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Friday's lead editorial.

What happens if Hillary Clinton hitches a ride on John McCain’s campaign bus?
You can’t call it “Straight Talk Express” anymore.

Clinton and McCain are barreling down a dead-end road together with their proposal to get rid of the federal gas tax for the summer. Sure, it’s full speed ahead for a while. But they can’t get anywhere in the long run.

McCain came up with the idea first, calling on Congress “to suspend the 18.4-cent federal gas tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.”

He didn’t propose any way to make up the lost revenue, which supports transportation programs like highway construction and, incidentally, keeps a lot of people working. But at least he acknowledged a role for Congress.

Clinton didn’t when she mimicked McCain’s proposal and added a dubious funding mechanism.
“Hillary will impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use the money to temporarily suspend the 18.4-cent per gallon federal gas tax and the 24.4-cent per gallon diesel tax during the upcoming peak summer driving months,” her campaign proclaimed.

Hillary will impose? She’s not president yet. And this “windfall profits tax on oil companies” raises such a complex issue it would take Congress months to enact the necessary legislation — if it ever could agree on what amount of profit is considered a “windfall” and how much money oil companies, or any companies, ought to be allowed to make. What she proposes, then, is an immediate tax break paid for by a very speculative revenue source sometime later.

But this is about political mileage, not policy sustainability. Maybe it’s a smart bid for votes. Motorists would welcome any break at the pumps and might resent Barack Obama’s dismissal that they’d only save an average of $30 over the entire summer.

In the long haul, however, the country needs to develop more energy resources and break its addiction to foreign oil. Obama has put forward some suggestions, and Clinton and McCain have as well. They all know that encouraging Americans to drive more — many of them in gas-guzzlers, still — isn’t going to pay off down the road. And depleting revenues for transportation projects isn’t going to keep the country moving.

Americans don’t need to pay higher gas taxes. North Carolina legislators wisely capped the state’s gas tax last year, or else motorists here would be paying even more at the pump now.
Yet, it simply isn’t responsible to pretend that a gas tax summer holiday is going to pay any real dividends. McCain and Clinton ought to get off that bus. It’s running on empty.

Friday's No. 2 editorial.

The three Democrats vying for a chance in the May 6 primary to unseat veteran 6th District Rep. Howard Coble all say it’s time for a change.

In addition to sharing a view that Coble’s voting record makes him vulnerable, they have something else in common. All are making a first try at elective office.

Johnny Carter, 59, lives with his family in Summerfield and is general manager for a local plumbing and heating company.

Jay Ovittore, 34 and single, operates a painting business. He’s been active in the local Democratic Party and serves on the Greensboro Human Relations Commission.

Teresa Sue Bratton, 59, is a physician specializing in pediatric allergies. She’s married, has three children and resides in Greensboro.

While they agree on a number of issues including an end to congressional funding for the Iraq war, each has a much different take on health care.

And on that key issue, Bratton offers a more workable approach than her opponents. She favors compatible government and private coverage for people not in employer-paid plans.

Carter calls for quickly expanding coverage now available to members of Congress to everyone. Ovittore prefers transitioning to a government-run single-payer system.

Bratton comes across as thoughtful and knowledgeable. If elected, time spent living in Great Britain and Canada could prove an asset in the national health care debate.

Ovittore’s sometimes intense demeanor can be a turnoff. As for Carter, he’s pleasant enough but doesn’t offer voters much to distinguish himself from the crowd.

Any of the three would face a formidable task in taking on the popular Coble, who has no primary opposition in the heavily Republican 6th District.

However, Bratton emerges as the candidate who best articulates an opposing viewpoint worth hearing.

Saturday's lead editorial

Not one North Carolina state legislator voted against a tough, new sex-offender monitoring law last year. But some judges have.

The latest was Ripley Rand, who ruled in Wake County Superior Court last week that four registered sex offenders should be released from satellite tracking systems.

Twenty-one others have been granted similar breaks in other courts.

Activist judges rewriting laws at the expense of public safety? That might be a common reaction. After all, sexual predators often repeat their offenses. The best way to prevent that, if they’re not incarcerated, is to strictly limit where they can go and whom they can see. That requires close monitoring.

But it must be done without violating constitutional safeguards that apply even to convicted sex offenders. Judge Rand spotted one problem with the law’s application, and he didn’t address another one.

The law went into effect Dec. 1 but applied to everyone who was at that time a registered sex offender and met other criteria. It’s questionable, at best, whether a new law can go back and place additional conditions on a defendant that weren’t part of his original judgment. Rand dismissed the monitoring requirement on that basis. He didn’t consider a further objection that the new law effectively increases penalties long after conviction and sentencing.

On the other hand, judges can use the law to order lifetime monitoring for offenders whose crimes were committed on or after Dec. 1 — unless the courts find other objections.
Satellite tracking has become a popular means of watching offenders who are never trusted, even after they complete their sentences. But it strains the agencies assigned the job of operating, maintaining and paying for the systems. While the offenders themselves often are required to pay the cost — several thousand dollars a year — many simply don’t have the money. Potential employers, always aware of the criminal history, aren’t keen to hire sex offenders who carry obtrusive tracking devices wherever they go.

Laws like this should give judges some discretion to limit monitoring when appropriate. For some offenders, lifetime tracking might seem excessive. In cases of extremely dangerous predators, however, judges should use every legal means they can to lengthen prison terms.

There’s no need for satellite tracking when criminals are confined to 8x10-foot cells. And, if a person poses such a severe threat to the community that he has to be tracked everywhere he goes, maybe he can’t be trusted in society in the first place. After all, the best tracking system in the world can’t stop a crime. And, isn’t that the objective?
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Saturday's No. 2 editorial.

Not yet having served three full terms in Congress, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller already has become a respected national figure. But he also has his pulse on the pocketbook issues affecting North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District. Democrats in that district should again make him their nominee.

The 13th District stretches along the Virginia border and into parts of Raleigh, Burlington and Greensboro. Miller, 54, lives in Raleigh.

Miller’s concern for the common man has led him to take a leadership role in unraveling and finding remedies for the subprime mortgage crisis. He lists as a key accomplishment House passage of an anti-predatory lending bill modeled after a much-praised North Carolina law. He also is working to provide help to homeowners facing foreclosure.

It’s appealing that Miller has held hearings on topics where the government has performed poorly, such as the NASA survey of airline pilots that the agency itself suppressed because of its worrisome findings. It’s also refreshing to see Miller confident enough to buck Democratic leaders, as he did in his vote on the Armenian genocide issue last year.

Miller’s opponent, Derald Hafner, 63, also professes to be a candidate for the people. A former Republican, the Granville County small businessman, organic farmer and first-time candidate wants to take action against America’s mounting debt by greatly limiting federal government and by largely ending federal borrowing. Among other things, he would work to end U.S. military actions in other countries, cut back on social programs and abolish the Federal Reserve. To help U.S. workers, he would repeal the income tax, support tariffs on goods coming into the country and secure borders to keep illegal immigrants out.

Hafner’s ideas may appeal to some voters, but the platform he has chosen is wrong. They are more in keeping with the Constitution Party.

The winner faces Republican Hugh Webster, a former state senator, in the fall.

Have high gas prices affected your lifestyle? If so, how?

Sunday's editorial.

Of all the words you could use to describe Mike Easley, outgoing isn’t one of them.
The popular two-term Democratic governor chooses to be seen very little and to be heard from even less.

Aside from his commendable prodding of local governments to react more urgently to a severe drought, Easley typically prefers closed doors to open ones, and tight lips to transparency.
Up close and personal, Easley is a likable enough guy. And there is something refreshing about a politician who actually shuns bright lights and cameras. But he is notoriously reclusive and rarely has seized the initiative to lead instead of merely govern.

What the state needs desperately right now is a governor who can bring people and ideas together — who is willing to set the tone, the pace and the priorities in Raleigh.

Each member of a generally strong field of Republican and Democratic candidates contends he or she can provide the sense of focus and direction state government needs right now in the wake of a mental health reform disaster and a string of ethics embarrassments.

But two clearly stand above the others.

The case for McCrory

Among five candidates in the Republican primary, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory offers the most impressive record and the most creative ideas.

McCrory, 51, grew up in Jamestown, where he graduated from Ragsdale High School. He is the longest-serving mayor in Charlotte history, having won seven terms. In a setting where city elections are partisan, McCrory also has worked effectively over those years with a majority-Democratic council. He pushed a sales tax for mass transit that voters overwhelmingly approved and championed the city’s fledgling light-rail line.

Beyond Charlotte’s city limits, McCrory was the founding member and is a driving force behind the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition, which brings mayors together to discuss common issues, including the growing threat of youth gangs.

McCrory calls for a 50-year state transportation plan and rightly contends that state transportation projects should be based on need, not politics. He favors lower corporate and income taxes over incentives as better ways to recruit industry.

One reservation: His strategy on immigration is much more reasoned in person than on his TV ads, which appeal to voters’ baser instincts and emotions.

Among the other Republican hopefuls, Bob Orr is a thoughtful and principled former state Supreme Court justice.

Fred Smith is an affable state senator who has run a spirited and competitive campaign.
Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham waged an effective grass-roots protest against rising state gasoline taxes.

And Sampson County farmer Elbie Powers mounted an unsuccessful bid for agriculture commissioner in 2000.

