins, meanwhile, is thinking about taking some time off.

"I haven't quite decided," he said this morning. "I'm leaning on not running. If I don't run, I'll be back."

Word has gotten around because three candidates already have filed in Ward 2: Tony Davis, Pride Grimm Jr. and Foster Douglas. There's no primary, and winning will require a plurality of votes, not a majority.

Wilkins didn't comment on those contenders but added of the Council: "They're going to miss me when I'm gone because there's nobody like me."

He's right. Wilkins has a booming laugh and a heart for serving others. A Baptist minister who pastored a tiny congregation for years, he's earned a living in a variety of ways, including as a cab driver. He gets around by bus, and has been a strong advocate for expanding routes and hours of service. I'll write more about Wilkins later if he decides to step down.

The biggest surprise so far is at-large Councilman John Faircloth's shift to Ward 6, where Lisa Stahlmann won't seek re-election. Also running in that ward is Jim Corey, a retired High Point University political science prof.

Faircloth, a one-time city police chief who went into real estate, told me he wants to bridge the gulf between north High Point and "old" High Point. He feels well qualified to do that because he lived in Emerywood when he first moved to town in the '70s, then moved to Skeet Club Road about the time north High Point development was booming.

There has been some friction across the north/south divide, not only about high school assignment plans, Faircloth said.

He's right. High Point, although just passing the 100,000 mark in population, seems smaller when it's divided in two. Inner city redevelopment requires the support of the entire city. But development concerns of north High Point residents deserve attention, too.

"I feel like I can do some good" in terms of strengthening connections, Faicloth said.

Incumbent Latimer Alexander is running again for one of two at-large seats. Mary Lou Blakeney also has filed to run.

More to come as filing continues until Aug. 1.

You can see the list of candidates here.

Is a felon caught with two guns guilty of two offenses of illegal possession of a firearm, or only one?

The state Court of Appeals, in a case of first impression for North Carolina, chooses the more lenient option.

The opinion was delivered today.

It was written by Judge Douglas McCullough and joined by Judges John Tyson and Donna Stroud.

The case stems from a March 2006 wild-west shootout between the gun-toting bad guy and Thomasville police officers.

The cops got the better of the exchange, but defendant Darrell Lugene Garris won a small victory in court today.

But only one. He was also convicted at trial of attempted first-degree murder, communicating threats and possession of marijuana.

Dropping one of two weapons charges won't spare him much prison time.

In North Carolina, a murder victim has to breathe before being killed.

Hence the macabre exercise by state and military investigators earlier this year to determine whether the lungs of slain Marine Maria Lauterbach’s fetus contained traces of oxygen at the time of death. If so, suspect Cesar Laurean could be charged with two murders instead of one.

The autopsy was negative. Lauterbach’s unborn baby, although nearly full term, was not an individual person under the state’s criminal statutes.

Republican legislators want to change that, but their proposed fetal homicide law, ironically, won’t get a chance for life, either. House and Senate versions have been buried in committees since they were introduced last year.

Interest stirs occasionally, usually after a pregnant woman is murdered. The latest is Megan Lynn Touma, another military woman. The Fort Bragg soldier, seven months pregnant, was found dead June 21 in Fayetteville. No arrest has been made.

Last year, a Durham woman was shot to death near her home eight months into pregnancy, and the alleged father was charged with her murder.

Also last year, a Wake County woman delivering USA Today newspapers to earn extra money for her family was stabbed to death.

“Instead of celebrating the birth of a baby boy who was due Sunday, the family will hold a candlelight vigil tonight near the North Carolina Capitol to call attention to the deaths of Jennifer Nielsen and her 8-month-old fetus, who would have been named Ethen,” USA Today reported.

“We’re trying to show these legislators that my grandson died and they’re not even acknowledging his existence,” Nielsen’s father told the newspaper.

That’s not quite true. Current law does provide that a person who, in commission of a felony against a woman he knows to be pregnant, causes an injury that results in a miscarriage or stillbirth can be charged with a felony “one class higher” than the felony committed.

Of course, in the case of first-degree murder, there is no higher felony. So there’s no additional penalty for killing a pregnant woman.

