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When I heard President Bush in person last summer tell minority journalists that he'd have had a snowball's chance of getting into Yale without legacy admissions -- and that he thought such preferences, often for the rich or at least the very well-off, were unfair -- I flatly predicted that this would be the last we'd hear of this subject from the Oval Office.

Boy was I right.

Pressed in August by journalist Roland S. Martin on the issue at the Unity Convention of black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic reporters and editors in Washington, Bush said yes,something ought to be done about legacy preferences. And in light of the administration's stance against what it charged was preferential treatment in admissions for minorities to the University of Michigan Law School, the president was hard-pressed to say much else.

"In my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow the old man," the president quipped as he squirmed around the circumstances of his own wink-and-nod college admission.

So far as I can tell, he never mentioned the topic again.

For the record, here are some realities about legacy admissions, according to The Wall Street Journal:

1. Five Supreme Court justices or their children have qualified for legacy preferences.

2. Legacy preferences overwhelmingly benefit whites.

3. Legacy admissions account for between 10 percent to 15 percent of students at most Ivy League schools and enjoy much higher rates of acceptance than other applicants. At Harvard,40 percent of legacy applicants were enrolled in 2003 versus 11 percent of applicants overall. Princeton took 35 percent of alumni children, as compared to 11 percent of overall applicants. The University of Pennsylvania accepted 41 percent of legacies, compared versus 21 percent of applicants overall.

4. Legacy admissions are allowed to keep alumni (read: well-heeled donors) happy, even at taxpayer-supported state schools.

But racial minorities remain a favorite scapegoat and target when charges of preferences fly (from college admissions to newspaper hiring). Go figure.

Somehow I suspect Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson is somewhere polishing up another granite monument bearing the Ten Commandments.

Robinson, you might recall, treated the Commandments like a corporate sponsorship ("These Words to Live By Brought to You by Vernon Robinson"), plopping a granite version of them in 2003 at the doorstep of Winston's city hall. Then he gleefully held a press conference.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore had defied a federal court order to remove a 5,300-pound monument of the Ten Commandments from that state's judicial building. Robinson, who mounted an unsuccessful, way over-the-top campaign for Congress, couldn't resist a related photo op.

Anyway, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments for and against the public display of the Commandments in government buildings.

This may sound especially blasphemous in the Bible Belt, but I don't get it. Wouldn't we do better to try to live the Commandments rather than bicker over mere symbols of them?

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I participated on a panel Wednesday night at UNCG on the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project.

The initiative seeks to revisit the Nov. 3, 1979 Klan/Nazi killings at Morningsdie Homes in a quest for what its organizers call "restorative justice." A panel of community members will review documents and hear testimony related to the event.

Their ultimate goal, they say, is not to assign blame but to allow healing.

The News & Record has supported the effort editorially, but the community seems either dramatically split, for and against it, or just plain indifferent. Some suspect a hidden agenda, or an attempt to rewrite history. Done right, though, this effort could help Greensboro learn and benefit from one of the darkest, most disturbing chapters in its history.

Five anti-Klan demonstrators died in an event preserved from start to finish on news footage shot by four different TV crews. No one ever was convicted in a court of law.

Some blame it all on "outsiders" who simply chose Greensboro as their battlefield. Others say both sides in the clash were despicable: Klansmen and Nazis, and Communist labor organizers. "What's a few dead communists?" someone once said to me.

But this is supposed to be America. No one has license here to kill people in cold blood, in broad daylight, because of their ideas.

Here is some of what I told the 18 people who attended:

Jim Melvin and I failed to hit it off from day one.

We were both speaking at a class for newcomers several years ago and about all we seemed to agree on is that the city''s name is spelled with a capital G.

I don't recall the specifics of the debate, only that it had something to do with local history.

Melvin, a former mayor, said "to-may-to" and I said "to-mah-to" and things pretty much went downhill from there.

Six years later I still don't always agree with Jim Melvin.

I wish he weren't so dismissive of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I still believe he's too old-school in some of his politics and that he'd just as soon get stuff done without all this consensus-building nonsense.

But I have grown to appreciate who he is and what he stands for. And I will never doubt his passion for Greensboro.

Consider two of his most recent accomplishments.

Letters to the Editor remain one of our most popular features, on the traditional printed page and in blog form. But not everyone is pleased with them.