But McCrory stands alone as the best choice in the Republican primary.

Moore over Perdue

Were it not for the ruthless tenor of his negative campaign ads, State Treasurer Richard Moore would receive an unqualified nod over Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the Democratic primary.
Moore oversees $90 billion in state investments and has been an excellent steward of the state pension fund.

He has maintained the state’s stellar triple-A credit rating. He also has won national acclaim for his crusade against Wall Street investment firm abuses. Moore, 47, also lobbied forcefully and successfully for an increase in the state’s minimum wage.

He supports a further increase to the minimum wage, pre-paid college tuition plans that would lock in tuition rates, and tax cuts for small businesses.

Perdue, 61, is a former state representative and senator who became North Carolina’s first female lieutenant governor. She would be its first female governor as well.
She played a lead role in keeping the state’s military bases open and she headed the state’s Health and Wellness Trust Fund.

Despite their ferocious campaigns against one another, Moore and Perdue agree on most issues, but his blend of moxie and inventiveness make Moore the better leader.

What would not serve him or the state well is the caustic tone of his campaign ads. While Perdue has pledged to suspend negative ads for the rest of the primary, Moore keeps slinging away.

He should base his campaign on the strength of his own record, not his brazen attacks on hers.

Tuesday's editorial.

For weeks, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have treated North Carolina to the greatest political show on earth: an American presidential campaign. Even John McCain has gotten in on the act with an appearance in Charlotte Monday and a planned speech today at Wake Forest University.

For those of us not used to this much attention from presidential candidates, the experience has been exciting and entertaining. Despite record early voting, Primary Day turnout is expected to be enormous. The atmosphere at polling places will be electric.

The one problem is that so much energy drawn to the top of today’s ballot has cast state and local candidates and issues into the shadows of uncertainty. They deserve consideration, too — and they won’t run off to other states after today’s voting is done.

We’ve made recommendations regarding some of the important decisions voters face today. We’ll cover more in the general election, but today’s outcomes constitute the voters’ final answer in some. Here’s a recap:

U.S. Senate
Elizabeth Dole won this seat in 2002 and remains the leading lady of North Carolina Republicans. She’s a clear choice in her party’s primary.

Among five Democrats, state Sen. Kay Hagan from Greensboro is the only candidate who’s demonstrated two qualities: the ability to serve effectively in office, and the political experience to make a credible run against Dole.

Congress, 6th District
First elected in 1984, Greensboro Republican Howard Coble has no primary opposition, but three Democrats are competing for the right to challenge him in November. Best qualified is Greensboro physician Teresa Sue Bratton, whose top issue is creating a better health care system.

Congress, 13th District
For Democrats, Brad Miller of Raleigh is an easy choice over Derald Hafner. In three terms, Miller has become one of the most effective members of the state’s congressional delegation. Hugh Webster of Yanceyville is the lone Republican candidate.

Governor
The overriding issue is leadership. Voters should choose the candidates who promise smart, creative and effective management of state government. The next governor must put an end to closed-door, special-interest politics and work with members of both parties to get things done.
Among Republicans, that’s the successful seven-term mayor of Charlotte, Pat McCrory. He’s proved that partisanship yields when leaders put forward a unifying vision.

State Treasurer Richard Moore fits the bill for Democrats, although his overly aggressive campaign against Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue warns of too much ambition and a streak of ruthlessness. Nevertheless, Moore has a record of impressive accomplishments.

State Senate, District 28
This Democrats-only contest matches Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis of High Point against incumbent Katie Dorsett of Greensboro. Experienced and respected, she gracefully and conscientiously represents a diverse district. Davis’ bid for her seat is premature.

State House District 61
Republicans own this district, where Laura Wiley of High Point has served with energy and intelligence for two terms. Jamestown resident George Ragsdale is promising but hasn’t made a convincing case for replacing Wiley.

County Commissioner, District 5
Republican voters can replace sometimes-wise, sometimes-wicked Billy Yow with steadier Rick Wallace, a former mayor of Pleasant Garden.

County Commissioner, District 8
Skip Alston too often wastes his considerable political talents pursuing racial conflicts. Veterans advocate Greg Woodard is untested but worth a try in this Democratic contest.

Bonds and sales-tax proposal
Guilford County voters decide costly but important proposals. Our view:
Parks and recreation bonds, $20.2 million, No. The projects are fine, but they aren’t necessities.
Jail bonds, $114.6 million, Yes. A new facility housing 1,000 prisoners is needed to supplement the outdated, overcrowded and unsafe jail in Greensboro.

School bonds, $412.3 million, Yes. The plan contains some nonessential items that the school board should revisit, but the reality is that more and better classroom space is required for a growing population of students.

GTCC bonds, $79.5 million, Yes. The community college is a key driver of economic development and the place where thousands go to learn new job skills. It must be equipped for a challenging future.

Eastern Guilford bonds, $45 million, Yes. This fulfills an obligation to rebuild the high school that was destroyed by fire in 2006.

Sales-tax increase, one-fourth cent, Yes. This funding option relieves pressure on the property tax.

Wednesday's lead editorial.

Weeks of anticipation ended abruptly Tuesday evening when television news networks declared North Carolina early for Barack Obama.

So early, in fact, that many voters were still waiting in lines at polling places well after the official closing time of 7:30. CNN, for one, didn’t wait.

An early call for the Illinois senator was appropriate. Obama’s campaign urged supporters to vote early, and many thousands did over the past two weeks. By the time polls showed Hillary Clinton catching up, it probably was too late. Obama’s win was practically in the books.

Until Tuesday, Clinton based her claim to the Democratic nomination on the strength of her success in large states. But she couldn’t hold form in the last Top Ten state on the primary schedule. Despite trailing in Indiana, Obama took a possibly decisive step ahead with his convincing win here.

The team of Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton worked hard, making appearances almost everywhere in North Carolina, but Obama drew larger and more enthusiastic crowds and, more importantly, got out the vote.

The question now is whether he could wrest this reliably red state from the Republicans in November. It’s far too early to make that call, but he won so many more votes than did John McCain (in a noncompetitive GOP primary) that anything seems possible.

Schools rate a high priority
Anita Bachmann and other leaders of the school bonds campaign cheered as positive numbers continued to roll in at the Old Guilford County Courthouse Tuesday night.

Several commissioners fretted about the taxes needed to pay for them.

“This is an automatic property tax increase,” Chairman Kirk Perkins said. “But the people have spoken.”

Bachmann led a force of more than 200 volunteers who drummed up support throughout the county for a record $457 million for schools. Their efforts were driven by passion for their cause, said Bachmann, a regional vice president for UnitedHealthcare.

Despite hard economic times, voters answered responsibly, owning up to obvious needs for new and better school facilities. The result wasn’t a landslide, but it sends a clear message that schools remain a high priority — even at the price of higher taxes.

GTCC again prevails
Guilford County voters have never turned down a GTCC bond request. They kept the streak alive Tuesday by overwhelmingly approving a $79.5 million referendum that will fund projects vital to the school’s growth and the Triad’s economic future.

It means school officials can move ahead with their plans to build a $50.5 million campus near PTI Airport specializing in aviation and logistics, and to improve existing campuses.

A rapidly changing Triad economy underscores the urgency to retrain laid-off workers and provide classes for those entering the work force. GTCC excels on both counts.

The school, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, now can forge ahead with its continuing commitment to have trained workers ready when potential employers call.

Voters were less charitable when it came to the $20.2 million county parks bond. Although it was the least costly item in the bond referendum, most apparently had qualms about such spending in a faltering economy.

Hagan gets back to work
Kay Hagan celebrated her victory in a familiar setting Tuesday night, but planned to get back to work today. “I’ll be on the phone raising money,” she said at the Old Guilford County Courthouse, a place where she’s watched election returns from several successful campaigns in the past.

This time the numbers gave her the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and a race against Republican Elizabeth Dole. The Greensboro resident and state senator has an uphill fight, but an impressive win against four other candidates increases her credibility and might convince national Democrats that an upset is possible. Still, it will take millions to match Dole’s likely campaign fund and overcome her other advantages.

Hagan’s primary didn’t attract much attention with so much interest in the presidential battle, but she should continue to do well as voters get to know her better. “They’re eager for a change in Washington,” she said.

And then there were twoState Treasurer Richard Moore had lots going for him in his bid for governor: a national profile as a crusader against Wall Street abuse, a sterling record as keeper of the state employee pension fund, and a head of hair that could give John Edwards a run for his money. But in the end, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue got the most votes and moves on as the Democratic nominee against the Republican nominee, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, in November.

Moore had erased much of an early Perdue lead in the pre-election polls, with a series of full-throated (some would say cutthroat) attack ads. Perdue responded by pledging to withdraw her own attack ads and to go positive until the primary.

McCrory now faces two challenges: He is a Republican in a state that tends to elect Democratic governors and he is a big-city mayor who will have to make inroads among small-town voters.

But he also has worked well across party lines as a mayor, and could attract crossover votes from Democrats.

This should be a good race between two good choices for North Carolina voters.

The house BJ builtAs Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes sees it, it was the truth that set him free.
In a result that surprised even Barnes, county voters approved the $114.6 million jail bond Tuesday that will renovate and build an addition to the overcrowded Greensboro facility.
Given the soft economy, voters’ aversion to tax increases and the traditional tendency of electorates to not like paying for jails, this was a major upset.