Most states have much stronger laws than that on their books, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Virginia, for example, the conference notes, a 2004 statute “declares that any person who unlawfully, willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation kills a fetus is guilty of a Class 2 felony.” The penalty is five to 40 years in prison.

The North Carolina proposal would create a separate offense for killing a pregnant woman and causing the death of “an unborn child.” That term isn’t defined. No evidence would be required to show the accused knew the woman was pregnant or intended to harm the fetus.

Opposition to this measure has been quietly effective. Pro-choice advocates see it as a threat, and Democratic legislators clearly don’t want to undermine the foundation of legalized abortion by extending legal recognition to any “unborn child.”

I suspect that’s exactly what some proponents of the fetal homicide bill have in mind.

Nevertheless, the measure includes language explicitly stating it does not apply to an abortion conducted with the consent of the pregnant woman. That should satisfy people worried about the reach of this initiative.

In fact, rather than reject legal protection for a fetus, champions of “choice” should embrace the idea. When a woman chooses to carry a baby to term, she’s assigned the highest value to the developing life within her. Denying the humanity of that person prior to its birth devalues the mother’s decision. How can one be pro-choice but contend the object of choice shouldn’t hold legal status until it appears in the delivery room?

Those of us who haven’t experienced the tragedy of losing a loved one to violence can’t understand the horror or anguish, but surely we’d feel a double loss if the victim were carrying a longed-for child.

What difference whether it ever drew a breath?

Thanks for reading. You can contact me at dgclark@news-record.com or 373-7039. Better yet, post a comment here.

I believe Sidney Lowe II was granted almost unheard of leniency for serious crimes not only because of who his father is but because of where his father was yesterday ...

... in court with his son.

Yes, the senior Lowe's status as N.C. State basketball coach and his financial assets assured that he could hire the best defense attorneys for his son. An ordinary defendant, lacking those advantages, likely would have been given at least the minimum term called for by structured sentencing guidelines.

Judge Henry Frye Jr. found extraordinary mitigating circumstances to justify a term of 15 months at the minimum-security Guilford County prison farm. The young Lowe completed drug treatment, apologized and promised to make something great of his life.

Anyone could do that.

What really seems to separate him from so many other young men pulled into the criminal-justice system is his strong support system including a mother and father, as well as other family members.

Maybe they should have done more to keep Sidney II out of trouble in the first place, but it's reasonable to expect they'll do everything possible to keep him out of trouble again after he finishes his 15 months of easy time.

He'lll have a better chance than many other defendants who never had a supportive family, let alone a father to embrace him and declare, "I feel I have my son back."

The bully bill being debated in Raleigh has been much reported, but one little provision hasn't been mentioned much:

"A school employee, student, or volunteer who has witnessed or has reliable information that a student or school employee has been subject to any act of bullying or harassing behavior shall report the incident to the appropriate school official."

Focus on "student ... shall report ..."

Your kid is required to snitch.

But first, I suppose, he's got to determine whether he actually has witnessed or received "reliable information" of the prohibited behavior.

Most kids know what bullying is, but "harassing behavior" is harder to define. The bill says it's a pattern of gestures or written, electronic or verbal communications that does or is certain to create a hostile environment that can impair a student's educational performance, opportunities or benefits.

Quite a bit for, say, a third-grader to chew on.

So, Johnny hears that Tommy's passing around another nasty note about Susie. The last one said she had hairy legs, this one says she has cooties. He hasn't seen the note, but Frankie told him about it, and Frankie usually knows what's going on. Johnny thinks Susie will be very upset if she finds out and probably won't do well in the third-grade spelling bee on Friday. Does Johnny have to tell on Tommy? If he does, Tommy, who can be a bully, almost certainly will beat him up after school.

I know it's bad when kids call each other mean names. When it happened to us, our moms always gave us the "sticks and stones ..." advice. Or, "That's life, kid. You've got to roll with the punches."

Now it's, "Tell the teacher if Tommy sticks out his tongue at you. That's harassment. The law says so."

Goog grief. Just when you think the uproar over The New Yorker's satirical cover illustration of the Obamas could not get worse, here comes the NAACP.

