North State Journal — Vol. 3., Issue 1

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1

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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

Returning home Billy Graham, preacher to millions, adviser to U.S. presidents, dies at 99

REUTERS | STRINGER | FILE

Evangelist Billy Graham preaches the Gospel to thousands of believers during tonight’s meeting at Bercy’s Stadium in Paris as part of a worldwide crusade, Sept. 20, 1986.

“The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven.”

Billy Graham A funeral is planned for March 2 in front of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.

He will be buried on library premises next to his wife, Ruth.

By Bill Trott Reuters ASHEVILLE — Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the

world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years in the pulpit, died last Wednesday at the age of 99, a spokesman said.

Graham’s body lies in honor under the U.S. Capitol rotunda this week as Congress pays tribute to a clergyman who counseled presidents and preached the gospel to millions worldwide. Graham, died at his home in Montreat, near Asheville last week. He will arrive at the white-domed Capitol on Feb. 28 Wednesday and lie in honor

there until Thursday.

“Members of the public and Capitol Hill community are invited to pay their respects to the late reverend while he lies in rest,” the speaker of the House of Representatives said.

Graham preached Christianity to more people than anyone else in history during his 70-year career, reaching hundreds of millions of people either in person or via TV and satellite links, his ministry said.

Graham became the de facto

White House chaplain to several U.S. presidents, most famously Richard Nixon. He also met with scores of world leaders and was the first noted evangelist to take his message behind the Iron Curtain, the term used for the communist bloc countries of East Europe and the Soviet Union in the decades after World War II. “He was probably the dominant religious leader of his era,” said William Martin, author of “A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story.” “No more than one

or two popes, perhaps one or two other people, came close to what he achieved.”

In a rare trip away from his home in his later years, Graham had celebrated his 95th birthday on Nov. 7, 2013, at a hotel in Asheville, where some 800 guests, including Donald Trump, business magnate Rupert Murdoch and television hostess Kathie Lee Gifford paid tribute.

The event featured a video of a sermon that his son Franklin said See GRAHAM, page A4

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Duke-UNC rematch has NCAA implications Sports North Carolina will host music legends in concert the good life

8 BOB DONNAN | USA TODAY SPORTS

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

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the Wednesday

WEDNESDAY

2.28.18

NEWS BRIEFING

#117

Biofuel prices get White House attention

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North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Donna King Editor Cory Lavalette Managing/Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor

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Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at the Executive Mansion, on Feb. 16.

LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Challenge to ACP permits filed Petition seeks judicial review of permit process for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

more questions from lawmakers about the timing of those permits being issued. They came the day after Cooper announced a $57.8 million mitigation fund

By Donna King with money from Dominion EnNorth State Journal ergy and Duke Energy. The fund was outlined in a Memo of UnRALEIGH — A challenge derstanding released by the govfiled Tuesday against Governor ernor’s office earlier this month.

Roy Cooper’s Department of En- The memo says that the money vironmental Quality alleges that would be controlled by the govthe four permits issued by the ernor and distributed through state for the Atlantic Coast Pipe- a board that Cooper appointed line “did not meet proper proce- to environmental and economdure resulting in harm to water ic development projects in the eight counties through which the quality.”

The petition was filed by natural gas pipeline will run.

The N.C. General Assembly Francis DeLuca, former head of the conservative Civitas Insti- objected, with some calling it the tute, and contests permits and governor’s “slush fund,” and said approvals recently issued by that the state budgeting process DEQ to the ACP project, includ- is the proper avenue for the moning the federal Clean Water Act ey. Lawmakers passed H.B. 90 Section 401 Certification which two weeks ago which instead is the primary approval required sent the money to the school sysfor the project to move forward. tems in those eight counties.

“Gov. Cooper’s deal looks like a The petition also challenges the sedimentation control per- payment-for-permit and doesn’t mit and storm water permits in pass the smell test, and the right Nash and Cumberland counties. thing to do is to take this ‘volDEQ confirmed that the agency’s untary contribution’ to the state general counsel has received the and use it to fund the educational needs of children in the poor, petition and is reviewing it.

“These permits are required rural communities impacted by under our laws to assure projects the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” said such as this one are built in a way Senate Majority Leader Harry that protects our water quality,” Brown (R-Onslow), after Cooper said Thomas Lindgren, attorney signed H.B. 90.

Cooper has openly criticized for DeLuca. “Contemporaneously with these approvals, this lawmakers for their public objecadministration announced the tions to the fund saying that they establishment of an extra-reg- are putting the $57.8 million in ulatory fund of $58 million jeopardy.

“The legislature has imperiled funded by the project owners but controlled by the governor; an agreement with the Atlantic the same governor oversees im- Coast Pipeline to invest in ecoplementation of the permitting nomic development and enviprograms that regulate this proj- ronmental protections in eastect. Our client is concerned that ern N.C. Instead the legislators such an arrangement might have manufactured a power struggle corrupted the review process about a pipeline that they said and we have indications that the they wanted,” said Cooper when process was indeed not proper. he signed the bill.

Monday’s challenge claims Rather than take a chance with North Carolina's water quality, that DEQ didn’t follow the propour client is seeking judicial re- er procedures in issuing the permits, opening the door to more view.”

The challenge comes amid questions about the process by

“Our client is concerned that such an arrangement might have corrupted the review process and we have indications that the process was indeed not proper.”

— Thomas Lindgren, attorney which the environmental agency reached the conclusions to award the permits. Cooper and his administration have repeatedly stated that the $57.8 million fund was a voluntary contribution by the pipeline and its primary stakeholders, Duke Energy and Dominion Energy.

So far, Duke and Dominion have not publicly stated whether the agreement was voluntary.

“As part of the approval process, we worked with all three states through which the pipeline passes to develop mitigation measures for these impacts,” said Duke Energy’s communications spokesperson, Tammie McGee in an email. “In North Carolina, a memorandum of understanding was developed as part of this mitigation process.

The State determines how to administer those mitigation funds.

Ultimately, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will grow North Carolina’s economy, produce cleaner energy, and lower energy costs for consumers and businesses across the region.”

On Tuesday, DEQ announced that it was issuing an air quality permit for the Northampton Compressor Station of the ACP project. The permit was green-lighted after revisions were made to the original draft permit based on public comment and additional analysis of projected emissions from the station. That air quality permit was not contested in the petition.

Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump met with senators and Cabinet officials Tuesday amid concerns over the rising cost of biofuels.

The White House has inquired about the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, a law requiring refiners to mix biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel, after a Pennsylvania refiner blamed the regulation for its recent bankruptcy. The meeting included the heads of the Department of Energy, the EPA and Department of Agriculture.

U.S. farm groups urged Trump not to weaken the RFS, calling it a critical engine of rural jobs.

Congress to focus on background checks after Florida shooting Parkland, Fla/Washington, D.C. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill say they are focusing on improving background checks for potential gun buyers.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said lawmakers are working to pass a bill to tighten the federal background check system. The work comes less than two weeks after 17 people were killed at a Florida high school. Federal and local law enforcement agencies have acknowledged receiving multiple warnings ahead of the time about Nikolas Cruz's potential for violence.

Capitol Police look for flag thieves in Raleigh Raleigh The State Capitol Police are searching for people believed to have stolen American and N.C. flags from the top of state government office buildings in downtown Raleigh. The crime occurred after 2 a.m. according to time stamps on surveillance videotapes that showed three suspects arriving at the scene and leaving with the stolen flags. They are believed to have climbed the construction scaffolding on the building.

Trump taps 2020 campaign manager San Antonio President Donald Trump on Tuesday named political strategist Brad Parscale as manager of his 2020 presidential re-election campaign. Parscale, 42, is based in San Antonio, Texas and was the Trump campaign’s digital director in 2016 and had performed digital duties for Trump’s businesses, the Trump Organization, before the campaign. The Trump campaign stated it planned to use Parscale’s talent for the 2018 congressional midterm elections.

Millennials get a crash course in conservatism at CPAC Forty percent of the attendees at this year’s annual conference featuring conservative thoughtleaders were under age 24

Young people from Turning Point USA, a non-profit in 2012 dedicated to educating students about free markets, fiscal responsibility, and limited government, attended The Conservative Political Action Conference this year from Feb. 21- 24, 2018.