But Barnes had mounted a full-court press. “It’s Your Decision: Our House or Yours” billboards suggested, rightly if not subtly, that crowded jails force early release of some offenders who might not otherwise be released. “The deal-closer was that some people are not feeling safe in their homes,” Barnes said.

Barnes had noted earlier on Election Night that jail bonds rarely pass, and he seemed resigned to a similar result here. “Ninety-eight percent of jail bonds across the country fail,” he said. “I was bucking the odds to expect to be in the 2 percent (that pass).”

Lo and behold, we were.

The jail victory is good news for all of the county. But those who push alternative programs to help reduce crime, drug addiction and jail crowding still need to be heard. A new jail without those kinds of programs to help address root causes of crime inevitably would become a house of cards.

Thursday's No. 2 editorial.

Barack Obama had good reason Tuesday to say, “Thank you, North Carolina.”

Voters in the state’s Democratic primary gave him a strong and possibly decisive victory over Hillary Clinton.

Will he repeat the line on Nov. 4?

If he does, other Democrats on the ballot might say, “Thank you, Barack Obama.”
The idea that Obama, if he secures his party’s nomination, could carry North Carolina isn’t as far-fetched as it seems considering Republican presidential candidates’ long winning streak here. John McCain, with his military record and appeal to moderates and independents, can do very well in North Carolina, but he’s got a math problem. More than three times as many people voted in the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday as in the Republican contest. How will McCain make up that difference? Even winning half of Hillary Clinton’s supporters won’t do it. He’ll also need to add an overwhelming majority of the likely general election voters who skipped the primaries.

Kay Hagan, the Democrats’ U.S. Senate candidate against Elizabeth Dole, expressed confidence in her party’s standard-bearer. “I’ll be running with the Democratic nominee,” she said Tuesday night.

North Carolina Democrats ran away from some past presidential candidates, including Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry. If Obama heads the ticket, they’ll stick as close as they can to him because, unlike those others, he’s already shown he can draw North Carolina voters to the polls.

Tuesday’s primary mattered in the Democratic presidential nomination process. It also should be important enough to both parties in November for the candidates to put it on their campaign schedules.

Who ends up thanking whom will depend on whose voters turn out.

Thursday's lead editorial.

No one saw this one coming.

Even the most passionate supporters of the $412.3 million Guilford County school construction bond package that miraculously passed Tuesday seemed tempted to pinch themselves when it was over. We won?

Voters have blessed other school bonds in recent years, but this one had so much going against it:

• teetering local and national economies;

• a fistful of other bond projects that tugged on voters’ purse strings to the potential tune of more than $671 million — and that guaranteed sizable property tax increases;

• lack of faith among some in the school system’s ability to successfully manage construction projects.

• opposition from three black school board members who say the district has not met the needs of minority contractors and black students.

• opposition as well from the George Simkins Memorial PAC, which typically wields considerable influence in black voting precincts.

• the county commissioners’ decision to split the larger package of school bonds from a $45 million bond to help rebuild Eastern Guilford High School, which was destroyed by fire in November 2006. The premise was to remove any likelihood that “sympathy votes” for the Eastern bonds would boost the other school bonds, had they been combined on the ballot.
In the end, ironically, the general school bond package performed slightly better than the Eastern bonds, garnering 54.79 percent in “yes” votes versus 53.94 percent for Eastern.

Among likely reasons for this resounding — and utterly surprising — good news is the effective sales job school bond boosters did of communicating the various projects’ wide-ranging impact throughout the county. The bonds also enjoyed solid support from the business community, which has stepped up in recent years to invest in public education as an economic engine.
A local political consultant, Bill Burckley, also cites the high female turnout, arguing that female voters are more apt to favor bonds. Heavy doses of Democratic voters and new voters energized by the Obama-Clinton race probably helped as well.

As for the impact of opposition from the Simkins PAC and the black school board members, it appears negligible at best. The school bonds passed in most predominantly black precincts, nearly 58 percent in the district of one African American school board member, Deena Hayes.
So the bonds ultimately may have benefited from a confluence of good will and good fortune.
Now district leaders can breathe a sigh of relief and get on with making the overdue construction and renovation projects as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

This is an opportunity not only to build buildings, but to build trust as well.

Friday's lead editorial.

Even a high-tech powerhouse like Greensboro-based RF Micro isn’t immune from the mood swings of the global economy.

But whenever a high-profile corporate citizen lays off workers it’s noted with some trepidation. Memories of once rock-solid local textile giants disappearing at the cost of thousands of jobs still are fresh. Could history repeat itself?

On Tuesday, the microchip manufacturer announced significant layoffs for the second time in a month. Corporate restructuring eliminated 200 jobs in Greensboro for a total of 350 worldwide. That comes on the heels of 80 local jobs lost as part of a move to consolidate the company’s microchip testing in China.

Earlier this year, plans to expand a local plant and add jobs were put on hold after both the state and city had provided a tax-break package to seal the deal. Instead, a British subsidiary now will do the work.
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Strategic corporate refocusing can be painful, particularly for the loyal workers who get pink slips. Thousands of downsized Piedmont workers already have taken that uncertain path. But corporate managers have an obligation to concerned stockholders to sense market trends and respond proactively.

RF Micro, begun here in 1991, has grown from a handful of employees to nearly 5,000 people around the world. It is one of Greensboro’s largest with about 2,000 workers. The company makes a specialized type of microchip for cellular phones and high-performance radio systems.
However, a constantly changing world marketplace dictates frequent fine-tuning. Staying one step ahead of the competition is the best way to stave off more draconian measures in the future.

The good news is the latest cuts don’t portend the outsourcing of jobs to China, where many cellular manufacturers have plants. In the long run, hundreds of RF Micro jobs in Greensboro could be saved.

For certain, the global economy is a two-way street. While some jobs head overseas, foreign companies set up shop here. Unfortunately, it isn’t always a fair trade-off. Laid-off RF Micro workers, for example, may not be candidates for aviation-related jobs at HondaJet.

Yet, no matter where jobs originate, it’s important to convey the message to high-tech businesses that the Triad is a good place to locate.

Setbacks such as the RF Micro layoffs will happen from time to time, but there’s no turning back the clock. Companies geared to succeeding in the ever-expanding global economy will fare far better than the traditional manufacturing sector.

Friday's No. 2 editorial.

For Greensboro City Council members, listening to what people say is part of the job.
No matter what they say.

So a proposal to put a content restriction on public comments is not permissible, Jamiah K. Waterman, an attorney for the city, says in a memo to the council.

Councilman Zach Matheny wasn’t trying to muzzle anyone. He just suggested reserving the 30-minute comment period before each council meeting for people raising issues related to city business. People who wanted to talk about other things would have to wait until the end of the meetings.

The idea wasn’t without appeal. Some speakers try everyone’s patience by gabbing for their allotted three minutes about matters that interest no one or lie beyond the ability of the council to address.

Nevertheless, the council can’t restrict speech by its content, Waterman advised. Council meetings traditionally are considered public forums where citizens gather to address their elected representatives. In such settings, government is restricted in its ability to regulate speech.

Waterman pointed to another problem. The distinction between what is or isn’t city business “is an ambiguous and vague standard. Such a standard will give too much discretion to the council to determine who speaks and when.”

Exactly. The council itself, in the many resolutions it considers, probably stretches the definition of “city business” in some people’s judgment. It shouldn’t deny its constituents the same latitude.

The council can impose rules for its public comment periods, but restrictions applied with a time clock are fair and easy to enforce. The content of speech has to be left alone. The council should listen to its attorney.

What surprised you the most about Tuesday's primary?

Tuesday's lead editorial.

Picture an elementary school where enrollment is 1,000 but classrooms hold only 750. In Guilford County, that doesn’t require much imagination.

In most circumstances, this overstuffed school scenario would put the extra 250 children in trailers. Eventually the school might be expanded or even replaced with a larger facility, but either option would cost millions of dollars.

There’s another way. The school could convert to a multi-track year-round schedule. This plan would divide the student body into four groups of 250 each and put them on a rotation of nine weeks in school and three weeks off, but staggered so that three groups are in and one is out at any given time.

There it is! Because a group of 250 students is always out for its three-week break, the school has room for the other 750. No more need for trailers, or an expensive expansion. Furthermore, the common areas — cafeteria, media center, bathrooms, gym, auditorium, playgrounds — are always one-fourth less crowded than they were before.

North Carolina’s fastest-growing school system, Wake County, adopted this multi-track year-round schedule for some of its schools several years ago to maximize classroom space, but not enough parents volunteered to send their children. So the school board assigned students, by the thousands. Several parents and an advocacy organization sued and won. A year ago, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning ruled the board is authorized by law to operate year-round schools only “on a voluntary consensual basis.”

Wrong, a panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals said unanimously last week. The General Assembly has given local school boards a “broad grant of authority,” the opinion written by Judge Martha Geer said. One relevant statute provides, about as clearly as it’s possible to express, that “the authority of each board of education in the matter of assignment of children to the public schools shall be full and complete, and its decision as to assignment of any child to any school shall be final.”

That’s coupled with the board’s further power to operate schools on a year-round schedule, the court said.

The only restraint on an elected board in setting policies like this, Geer wrote, citing an earlier Supreme Court ruling, “is at the ballot box.”