This email came from a reader this week:

"I think the concept of letters to the editor is greatly diminished by the option of writing feedback to a letter. Letters to the editor should be reserved for well-written 200-word letters SIGNED by the person who submitted them.

"The brainless ranting that follows allows an unlimited forum to people who otherwise would not be willing to sign their real name. If someone wants to respond to a letter, let them craft 200 words in cogent sentences and sign their own name! This shouldn't look like a teenager's Web site!"

We hope it doesn't. Some of the conversations can go overboard in the letters blog, but many are thoughtful and well-written. But that's one man's opinion. What do others think?

Meanwhile, another reader wondered whether the paper should be more selective in the letters we (actually, it's usually me) choose for publication. She said she had grown especially weary of so many faith-oriented letters, particularly those that quote Leviticus, over and over.

Amen to that.

In general, however, we take a populist view to our letters; so far as space permits, we try to offer a representative sample of what people are thinking. Sometimes that may mean letters that aren't as eloquent as others but that still offer clear arguments and interesting ideas.

As for our use of more faith-oriented letters, they merely reflect where are in history. Like it or not, religion has become a focal part of public policy.

Now, I won't run letters that quote one biblical verse after another, but others that debate religious issues often make the cut.

As for the letters blog concern, we still hope and believe that the plusses outweigh the minuses of the concept by making the letters columns more alive and fluid -- that the opportunity to hold ongoing discussions about a letter's arguments extends the reach and the shelf life of the letter.

But I could be wrong. This is a brave new world for us. We'll have to see how these new initiatives play out over time and we appreciate your feedback.

Wake Forest's laser-quick star guard, Chris Paul, got precisely what he deserved for his cheap, nationally televised shot in the you-know-where of N.C. State's Julius Hodge Sunday night.

Paul has been suspended for one game of this week's ACC Tournament for the blow, which he had initially denied was intentional. Paul later changed that tune, in the glare of repeated taped highlights of the incident.

Paul is supposed to be what's right about collegiate athletics -- a model citizen who has been nicknamed the unofficial mayor of Winston-Salem.

"I would like to apologize to Julius Hodge, the N.C. State team, Wake Forest fans and my teammates for an incident that I truly regret," Paul said Monday in a written statement. "Sunday night was emotional for me for many reasons, and I let my emotions get the best of me. However, that is no excuse for my actions, and I fully accept and agree with my suspension."

And well he should.

What Elon University says, it does. Fast.

The school already has named a new dean for its planned new law school in downtown Greensboro.

And he appears to be the perfect choice.

Leary Davis, a law professor at Campbell University in Buies Creek, has been there and done that. Davis was the founding dean at Campbell's law school, so he knows about start-ups.

Davis will begin work (surprise) immediately at the law school's temporary headquarters, the News & Record reports today.

The windy city: While being blown along Elm Street the other day, I couldn't help but be impressed by the new facade of the Civil Rights Museum, especially the restored, red-and-gold Woolworth signs. This museum should be a showpiece when it opens.

Meanwhile, I can envision now what Roy Carroll II wants to do to the old Wachovia tower. With its outer skin recast in its original gray and a few aesthetic accents here and there, it won't look half-bad.

It also would be nice one night to see that tall dark spot on the skyline finally relit. ...

'Today Show' priorities: Mount St. Helen's might blow. Peace might break out in the Middle East. Gas prices go spastic. Now back to the Michael Jackson trial. ...

Tired Trek: They are mercifully putting the latest "Star Trek" TV series out of its misery. The series has gotten so predictable that it boldly goes every week it's been 100 times before. Nobody asked me, but here's what they ought to do: Reinvent "Trek." Get Quentin Tarantino to direct. I'd pay to see that. ...

Road rules: I add this gripe to all those letters to the editor about rude, oblivious drivers: Whatever happened to the courtesy wave?

I made room for one motorist struggling to merge with rush-hour traffic the other day and he didn't even bother to look my way.

Now, I'm not looking for a Nobel Prize, but a simple thank-you gesture isn't too much to ask, is it? There oughtta be a law. ...

"Million Dollar" movie: Saw Clint Eastwood's superb Oscar winner, "Million Dollar Baby," at the Grande Saturday. Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank all give brilliant performances -- and a heart-tugging twist in the movie's plot that I won't reveal here stokes an already heated political and ethical debate.