By Anna Scott Marsh for the North State Journal OXON HILL, Md. — The Conservative Political Action Conference, held annually by the American Conservative Union, occurred Feb. 21-24 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Thousands of conference attendees heard remarks from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, British politician Nigel Farage, NRA executive vice president Wayne Lapierre and spokeswoman Dana Loesch, Sen. Ted Cruz, and many others. Topics like tax reform, gun control, the media, North Korea, and even the 2020 election were widely discussed.

Among those attending was a majority group of millennials, most falling in the age group of 18 to 24. The 2016 election cycle saw a race like never before, and

PHOTO COURTESY OF TPUSA

for most millennials it was their first voting cycle. There is certainly no sign of the 2020 race being any calmer, and the millennials of CPAC say they are ready for it.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, created a nonprofit in 2012 dedicated to educating students about free markets, fiscal responsibility and limited

government. TPUSA is present on more than 1,000 campuses, with 300 chapters alone on college campuses across the country.

Kirk, a 25-year-old millennial,

spoke on several panels during this year’s conference.

“Conservatives are poised to grow their majority in the Senate and maintain their House majority,” Kirk said. “The positives of the largest middle-class tax cut [in history] is winning over new voters every day. The radicals in the Democratic Party are without a message and continue to be floundering. [The] GOP will do very well in November.”

Grace Morgan, a 21-year-old Clayton, N.C., native, attended CPAC on behalf of a tax reform organization she works for in Washington, D.C. “I believe conservatives are ready because [Republican leadership] has delivered on their promise of tax reform,” she said.

“Their constituents are seeing the benefit in their paychecks and will continue to reap the benefits heading into midterm elections.”

Largely continued to tax reform, young conservatives are more than confident and ready to face 2018’s midterms.

Anna Scott Marsh is a college student and a member of the College Republicans at East Carolina University.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

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BUSINESS

The lobby of WellQ, a membershipbased service that provides access to convenient high-quality health care for everyday illnesses and wellness needs, along with wellness and financial coaching and education.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER

n.c.

FAST FACTS Sponsored by

The Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF) has entered into a partnership with CNote investment firm to leverage retail capital to support underserved small business in North Carolina.

For more than 27 years, CSBDF has provided financial services, including technical assistance, in support of economic development.

In 2010, CSBDF launched its direct small business lending program, which has since then funded 607 small business loans, totaling $44 million, which have in turn helped create over 2,029 jobs in North Carolina.

CSBDF’s mission of fostering economic development is aligned with CNote’s commitment to investing in economic development and job creation in low-income communities. This investment from CNote, which commits up to one million dollars in funding, directly supports small businesses in North Carolina.

These funds allow CSBDF to help fill the lending gap left by major banks that have tightened lending criteria and pulled out of many underserved communities across the state.

“We are excited that CNote recognizes our efforts in small business lending and economic development in the state of North Carolina. The investment of this capital will expand our small business lending program and job creation in underserved sectors and communities,” said Lenwood V. Long, Sr., President/ CEO of Carolina Small Business Development Fund.

CNote’s investment focuses on providing funds to CDFIs lending to people of color, women, low income and veteran entrepreneurs.

Approved Logos

Partnership provides financial planning for patients seeking care in new clinic Believed to be the first of its kind in the country, a unique venture between hospital and credit union offers patients one-stop financial advice surrounding health care and wellness in clinic setting

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Sponsored by

Trailing Brew and ’Cue in Pitt County

By Laura Ashley Lamm North State Journal WINSTON-SALEM — A healthy lifestyle includes a balance between physical and financial wellbeing. To better help people in Forsyth County, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Allegacy Federal Credit Union have teamed up in a unique partnership.

WellQ is the new membership-based service that provides access to convenient, high quality health care for everyday illness and wellness needs, along with financial coaching and education.

If members are looking for a provider, members can receive a variety of treatments for common illnesses such as strep throat, upper respiratory illnesses, poison ivy and pink eye for $35 per visit.

For financial wellness, benefits include membership at Allegacy Federal Credit Union with an AllHealth Wellness Savings Account, offering higher-than-market dividends, health care financial advising, no-obligation health care financial planning to help plan for current and future health care costs and on-site financial education classes.

“There is a strong correlation between people’s physical and financial wellbeing as financial stress can negatively impact their physical health and vice versa,” said Cathy J. Pace, president and CEO, Allegacy Federal Credit Union.

“Health care expense can be one of the top costs for families and a WellQ membership can be a vital part of financial planning for those who need an affordable,

n.c.

Cathy J. Pace, President and CEO of Allegacy Federal Credit Union and Julie Ann Freischlag, M.D., CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Interim Dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine, stand in the WellQ lobby. convenient place to go for minor illnesses, as well as valuable financial education and planning assistance.”

To further aid members in establishing health goals, WellQ will offer complimentary annual wellness exams and monitoring of conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, health screenings, wellness classes and access to 24-hour virtual visits.

An onsite visit-related pharmacy is stocked with common prescriptions and over-the-counter medications.

“The clinic at WellQ is not designed to be a substitute for a primary care provider, but rather as a convenience that complements a person’s existing primary care provider and supports the physical and financial wellbeing of members,” said Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, CEO, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Interim Dean, Wake Forest School of Medicine.

“The Allegacy – Wake Forest Baptist partnership is about becoming champions for improving the overall health and wellbeing of the folks who live and work in our community.”

Experienced and licensed pro-

“Health care expenses can be one of the top costs for families and a WellQ membership can be a vital part of financial planning for those who need an affordable, convenient place to go for minor illnesses, as well as valuable financial education and planning assistance.”

— Cathy J. Pace, president and CEO, Allegacy Federal Credit Union viders from Wake Forest Baptist Health operate the clinic at WellQ. Insurance is not accepted for clinic appointments or visit-related prescriptions at the onsite pharmacy.

Annual membership at WellQ for an individual is $199 and $249 for a family. Up to two adults and children/dependents ages 2-21 who share a household are included in the family membership.

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Whether you’re a fan of eastern North Carolina barbecue or you’re considering joining that club, here’s a sure-fire way to delight your taste buds and maybe even have some fun: Hit the Pitt County Brew & ’Cue Trail.

Now, this isn’t your typical weekend hike. This trail takes you through four public power communities where you can enjoy world-renowned eastern North Carolina barbecue joints and local craft breweries. At the first place you stop, you’ll pick up a Pitt County Brew & ’Cue Trail Passport—wait, make that PassPork. Each stop at an establishment along the trail earns a stamp. Fill your PassPork with stamps, and then head to the Greenville-Pitt County Convention and Visitors Bureau visitors center to claim a T-shirt or pint glass and get your picture on the Brew & ’Cue Wall of Fame!

Your pork-and-hops-filled adventure will take you to: Ayden Bum’s Restaurant, Skylight Inn BBQ Farmville The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Greenville B’s Barbecue, Jack Cobb & Son Barbecue Place, Parker’s Barbecue Restaurant #1, Parker’s Barbecue Restaurant #2, Pitt Street Brewing Company, Trollingwood Taproom & Brewery, Uptown Brewing Company Winterville Moore’s Olde Tyme Barbecue, Sam Jones BBQ For more details, visit www.pittcountybrewandcue.com.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

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Spring fun ahead!

Murphy

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

to

May 4-6 | Hot Springs

May 25 | Cherryville

Moogfest 2018 May 17-19 | Durham

By Meredith Pace North State Journal

OBX Taste of the Beach

Smithfield Ham March 22-25 | Kill Devil Hills & Yam Festival May 5 | Smithfield

Spring Pottery Tour

Outdoor Elements Festival

NCGOP pushes back on complaint

April 18 | Jamesville

April 13 | Halifax

Cherry Blossom Festival

jonesandblount.com @JonesandBlount

North Carolina Prelude to Liberty Herring Festival

April 24 | Wilkesboro

French Broad River Festival

Jones & Blount

Manteo

Wilkesboro MerleFest

April 21-22 | Seagrove

April 13-14 | Bryson City

North Carolina Pickle Festival

Charlotte Goes Green Saint Patrick’s Day Festival

Crystal Coast Boat Show May 19-20 | Morehead City

April 15 | Mount Olive

March 15 | Charlotte

N.C.’s landscape is showing early signs of blooms this year, giving us all a bit of spring fever. If the idea of a weekend of food and fun make the top of your to-do list, here are some ideas for the month ahead.