Year-round schools aren’t popular with everyone, and school board members who force them on families might be voted out of office. But, despite last week’s 55 percent support for $457 million in Guilford County school bonds, there are limits to the public’s ability to afford new and larger schools.

So, any means of finding more classroom space for children without new construction or more trailers must be considered. Last week’s court ruling assures school boards they have the authority to make assignments to year-round schools.

Really, that’s no more severe than the power they already use to put children in trailers or overcrowded schools. Can school leaders picture a better way?

Wednesday's lead editorial.

If North Carolina wants a clear policy for admitting illegal immigrants to community colleges and UNC institutions, the legislature needs to write it soon. All is confusion now.

The past week has seen this baffling series of events:

• The N.C. Attorney General’s Office advised the state community college system to reverse its six-month-old directive that “colleges should immediately begin admitting undocumented individuals.”

• Gov. Mike Easley urged community colleges to keep enrolling illegal immigrants anyway.
• Both candidates for governor, Democrat Bev Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, said they disagree with Easley and the community college policy.

• The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency contradicted the attorney general’s advice, saying federal law doesn’t prevent states from admitting illegal immigrants from public colleges and universities.

• The community college system announced it would follow the attorney general’s advice and, beginning immediately, “no longer admit individuals classified as illegal or undocumented immigrants into curriculum degree programs.”

This fast-paced zig-zag traces the nation’s convoluted thinking about immigration. People cross the border illegally to find work, and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling says their children are entitled to free public education through 12th grade. Some states have decided it makes sense to allow those who qualify academically to continue their education in public colleges and universities, enabling them to find more meaningful employment and become contributors to society ... except that employers technically aren’t supposed to hire undocumented immigrants.
The community college system waded into this stew, but only up to its ankles. It counted no more than 112 undocumented curriculum-degree students enrolled in its 58 colleges this year, and all pay tuition at the out-of-state rate. Certainly, many more would follow if they were permitted, but that won’t happen without further legal review or a vigorous public debate.

JB Kelly, the general counsel who wrote the advisory letter on behalf of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, admitted some questions about the application of federal law are unsettled. But in an interview Monday, he expressed certainty that the state legislature has full authority to enact an open-door policy in regard to immigration status for the UNC and community college systems.

There’s not much chance that Raleigh politicians will solve the immigration riddles that stump the best minds in Congress. The state can’t deport illegal immigrants or grant them legal status. It has no choice but to educate their children through high school. But it can decide whether to grant or deny them a path to public postsecondary education. It’s time to straighten out the zig-zag quandary on the enrollment question.

Tuesday's No. 2 editorial.

Legislative short sessions are supposed to be short on business. Yet that doesn’t mean the N.C. General Assembly can’t tackle a thing or two.

There are some issues that shouldn’t be too complicated or controversial for the small amount of time allotted to these sessions. One is legislation that would restore to Greensboro residents the right to use protest petitions.

All other residents of North Carolina cities can use these petitions to challenge land-use decisions. But the General Assembly took this option away from Greensboro residents in 1971, upon the City Council’s request. It needs to undo what it did.

Rep. Pricey Harrison has sponsored a bill that would do that. But for it to pass, the Guilford delegation must back it. With unanimous support, the bill would go forward, as other legislators would defer to what the county’s delegation wanted for this local bill.

One potential problem, though, is the action, or, rather, inaction, of the Greensboro City Council. It did not include restoration of the protest petition in its requests to the legislature.
It can be argued that the Guilford delegation shouldn’t act without a request by the council. But shouldn’t the widespread outpouring of citizen support in Greensboro for the protest petition, from individuals and neighborhood groups to the League of Women Voters, count for something?
The truth is the majority of Greensboro residents appear to support restoring the right to use protest petitions while only a few in the city’s development crowd oppose it. They argue that use of the petitions could impede growth.

Rep. Maggie Jeffus, who heads the Guilford delegation, hopes to convene its members Thursday to discuss the issue. We hope they decide to support Harrison’s bill, even without the City Council’s stamp of approval.

For 37 years, Greensboro residents have had to fight zoning decisions with one hand tied behind their back. There is no reason for residents to continue to be restrained this way for another year.

Thursday's No. 2 editorial.

Pursuing baseless allegations that Greensboro police officers intentionally destroyed evidence related to the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings would be both futile and pointless.

An internal investigation concludes that, in 2001 or 2002, officers did indeed discard five to 10 boxes of newspaper clippings. Yet doing so clearly wasn’t a violation of departmental policy or state law.

That should be enough to persuade the U.S. Justice Department to drop the matter. It got involved after the state NAACP asked for a determination if any wrongdoing had occurred.
The City Council rightly said it would welcome an investigation. But much of this turmoil could have been avoided if city officials simply had responded several months earlier when the allegations first surfaced.

They chose not to, saying the information came from a then-anonymous source. So, in February, several local ministers went public with allegations that material relating to the deadly confrontation involving Nazis, Klansmen and protest marchers in an east Greensboro neighborhood was mishandled. Further, they claimed evidence was withheld from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission convened in 2004 to revisit the incident.

These were explosive charges, if true. But the nearly three-month internal police probe determined that only news clippings about subversive groups of that era were thrown out.

Although all of the files legally could have been destroyed in 1999, the city maintains 49 volumes of records pertaining to the shootings, and all were made available to the TRC.

Those documents correctly should be saved for posterity. In retrospect, keeping a few boxes of news clippings on the shelf would have been worth the trouble as well. But discarding them certainly doesn’t amount to a conspiracy to destroy evidence. That material is readily available elsewhere.

While some past departmental actions may merit outside scrutiny, it would be a waste of time to further investigate this one.

Thursday's lead editorial.

One thing you can say for Gov. Mike Easley: He’s sticking to his word.

He repeatedly has promised to raise teachers’ salaries to the national average. He also has vowed to fix the state’s mental health system.

His $21.5 billion budget would do both. It would raise teachers’ salaries by 7 percent, up to the national average. It also provides $66 million for mental health reform.

But Easley can’t fulfill his promises without the General Assembly’s backing. And he’s not likely to get that.

In a troubled economy (and during an election year), lawmakers probably won’t support Easley’s proposal to increase the so-called sin taxes.

Easley wants to raise the cigarette tax by 20 cents to pay for the teachers’ salary increase and to raise alcohol taxes to pay for mental health reform.

Teacher pay
In the last three years, public school teachers in our state have seen their salaries increase three times. That has provided about a 17 percent pay increase. Easley argues that another increase is needed for their pay to equal the national average. But just comparing salary figures without considering other factors provides a false picture.

The John Locke Foundation in Raleigh annually compares states’ average teacher pay but adjusts for cost of living, teacher experience and pension contribution. Its latest study found that North Carolina teachers’ pay is above, not below, the national average, ranking 10th-best in the nation.

Even if a pay increase were justified, Easley’s payment method isn’t. Why should a cigarette tax pay for teachers’ salaries? Shouldn’t money collected from smokers be directed instead toward health programs?

Mental health reform
At least Easley’s suggested increase on alcohol taxes has more of a connection to the mental health reform it would pay for.

Still, Easley’s proposal — 4 cents more on a can or bottle of beer, 3 cents on wine, 4 percent on liquor — might not be the best way to pay for needed reform. The state already taxes beer at a higher rate than most states. Maybe instead of increasing taxes, program cuts are in order. Surely, in a $21.5 billion budget there’s a way to find $66 million for the needed reform.
Highway Trust Fund

One good thing Easley has proposed is to divert less out of the Highway Trust Fund. State legislators have become accustomed to creative ways of financing. One of their more egregious acts has been to move Highway Trust Fund revenue into the general fund. Easley has recommended a $25 million reduction from the expected $172.6 million transfer, a first step in phasing it out.

But why take years to end the transfer? Over the next 20 years, the state faces $65 billion in transportation projects. Easley should end the diversion of highway fund money — and leave a legacy honoring fiscal responsibility in government.

Friday's lead editorial.

Greensboro quit trying to pump up a regional water project when council members concluded last week that the city’s help wasn’t wanted.

“In other words they just skipped the whole step of having the PTWA turn us down again,” City Manager Mitchell Johnson wrote in an e-mail to High Point officials Monday.

PTWA is shorthand for the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority, which created Randleman Lake and still has to build a water-treatment plant on its shores. Plans also call for a pump station on N.C. 62 to push Randleman water toward Greensboro and High Point. In February, the two cities offered to jointly finance, build and operate that facility, saying their experience with similar projects means they could finish faster and at less cost.

The water authority board rejected the original proposal, then asked for revisions. Every time one issue was addressed, another would be raised, Johnson said.

“We could go back and forth on it for a long time,” he said Wednesday. “We didn’t sense there was really an interest on their part to do it.”

“The water authority would never let High Point and Greensboro do it,” Greensboro City Councilwoman Trudy Wade said. “I didn’t want to be responsible for any more delay than we already have.”

High Point City Manager Strib Boynton thinks Greensboro gave up too soon. He said authority board members told him the cities’ offer was acceptable with modifications, which High Point agreed to make.

But authority member Tom Phillips, a former Greensboro councilman, said it was hard to overcome a sour history.

“There are some members of the water authority that would not trust anything that High Point says,” he said. “And High Point isn’t alone on that,” he added, alluding to Greensboro. “This thing’s gone on a long time.”

