Opinion Roundup: State courts under attack, trade issues worry farmers, GenX, Atlantic Coast Pipeline and more

Monday, April 9, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: State courts under partisan attack, 2020 decennial Census, trade issues worry soybean farmers, school psychologists stretched too thin, construction on Atlantic Coast Pipeline begins and more.

TAFT WIREBACK: Is Surry County official demanding county workers aid GOP campaigns? (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- Many people might find Surry County Clerk of Superior Court Teresa O’Dell’s recent memo to her staff more than a little perplexing, perhaps even offensive. In the memo distributed to her employees late last month, she told her assistant clerks and deputy clerks they would be “asked” to help her canvass for votes, be required to attend at least one Republican Party function and be expected to work the polls during the May 8 primary election ... using their vacation leave to cover any work time lost to politicking. “This job allows you to care for your family and give them the things they need. I’ve been good to all of you in some way,” O’Dell said in her March 27 memo to employees whose salaries are paid by state government. “Now I (am) asking you to get excited, to get on board and make this happen for me.”

BILL COLVARD: Court clerk says despite memo, staff not required to campaign (MOUNT AIRY NEWS) -- The Surry County clerk of court said she never meant to require any of her employees to work for her re-election even though that's what a leaked memo said. After the memo was published, Surry County Clerk of Court Teresa O'Dell said that she doesn't require staff to work for her campaign. She acknowledged that the memo "seemed to indicate otherwise" and sent a follow-up note.

LISA O’DONNELL: Foxx favorite in GOP primary; Dem nomination up for grabs in 5th Congressional District (Winston-Salem Journal reports) – A look at the candidates in the 5th Congressional District.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Election board appointments raise questions (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- The absence of minority representation on the new Pitt County Board of Elections and a decision against reappointing a sitting black member has triggered a burgeoning protest. Leaders of the state and county NAACP organizations are scheduled to meet in Greenville.

Clark dispute is one more reason for redistricting reform (Fayetteville Observer) -- Two years ago, the best political game in town was Where in the World is Naveed Aziz? This year, the tables are turned on the instigators of that noisy distraction. The 2018 political game is Where in the World is Ben Clark? Unlike two years ago, this year we may get a definitive answer in the dispute over a candidate’s place of residence.. On April 16, a special panel created by the State Board of Elections will hear the evidence and decide whether state Sen. Ben Clark still lives in the district he represents in Raleigh. It’s a tale filled with twists and turns, and this year’s story is woven tightly into the fabric of this state’s long-running saga of extreme gerrymandering that has given the state a remarkable assortment of bizarre-shaped districts. Some of those districts — including Clark’s Senate District 21 — were the target of a federal gerrymandering case.

America's state courts - particularly N.C.'s - are under partisan attack (New York Times) -- Across the country, state judges are under increasing fire from lawmakers and outside groups angered by their rulings, their power, their tenure or simply their independence. ... Republican legislators in North Carolina, who recently gerrymandered themselves into a veto-proof majority, have taken repeated aim at the state courts.

JOE NEFF: They Did 30 Years for Someone Else’s Crime. Then Paid for It. (New York Times analysis) – Henry McCollum and his half brother, Leon Brown, who is also intellectually disabled, were demonized and convicted in one of North Carolina’s most notorious rape and murder cases. Their decades in prison and their disabilities would have made for a difficult return to society under the best circumstances. What happened to them after their release proved even more problematic. As exonerees, they emerged with big dollar signs on their backs. Most states compensate the wrongfully imprisoned in amounts that can reach millions of dollars, and exonerees can also win settlements from police agencies — awards that can attract predators.

Taking a fair count (Winston-Salem Journal) -- The 2020 decennial Census is an important tool for gathering demographic information that will be used to allocate government resources like disaster relief and health services and will also determine the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

TAYLOR KNOPF: Advocates On Road Trip to “Change the Rural Narrative” (N.C. Health News analysis) -- Advocates at NC Rural Center are visiting all North Carolina’s rural counties to better understand the story of rural N.C. and learn its biggest struggles. Last week, on the table: broadband and why its absence hurts rural communities.

WILLIAM WEST: Trade issues worry soybean farmers (Elizabeth City Daily Advance) -- The president and chief executive officer of the N.C. Soybean Producers Association is disappointed trade talks have reached the point where the Chinese are now threatening to impose a tariff on American soybeans.