North Carolina Azalea Festival April 9 | Wilmington

North Carolina Strawberry Festival

investigating a possible fuel leak into Youngs Fork Creek in Marion. On Saturday residents called emergency county crews to the intersection Georgia Avenue and Rutherford Road reporting the smell of gasoline and a sheen on the creek’s surface. A hazmat team is putting down sandbags, testing the water and advising residents to avoid recreational activities in the creek until the source and substance is identified.

COUNTY NAMES: Benton Sans Bold, Avery County officer received 12pt.

Medal of Valor Avery County Lt. William Buchanan was awarded the Medal of Valor by President Donald Trump earlier this month. Buchanan is with the Avery County Sherriff’s office and received one of the highest awards for a public safety officer who acts above and beyond the call of duty. Buchanan was recognized in a ceremony at the White House on February 20 for his heroism after he pulled a man from a burning car in 2016 while off-duty in Johnson City, Tennessee.

U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

WLOS TV

Hiker dies after fall

ASU student running for state legislature

Buncombe County A hiker staying in Asheville with a group of friends on a bachelor party fell to his death at Catawba Falls in McDowell County over the weekend. Thirty-sevenyear-old Jimmy Paul Schmidt, Jr., of Georgia, fell fifty feet while hiking with the group Saturday morning in Pisgah National Forest. He was pronounced dead at the scene. In June 2017 another hiker died after falling from a nearby spot.

Watauga County Appalachian State University student Robert Block (R-Boone) filed Monday to challenge incumbent Rep. Jonathan Jordan (R-Jefferson) in the Republican primary to represent House District 23.

Block is a 20-year-old junior at ASU. The winner of that primary on May 8 will face Democrat Ray Russell of Boone. The deadline for all potential candidates to file is noon on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES

BLACK RULE: PIEDMONT Solid black, .5 pt weight Raleigh man sentenced to life without parole Wake County Chad Copley, of Wake County, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on Friday. Last week a Wake County jury took less than two hours to convict Copley, 40, of first-degree murder for the 2016 shooting death of 20-year-old Kouren Thomas outside his Raleigh home. Raleigh police said Copley fired a shotgun blast from the garage of his house into a crowd of people outside a nearby home where there was a party, striking and killing Thomas. During closing arguments, defense lawyer Raymond Tarlton said Copley had acted in self-defense and the police investigation of the incident was shoddy.

NORTH STATE JOURNAL

WATAUGA DEMOCRAT

Distinguished Young Woman group names state winner Guilford County The Distinguished Young Woman of North Carolina named its 2018 state winner at the statewide competition held in Greensboro.

Kennedy Miller, the Distinguished Young Woman of Rocky Mount, was named the state winner and will advance to the national competition in Mobile, Ala., in June.

Between local and state programs, Miller has earned $14,850 in college scholarships.

The Distinguished Young Woman program is open to high school seniors and encourages them in the areas of scholastics, service, interview and talent.

DISTINGUISHED YOUNG WOMAN OF NORTH CAROLINA

GRAHAM from page A1 was Graham’s last message to the nation. Graham had been working for a year on the video. In it, he said America was “in great need of a spiritual awakening.”

With his steely features and piercing blue eyes, Graham was a powerful figure when he preached in his prime, roaming the stage and hoisting a Bible as he declared Jesus Christ to be the only solution to humanity’s problems.

In his heyday Graham had a thunderous, quick-burst speaking style that earned him the nickname “God’s Machine Gun.” Through his “Crusades for Christ,” Graham sowed fields of devotion across the American heartland that would become fertile ground for the growth of the conservative political movement.

His influence was fueled by an organization that carefully planned his religious campaigns, putting on international conferences and training seminars for evangelical leaders, Martin said.

Graham’s mastery of the media was groundbreaking. In addition to radio and publishing, he used telephone lines, television and satellites to deliver the gospel to homes, churches and theaters around the world.

Some 77 million saw him preach in person while nearly 215 million more watched his crusades on television or through satellite link-ups, a Graham spokeswoman said.

Graham started meeting with presidents during the tenure of Harry Truman. He played golf with Gerald Ford, skinny-dipped

in the White House pool with Lyndon Johnson, vacationed with George H.W. Bush and spent the night in the White House on Nixon’s first day in office.

George W. Bush gave Graham credit for helping him rediscover his faith and in 2010, when it was difficult for Graham to travel, Barack Obama made the trip to the preacher’s log cabin home in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

“Their personal lives — some of them — were difficult,” Graham, a registered Democrat, told Time magazine in 2007 of his political acquaintances. “But I loved them all. I admired them all. I knew that they had burdens beyond anything I could ever know or understand.”

In the early half of his career, Graham often spoke his mind on social and political issues of the day, including his strong anti-communist sentiments. But Graham’s politics were not as overt as those of some religious leaders who came after him, such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

As he grew older, Graham said he felt he had become too involved in some issues and shifted to a middle-of-the-road position in order to reach more people. He did, however, dive into the gay marriage issue in 2012 when he came out in support of a state amendment to ban same-sex marriages in North Carolina. He also met with Republican Mitt Romney in October 2012 and told him he supported Romney’s run for the presidency.

William Franklin Graham was born on Nov. 7, 1918, into a Presbyterian family and was known as Billy Frank while growing up on a

farm near Charlotte. As a teenager, he said he was mostly preoccupied with baseball and girls until he was moved by God after hearing a fiery revivalist in Charlotte.

After attending Bob Jones College, Graham ended up at a Bible school in Florida, where he would preach at his first revival, and was ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention. He received a scholarship to Wheaton College near Chicago, where he met Ruth Bell, whose parents were missionaries in China. They married in 1943.

Rather than work from a home church, Graham went on the road, preaching in tents and building a following. His breakthrough came with a 1949 Los Angeles tent crusade that was scheduled for three weeks but extended to eight because of the overflow crowds he attracted.

Graham eventually outgrew tent revivals and would preach at some of the most famous venues in the world, such as Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden in New York and London’s Wembley Stadium. He delivered sermons around the globe, including in remote African villages, China, North Korea, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Graham concluded his career of religious campaigns in June 2005 in New York with a threeday stand that attracted more than 230,000 people, his organization said. He turned over his evangelical association to his son Franklin, but his other four children are also evangelists.

Western region: Piedmont Green ** All counties have a EAST Red Piedmont region: NState 1.5 pt. white stroke Davidson County reports second North Greenville residents oppose Eastern region: NState Navy Pizza Hut employee celebrates rabies case of year rezoning requests Davidson County The Davidson County Health Department has reported the second case of rabies for the year. On Wednesday, a rabid skunk was found in the Central Davidson community, according to a news release from the health department. The skunk attacked a dog and was killed by the owner of the dog. The dog had a lapsed vaccine and was boosted and will be under observation for 45 days.

There was human exposure reported and that person has been referred to a medical provider.

RALEIGH — The NCGOP says that a complaint from the N.C. attorney general’s office is an act of “rank intimidation by a political opponent.” In a press conference Friday at NCGOP headquarters in Raleigh, executive director Dallas Woodhouse said that he was accused of unlawful robocalling in a letter with a Telemarketing Fraud Complaint from the Consumer Protection Division of the N.C. Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat.

The complaint had been filed with CPD on Feb. 19 by Kimberly Reynolds of the N.C. Democratic Party and accused Woodhouse of engaging in unlawful robocalling. Reynolds herself did not receive the purported robocall, but rather filed the complaint on behalf of the N.C. Democratic Party. As is standard for receipt of online complaints, CPD issued a letter to the NCGOP attaching the complaint and seeking its side of the story.

The crux of the complaint pertains to North Carolina General Statute 75-104 which generally makes it illegal to make

unsolicited robocalls to landlines and cell phones. There are exceptions to robocalling such as when the solicitor is a political party or political candidate. For the exception to apply, the solicitor must clearly identify themselves and the nature of their call. Reynolds’ complaint alleges that Woodhouse violated that provision of the exception by not providing distinct identifying information in a call and Woodhouse should be prohibited from making any further calls.