The civil rights organization denounced the parody as "tasteless, Islam-a-phobic, mean spirited and racially offensive."

Unbelievable. The depiction was a lampoon of the idiots who spread malicious misconceptions about Barack and Michelle Obama. Although The New Yorker is regarded as sophisticated, this was not subtle satire. It should have been simple enough for anyone to get, except possibly for those who are determined to see the Obamas in the worst possible light ...

... and of course, humorless, hypersensitive organizations like the Council for American Islamic Relations.

Now I suppose we have to put the NAACP in the same category (if it wasn't already).

I don't figure the NAACP is so dense that it didn't understand the message conveyed by the magazine's cover. So it must mean something else by its condemnation of an obvious defense of the Obamas, not an attack on them.

My guess: It's warning the media that Obama can't be treated like other U.S. politicians. A different standard applies to him. Even those who are on his side, politically, have to show proper respect.

The trouble is, presidents have been lampooned and even mocked for ages. Civil-war era cartoonists often presented unflattering depictions of Lincoln, and I doubt any president has been spared since.

Comedians have joined the act. Remember Chevy Chase's portrayals of a bumbling Gerald Ford on "Saturday Night Live"?

Dare not pull something like that on Obama, the NAACP says. It would be "racially offensive."

The irony is that gag writers already are having a tough time with Obama, The New York Times reported this week. One reason cited is that the earnest Illinois senator isn't "buffoonish" in any way. Another is that audiences seem resistant to jokes about him.

Obviously, he's a serious man running for an important job. In some ways, Americans probably have become too irreverent toward their leaders.

But let's not head too far in the other direction. We're a people who like to laugh at ourselves -- and our leaders aren't immune.

Heaven help us if any barbs directed at Obama are going to be labeled as racially offensive just because he's black. (And, let's not forget, The New Yorker wasn't even skewering Obama.)

Come on, NAACP. Get serious ... about humor.

Nancy Pelosi hammered President Bush in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, but she threw in an expression typically used by Southerners to soften an otherwise unkind remark:

"Well, you know, God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject."

I'll leave it to another day to discuss whether Bush has been a "total failure" as president (the record doesn't look good, but "total" is a hard assessment to back up).

More interesting for today is Pelosi's sugar-coating of her insulting comment. Her terminology is very familiar to those of us in this part of the country.

An entry on the online Urban Dictionary explains.

Ed Cone wrote about the expression in his N&R column a few years back:

"Another insult, although velveted and used by the sweetest-sounding ladies, is 'bless his heart,' meaning, 'I agree with the unkind thing you have just said but do not wish to say so myself.'

"Example: 'That newspaper columnist is as dumb as a box of rocks,' he said. 'Bless his heart,' she replied."

Bluegrass artist Sam Bush recorded a song called "Bless his heart."

The late, great son of the South, Lewis Grizzard, made liberal use of the phrase, as in:

"For years, I thought drive-in theaters were for watching movies out-of-doors. Then I went to one with Kathy Sue Loudermilk, bless her heart. She was a lovely child and a legend before her sixteenth birthday. She was twenty-one, however, before she knew an automobile had a front seat."

It surprised me to hear the term coming from San Francisco resident Pelosi. Then I remembered Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore, close enough to the South to absorb some of its language and manners. She can lay claim to the kindly, cutting expression, and she used it deftly.

Bless her heart.

I've been prompting my 16-year-old niece in Michigan to include High Point University on her college list, and national publicity like this isn't hurting my case.

There are argument for buying local ...

... and arguments against.

You can't find home-grown coffee.

Besides, what's wrong with helping growers who really need the business -- no matter where they are in the world?

This is my coffee source.

N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough's re-election campaign looks like a book tour.

He's promoting "Sea of Greed, the True Story of America's Biggest Drug Raid," his account (with co-author Les Pendleton), of a case he prosecuted as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1980s.

From the Web site:

"When the Coast Guard hailed a Gulf Coast shrimp trawler near Cape Lookout, NC on the 4th of July weekend, 1982, the routine stop set in motion a chain-of-events that ended with the U.S. invasion of Panama, overthrow of dictator Manuel Noriega, and one of the biggest drug busts in America’s history.