Resentments go back to the formation of the project, which Randolph County members saw as using their land mostly for the benefit of the Guilford County cities.

High Point Mayor Becky Smothers finds it frustrating that decisions are made for reasons “that have very little to do with the project,” lamenting that the authority now will build the pump station “and they’ll send us a bill. Cost-containment is not an issue for them.”

Phillips said it is, asserting “absolutely” that the authority can build the pump station just as well as could the cities. “There’s not going to be a problem of delivering water.”

The target is late 2010.

“I assume they’ll do what they’re supposed to do,” Johnson said.

“We’ll be there with our lines,” Boynton said. “I’m sure Greensboro will, too. I’ll bet you the water authority won’t be ready.”

What once was touted as a model of regional cooperation now shows the strains of distrust and resentments. Maybe it’s too late to expect amiability, but all parties owe a professional attitude. Their job is to pump clean water to communities that have waited long enough.

Friday's No. 2 editorial.

Three years ago, the General Assembly tightened laws restricting the use of off-road all-terrain vehicles to better protect kids. Legislation, however, doesn’t trump adult responsibility.

When that comes up short, tragedy results. This week in Guilford Superior Court, a Whitsett man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the ATV-related death of his 3-year-old step-grandson. He reportedly lost control of the four-wheeler, which hit an embankment, rolled over and crushed the child.

As a result, he will spend a few weekends in jail and several years on unsupervised probation. But a family will never be the same again. Try as we might, there’s no taking back a fleeting lapse of common sense.

A spate of fatal ATV mishaps in the state led the legislature to act. After some waffling, lawmakers wrote guidelines for youthful operators, set safety equipment requirements and called for some riders to attend approved safety instructional courses. The law doesn’t apply to farm use.

At the time, critics correctly pointed out that setting more rules is no substitute for adult responsibility. But the law did establish a much-needed framework for confronting and reducing ATV misuse.

If riders do comply, they lessen their chance of serious injury. For example, studies show that wearing a helmet can reduce ATV injuries by almost half.

And rider-safety courses regularly held by law-enforcement agencies and some motorcycle clubs also can help by familiarizing operators with an unfamiliar vehicle. The atvsafety.org Web site offers helpful safety tips and course information.

With the arrival of warmer weather, ATVs will come out of winter hibernation. The hard lesson learned in a local courtroom is that adults must make sure they’re operated safely.

Saturday's lead editorial.

PTI Airport was never considered for a substantial aviation project that landed at the N.C. Global TransPark near Kinston Wednesday.

Triad airport and economic-development officials applauded the TransPark’s triumph this week. Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems will build a design-and-manufacturing facility to produce the center fuselage frame section for the Airbus A350 XWB. The company said it will employ more than 1,000 workers at an average wage of $48,000 within six years.

“It’s great for the state,” said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance. “In the world of aviation, this just puts another pin on the map for North Carolina.”

“The key is to develop the commercial aerospace industry in North Carolina so every success redounds to the benefit of all NC sites,” UNC-Chapel Hill professor John Kasarda wrote in an e-mail from Russia. Kasarda is consulting with Triad leaders on the development of an “aerotropolis” surrounding PTI and doesn’t see the TransPark as a competitor.

“I’m sorry we don’t have it,” added Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority. “We can’t win them all, but we’re going to get our share, plus.”

PTI didn’t have a chance for this one. Spirit looked for locations as close as possible to a major port, spokeswoman Debbie Gann said Thursday. North Carolina has two, in Wilmington and Morehead City. The 65x20-foot fuselage sections have to be hauled, by truck or train, to the coast for overseas shipping.

Spirit also wanted to be near the state’s military bases and their “retiring military labor force,” Gann said.

There are reasons to believe Lynch is right about statewide benefits. This helps the relatively depressed eastern North Carolina economy. It also spotlights the community college system’s ability to train workers for high-skilled aviation industry jobs — the same thing GTCC is doing here already, with plans for expansion. Very few workers will be hired with only a high school education, Gann said. And then there’s industry attention won by the state’s favorable business climate — sweetened in this case by generous incentives.

The Triad still maintains the advantage it claimed a decade ago when FedEx chose PTI over the TransPark as the location for its mid-Atlantic air-cargo hub, Isaacson believes. He cited Dell, HondaJet and Polo.com as some of the companies that located here in anticipation of the FedEx facility’s opening next year. FedEx liked the Triad’s extensive rail and highway network, among other advantages.

The TransPark, created by the state in 1991, has been under-utilized. Its overdue development is good for the state, and it won’t deny the Triad opportunities to further build an aviation industry here.

Saturday's No. 2 editorial.

Greensboro police Officers Patricia Wright and M.E. Merritt earned their Medals of Valor the hard way.

Especially Merritt, who was shot twice while he and Wright grappled with a suspect on East Market Street last year. Fortunately, he was protected by his bulletproof vest and was able to prevent the suspect from also shooting Wright. She was knocked down but immediately returned to the fray. “She’s a fighter,” said her sergeant, Tom Kroh.

Wright, Merritt, Officer of the Year Robert Mayo and others were honored Thursday by the Greensboro Merchants Association at its annual Police and Citizens Appreciation Dinner. It’s an outstanding event that appropriately recognizes the extraordinary acts of courage and devotion law-enforcement officers perform in the line of duty.

Harrowing tales of battles with armed bad guys command attention, but doing everyday tasks exactly right can be just as important. A case decided just last week by the N.C. Court of Appeals illustrates the point.

The court looked at a suspect’s complaint that she was subjected to an illegal search when she was found to be carrying cocaine on East Market Street two years ago. The court denied her appeal, spelling out that Greensboro Officers Roman Watkins, Nicholas Ingram, S.J. Langholz and Jennifer Mauney acted properly at every step. As a result of good police work, the suspect’s conviction for trafficking cocaine will stand.

Not every officer can win a Medal of Valor, but every one who deters criminal activity, arrests a suspect and gathers evidence correctly helps make the community safer. The work is often difficult and sometimes very dangerous. It always demands patience, persistence and professionalism.

While it’s necessary to hold police to high standards of conduct and to report mistakes, the public also should thank them for their daily service and sacrifice.

Sunday's editorial.

Victims of crime deserve better than excuses from agencies that are supposed to protect the public
.
Blaming the next level of government is one of those excuses, even when the complaint is valid.
City leaders in Charlotte, dealing with high crime and a public that’s angry about it, can point fingers with the best of them. Their police officers keep “re-arresting repeat offenders for the same crimes,” City Manager Curt Walton noted recently, implying the criminal-justice system isn’t getting its job done. “Until there are increased options for prosecuting, incarcerating or at least monitoring the behavior of these targeted group of offenders, (police) efforts will be minimized.”

That’s a familiar refrain across North Carolina. Police and sheriff’s departments make plenty of arrests, but many suspects are released on low bonds or no bonds, only to commit more crimes. Or, when convicted, offenders are put on probation and in some cases scarcely monitored, giving them ample opportunities to continue their illegal activities.
Last week in Charlotte, however, the City Council accepted unusual responsibility. It pledged $4.8 million to strengthen the criminal-justice system locally. The money will provide additional staffing and technology in the District Attorney’s Office, 100 electronic-monitoring devices, crime-lab staffing and other improvements.

It’s a dramatic approach to commit city funds to supplement the budgets of state agencies, but Charlotte leaders think the expenditures will make local police efforts more effective.
Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson has watched Mecklenburg County developments, which he calls progressive, but he doesn’t expect a similar commitment here. Leaders in prosperous Charlotte have “more tax dollars at their disposal,” Henderson said.
There isn’t spare money in Greensboro or High Point, which are on track to approve lean, no-tax-increase budgets for next year. Yet leaders in Charlotte concluded, logically, that the impact of their law-enforcement dollars is minimized unless police work is supported up the line.
Is anyone listening in Raleigh?

Funding for probation and parole services has lagged for years, with the problem generally unnoticed until the highly publicized murder of UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson in March. It turned out the two suspects were on probation but barely supervised. Now there are proposals that the state create a database that local agencies can use to learn the probation status of offenders in their communities. That very basic sharing of information could help police prevent crime and maybe save lives.

District attorneys across the state, including Henderson in Guilford County, have pushed Raleigh to provide more legal tools for fighting gangs. Henderson said his prosecutors ask the courts to take gang membership into account when passing sentences, although that’s not listed as an aggravating factor in sentencing guidelines. It should be. Unfortunately, gang legislation has become a “political football,” Henderson said, pitting those who favor tough punishment against those who prefer “education and avoidance of the problem altogether.” But there’s no reason why prevention programs and punishment both can’t be stressed.

State and local agencies dedicated to public safety must build the closest relationships. People who ought to work together often find themselves at cross purposes. Greensboro and High Point police gripe about lenient judges or magistrates letting dangerous criminal suspects walk free, but part of the reason lies with Guilford County commissioners who did nothing for years about overcrowded jails. Ordinary citizens who don’t feel safe in their homes don’t have patience for “it’s their job, not ours” explanations. They don’t want to hear that “the system” is fragmented and inefficient because, well, that’s just the way it is.