At the press conference, Woodhouse admitted to making robocalls to recruit candidates for office but prefaced that the robocalls were not of the type defined and prohibited by the statute. Woodhouse called for the CPD to immediately rescind its letter and for Reynolds to apologize.

“This is an egregious violation of the N.C. Republican Party’s rights and voters’ rights,” said Woodhouse.

“There is no merit to any of these claims,” wrote NCDOJ spokesperson Laura Brewer, in an email. “Our office has no position at this time on whether or not those laws were broken in this instance — we are merely asking for more information as is our standard practice.”

Hundreds turn out over offshore energy

May 5 | Chadbourn

TINT OF CORN: WEST C: 0 M:fuel12spill investigated Possible in Marion Y: 59.4 McDowell County K: 6 officials are State environmental

A5

40 years on the job

Craven County Keiko King, known to her co-workers as Katie, has been honored for marking 40 years of service to the Pizza Hut of Havelock.

The 82-year-old native of Japan started at Pizza Hut in 1978 as the “dough girl,” arriving to work at 4 a.m. every day to prepare the pizzas. Now, she works the late morning shift preparing the salad bar. Asked why she chose to stick with the franchise all these years, King said she enjoys the job.

NEW BERN SUN JOURNAL

GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD

Concord pastor charged with making threats

Deputies: 3 teens made school shooting threats

Mecklenburg County A pastor and activist from Concord was arrested Saturday in Charlotte and charged with communicating threats during an antiabortion protest. Philip “Flip” Benham, 69, told WSOC-TV that his arrest was “bogus.”

The station reported that the incident happened at A Preferred Woman’s Health Clinic on Latrobe Drive in Charlotte after a woman claimed he threatened her life during the anti-abortion rally. The volunteer said Benham approached her and “menacingly” and “repeatedly” told her, “You are dead.”

WSOC-TV reported that the volunteer feared Benham would carry out that threat.

However, Benham said he did not threaten the volunteer, instead telling her she was “dead in her sins.”

Wilson County Authorities say they are seeking juvenile petitions against three Toisnot middle schoolers who made shooting threats against two Wilson County public schools. The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office said three teenage girls disseminated a threat against Darden and Toisnot middle schools on last Tuesday evening, prompting officials to heighten security at all Wilson County Schools facilities. The Wilson teens used Snapchat and “changed and/or made a fake Snapchat photo to send the threat out to other recipients,” according to Wanda Samuel, the sheriff’s office chief of staff.

Police and Wilson County Sheriff’s deputies increased their presence in and around area schools throughout the week.

THE INDEPENDENT TRIBUNE

THE WILSON TIMES

Pitt County A request by a solar and electrical products company to change the city’s land-use plan and develop a lot in north Greenville has raised concerns among residents in a pair of adjacent neighborhoods. Mike Roberson of Solar Creations in Winterville wants to rezone 4.289 acres between off of Briley Road near Wellcome Middle School from RA20 (Residential-Agricultural) to IU (Unoffensive Industrial). Greenville’s Planning and Zoning Commission tabled the request after a large number of residents showed up to Tuesday’s meeting to oppose the matter and complain that no one had consulted them about request.

THE DAILY REFLECTOR

Dominion Energy grant for mystery of the Lost Colony Dare County The Lost Colony is thrilled to announce that it will be taking its miniproduction, “Mystery of The Lost Colony,” on tour Fall 2018. The Dominion Energy Foundation is generously supporting this dynamic educational and interactive touring program and granted $5,000 to the Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA) to bring the performance to elementary schools in eastern North Carolina.

THE LOST COLONY

By Donna King North State Journal RALEIGH — A federal meeting on offshore energy exploration in Raleigh on Monday brought North Carolinians on both sides of the issue to offer their position. The meeting with the federal agency is among more than 20 public comment gatherings with one held in each coastal state.

“We have to have some sacred ground somewhere, and I would contend for a lot of people it’s walking on that beach, looking at that ocean,” said Mark Hooper, a commercial fisherman from Carteret County who spoke at a press event during the meeting.

“We understand the need to insulate families from the market volatility associated with heavy reliance on foreign energy,” said the Rev. Gilbert Parker, president of the N.C. Faith Fellowship Foundation who supports allowing energy development. “We also see the potential impact of new jobs for North Carolina’s working families, and we understand the opportunity to meet the nation’s energy needs on our own terms, not subject to the negotiation and duplicity of those who mean us harm.”

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the meeting in N.C.’s capital to talk about a proposal allowing leases to develop oil and gas reserves in the 7.2 million acres off of N.C.’s coastline in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The region is currently off-limits in the five-year leasing plan that expired in 2017. The proposal is to include N.C. in the next five-year leasing plan. If N.C. is included, it is estimated to mean 55,000 jobs for the state and $4 billion to the state economy by 2035.

However, a group of 13 environmental groups from the eastern part of the state said the federal meeting should have been held near the coast. They organized

BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION VIA REUTERS.

opponents to travel by charter buses from Wilmington, Nags Head and Morehead City to go to Raleigh for Monday’s meeting.

“The federal government picked Raleigh to hold the open house event for the new lease plan for offshore oil and gas development,” said Mike Giles of the N.C. Coastal Federation. “This decision seems to be a direct effort to suppress the voices from the coast who would be most affected by this destructive activity.”

More than 30 coastal communities in N.C. have passed local resolutions opposing seismic blasting and offshore drilling. Don’t Drill N.C. is coordinating efforts in opposition saying that offshore energy exploration puts N.C.’s wildlife and natural resources at risk, along with 50,000 tourism-related jobs and the $2 billion coastal tourism industry.

“We shouldn’t prioritize oil company profits over coastal businesses,” the group said. “Offshore drilling would threaten our identity as North Carolinians — our coastal environment, economy and quality of life.”

The N.C. Energy Forum — a cooperation of of N.C. organizations ranging from veteran’s groups to faith-based groups and economic development experts — was also at the meeting saying that there is a fundamental misunderstanding on the safety and importance of energy exploration for national security and economic independence. They say the vast energy resources in N.C. have potential for the state to create economic independence.

“Being able to access more energy resources off the coast of our state could create more reliable and affordable energy for North Carolina’s consumers and families,” David McGowan, executive director for the North Carolina Petroleum Council. “With industry best practices and regulations that have been adopted, offshore exploration is safer now than it has ever been.”

BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION VIA REUTERS.

Left to right: Rev. Billy Graham preaches in his Youth for Christ organization in 1945.

Rev. Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth stand in front of the “Wall of Death” at Auschwitz concentration camp after laying a wreath of red and white carnations at the place where firing squads executed some 20,000 during World War II in Poland, in this 1978.

Former U.S. presidents, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, pose with evangelist Billy Graham, center, and his son, Franklin Graham before the Billy Graham Library Dedication on the campus of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte on May 31, 2007.

Left to right, Cliff Barrows, Rev. Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea sing “This Little Light of Mine” at a 1984 Crusade in Sunderland, England.

BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION VIA REUTERS.

CHRIS KEANE | REUTERS | FILE

A6

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

north STATEment Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor | Troy Kickler, deputy opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Anatomy of gun control debates in Congress

We can’t sit back and wait to see if another mentally disturbed person kills more school children before committing them to a mental hospital.

AS SHOCKING as the Parkland school shootings were, there have been other school shootings in American history that have been equally as shocking: the Columbine murders in 1999, the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and perhaps the most disturbing school shooting ever, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Mass., in 2012.

They followed the same pattern: mentally disturbed individuals somehow gained access to semi-automatic weapons and went to the school to exact revenge for bullying or because “demons told them” to do so.

Sadly, the debate following each massacre usually follows the following script and rhythm: 1. Anti-gun activists call for more gun control.

2. Pro-gun groups assert Second Amendment rights.

3. People call for more early intervention for severely disturbed psychiatric patients.

4. Conservatives call for more family values and better parenting.

5. People start pointing fingers at violent video games to try to stop them.

6. Congress passes something minor that supposedly closes some gun show loophole.

And then the energy dissipates like a passing thunderstorm. Until the next mass shooting on a school campus.

What can be different this time around?

First, some facts might help frame the debate: • It is estimated close to 80 million people own a firearm in the United States, perhaps 30 percent of all adults in the nation.

• 120 million people live in a household where a gun is present.

• An estimated 300 million firearms are in someone’s hands in America today.