That turn in the story may anger some people, but all I can say is it rings true to the characters' personalities and motivations. ...

A fairly low-key movement to name the county's newest high school is slowly turning up the volume.

No offense, these folks say, but we don't want another one of those nondescript directional names, as in Southeast, Southwest, Southern, Northeast, Western or Northwest.

The new school tentatively would be christened Northern High. But many are suggesting that it instead bear the name of a famous native son, legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow.

Murrow, who was born in Pole Cat creek outside of Greensboro, is arguably the father of broadcast journalism and built his fame as a correspondent covering World War II. But, as the late Rodney Dangerfield might say, he don't get no respect around here -- or at least not as much as he deserves.

Local legends or more compass points? And if not Murrow, then who? The school board will make the final call. We're working on an editorial for this weekend.

So many opportunities, so little time and money.

The nine-story Southeastern Building in downtown Greensboro is for sale.

The owners have been forced to declare bankruptcy and to find a buyer to satisfy an unpaid federal tax bill.

That means the landmark building could become an active player in downtown revival as a residential development.

It has been neglected over the years and features a number of architectural flourishes that a caring new owner (such as a Milton Kern) could restore and burnish.

But like the old Wachovia tower, it would pose an expensive reclamation project ... ironically because it is so sturdily built.

Stay tuned. This could get really good.

Following a blistering protest by some parents, Grimsley High School has abandoned plans to create a ninth-grade academy.

The episode offers several lessons, among them:

1. The tension between the haves and have-nots in our schools. The program would have addressed underachievers, but some parents worried about the impact it would have had on the achievers. I'm not convinced the achievers would have suffered.

2. Money talks. The academy would have been funded with a federal grant. Now the school will consider other options to address the high failure rate among ninth-graders. How to pay for it remains unclear.

3. The disgruntled parents say they share concern for the struggling students. I hope these parents are equally engaged in finding new solutions as opposing the old one.

4. Communication was a big problem. The outcome might have been different if parents had been apprised of the plan from the start.

A friend of mine recently put his suburban house on the market. Then he took it off. Now he's considering putting it on again.

He's had it up to here with life in the hinterlands, where nobody knows your name. And apparently, nobody wants to.

Too many times, he says, he's said hello to people while jogging or taking a stroll. Too often they've looked at him as if he were crazy.

I don't know if it's fair to lump all of us suburbanites together in one big mass of self-absorption.

I, too, live in one of those far-off neighborhoods with wide streets, pastoral names, lots of cul-de-sacs and reasonably tasteful but not too expensive houses based on a half-dozen floor plans. People in my community are at least cordial and some are downright friendly. The neighborhood is racially mixed and generally peaceful. Many of us even clean up after our dogs.

But I must confess to feeling an occasional ache when visiting an old-school, in-close neighborhood such as Westerwood, Aycock, College Hill or Fisher Park.

There's a certain feel in those places that you don't seem to get in those sprawling, paint-by-the-numbers developments that stretch ever northward toward the Virginia border, where the last guy who moves in surely will be within walking distance of a lottery ticket.

Westerwood? you might wonder. Isn't that the place where the guy painted his house purple and where people are always at one another's throats?

Well, yeah. But there's also palpable warmth and feeling of community in Westerwood. Even the people who disagree know each other.

This reader (who did not identify himself or herself in an e-mail) did not take kindly to our editorial suggestion that the new high school in Greensboro be named for something other than another direction:

"I do not agree that a name would be better. Why is the tradition of compass points so bad? The county has a rich tradition of quality schools with directional names and I assure you that each of us that graduated from those schools find it offensive when you attack those names."

Some recent comments and questions from readers:

Bill Burckley has taken umbrage with my column's reference to him last week. Burckley, an outspoken opponent of the downtown ballpark, called the reference to him "gratuitous."

I had written that if Melvin had decided to build a ballpark on the moon, Burckley would find a reason to oppose it. When informed the mention was a tongue-in-cheek illustration of how he rarely agrees with Melvin, Burckley disagreed with that, too.

"I agree with Jim Melvin on this Truth and Reconciliation thing," he said, referring to the panel that will revisit the Nov. 3, 1979 Klan/Nazi shootings.

"What a bunch of communists. What a bunch of losers. He and I see completely eye-to-eye."

Um, OK, Bill. ...