"Now more than 25 years later, the full story is revealed in a gripping true-life account by the man who brought the drug lord to justice.

"J. Douglas McCullough, the U.S. attorney who unraveled the Cayman Island cartel, reveals never-before-known facts of the case that began on the docks of the historic fishing village of Beaufort, NC when authorities found a shrimp boat full of marijuana."

You can read an excerpt here at metronc.com

Judges generally find it hard to attract voters' attention. They don't have televised debates, buy much advertising or hold big campaign rallies. But McCullough has put a few book signings and presentations on his schedule. His book has drawn a bit of press coverage, like this.

I can't say a thing about the literary merits of "Sea of Greed," but I can see its potential value to McCullough's campaign. I'd say he's taken a novel approach to running ... except his book isn't fiction.

Peace Corps director Ronald Tschetter strongly defends his agency in response to a critical assessment in Foreign Policy magazine by Robert Strauss.

Strauss, a former volunteer and country director, makes a case that the Peace Corps, approaching its 50th anniversary, has never figured out what it wants to be when it grows up.

Biting comments: "The reason the Peace Corps is overlooked as a development organization has a lot to do with the youth and inexperience of the majority of its volunteers. Equally important is its unwillingness to decide if it is a development organization or an organization with a mission 'to promote world peace and friendship,' as stipulated by Congress in the Peace Corps Act. It would like to be both, but finds itself falling short on both objectives because it cannot decide which is the more important.

"Many Peace Corps staff and volunteers see development work as a burdensome obligation undertaken only to legitimize the cultural exchange aspects of the agency. But without a focus on economic development and an improvement in standards of living, the Peace Corps is really little more than an extended, government-sponsored semester-abroad program. For applicants, the Peace Corps emphasizes the personal experience, not the volunteer’s development impact. That, of course, is not how the Peace Corps pitches itself to foreign governments, to whom it promises significant technical development assistance — only to provide predominantly recent college graduates who may or may not have any useful skills to offer."

I don't know much beyond the experience of Andrew and a few of his fellow volunteers in Tanzania 2005-07. It seems to me that two-plus years living without electricity, with limited water, lacking transportation and other conveniences can't be compared to a "semester abroad." He didn't have a "development" job unless teaching math to secondary school students for whom a competent, dedicated teacher is a rarity counts as development. It's developing human potential, isn't it?

I don't doubt that some of Strauss' criticisms are valid. The fact is, the Peace Corps doesn't send highly trained, professional development officers overseas. That's why its people are called volunteers and get paid about $5 a day. They live with the locals, like the locals -- a great way to get to know each other.

I suppose there are some goofballs who do a lousy job, some who don't last very long away from the comforts of home, some who make such a bad impression they ought to be sent home on the next plane.

Maybe there's a better formula. It is remarkable, I suppose, that PC gives volunteers, most of them in their 20s, just three months training then sends them to the middle of nowhere with next to no supervision and often no other Americans nearby and expects them to do tough jobs well on behalf of the U.S. government. The notion might even be crazy. But for the right type of American, that's half the attraction.

Any PCVs want to comment on Strauss' assessment?

Charlotte-Meck school board member Trent Merchant calls Maurice Green "a no-brainer for Greensboro," the Observer reports.

Shirley Prince "would be sorely missed" by Scotland County Schools if she left for Guilford County, board chairman Buck Carter tells the Laurinburg Exchange.

What's your opinion about the two candidates?

Ron Wilkins, longtime High Point city councilman representing Ward 2, won't run for re-election this year, he tells me this morning.

One issue is health concerns. But he's not closing the door on a political comeback in the future.

I hope Wilkins will return to public service. He's given a lot to High Point over the years in many different ways. I'll write more about that in a future column.

For now, I wish him the best.

Update, 5:15 p.m. Tuesday: With Wilkins out, the field of candidates in Ward 2 continues to expand. As of today's filing, the contenders are Julius Clark, Tony Davis, Foster Douglas, Pride Grimm Jr. and Fitzgerald Waller.