• 3 percent of all adults in America, roughly 7.2 million, own close to 50 percent of all firearms, roughly 20 per owner, mostly gun collectors and avid hunters.

• 30,000 deaths per year can be attributed to a firearm. Close to twothirds are suicides; the rest are homicides.

• 10 million assault rifles may be in circulation in the U.S. today.

When it comes to politics, legislators have to first consider “the art of the possible.” Federal government confiscation of 10 million assault

rifles or 300 million firearms simply is not a viable solution when one considers the magnitude and danger of such an undertaking.

Those are simply massive numbers.

The overwhelming supermajority of gun owners do not use guns for violent purposes against another person each year.

Plus, they have Second Amendment rights to own a gun. Gun control activists would have a greater chance of repealing the Second Amendment than they would confiscating some, part or all of the firearms in America today. Which would be next to zero.

Instead of considering comprehensive legislation which will probably peter out as so many have done before, perhaps there is one issue where all sides could agree to focus legislative attention and see if a small change can yield at least some positive results.

Let’s have a goal of no more mass shootings in public schools.

In 1967, California passed the landmark Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act which made it very difficult for one person to commit another person involuntarily through the judicial system to a psychiatric hospital without evidence of that person harming someone or themselves. The criteria for involuntary admission shifted from proof of the individual’s inability to make “responsible choices” to the “presence of dangerousness” of that person.

We have had a collision of individual personal privacy rights versus protecting the common welfare of our citizens and schools ever since with no clear rectification on the horizon. We can’t sit back and wait to see if another mentally disturbed person kills more school children before committing them to a mental hospital.

Perhaps everyone needs to start looking at this issue through the other end of their telescope and worldview and focus on finding one solution that might work.

Correcting our admittance standards and process for committing seriously mentally-ill people like the shooter in Parkland, Fla., to a mental institution before they kill dozens of young students is a place to start.

EDITORIAL | TROY KICKLER

Before there was a U.S. Constitution, there was an N.C. Constitution

State constitutions are also more in-depth than the federal constitution and thereby list more individual rights.

LATELY, state constitutions have been in the news.

The redistricting arguments in Pennsylvania, for one, have drawn attention to the Pennsylvania Constitution. As a result, people have been reminded that states are quasi-independent entities. In N.C., some General Assembly members have questioned whether Gov. Roy Cooper’s actions and the pipeline deal violated the state constitution.

Meanwhile, boisterous protesters have claimed a state constitutional right to protest the very same legislature’s actions.

Interest in the U.S. Constitution typically overshadows the state constitutions. This is understandable. For almost a century, Americans have increasingly sought many top-down solutions to problems. As a result, national elections receive more media attention. Donors believe national offices give them more bang for their buck. And, attorneys, for various reasons, seem to prefer to file in federal court.

It is understandable, then, how concerned citizens — even ironically those who champion limited government or local solutions — can be absorbed with the federal Constitution and national institutions. They forget about the state constitutions.

It is unwise to be so absorbed with one and bypass the other. Why? Before there was a U.S. Constitution, there was a North Carolina Constitution.

A Scottish jurist and later ambassador to the United States (19071913), James Bryce observed in The American Commonwealth (1888): “The State Constitutions are the oldest things in the political history of America.” His motivation was similar to Alexis de Tocqueville’s writing of “Democracy in America” (1835). Both men tried to understand American democracy and why the nation was the way it was.

The North Carolina Constitution, Bryce concludes, was one of the “continuations and representatives of the royal Colonial Charters, whereby the earliest English settlements in America were created and under which their several local governments were established, subject to the authority of the British crown and ultimately the British Parliament.”

Those who wish to understand American democracy, Bryce penned,

would benefit by studying the state governments maybe more so than the national one. State constitutions, or rather the history of them, are a “mine of instruction for the natural history of democratic communities.” State constitutions are also more in-depth than the federal constitution and thereby list more individual rights. In sum, as Bryce puts it, “Their fullness and minuteness make them . . . more pictorial than the Federal Constitution.”

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 1868 North Carolina Constitution. (The Old North State has had three state constitutions: 1776, 1868 and the one we currently live under, 1971.)

The public debate leading up to the conventional proceedings of North Carolina Constitution of 1868 was important and contentious: the document could make it possible for North Carolina to re-enter the Union. To make a long story short, some “loyal men” wanted to punish indefinitely former Confederates. Meanwhile, some former secessionists, if they could vote, wanted to restore life entirely as it was, before the guns started firing and boys in blue and gray fell to a premature death.

During this tumultuous time, one of North Carolina’s U.S. senators, John Pool, criticized Gov. Jonathan Worth for writing or inspiring unkind editorials. A more moderate Worth replied: “It would be an awful alternative to me to be compelled to choose between Jeff Davis and Thad Stevens.” The Randolph Countian abhorred “Disunionists.”

So, his pre-war dissent of secession matched his post-war opposition against Radical Republicanism.

The 150th anniversary of the 1868 North Carolina Constitution is a reminder that the state has a constitution. A familiarity with its content and its development will help North Carolinians better understand the state in which they now live.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

PUBLISHER’S NOTE | NEAL ROBBINS

Your home state newspaper AS WE SAY GOODBYE to Volume Two of the North State Journal and welcome our third volume today, I have taken stock of the excellent journalism our stable of writers, photographers and designers have created during these first two years of publication.

The North State Journal has published more than 6,000 articles in print and online since our launch in February 2016. Those stories began in Volume One when we introduced the state to our goal of elevating the conversation. In Volume Two, we sought to tell the whole story of our remarkable state with our Volume Two tagline: The whole state, the whole story. As we open Volume Three, our new tagline (look for it on the masthead on A2) is “Your home state newspaper.”

Last week was a fitting end to Volume Two as the N.C. Press Association held its winter meetings and awarded the top newspapers from across the state for journalistic excellence. I was not surprised to see the North State Journal team awarded with a plethora of awards that reached across all sections and topics.

After receiving 26 individual awards, the North State Journal was awarded first place for General Excellence in its category. I was proud to share the stage with a great team who has committed to elevating the conversation while also presenting a product that subscribers from across North Carolina want to pick up and read.

The North State Journal was one of the most-awarded newspapers in N.C., regardless of classification.

These recent awards add to the 16 awards the North State Journal received from the N.C. Press Photographers in April 2017. While I can’t list all of the awards, I take special pride in our first-place awards for best Sports Coverage and best special section for our 2016 year in review. Sports Editor Cory Lavalette’s feature on his wife, Barb, titled “Living on the Transplant List” was a poignant tribute from a devoted spouse and informative piece for all North Carolinians about the importance of organ donation. That article was most deserving of its first-place award for best feature writing.

Editor Donna King had her hand in almost every award, but her leadership of our statewide political and government coverage was noted as the NSJ was first place for Election and Political Reporting.

Meeting my charge to create a newspaper full of truth and beauty, the North State Journal was also first place for use of photographs and for appearance and design.

As we celebrate our Volume Two accomplishments, we are already

setting goals for Volume Three. We hope to become the home state newspaper for every community in North Carolina. We have steadily improved in many areas since our first issue in 2016 but, we still have mountains to climb, piedmonts to cross and coastal plains to harvest. We are working diligently to deliver the print edition faster and to provide more opportunities for readers to pick up copies of the Wednesday print issue. We are also focused on expanding our regional coverage to tell even more great stories of the people and places in our state.

Welcome to Volume Three of the North State Journal — your home state newspaper.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Don’t take The Onion’s pessimism too seriously

I can remember other presidents who, despite impressive credentials, behaved very oddly, to say the least.

“STUDY: 90 PERCENT of Americans Strongly Opposed to Each Other.” That’s the headline on a story in what, on some days, seems to be America’s most reliable news outlet, The Onion.

We laugh (or at least I did) because it strikes a chord.

Americans of many different political outlooks today seem united in believing that we are experiencing the worst times in the nation’s history. President Donald Trump’s detractors talk about how he’s a neurotic neo-Nazi establishing a dictatorship. Trump’s fans talk about the existence of a deep state that uses secret protocols to undermine voters’ choices.

Both sides have some cause for complaint. But their claims are overheated. Anyone familiar with the long course of American history — perhaps a smaller category than in times past — knows that, whatever our problems, things have been worse, far worse, before.