Another reader took issue with our word choice in an editorial on the Michael Jackson trial. Noting that we described the child molestation charges against Jackson as a controversy that is "juicy," Bill Brown called to protest.

"It seems to me that your choice of the word 'juicy' is despicable," Brown said. "Apparently you're not that familiar with child molestation and how troubling that is. You should pick your words better."

Mr. Brown is right. We should have been more sensitive.

Two readers complained of our choice of a syndicated editorial cartoon that depicted Pope John Paul at the bedside of Terri Shiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who is being kept alive with a feeding tube. "Suffering can be of value, my dear," he tells her.

They said the cartoon it was insensitive and pointless.

The theme of the cartoon, as I interpreted it, was its opposition to keeping Schiavo alive when she is arguably in an irreversible vegetative state. These two readers didn't share that interpretation, saying they didn't know what the cartoonist was trying to say but that whatever it was, it lacked judgment and taste.

Editorial cartoons by nature tend to push the envelope. One of the worst things an editorial cartoon can be is too safe. Yet we also try not to go so far as to be tasteless or offensive. We went too far in this case.

We try to choose cartoons carefully, treading the line between being provocative and not being boring or too predictable. Sometimes we succeed.

Finally, a reader questioned letters to the editor that criticized County Commissioner Skip Alston for charging that some city staff members were racist.

Citing the grisly killing by whites of a black man in Jasper, Texas, and the beatings of black men by police, the caller said he was disturbed at how the letter writers dismissed Alston so quickly and so unequivocally. "I can't believe you guys printed those letters," he said.

"Sometimes it is racism," he said

David Wharton wonders whether my assessment that there's no "there there" in my suburban neighborhood may be more a design problem than anything else.

He writes:

"Neighborhoods congeal in public places like pocket parks and on sidewalks, where people can comfortably bump into each other and socialize informally, or in in-between places like front porches, where you can plunk yourself down for a drink, and your presence there is an invitation for passers-by (on the sidewalk) either just to wave and move on, or to saunter up for a little conversation."

And he indicates that there may be a viable new option in his neck of the woods.

Hmmmmm. Intriguing.

My Sunday column (which also will be posted here) catches up with John Oliver, a local 21-year-old who has wanted to enlist in the military, but has had trouble because he's got too many tattoos.

The military has gotten very strict on tattoos, and has enacted new policies on the quantity, subject matter and placement of body art on its recruits.

The military also is struggling to attract new soldiers. We'll see Sunday what that means for John.

I got this note this week from an old friend, David Sullivan, whom I hadn't seen in a while.

Now I know why: He and his and wife Robin have up and moved away from my suburban neck of the woods. I finally found this out after last week's column about my own itch to move closer to the center city. David, by the way, is active in the Sierra Club and was a member of the Smart Growth Coalition between developers and environmentalists.

Hi, Allen. Robin and I loved your editorial Sunday. What you wrote is US! We too were thinking seriously about moving downtown. Robin and I just love it down town. Some Saturdays we will just stroll down through town. We love the atmosphere and "ambiance" of the center city.

So, when we decided to move, downtown was on our short list of places to live. But, like you, we had dogs to consider. If we only had our 35-pound Baxter to consider, then we may have pursued looking at an apartment or town home.

However, a 175-pound Great Dane named Gunther is a totally different subject. We selected a home on Audubon Drive in Starmount. We wanted to get back closer to town, shopping and work. In our old house, I was 13 miles one way from my office. The drive was over 30 minutes, and after 3 years I was sick of the drive. Sounding familiar?

We loved our old suburban home. The walkability of the neighborhood with sidewalks and trails is hard to top.

Our move to Audubon has been wonderful. There are no sidewalks here, but that has proven to be a minor nuisance. Neighbors go out of their way to meet you. Everyone says hello. It is not unusual to stop in the middle of the street while on a walk to talk to neighbors.

Everyone picks up their pet's poop. There is a respect here that was at times missing in the suburbs. My drive to work is about 15 minutes, but with the continued development along Wendover, the drive time keeps creeping up. Friendly Shopping Center is less than 5 minutes away. We have never second-guessed our move. If I ever wondered if all my work and effort to promote smart growth has been worth it, then our move has proved it is. Starmount is far from being a compact development, does not have sidewalks and is not mixed use.