Guilford County’s jail problem is being addressed, finally, thanks to the May 6 approval of a construction bond. Voters understood that was a public safety issue. They should demand that their elected representatives at every level of government start to figure it out, too. The fight against crime must be comprehensive and cohesive, including prevention programs, law enforcement, prosecution, punishment, rehabilitation and follow-up

Passing the buck isn’t acceptable. Charlotte leaders saw gaps in the system and tried to fill them. Not every city can do the same, but every agency probably can do something. What’s stopping them?

Will you honor the dead on Memorial Day weekend? If so, how?

Mark's story today about an effort in Raleigh to reject federal REAL ID Act requirements prompts our editorial board to take a look.

Here's the bill filed by Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, and supported by an interesting collection of liberals and conservatives.

More background:

Real ID Q&A from the Department of Homeland Security.

A letter from South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff outlining his objections.

As it stands, noncompliance by the latest deadline of Dec. 31, 2009, means North Carolina driver's licenses won't be accepted as valid identification for boarding commercial airliners or gaining entry to other federal facilities. I would take that to include a federal office building or military base.

That could pose a hardship for North Carolina residents, so the objections to compliance should be very good ones. We're not sure they're that strong, but we'd like to hear your opinions.

Personally, I've started taking my passport with me when I fly. It's not that a North Carolina driver's license isn't legitimate, although until fairly recently the procedures for issuing them were notoriously lax. Rather, my North Carolina driver's license issued less that three years ago is of such poor quality that it's faded and hard to read. If I hadn't had my passport with me on two recent trips, I would not have been allowed through airport security.

OK, that's got nothing to do with the REAL ID, except I'm already prepared in case DHS puts North Carolina driver's licenses on its list of invalid documents.

Tuesday's lead editorial.

The newest road through Greensboro may be paved with good intentions, but it has brought with it nothing but vexing days and sleepless nights for some local residents.

Ever since the latest leg of the Urban Loop opened in February, many who live nearby have complained of excessive noise from the eight-lane highway, which redirects Interstate 40 from the PTI Airport area until it merges with Interstate 85 southwest of Greensboro.

They say the constant whine and rumble of passing traffic is unbearable. And they want the state Department of Transportation to fix it.

To their credit, DOT officials have scheduled a public hearing on Thursday to address those concerns. “We’re sympathetic,” Doug Galyon, chairman of the state transportation board, said Monday. “We want to help. We want to do what we can within the limits of the law.”

Among the most likely solutions are additional landscaping as a buffer from traffic. Noise-shielding walls also have been built in some areas but apply only to homes that existed before 1996, when the state first announced the Outer Loop’s path.

Despite those hopeful overtures, not everyone will be happy.

If this scenario seems familiar, it should be. We’ve traveled this road before in the fierce debate over the new FedEx hub, which could have been avoided if county leaders simply had heeded warnings not to allow so many homes on the doorstep of a growing airport. We traveled it as well in the case of the White Street Landfill, on whose edge the city inexplicably helped develop an affordable neighborhood.

Of course, those were largely planning failures. What stoked the Outer Loop debate is a failure to communicate.

Remember, the Outer Loop project was announced 12 years ago, before many of the houses there were built. Those building the new houses knew that and those buying the houses should have been told as well.

Some residents say they were aware the road was coming, only not this type of road. They say they were misled by an early name the city gave to the project, Painter Boulevard, which conjured images of moderate traffic and tree-lined medians (a la Freeman Mill Road). What they got instead, they say, was I-40.

To be fair, state transportation officials never referred to the project as a “Painter Boulevard” and, from day one, said it would consist of six to eight lanes. Obviously, not everyone was listening.

That said, local leaders have done an excellent job of planning and building roads that contribute to the greater good of the economy and quality of life here. Better, in fact, than many other cities. Still, the city, the real estate community and the DOT could have explained more clearly what this latest road would bring, for better and for worse.

Thursday night’s public meeting should help soften the rough edges of progress.

Tuesday's No. 2 editorial.

North Carolina, like most U.S. states, is an energy importer. Because of tight oil and gas resources and political instability in their production areas, energy is our Achilles’ heel.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The tables could be turned if our state harnessed the power of wind. Two studies show the resource’s potential.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy and energy industry experts estimates that, by 2030, 20 percent of the electricity in the United States could come from the wind.

Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Delaware provide even more hope for our area: They found that the wind off the coast from Cape Cod, Mass., to Cape Hatteras could meet all the energy needs of the mid-Atlantic region’s nine coastal states and D.C. — and even provide 50 percent more.

The researchers not only were computing the states’ electricity use but also their use of gasoline, heating oil and natural gas. (They also note that this option would provide more energy than offshore drilling in that area: They estimate the oil and gas there could provide only 10 percent of the energy the wind could generate, and that, if tapped, those finite resources would be depleted within 20 years.)

They estimate 166,720 off-coast turbines would need to be built to capture the wind energy, but that they could be placed even if allotting for “exclusion zones,” areas for such things as shipping lanes, fishing and other needs.

It sounds like a tremendous (and costly) construction project, but the study’s authors think U.S. industry could accomplish it. During World War II, they note, the United States ramped up warplane production to send 257,000 planes into service.

Wind energy, especially if coupled with a commitment to cars powered by electricity, could be the ticket to a more self-sufficient North Carolina. Blackwater has just installed a wind turbine at its headquarters in northeastern North Carolina. We hope more businesses realize the promise of wind.

Today's lead editorial.

A federal law puts pressure on states to join a national identification program. Before saying no, N.C. legislators should study costs, consequences.

The REAL ID Act deserves the fair and open debate in Raleigh it didn’t get in Washington.

Congress included the directive in a larger legislative package of anti-terrorism funding and tsunami relief three years ago and approved it without much discussion. It did follow a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission that the federal government "set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses." But, as the deadline for compliance approached, many states raised objections.

North Carolina is one of the latest. State Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, last week filed a bill blocking compliance with the federal law. As with similar measures in other states, the effort draws support from liberals and conservatives. Co-sponsors of Cole’s measure include Democratic Reps. Pricey Harrison and Maggie Jeffus of Greensboro and Republican Reps. Cary Allred of Burlington and Jerry Dockham of Denton.

Critics say the REAL ID Act forces states to spend millions to tighten standards for issuing driver’s licenses, puts personal privacy at risk by creating a new database of identification information and won’t significantly strengthen national security.

Those are serious concerns that deserve careful examination. So do the potential benefits claimed by proponents of the act.

Even if REAL ID was adopted too quickly in Washington, it should not be rejected in Raleigh without due deliberation. Cole’s bill should be referred to an appropriate committee, which should call witnesses who can spell out the advantages, costs and drawbacks of compliance with this measure.

North Carolina is not required to participate in the REAL ID program. However, there will be consequences for North Carolina residents if the state doesn’t meet the Dec. 31, 2009, deadline. Unless their state-issued driver’s licenses meet the criteria set out in federal law, they won’t be accepted as valid identification to pass airport security gates or to gain access to federal facilities. In most cases, residents will have to use passports instead. A passport, the original national ID, is a document that every American really ought to have, anyway.

Griping from Raleigh about the REAL ID rings a bit hollow. The state’s notoriously lax standards for issuing driver’s licenses, now largely corrected, helped bring this about. Most of the 9/11 terrorists carried driver’s licenses from states with similar policies. For many years, illegal immigrants found it easy to gain a North Carolina driver’s license. There’s nothing wrong with the federal government’s determination that states should subject license applicants to closer scrutiny. States that refuse shouldn’t expect their licenses to hold much credibility nationally.

At the same time, costs and privacy fears must be examined. It’s a big step for North Carolina to either comply with or reject this federal initiative, and it should proceed only after considering all the facts.

Wednesday's "First Person."

My children are my teachers. Because of them I am always learning new things, from e-mail abbreviations (g2g means "got to go") to the name of the stand-alone cymbal with my son’s drum set (hi-hat).

The lessons, though, often center around nature, as one daughter is in love with it. She sees things outdoors I would miss — like, recently, a tiny movement in a rock pile in our yard. Inspecting it, we found a baby bunny, dark brown with eyes closed, defenseless — and no nest apparent. So began the immersion course in rabbits.

Our goal, of course, was to keep the baby alive. We had thought a shoebox would work, but Internet reading and e-mail messaging with Dana Sims, a wildlife rehabilitator, made us realize our error. We must find the nest and put baby back in it, else it would die. At 1:15 a.m., my flashlight-carrying husband found the nest where Dana said it would be and where we hadn’t looked: in the grass. Rabbits build in the clear to see predators.

We reunited the rabbit with three siblings. But our instruction wasn’t over. A neighbor’s cat was prowling around the nest and may have been the one who had removed baby from it.

Now we began learning gruesome facts on household cats and wildlife: "Each cat can kill up to 200 small birds and mammals a year." "House cats maul and torment their prey, sometimes skinning baby bunnies alive." Dana advised us to ask the neighbors to keep their pet indoors (a good policy always to follow with cats). We were to cover babies in the day and remove the protection at night when their mom would feed them. Her advice seems to have worked. Every day the rabbits grew plumper; then, their eyes opened. One morning, they were gone.

I’m sure, though, my education will be continuing — perhaps in that "pond" my daughter recently dug in our backyard.

— Elma Sabo

Thursday's lead editorial.

Last week, the Guilford County legislative delegation said it couldn’t support a protest petition bill until it heard from the Greensboro City Council.