Many of us look back to a time when Americans shared a consensus on cultural values and when we are told that high school graduates or even dropouts could easily snag well-paying blue-collar jobs. That’s a reasonably accurate description of America in the 1950s on cultural values and of parts of America — the unionized industrial areas — on those jobs.

Trump’s unspecific slogan, “Make America Great Again,” probably strikes most listeners as a promise to restore the seemingly culturally unified America of the two decades after World War II. Democrats’ calls for strengthening labor unions and job protections evoke the 1950s, the time of peak union membership.

But this was a short period — I call it the Midcentury Moment — and the exception rather than the rule in American history.

That tends to get overlooked by those lamenting polls showing low confidence in institutions. The benchmarks against which they are measured are inevitably when pollsters first asked those questions in the 1950s.

But that was a time when big institutions — big government, big corporations, big unions — had just finished leading Americans to victory in a world war and to unanticipated prosperity in the years that followed. They had arguably earned the confidence they enjoyed.

If you had been able to ask Americans those questions in the years before George Gallup conducted his first poll in 1935, it’s likely that they would often have expressed low confidence, as they did starting in the late 1960s.

The years of rapid industrialization and high immigration and farmer rebellion, the period after

World War I, the Great Depression — all of which brought lots of discord and disillusion — would have made for negative marks. Not to mention the arguments over slavery that led to the Civil War — or the bitter Adams-Jefferson debates. Talk about 90 percent of Americans being opposed to each other!

Against these events, today’s woes seem less fearsome. We are told that Russian internet trolling is the worst foreign attack since 9/11. But it’s nothing like what we faced with the Soviet-controlled Communist Party, which, with many well-placed advocates, opposed Franklin Roosevelt in 1940 (during the HitlerStalin pact), supported him in 1944 (when the Soviets were U.S. allies) and opposed Harry Truman in 1948.

Anti-Communist liberals — such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey and Arthur Schlesinger — as well as conservatives, weighed in against this genuinely dangerous foreign interference.

What about the peculiarities of Donald Trump?

I can remember other presidents who, despite impressive credentials, behaved very oddly, to say the least. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, for example, smart men with 30 and 20 years of high-level experience, respectively. And don’t forget Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, whose misbegotten policies and ineptness led to civil war.

Then there’s the notion that the almost universally unexpected result of the 2016 presidential election represents a giant popular upheaval. Not so much, when you look at the numbers. Trump got 46 percent of the vote, 1 point less than Mitt Romney did in 2012, and Hillary Clinton got 48 percent, the same as John Kerry in 2004.

What did happen is that Trump, in effect, traded off votes from some highly educated whites in return for about the same number from non-college-educated whites, in a way that netted him 100 extra electoral votes. Russian trolls had no more to do with that than a bunch of kids sporting MAGA hats at a rally.

It would be nice to get some aspects of the Midcentury Moment back (more two-parent families), but no one wants some others (racial segregation laws).

In the meantime, read Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now,” on human progress in reducing violence, improving health and increasing prosperity. Many important things are getting better.

And remember that The Onion is parody.

Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.

A7 COLUMN L. BRENT BOZELL III TIM GRAHAM

Desperately hating Clarence Thomas OF ALL THE DESPERATE and futile attempts at revisionist history, few are as careless as the attempt to destroy the reputation of one of the finest Supreme Court justices this country has ever produced. Now comes another volley. New York magazine has assembled “The Case for Impeaching Clarence Thomas.” The author is longtime anti-Thomas journalist Jill Abramson. For more than 4,000 words, Abramson labors to relitigate Thomas accuser Anita Hill’s dramatic loss in the court of public opinion.

According to one poll at the time, 58 percent believed Thomas; only 24 percent believed Hill.

Again, the argument falls on its face.

Thomas has been a distinguished member of the Supreme Court for more than 26 years now. In the years since, Abramson has assembled ... well, nothing. Meanwhile, the case against Hill’s unproven charges has grown only stronger, and Abramson’s record of objectivity — if there ever was one — is evermore tattered.

Liberals like her think you should impeach someone for allegedly lying under oath — but not if the person’s name is Bill Clinton — and then lean heavily on “alleged” for protection.

Abramson’s newest attraction is attorney Moira Smith, who claims she was groped by Thomas at a 1999 dinner party. Her accusation, delivered in the last days of the 2016 presidential campaign, flopped so badly that ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN never touched it.

The rationale for attacking Thomas all over again was the Harvey Weinstein expose. But just since then, Abramson has managed to hurt her own cause again. She has no credibility in this discussion.

Indeed, she’s on the wrong side of it.

In October, The Washington Post reported that as executive editor of The New York Times and deputy to Michael Oreskes, she did nothing to stop Oreskes from allegedly sexually harassing a female news aide in the Washington bureau.

“If I had to do it again, I would have told him to knock it off,” she said. “I think I should have raised this with (the Times’ human resources department). ... Maybe confronting him would have somehow stopped him from doing it to another woman.”

In November, she wrote an editorial for the leftist British newspaper The Guardian that explicitly argued that feminist politicians shouldn’t be ruined by sexual-harassment allegations. It said: “Casting out Al Franken, who has been a passionate, zealous defender of women’s rights in a Senate grown ever more hostile to them, could remove an important weapon in the embattled Democratic arsenal.

“A reassessment of Bill Clinton’s behavior era could have the same counter-productive effect.”

That passage underlines that Abramson isn’t really interested in stopping sexual harassment. She’s interested in using sexual harassment against opponents of “women’s rights,” especially abortion on demand.

In fact, Abramson’s tolerance for former President Clinton’s sexual misconduct is this dramatic: A Nexis search of The New York Times for the terms “Jill Abramson” and “Juanita Broaddrick” brings up zero stories.

When she finally acknowledged Broaddrick’s existence in October 2016, she dismissed Broaddrick (and other Clinton accusers Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey) as part of a “Soviet show trial” before the second presidential debate.

Abramson’s “new” case against Thomas is so unconvincing that the liberal media passed right over it. Oh, she still has a few diehard friends on the left. Media columnist Margaret Sullivan from The Washington Post touted the New York magazine piece and lauded Abramson as a “badass” with “unparalleled expertise on the subject.” They think alike.

Last October, Sullivan also trashed Broaddrick & Co. as “a twisted version of ‘The Last Supper.’”

Clarence Thomas has been recognized as a forceful legal mind on the Supreme Court, and he has staunchly argued against liberal barbarism like partial-birth abortion.

It’s obvious why liberal journalists with no real core principles on sexual harassment wished they had prevented his confirmation, and why Americans would have been denied an impressive justice.

Character assassination means never having to say you’re sorry.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center.

Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.

ECU’s proven alternative for educating our state As a statewide leader in training education professionals, East Carolina University® has long served as an innovator in addressing the need for teachers in North Carolina.

One life-changing example? ECU’s College of Education has been offering alternative licensure programs for more than 30 years to professionals from various backgrounds who have the passion to teach—but need the certification to do so.

Since then, thousands of educators have been added to North Carolina classrooms, teaching nearly half a million students.

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www.ecu.edu/becomeateacher C.S. 18-2019

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018

BOB DONNAN | USA TODAY SPORTS

Tar Heels guard Joel Berry II (2), forward Theo Pinson (1) and guard Kenny Williams (24) react at the end of their game against Duke on Feb. 8.

The Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils, 82-78, at the Smith Center.

the Wednesday SIDELINE REPORT

SPORTS

NFL

Panthers release S Coleman, DE Johnson

Crew chief Justin Alexander, right, celebrates with driver Austin Dillon after winning the Daytona 500 in Richard Childress Racing’s famed No. 3.

Charlotte Defensive end Charles Johnson and safety Kurt Coleman were released by the Carolina Panthers on Monday. Releasing Johnson saved the Panthers $3.25 million against the salary cap, and Carolina can also punt Coleman’s $2.65 million cap charge. Johnson, 31, signed a two-year contract prior to last season and has played for the Panthers since entering the NFL out of Georgia in 2007. He was suspended four games last season for a PED violation. Coleman, 29, missed four games due to a knee injury last season and had two years remaining on a contract he signed after 11 total interceptions in 2015 and 2016.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ACC women’s basketball tournament starts Wednesday Greensboro The ACC women’s basketball tournament is back in North Carolina after a one-year exile in Myrtle Beach, S.C., because of the now-repealed H.B. 2.