The complete candidate list for Guilford County elections is here. High Point City Council filing ends Aug. 1

There is no primary in High Point, and no runoff. The candidate with the most votes on Election Day wins. Mathematically, in Ward 2 that could be someone with 20 percent plus one vote ...

... unless even more candidates get in the race. Then the theoretical threshold could drop further.

Kay Hagan has video from Coon Dog Day in Saluda.

Photos, too.

If she wins ...

My column today:

Nationally, the press for High Point University has never been better.

“This once-sleepy institution in the hills of North Carolina has undergone a revival in the last couple of years, thanks in part to its jaw-dropping menu of student services,” The Chronicle of Higher Education noted in its July 4 edition.

Last week, an Associated Press story from New York about student amenities on college campuses led with HPU.

I sent copies of both articles to my 16-year-old niece in Michigan. A college that spoils students with concierge service, valet parking and birthday cake is her kind of place.

The news at home, though, has been a little less peachy. Or, as High Point City Councilman Latimer Alexander put it Monday, “The honeymoon, it’s just over.”

Alexander and other city officials have been fielding complaints from neighbors of the rapidly expanding university, some of whom feel almost run over. But he’s got his own gripe: Bicycling on West College Drive next to campus on a recent weekend, he was stopped by an HPU security officer who informed him he was on private property.

The university is petitioning the city to close West College, but it’s still a public street.

Some High Pointers think HPU, led by its energetic, charismatic and irrepressible president, Nido Qubein, is growing too fast with no end in sight. It now covers 140 acres, compared to only 90 just a few years ago. Almost ready to open a residential “village” that will house hundreds of students and offer bowling, movies and a steakhouse across West Lexington Avenue from the main campus, HPU is poised to swallow the College Village Shopping Center next, rumors say.

Except the rumors are wrong, Chris Dudley, vice president for community relations, told me Monday (Qubein is out of the country).

“The reality is the university has really expanded as much as we’re going to expand,” Dudley said. It may consider acquiring additional properties adjacent to residence halls, but “we really have what we need.”

Some neighbors remain unhappy — not surprising if they never counted on living near several hundred college students. Some complained about a new billboard facing their homes. It featured nice-looking college kids, but city officials say it violates the sign ordinance. Construction noise, heavy machinery and more activity naturally disturb nearby residents. And some think the school has become too vigilant about security.

“We take very seriously our promise to our parents that we are going to keep our students safe,” Dudley said. Security personnel now discourage pedestrians from cutting through the campus.

Alexander noted with concern the college’s tendency to build walls — with bricks and mortar, but in other ways, too. Offering everything students need on campus might keep their dollars out of the cash registers of local businesses.

Not so, said Dudley. The university operates a shuttle bus that takes students to Oak Hollow Mall and other retail centers. The concierge service makes reservations for students at High Point restaurants. Summer camp participants from out of town stay at the downtown Radisson. More than a hundred summer program students just attended the premier of “The Dark Knight” at a local theater. Increasing numbers of students and faculty boost High Point’s fortunes. And, area contractors are getting all the construction work.

“The university has a $321 million-a-year economic impact, and it’s growing,” Dudley said.

Everybody has a point. As a High Point resident, I am amazed and impressed by the university’s dynamic changes. A few years ago, I never would have thought to encourage a niece to apply. There’s a good reason why applications and enrollment are surging.

Yet, somehow, contradictions have emerged. While the university often hosts community events like a free, outdoor Arts Council concert Sunday, some in the community feel alienated. While it promotes public service, it risks creating an image of students who are pampered and self-indulgent. While it contributes immensely to High Point’s economy, its appetite for growth unnerves some.

I don’t see any impasse that can’t be overcome with time and good will. If HPU’s growth spurt has stopped, neighbors will relax. If more students spend money around town, businesses will benefit. And if the university welcomes the public for cultural and athletic events, or just to enjoy the beauty of the campus, relations will improve.

Honeymoons always end. It’s what follows that counts.

Thanks for reading. You can call me at 373-7039, email me at dgclark@news-record.com or, even better, post a comment here.