But!! It is a true neighborhood with parks, narrow streets, parallel streets and easy access to shopping. This past month we had three homes on the street go up for sale. All three sold in less than a month. Says something does it not? l could go on, but you already know all this.

If you ever want to move back in closer to town, come on over to Audubon Drive. We would love to have you as a neighbor.

David E. Sullivan

Some of you were displeased when a series of editor's notes attached to letters directed you to a blog for a fuller explanation on the thinking behind a controversial story (in this case, coverage of a fatal SUV crash involving a teen driver and passengers).

To put it mildly, you didn't want the explanation in a blog. You wanted it in the printed paper.

My colleague, News & Record Editor John Robinson, and I thought the blog might be a nice way to give you a fuller explanation than an editor's note would allow. We may have been wrong.

John explains.

It's not that I haven't wanted to post new entries; I just haven't felt much like it.

Tward the middle of this week I began to cough a little. Then a lot.

Now I'm a walking, wheezing germ bomb. Come near at your own risk.

Apparently, I am not alone. If I heard correctly, City Council member Yvonne Johnson (no relation, aside from being my sistuh in misery) was struggling with the Crud at Tuesday's meeting.

This condition is more aggravating than debilitating. I've got stuff to do.

For now, I'm going to bed.

As terrorist insurgents continue to kill innocents in peace-ravaged Iraq, the U.S. military has been stretched to the brink.

Soldiers don't know when their enlistments will end. Many who have been to Iraq are being ordered to go back. Recruiters are struggling to meet quotas.

Desperate to keep a few good men and women in uniform, the military is offering lucrative bonuses to troops that re-up. In December, the National Guard announced that it is tripling bonuses for soldiers who re-enlist as well as new recruits.

Back home in Greensboro, John Oliver had wanted to help. They wouldn't let him.

Oliver, you may recall, is the Greensboro man who desperately wanted to enlist despite all the risks of military service during a time of war.

Oliver, a 21-year-old graduate of Northwest Guilford High School, longed to wear the same uniform as his late father, a career Marine. His mother also was an officer, a Marine captain who served in Vietnam. His brother is a Navy pilot.

But the tattoos that sprawl up and down his arms exceed stricter new military regulations on the size and quantity of body art. When the Navy wouldn't take him wouldn't take him he went to the Marines.
When the Marines wouldn't budge he tried the Air Force.

He appealed to senators and congressmen. No luck there either.

Meanwhile, National Public Radio was running a feature on a soldier based in Iraq who has opened a popular business there in his spare time.

He sells tattoos to his fellow soldiers. They wait in line for the opportunity.

Most of what was (cough) ailing me has run its (wheeze) course.

After several days in bed I am back, none the worse for wear (hack, hack).

Whatever this is ... flu, virus, something in between ... it definitely is going around. We are passing round packs of Hall's Mentholyptus at the paper.

If you got 'em, suck 'em.

A longtime contributor to the News & Record's op-ed pages, Mimi Stang, died Wednesday at age 75.

I never met Mimi in person, but I felt as if I knew her through the pieces she occasionally submitted to the Sunday Second Opinion pages.

They were bright, funny gems about the foibles of everyday people and the misdventures of everyday life. They always brought a smile or a chuckle.

Her last piece for us, according to our archives, ran on Jan. 13, 2002.

Among a litany of questions in no particular order, she mused, "Why can't I clean up my house? More importantly, why don't I care?"

And "Why, in the twilight of my life, does the singer Ricky Martin turn me on?"

"Mimi embraced life and took nothing for granted," her obituary said in Thursday's paper. "She could see the humor in even the most difficult situations and never failed to put things into their proper perspective.

"Mimi touched so many people -- young and old, rich and poor, new acquaintances and dear old friends."

That spirit shone through in her little essays. They were among the many ways readers' voices have made our pages more interesting and more special over the years.

A front-page feature in a recent edition of The New York Times (registration required) wonders whether urban renaissances in the nation's center cities are missing a key ingredient: children.

After all, the story notes, most downtown revitalization is built on two key demographics ... empty nesters and young professionals.

In neither case are children a major part of the equation (there are more dogs than children in Seattle, the story notes).

The Times reports: "Officials say that the very things that attract people who revitalize a city -- dense vertical housing, fashionable restaurants and shops and mass transit that makes a car unnecessary --are driving out children by making the neighborhoods too expensive for young families."