This will be the 18th time in the last 19 years that event will be played at Greensboro Coliseum. No. 12 seed North Carolina opens the tournament at noon Wednesday against No. 13 Boston College, while 11th-seeded Wake Forest will play Pitt at 6:30 p.m. No. 5 NC State will get the winner of UNC/BC at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the tournament’s second round, while No. 4 Duke will get to wait until the quarterfinals on Friday at 11 a.m. to play one of NC State, UNC or Boston College. The championship game is Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.

OUTDOORS

Three-day Dixie Deer Classic at N.C. State Fairgrounds Raleigh The 38th Annual Dixie Deer Classic is Friday through Sunday at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. The outdoor and wildlife exposition is put on by the Wake County Wildlife Club and features hunting, fishing, taxidermy and much more from more than 300 exhibitors. Admission is $12 for the entire weekend, and $6 tickets are available Friday to military, senior citizens, women and youth age 13 to 18.

Children 12 and younger are admitted for free.

JASEN VINLOVE | USA TODAY SPORTS

No. 3 crew chief part of Carolina connection that won Daytona 500 Justin Alexander, who grew up rooting for Dale Earnhardt Sr., helped guide Austin Dillon to a win in NASCAR’s biggest race

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal WELCOME — As a boy growing up within earshot of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Justin Alexander spent many a Sunday afternoon watching his favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Sr., race his iconic No. 3 Chevrolet into Victory Lane.

It was an experience he got the chance to relive two weeks ago at the Daytona 500.

Alexander is now the crew chief for that No. 3 car, driven by Austin Dillon. But as he sat high above the pit box sweating out the final lap of stock car racing’s most prestigious event, he might as well have been that excited young fan watching on TV from his living room couch.

About all he could do was cheer his guy on and pray.

“It’s really up to the driver,” the 33-year-old Charlotte native said.

“There’s nothing really much that I can do. I’m just kind of sitting back watching and hoping for the best

outcome.”

Dillon started that last lap, a green, white, checker dash to the finish, in fourth place. He quickly moved to the front before making an aggressive pass that spun Aric Almirola into the wall and produced the outcome for which Alexander was hoping.

The victory, which came on the 20th anniversary of Earnhardt’s one and only Daytona 500 win, set off a wild celebration among the Richard Childress Racing crew and its young chief, who got his start in the business as a student at NC State.

Alexander’s first experience in racing came as a member of Wolfpack Motorsports, a team that designs and builds prototype cars for a competition against other schools.

Although he’d always loved sport, he never seriously thought about it as a career until coming to a stark realization after his graduation with a degree in mechanical engineering.

“I always loved the automotive industry, but I knew that there were only so many avenues you can go down with that as a mechanical engineer,” he said. “I didn’t really want to move to Detroit, which is where the automotive hub is for most evSee ALEXANDER, page B4

Duke-UNC play for NCAA positioning in rematch one spot in the pod for the locals.

Both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils have made strong claims to the Queen City reservations at points during the season. The

By Shawn Krest Heels took five ACC losses in North State Journal January and appeared to be out of the running, while Duke was FOR ALL INTENTS and cruising along, with the nation’s purposes, North Carolina and best player in Marvin Bagley III Duke will play for Charlotte on and a solid No. 2 spot in the conference.

Saturday night.

Then the calendar flipped and For the first time since 2012, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils so did both teams’ fortunes. The Heels stormed past a will both be ranked befuddled Duke team in the top 10 when the in the first matchup, teams play at Camcapping three losses in eron Indoor Stadi“We’ve just four games for the Blue um, and the winner Devils. Making matwill have the inside got to get track on remaining in rejuvenated.” ters worse, Bagley went down with a knee injury the state for the first and would miss the next weekend of the NCAA — Mike 16 days.

Tournament.

UNC’s Theo Pinson March Madness Krzyzewski, managed to contain returns to the state Duke coach the much larger Bagley after a one-year abin the game, and the sence, and the master plan was likely to have both the Heels appeared to be fresher and Heels and Blue Devils open their stronger at the end of the game.

Carolina went on to run its tournament runs at the Hornets’ win streak to six straight, headSpectrum Center.

Virginia’s run to the top spot ing into Tuesday’s Senior Night in the league likely scuttled game against Miami. That those plans, however. With the stretch included three wins in ACC title wrapped up with more five days — against Duke, at NC than a week to go, the Cavaliers State and against Notre Dame will have a one-seed and the con- — and closed with road wins at ference’s preferred path through the Big Dance. That leaves just See PREVIEW, page B3

Plenty on the line for both teams in ACC finale

INSIDE

JEFF SWINGER | USA TODAY SPORTS

The 2018 Winter Olympics is Pyeongchang, South Korea, featured triumph and heartbreak.

For North Carolina’s representatives like speedskater Kimani Griffin, they felt “blessed to be here” and bask in the Olympic experience.

See a full rundown of how N.C.’s athletes fared in Pyeongchang. B4

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B2 WEDNESDAY

2.28.18

TRENDING

Allerik Freeman: NC State’s graduate transfer was named ACC Player of the Week for the second time this season. Freeman averaged 22.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in two wins last week as the Pack improved to 20-9 (10-6 ACC). The Charlotte native and former Baylor player led the Wolfpack in scoring with 20 points in an 82‑66 win against Boston College on Tuesday. He then hit for a game-high 25 points with four rebounds, three assists and a career-high four steals in Sunday’s 92-72 win against Florida State.

Wendell Carter Jr.: The Duke center was named ACC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. Carter averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in leading Duke to wins against Louisville and Syracuse last week.

In addition to leading the team in points and rebounds last week, he also had team highs in assists (10) and blocked shots (five), while collecting four steals.

NC State Swimming & Diving: The Wolfpack men won their fourth straight ACC title over the weekend, winning four of six team events including a recordsetting performance in the 400 freestyle relay. Led by ACC Most Valuable Swimmer Ryan Held, NC State finished the relay in 2:45.69, setting a new American record and posting the secondfastest time ever.

Held was joined by Justin Ress, Jacob Molacek and Coleman Stewart on the historic relay. The conference title was the 28th in program history. The NCAA championships are March 21-24 in Minneapolis.

beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Virginia firmed up their grip on the No. 1 ranking as Xavier moved up again to No. 3 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday. Virginia received 48 of 65 first-place votes from the national media panel, six more than a week ago, to stay at the top for the third straight week. Michigan State came in ranked No. 2.

Duke was ranked fifth while North Carolina was No. 9. Clemson checked in at No. 18, the last of four ACC teams in the poll. NC State received 28 votes, good for the 29th-most in the poll.

USA TODAY SPORTS

“It’s wonderful to reflect on how I’ve done exactly what I wanted to do with my life.”

Retiring broadcaster Mike Patrick, who was featured in an on-air segment during last week’s Louisville-Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

CHARLES LECLAIRE | USA TODAY SPORTS

GOLF

NHL

EDGAR SU | REUTERS

“I am a Bavarian, I always drink with alcohol.

I need it. One beer a day is no problem.”

German bobsleigh pilot Johannes Lochner dismisses reports that the German team drank nonalcoholic beer during the Games.

PERRY NELSON | USA TODAY SPORTS

The Hurricanes were mostly idle at Monday’s NHL trade deadline, making a minor deal that sent depth player Josh Jooris to Pittsburgh in exchange for forward Greg McKegg.

The Hurricanes will be the fifth team for the 25-year-old McKegg, a third round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2010 who has split time between the NHL and AHL this season.

ROB SCHUMACHER | USA TODAY SPORTS

The U.S. Open’s 18-hole playoff format will be scrapped in favor of a two-hole aggregate, the USGA said on Monday after calls to move the tournament more in line with the other three majors. The change, which also affects the U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open, takes effect immediately in the event of a tie after 72 holes of stroke play.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

1,135 Number of men’s basketball games the NCAA has vacated or forfeited in its history. A week ago the NCAA denied an appeal by Louisville, confirming an earlier decision that forced the Cardinals to vacate its 2013 men’s basketball championship and 122 other wins.

NBA

KEN BLAZE | USA TODAY SPORTS

The Cleveland Cavaliers have identified the fan who directed racial taunts at San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills during Sunday’s game at Quicken Loans Arena and have banned him indefinitely.