This week it wouldn’t wait to hear from Guilford County commissioners before rejecting a sales-tax proposal.

Guilford County deserves more consistent representation in Raleigh.

The real issue is the sales tax itself.

“I’m just fundamentally opposed to these regressive taxes,” Rep. Pricey Harrison said Wednesday, setting back the chance for Guilford County voters to decide for themselves in November.

Sure, voters overwhelmingly rejected a local quarter-cent sales-tax hike May 6. Suddenly, Commissioner Billy Yow is pushing for a full-cent increase. After being turned down for a quarter, asking for a dollar seems foolish — unless the request is made in a much more appealing way. It can be, and Yow is on the right track.

While crushing the sales-tax bid this month, voters agreed to spend $650 million for schools, GTCC and a jail. Although there was no promise on the ballot, the additional sales-tax revenue could have helped pay for those improvements, relieving some of the burden on the property tax.
Yow wants to spell it out this time, presenting what he calls a “resolution supporting local sales tax for education.” An extra penny on the sales tax could generate $60 million a year, offsetting a property-tax hike of 8 cents per $100 valuation, he said.

Sales taxes may be regressive, but the property tax is punishing for people with modest and stagnant incomes. It makes sense to spread the weight over additional revenue sources. Even nonresidents pay a large share of the sales tax through their purchases in Guilford County. It wouldn’t tax food or prescription medicine.

Commissioners can’t legally guarantee that a new sales tax would be applied as Yow suggests, but they would assume a moral and political obligation to deliver. Furthermore, while the proposal represents a tax increase, it doesn’t force more spending. It simply provides another way to pay for the spending already approved. If presented that way, and if supported by groups that campaigned for the successful bond measures, it could win the public’s assent.

Backing from local legislators is needed to gain General Assembly permission for commissioners to call a referendum. Despite the cold shoulder from lawmakers Wednesday, commissioners should adopt Yow’s resolution tonight and send it to Raleigh.

The voters’ first take on a sales-tax increase shouldn’t be regarded as a final answer, and neither should legislators’. Commissioners have to pay for $650 million in new projects, and unfortunately there’s no way to do that without raising taxes that people don’t like. At least they should be allowed to seek every fair and productive means of meeting the debt.

Yow is right to ask for another chance. Guilford County’s representatives in Raleigh should be willing to listen.

Thursday's No. 2 editorial.

Even with the support of a loving family, teenagers can find the transition to the adult world scary. Without a stable cushion at home, the journey can be downright perilous.

And the thousands of young people aging out of foster care each year are at particular risk.
Guilford County is no exception. As Gerald Witt reported this week in the News & Record, far too many 18-year-olds leaving foster homes here end up homeless, in jail, pregnant or unaccounted for. Others find themselves back in troubling family situations plagued by abuse or neglect.

The odds improve, however, when adults take time to counsel, mentor or simply extend a helping hand. Greensboro-based nonprofit Foster Friends of North Carolina is working to fill that void by offering a volunteer mentoring program for children ages 11 to 17. Yet the need often outpaces the resources.

Learning to trust adults isn’t easy when you’ve been shuffled from one family to another. Unfortunately, multiple placements are the rule rather than the exception and can take their toll on academics, personal relationships and overall development. Nor are they conducive to mentoring and building trust.

More often than not, help comes too late or not at all for aged-out foster children staring at the prospect of life on the streets. Care providers need to start earlier preparing them for the day when they’re on their own.

A smoother transition now means less spent in the future on costly programs for those seemingly destined to fall by the wayside.

Foster children, who some see as already having two strikes, shouldn’t merely be written off. They deserve a fair shot at productive, meaningful futures.

And that requires caring adults.

Want to help?

If you’re interested in being a mentor or a foster parent, contact:
Guilford County DSS: Sheletha Stewart, aging-out program volunteer, 641-3688.
Foster Friends of North Carolina: Melissa Fourier, executive director, 834-9919.

Friday's lead editorial.

Last week, a state agency arrested a Pitt County man and charged him with identity theft, obtaining property by false pretense and insurance fraud.

This agency wasn’t the SBI or Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. It was the Department of Insurance, which employs 20 sworn law-enforcement officers empowered to investigate crimes and arrest suspects. Last year, they made 109 arrests, helped obtain 53 criminal convictions and closed 525 cases with $14.5 million in restitution and recoveries.
With any kind of police work comes danger, sometimes deadly danger. Department of Insurance investigator Sallie Rohrbach, sent to audit a Charlotte insurance agency, disappeared last week; her body was found in a wooded area in York County, S.C., on Tuesday. Police have charged the owner of that insurance agency, Michael Arthur Howell, with her murder.

This case will take time to unravel, and details may not be disclosed until a defendant goes on trial. But if appearances hold true — that a state insurance investigator was murdered for doing her job — it’s an outrage.

Some of the wrongdoing investigators discover involves unscrupulous insurance agents who sell policies but pocket the premiums. That’s not only stealing, it potentially leaves clients without coverage. These sorts of crimes harm the public and undermine the integrity of the insurance industry.

What allegedly happened to Rohrbach, however, goes far beyond that. It’s repugnant, no less intolerable than killing a police officer who’s trying to stop a robbery or apprehend a suspect.
“I was shocked to read about it,” said Chris Mears, spokesman for another investigative agency, the Office of State Auditor. “The first thing that came to mind was how it relates to our office.”

Supervisors ask auditors to check in daily, and in situations that might become confrontational, two auditors are assigned, Mears said.

Procedures are similar in the Department of Insurance. Investigators are trained to call for backup if they feel threatened, spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson told The Charlotte Observer, but Rohrbach did not do so last week. The investigation of Howell’s Dilworth Insurance Agency was expected to be routine, not “anything egregious,” Pearson added.

For law-enforcement officers, including insurance investigators, even the routine has risks.
“I hope this is an isolated incident and nothing like this ever happens again,” Mears of the auditor’s office said. “But you prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Authorities now have to deal with the worst. This disturbing crime demands thorough investigation and determined prosecution.

Friday's No. 2 editorial.

N.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison has introduced a bill that would require big retailers in the state to recycle plastic bags.

We’re in agreement with the Guilford representative on the underlying reasons for her bill:

Plastic bags burden landfills: It’s estimated Americans discard 100 billion of these bags annually. Because they don’t easily biodegrade, they are likely to be plaguing us for centuries.

Plastic bags waste finite resources: Less than .5 percent of a barrel of oil or unit of natural gas goes toward making plastic bags, but that still is significant.

Plastic bags harm wildlife. It’s thought that plastic bags contribute to the deaths of birds and sea mammals.

Still, we don’t support Harrison’s legislation, which requires retailers of more than 10,000 square feet to provide a collection site for plastic bags and to arrange for the bags’ recycling.
People who want to recycle plastic bags already have ample opportunity to do so through the voluntary recycling programs run by major grocery store chains in our state. Also, if enacted, Harrison’s bill wouldn’t reduce plastic bag use by 75 percent, the legislation’s intended goal. Officials in San Francisco estimate a similar program in that city resulted in only about 1 percent of bags getting recycled. That city now has banned retailers from using plastic bags.

A less Draconian but effective measure is taxing bags. That’s what Ireland has done (and what Seattle is considering doing). After Ireland put a tax on plastic bags (the rate is now 22 euro cents per bag), consumers began carrying reusable ones — reducing the use of plastic bags there 95 percent. (And paper bags, which have their own baggage, weren’t allowed to be substituted: The government said it would tax them if retailers tried to switch.)

North Carolinians won’t support a bag tax. What’s most likely to work here is a public awareness campaign. Those concerned need to get the facts out about plastic bags in a compelling fashion. Then more people will stop using them.

Saturday's lead editorial.

What the City Council demanded, the city manager delivered.

The result is good news for Greensboro taxpayers, while it lasts.

Mitchell Johnson’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 freezes the property tax rate but "maintains critical service levels, particularly in City Council’s strategic priority areas," the manager wrote in his budget message presented Tuesday. And it funds 17 officers for "a dedicated Police Gang Unit for ongoing gang intervention and suppression efforts."

The no-tax-hike plan also adds services, including police and fire protection, in areas slated for annexation June 30. The expansion will take in approximately 10,000 new residents.

The picture isn’t all rosy. Water and sewer rates will rise 9 percent on Jan. 1. The 17 Gang Unit officers were purchased with the elimination of 30 other positions. And, said Johnson, the budget was balanced with short-term strategies. Returning to current service levels in 2009-10 would require a 2.5-cent property tax increase.

Not to mention the really big-ticket items on the horizon. The city’s 2008-14 Capital Improvement Program totals $862 million, covering Lake Townsend Dam repairs, Randleman reservoir-related work, transportation projects, fire stations, War Memorial Auditorium renovations and more. Coming up first: Johnson says he’ll ask the council to consider calling a bond referendum for "improvements to heavily traveled corridors and potential economic development areas such as Horsepen Creek Road, Benjamin Parkway and High Point Road/Lee Street."

The emphasis on public safety requires more than a budget boost. The city has to hire and train new officers, and lately that’s been a slow process. Johnson said the department is working on a plan to speed it up by accepting recruits with Basic Law Enforcement Training from, say, GTCC and putting them through an abbreviated certification program rather than the full police academy course. And then there are the downtown horse patrols that might mount up before long, providing late-night crowd control. The cost will be shared by Downtown Greensboro Inc., so the horses are a product of creative budgeting, too.