DAVID WEIGEL: Farmers who propelled Trump to the presidency fear becoming pawns in a trade war with China (Washington Post reports) -- President Trump’s escalating trade war with China is putting Republican candidates in a difficult spot, caught between support for the administration and concern for their constituents’ fortunes.

Money for guns (Greensboro News & Record) -- The Greensboro City Council rightly decided last week not to cancel a scheduled gun show at the coliseum.

CELIA RIVENBARK: The side effects of Poisonous Putin (Wilmington Star-News column) -- I knew when I felt the racing pulse, the flushed skin and constantly upset stomach that I had it. Yes, it’s true: I’m Putin-intolerant. Or Putin-sensitive if you prefer. I have a legitimate allergy to Putin. He speaks and I can only imagine the torrents of Putin-related disorders that are sure to follow if I’m exposed to him in even the tiniest doses.

JONI BALTER: Competition for Amazon's HQ2 becomes more political (Greensboro News & Record column) -- The competition for Amazon’s second headquarters is only getting fiercer. The politicking that goes with it ranges from subtle and behind the scenes to brazenly in-your-face. At stake is a destiny-changing bonanza that is a modern-day equivalent of a railroad siting.

ANNICK JOSEPH: Nash County native to retire from bench (The Robesonian reports) -- The judge with the reputation of telling deadbeat dads, “you better bring your toothbrush” if they didn’t bring the money to pay child support will hang up his robe on Dec. 31. N.C. District Court Judge Herbert Richardson Sr., 65, is the longest sitting judge in North Carolina. He has decided not to seek re-election and will retire after nearly 40 years on the bench in Robeson County.

MARY ALICEA LYONS: New catch phrase to vilify teachers -“Chronically absent” (EdNC column) -- Discussions are popping up in our state and others about whether chronic absenteeism is a “problem”. According to data compiled by the NC Department of Public Instruction, 22.6 percent of North Carolina teachers missed 10 or more non-consecutive sick days in the 2016-2017 school year. On the surface, the statistics seem startling, as if there is a dire issue that must be addressed. One could imagine hundreds of teachers simply taking a day off on a regular basis to have fun and skip out on their school responsibilities. However, when you dig beneath the surface, there are very reasonable explanations for why this might be happening and to be expected. Let’s consider a couple of scenarios that differ from mine, but still lead to perfectly reasonable reasons for “chronic absenteeism.”

MICHAEL BRAGG: Are school psychologists stretched too thin? (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- North Carolina is seeing a shortage in school psychologists, according to an article in N.C. Policy Watch authored by the North Carolina School Psychology Association. The statewide ratio is one school psychologist for every 2,162 students. The National Association of School Psychologists states the ideal ratio should be one psychologist for every 500 to 700 students — and not exceeding 1,000 — so that they’re doing more work up front to provide students with the support they need.

A message for the ages (Fayetteville Observer) -- The renowned scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. brought a message to Fayetteville State University last week. We all need to incorporate it into our lives. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, the civil right’s leader’s life was very much on Gates’ mind. He recalled mourning King’s loss, but “then we remembered we still had his words, still had his record of action and the continuing force of his dream,” Gates said.

COLIN WARREN-HICKS: At 97 years old, UNC's oldest-living b-baller says Silent Sam should go (Durham Herald Sun reports) -- Besides being the oldest UNC athlete walking the earth, Bobby Gersten, UNC ’42, is the co-founder of UNC Walk for Health along with its director, William Thorpe. Sunday's event followed a program celebrating the life of the slain civil rights leader earlier in the week. Gersten grew up on Long Island in New York, and when he headed south for school, did not notice any overt race-related tension. “There was [tension] in the background,” he said. “Nothing came out. Nothing openly. But certainly the blacks didn't have any important place here at all.” About Silent Sam, Gersten said, it should come down.

In a fog of climate change denial, Asheville leads the way (Asheville Citizen-Times) -- We are pleased that Asheville and Buncombe County are in the forefront of the national effort to pursue climate science in the face of the Trump administration’s abdication of its responsibilities. One of Asheville’s lesser-known treasures is the National Center for Environmental Information, one of the world’s leading archives of such data. Gathered about it are various outfits dedicated to putting NCEI data to use. A major component here is The Collider, a nonprofit workspace in the old Wells Fargo building facing Pritchard Park.