The Times cites San Francisco as leading the nation among cities with populations of 300,000-plus that contain the lowest percentages of children under 18 (14.5 percent), followed by Seattle, Honolulu, Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington.

Now, Greensboro is light years from being a Seattle or a San Francisco -- we should be so lucky. But it would be worth taking a good, hard look at the seeds we're planting today in our downtown for the future.

The good news: There are already amenities that make the center city more family friendly, among them the Main Public Library, the Children's Museum, the planned center-city park and First Horizon Park, which is arguably a playground and picnic area disguised as a baseball stadium.

There are also vibrant neighborhoods on the fringes of downtown that are extremely family friendly, most notably Westerwood, Aycock and Fisher Park.

The not-so-good news: Affordable housing still remains in short supply downtown.

Why this all should matter is that, for every child a city loses, it tends to lose support for amenities such as parks and education. The Times even attaches a price tag of $5,000 per child lost for a local school district.

Is now a good time to revisit the idea of a new school downtown? Remember, Action Greensboro's original master plan in 2001 for the center city envisioned a new public elementary school for Bellemeade Village.

Am I the only one who fell asleep during Carolina's victory Friday night over Villanova? Thankfully, I did wake long enough to catch that bogus travel call at the end (maybe the ref was drowsy, too).

Goes to prove that luck counts in the NCAAs. But I still resent East Coast games beginning after 10 p.m. There oughta be a law.

News & Observer columnist Barry Saunders (registration required) takes sharp exception to American Idol Fantasia Barrino's celebration of single motherhood, "Baby Mama."

Saunders also chokes hard on Barrino's remarks that there ought to be a holiday for single mothers.

To wit. Saunders writes:

"In her song 'Baby Mama,' 'American Idol' winner Fantasia Barrino says she thinks there should be a national holiday for single mothers.
For some of them, there already is. It's called the first of the month.

"Hey, don't look at me like that.

"And don't call me that, either.

"Nobody -- OK, some people are, but I'm not --is suggesting that single mothers be tarred and feathered or forced to wear a scarlet letter on their forehead. Nor should their children endure a life of penury simply because their fathers, for whatever reason, split the scene.

"There is nothing inherently honorable in going it alone. Go ahead: Ask a single mother -- a baby mama, in Fantasia's lingo -- whether she'd rather have a helpmate. Or ask a single father, which I am. Most of us would prefer a partner."

Barry's got a point. It's high time we stopped rationalizing and/or glamorizing single parenthood as a preferred state.

It's hard enough parenting a child with the help of a spouse or significant other.

While it is mean to stigmatize children born out of wedlock as "illegitimate," it should be no less acceptable to romanticize single moms either. A child born to a single parent is more prone to live in poverty, more prone to face a tougher, rougher climb to success in the classroom and in life.

Fortunately, more and more young black women and young women in general are finally getting it. In the same edition, the N&O reports a significant decline in the number of black women/girls having babies while in high school-- 22 percent from 1990 to 2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

I'd prefer to sing those praises than a chorus of "Baby Mama."

We have again offended readers with a Terri Schiavo-related editorial cartoon, this one by Hillsborough's Doug Marlette.

The cartoon in question ran March 24 and depicted Congress as a clown barging into Schiavo's hospice room.

My interpretation of the cartoon: that Congress had no business intruding into a deeply personal family matter.

Believe me, I hesitated before choosing it. Ninety percent of the cartoons related to this issue have struck me as course and heavy-handed.
This one, I thought, was provocative but not objectionable.

This life-and-death issue has evoked such a strong debate that I felt we needed to run a cartoon related to it. I didn't want to cop out. But I'm not certain any cartoon that addresses this issue, pro or con, won't offend somebody.

A Pender County woman who was forced to quit her job last year as a sheriff's dispatcher because of her live-in boyfriend.

Get married, the high sheriff told her. Or get another job.

She got another job. Now she's suing to overturn the 1805 North Carolina law that makes it illegal for unmarried couples to live together.

They call it cohabitation. Mama called it "shackin' up," and she didn't mean that in a complimentary way. Mama made some good points about the drawbacks of such domestic arrangements.

But I'd rather she tell me not to do it than the Legislature. However you feel about the moral implications of couples living together out of wedlock, that's your business, not the government's.