Times are challenging for city government, but more so for taxpayers. This spending plan appears to accomplish major objectives at a reasonable cost. Unless it comes up with better ideas, the council should adopt it.

Saturday's No. 2 editorial.

A small army of volunteers and law enforcement stepped forward to help this week when word came that a Smithfield 3-year-old had gone missing.

A group of mothers passed out fliers. Two hundred others attended a tearful candlelight vigil. The state issued an Amber Alert.

Rescue teams and helicopters scoured a 1.5-mile area near where Siraj Munir Davenport, known to friends and family as Raji, reportedly had disappeared. The boy’s mother said he had vanished at a flea market. She looked up after loading packages into her car, she said, and he was gone.

Her story was disturbing and heart-rending, any parent’s worst nightmare.

It also was a lie.

The boy had not vanished at the market. He was with relatives outside of the country all along.

Those who had rallied to help felt duped, angry and bewildered. Why concoct such a tale? What a sad waste of resources, trust and good will.

There have been other such hoaxes. Last November, a mother in Spring Lake said her 11-month-old had been taken from her home. That, too, was a lie — with a much unhappier ending. The child later was found dead in the attic.

But the majority of these cases are real. Of the more than 40 such alerts issued in North Carolina since 2002, only six were false alarms. Young lives have been saved.

So, what to do differently the next time, given the possibility of being fooled again? Not much.

There’s no room for doubt when a young life possibly hangs in the balance. And no time for it.

When child abductions end in homicide, said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, "the child is dead within three hours."

Better to err on the side of caution. Better to do too much than too little. To move faster than to hesitate.

And to be mistaken rather than sorry.

What do you think of the proposed $423 million budget for Greensboro for fy 2008-09?

Here is the News & Record story on it.

Sunday's editorial.]

As our community colleges face a rising tide of demands for job training, they'll need help to keep pace -- lots more than they're getting now.

While most of us worry whether there will be enough jobs in North Carolina's future, a new report questions whether there will be enough workers.

The sobering study, from the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, projects a significant shortfall in workers that largely will need to be met by the community college system.

The report estimates that the state's 58 community colleges would have to increase their output of graduates by a staggering 75 percent to meet the projected demand. That means that, by 2016, those institutions would need to graduate 19,000 additional students per year.

Fortunately, Guilford County voters seem aware of the crucial role that their own community college, GTCC, will play in the area's future. Despite the looming shadows of both a recession and a tax increase, they approved $79.5 million in bonds on May 6 that will finance construction of a new GTCC campus near PTI Airport, an aviation classroom building and land acquisition to expand existing campuses.

GTCC's growing value
There's no mistaking GTCC's rising profile as an economic driver.

Since 2004, enrollment has climbed by 22 percent. Between last year and this year alone it grew by a healthy 8 percent.

GTCC graduated a record 918 students on May 8. It enrolls about 40,000 students, more than 13,000 of them full time. It retrains displaced textile, tobacco and furniture employees and prepares many of its students for jobs in promising, high-growth fields such as nursing and aviation.

The school reports that nearly every 2005 graduate found a job within one year of completing his or her program.

But in the years to come, will all that be enough?

If the financing and operations of our community colleges remain as they are, the new report flatly warns, no.

Less investment, fewer dividends
Among major challenges the Center for Public Policy Research cites are lagging faculty salaries and inadequate equipment. There's ample evidence of both here.

GTCC President Don Cameron has complained for years how hard he finds it to recruit and retain strong faculty members, especially in high-demand fields such as nursing.

"It's a tragedy that we're the third-largest community college system in America," Cameron says, "and we rank 46th in what we pay our faculty."

The average annual salary for community college instructors in the state is $41,000.

While Cameron also said he appreciated the electorate's vote of confidence on May 6, he agrees as well with the report's assessment of ongoing needs within the classroom. For instance, he says, bonds won't pay for flight simulators in aviation classes or teaching aids in nursing and surgical technology classes.

So GTCC has had to rely largely on private contributions, including a recent million-dollar gift from the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation to help pay for aviation program equipment.

A need for urgency
There are other problems, among them enrollment that far outpaces counseling, tutorial and child-care services; a need for more financial aid; and a pool of incoming students who are not as well-prepared as they ought to be.

At the News & Record's One Guilford conference in March at UNCG, GTCC's vice president for educational support services, Kathryn Baker Smith, noted rising numbers of Guilford County students who arrive at the school needing remedial work. Longer term, that's a challenge for the Guilford County Schools. For now, GTCC has to deal with it.

If all of this seems a bit overwhelming, that's because it is.

This is why state lawmakers should begin to address these issues right now. For starters, they should change the outdated formula used to determine state community college funding, which each year is based on the previous year's enrollment. That makes little sense, and ill equips faculty and administrators -- not to mention the students -- to do their best work.

GTCC and its sister schools need to be nimble enough to quickly adjust to the shifting economic landscape.

A funding model that looks backward instead of ahead is not only shortsighted but plain silly.

The bottom line: Community colleges should be funded based on their projected enrollment, as are UNC system schools.

If these institutions mean as much to us as we say they do, we should treat them like it. The community colleges' crucial role in the state's economic future demands a commensurate investment.

Monday's Short Stack items.

President Bush awarded seven medals for valor during his visit last week to the 82nd Airborne Division’s home base at Fort Bragg. But not all the recipients were there.

Presenting the Distinguished Service Cross earned by Sgt. Charles Wyckoff, Bush kissed the fallen soldier’s young widow, Erika, as she stood with her two children. Sgt. Wyckoff, 28, died last June 6 in Afghanistan. He had left a covered position to protect his platoon during an insurgent attack, the Army said.

Before enlisting in 2004, Wyckoff earned a degree in aeronautical science, and he still hoped to pursue flight training someday, relatives said. Instead, he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and his fellow soldiers on the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, when so many members of the 82nd gave their lives in the fight to liberate Europe.

Wyckoff was a Californian, but he also was an All-American who lived and trained in North Carolina before meeting the enemy far from home. He is one of a long line of heroes who deserve a grateful nation’s thanks today and all days. So do the loved ones they left behind, as the president’s tender gesture reminded us.

County tax hike was a promise
A Guilford County property-tax increase was inevitable from the moment the votes were counted on the night of May 6. In fact, it was promised.

Voters approved bonds totalling more than $650 million and were told what the property-tax impact would be: nearly 4 cents. County Manager David McNeill presented a budget that actually recommends raising the tax rate by almost 5.5 cents, accommodating requests for funding increases for other needs and higher costs. Commissioners can change that, but they already have public approval for a significant tax hike.

And the anticipated tax impact of the bond projects will be even more in the next few years — the price of progress, as voters clearly were told.

Billy Yow steps up
Speaking of taxes, you’ve got to give Billy Yow credit. As a conservative Republican county commissioner, he didn’t stand to gain much politically by suggesting (egads!) that a 1-cent sales tax increase be placed on the November ballot. But Yow knows the county desperately needs the revenue and he knows such a tax could provide more relief than inflict pain. For one thing, it would benefit those who pay property taxes by spreading the burden. For another, it would add tax revenue from people who don’t live here.

Of course, it’s not easy making the case for a new tax, especially in hard times. That’s why a quarter-cent sales tax increase flamed out on the May 6 ballot.

Even though legislators said no to Yow’s request, at least he tried. And the quarter-cent tax idea could reappear on the November ballot for one more hearing with voters.

Of course, no sooner had Yow played statesman than he sparked yet another war of words between him and black commissioners Thursday night. Seems he prefers to behave only in short stretches. Sigh.

Loop fallout
As predicted, few residents were happy with what they heard in a meeting last week with state transportation officials about the noise created in their communities by a new leg of Greensboro’s Outer Loop. They wanted more noise walls than federal guidelines allow and they felt the state Department of Transportation’s offer to plant more trees won’t be nearly enough.
There are, of course, more loop projects on the way. If this one taught us anything, it’s that the DOT, the city and the real estate community should do a better job of communicating what’s to come.

The School Board Fiscal Responsibility Act revives debate on a question that's been kicked around for a long time and will come back every time county commissioners fail to meet funding requests from local school boards.

It gives school boards the authority to assess and collect property taxes.

Sponsors include Earl Jones and Pricey Harrison of Greensboro.

Taxing authority is an item on the legislative agenda of the Guilford County Board of Education.

Same for the N.C. School Boards Association.

The Charlotte Observer endorses school board taxing authority in an editorial today.

We have to disagree with our friends in the Queen City. Commissioners are the appropriate county taxing authority. It's their job to weigh all the funding needs of the county and set a tax rate that addresses priorities and is fair for taxpayers.

What's your view?

We're going to write an editorial on property tax relief. Specifically, we're looking at relief for senior citizens and the disabled. Do you think the state's homestead exemption is generous enough? Now, such property owners with annual incomes above $25,000 can't apply for it. Do you think the income amount should be increased?

Will the bonds Guilford voters approved be too burdensome for those on fixed incomes? Are they too burdensome for you? Should relief be extended to others beyond those groups?

Or is this an issue that we shouldn't even be concerned about? Do you think people should move if they can't pay the taxes on a house? Or do you think declining property values will eventually provide relief?

Lots of questions.

Hope we hear some answers from you.

Elma Sabo