PAUL WOOLVERTON: As pipeline work begins, opponents continue fight (Fayetteville Observer analysis) -- At the far end of a farm field east of Fayetteville, piles of branches, trunks and sawdust on the ground are the first tangible signs of a $6 billion project that could reshape eastern North Carolina. Construction of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is expected to begin in a matter of months. A 3-foot-diameter pipe will carry natural gas under the land where those trees once grew, and on through miles of farmland along the Interstate 95 corridor. For some, the pipeline carries a promise of economic prosperity. For others, it portends danger and environmental disaster. Though the long-anticipated pipeline is on the verge of construction, it still has vocal opponents who have fought it since the project was announced in 2014. They don’t intend to stop.

TIM WHITE: Where hogs outnumber people by 29 to 1 (Fayetteville Observer column) -- One of those crystal-clear memories of childhood: I’d be up in Vermont, visiting with my Mom’s vast extended family, and one of my uncles would declare that his beloved Green Mountain State had more cows than people. When I got old enough to look it up, I found it was true. The bovine population really was the dominant one.

Dollars, jobs flow from paths (Hendersonville Times-News) -- Local efforts to build more greenways should get a boost from a N.C. Department of Transportation study detailing the economic benefits of shared-use paths. The study looked at four paths across North Carolina: the Brevard Greenway in Brevard, the Little Sugar Creek Greenway in Charlotte, the American Tobacco Trail in Durham and the Duck Trail in the tiny seaside town of Duck in Dare County.

GenX pollution shows how deregulation can kill us (Fayetteville Observer) -- The lessons we should learn from our experience with the DuPont and Chemours pollution of the Cape Fear River and the countryside around the chemical plant could earn all of us a PhD from the University of Hard Knocks. Some of them have been right in front of us for decades. Others are just now emerging. And more likely await discovery. But there is an underlying lesson — the most important of them all — that should drive far-reaching reform in North Carolina: Reasonable regulation and oversight are an essential obligation of a good government. North Carolina government has flunked that course. Deliberately.

REV. MAC LEGERTON: Clean energy, the pipeline predicament and a viable solution (Fayetteville Observer column) -- Most residents and public officials in North Carolina know and agree we need to move our state and nation toward 100 percent clean energy in the near future. There is agreement for many reasons, including the economic, environmental, political, moral, and spiritual reasons. We find that this is not only a major need, it is also a major advantage. Communities, states and nations moving toward a clean energy economy are already reaping huge benefits in job and economic growth that can’t be matched by those in fossil fuel energy.

TAYLOR KNOPF: New State-funded Grants Available to Combat Opioid Crisis (N.C. Health News reports) -- North Carolina community, health and government agencies are invited to apply for one-time grants to increase access to addiction treatment and recovery services.

DAVID C. RADLEY, DOUGLAS MCCARTHY & SUSAN L. HAYES: Scorecard on State Health System Performance (Commonwealth Fund report) -- The Commonwealth Fund Scorecard on State Health System Performance finds that nearly all state health systems improved on a broad array of health indicators between 2013 and 2015. During this period, which coincides with implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s major coverage expansions, uninsured rates dropped and more people were able to access needed care, particularly those in states that expanded their Medicaid programs. On a less positive note, between 2011–12 and 2013–14, premature death rates rose slightly following a long decline. In reviewing the data, four key themes emerged: -- States that expanded Medicaid saw greater gains in access to care. -- There was more improvement than decline in states’ health system performance. -- Premature death rates crept up in almost two-thirds of states. -- Across all measures, there was a threefold variation in performance, on average, between top- and bottom-performing states, signifying opportunities for improvement

JAYMIE BAXLEY: The Scope of Moore County's Opioid Problem (Southern Pines Pilot reports) -- The toll of the national opioid epidemic in Moore County can be measured from the cradle to the grave. Moore County officials say reports of infants suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms are on the rise, a trend that coincides with an upturn in fatal overdoses

Nina Simone to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- Humble beginnings don't get much humbler than where Nina Simone grew up. It's in east Tryon, a neighborhood of low rolling hills and hollers, where the homes look like they're being swallowed by the landscape.

4 rare rubies found in N.C. could fetch millions (AP reports) -- A collection of four rare star rubies found in North Carolina has made it to a New York auction house, and it's expected they could be worth more than $90 million.