The fan, whom the team did not publicly identify, is barred from events at Quicken Loans Arena. The team will review the ban after one year.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B3

Jay Bilas continues Dick DeVenzio’s battle with NCAA Former Duke players have led the charge to empower student-athletes

By Shawn Krest North State Journal The federal government’s investigation into college sports found that a top player was connected to an agent.

That caused a former Duke basketball star, turned outspoken critic of the NCAA, to lash out.

“Players ought to be able to have an agent just like any other American,” he said. “They need them.

They’re being ripped off. These young athletes shouldn’t have to take money under the table or deal with shady characters.”

It was Aug. 26, 1988, 11 years before Wendell Carter Jr. was born.

Three decades later, not much seems to have changed, except the name of the Duke alum taking on the NCAA. Today, Jay Bilas uses Twitter to snipe at the NCAA. Back then, it was a former Duke point guard named Dick DeVenzio, printing newsletters at home and mailing them out to more than 300 college athletes around the country.

Not surprisingly, Bilas was influenced in no small part by DeVenzio’s message.

“When I met him he was very much an advocate for athlete’s rights and felt like what the NCAA was doing was profoundly wrong,” Bilas said. “I was the athlete representative on the NCAA’s Long Range Planning Committee at the time, and Dick and I talked a couple of times on some of the issues.”

Bilas was a player at Duke at the

SHAWN KREST | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Former Duke player and ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas has been a frequent critic of the NCAA. time and nowhere near as outspoken as he is today.

“When you’re that age, you kind of know to go along to get along,” he said. “I was, at that time, publicly a very party-line guy. I was rah-rah NCAA.” A 5-foot-10, 155-pound coach’s son from Western Pennsylvania, DeVenzio was one of the top players in the nation when he signed with Duke in the late 1960s.

“He was fearless,” said his former Duke coach Bucky Waters. “Other players were tall, could jump, had

long arms. Everything about him was small, except his heart.”

After four years of battling giants on the hardwood, DeVenzio wasn’t afraid to take on the biggest giant around: The NCAA. “I always thought he’d end up in Washington,” Waters said. “He was a born leader. People rallied around him. He put out — he just didn’t talk. And if you weren’t putting out, he’d let you know.”

In the mid-’80s, after years of writing and talking about his problems with the NCAA, he tried to

convince players to organize.

“Dick had mentioned, ‘Have you guys ever thought about boycotting the Final Four?’” Bilas recalled. “I just made a joke with him, ‘How about we do it next year?’ That was a nonstarter for me.”

That same year, DeVenzio also attempted unsuccessfully to organize a half-hour sit-in to delay the start of a top-five football matchup between Oklahoma and Nebraska.

“Fans don’t care how the sausage is made,” Bilas said of the lack of public support for DeVenzio’s

revolution. “They just want to see games.”

There also was less support among the players than DeVenzio hoped. “Players are transient,” Bilas said “In order for a player to do something, walk out, boycott, strike, the player is making a big sacrifice there. Most players aren’t willing to do that. I certainly wasn’t willing to do it.”

In the 1990s, DeVenzio took things a step further. He sent out $100 checks to the 100 best college football players in the country, post-dating them for the day after their senior season ended. He also attempted to set up trust funds for basketball players, payable after they earned a degree.

“He was doing that stuff to make a point,” Bilas said. “That’s how ridiculous the system was, that you could make a player ineligible, and they’d have to be reinstated, over something so simple and meaningless and silly. And right now, we have the NCAA with its hair on fire over whether someone’s parents had a meal with an agent while he was in high school.”

While 22 players cashed the checks, the plan never gained traction, and, when DeVenzio died of cancer in 2001, his goal of changing college sports seemed far off.

Still, DeVenzio helped inspire the next generation of NCAA critics, including a Duke student-athlete he took aside and tried to convince to skip the biggest game of his career.

“Looking back on it, he was way ahead of his time as far as what he saw,” Bilas said. “The same issues the NCAA is facing now it was facing back then, the exact same issues.”

PREVIEW from page B1

JAMES GUILLORY | NC STATE ATHLETICS

NC State closer Joe O’Donnell pitching in a game against Seton Hall this season

Pack closer O’Donnell has returned to form After losing a year to injury, NC State pitcher has found his place as a late-game stopper

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal RALEIGH — If everything had gone according to plan, Joe O’Donnell might be pitching a few innings in a Major League spring training camp this spring.

Instead, he’s back at NC State starting his fifth season as a member of the Wolfpack baseball team.

His timetable was thrown off by a shoulder injury that cut short his draft-eligible junior year, suffered only a week after the best performance of his college career.

Now healthy again and coming off a bounce-back 2017 season in which he found a new role, the hard-throwing right-hander’s stock is once again on the rise as one of the best bullpen closers in the ACC. “The versatility he showed and the big moments he pitched in, he was without question our most

valuable pitcher last year,” State pitching coach Scott Foxall said.

“It’s a huge boost to this team that he’s back.

“I think having a guy at the back end of the bullpen is the most important thing in college baseball, and we’ve got a good one.”

It was only last year, when he went 4-0 with a team-leading seven saves in 25 relief appearances, that O’Donnell assumed the closer’s role that helped land him on this year’s preseason watch list for college baseball’s Stopper of the Year award.

He spent the first three seasons with the Wolfpack bouncing around between several different jobs both out of the bullpen and in the starting rotation.

The Wilmington native finally seemed to have found his niche as his team’s Friday night starter when he took a shutout into the ninth against Notre Dame before settling for a 9-1 complete game victory. But he didn’t make it out of the first inning of his next appearance, at Florida State, and missed the rest of the season with pain in his shoulder.

The good news for O’Donnell is

“I think having a guy at the back end of the bullpen is the most important thing in college baseball, and we’ve got a good one.”

— Scott Foxall, NC State pitching coach the injury didn’t require surgery.

The bad news is he missed out on the draft and would have to prove himself once again.

It’s a process that began slowly as he started to work himself back into game shape and adjust to a few mechanical adjustments in his delivery.

“Once we got into ACC play, once I started competing again, I started feeling like myself again,” he said. “I think I’m pretty much everything I used to be.”

If not better.

O’Donnell did not allow a run while recording six of his seven saves during 12⅓-inning stretch from late April to mid-May. His

most significant victory came once the season ended, when he was granted a medical redshirt for his injury-plagued junior year that enabled him to return as a graduate student this spring.

Although he hasn’t been called upon to do much closing yet thanks to a hard-hitting lineup that’s averaging nearly nine runs per game during an 8-1 start, O’Donnell has yet to give up a hit or run while going 3 for 3 on save opportunities.

In the process, he’s well on his way to re-emerging as a prospect on the radar screens of the Major League scouts that frequent State’s games.

Not that he’s in any hurry to get the season over with and finally move on from the Wolfpack.

“You never know. Even if I stay healthy my junior year, maybe I’m still here for my senior year anyway because I really love playing here,” O’Donnell said. “The fans here are great. The atmosphere is great.

“I hope I’m a prospect, but once we get into the season that’s not something I think about. All I think about is trying to win games.”

Syracuse and Louisville.

Heading into the final two games of the regular season, Carolina could finish as high as No. 2 in the ACC or as low as No. 6, much of that spread depending on the outcome of the finale at Cameron.

“Well, we’ve played pretty well and have been making shots,” UNC coach Roy Williams said of the winning streak, “which has been the biggest thing we’ve been doing. Still (we’re) not as good defensively as I want us to be.”

While the Heels have been red hot, Duke appeared to right the ship. Without Bagley, the team found a defensive spark that has been missing all year. Duke held four straight opponents to below 60 points for the first time in program history and entered the final week of the season on a five-game win streak of its own.

Monday night, in its pre-UNC tuneup, the Blue Devils appeared to have the game at Virginia Tech well in hand, building a 15-point first-half lead. The Hokies stormed back, however, and knocked off the Blue Devils on a last-second shot.

Duke can finish anywhere from second to fifth in the league, depending on the UNC game, as well as the outcome of other teams, but the real question is what the loss in Blacksburg means.

Not much, according to coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“We’ve just got to get rejuvenated,” he said. “We’re a good basketball team, we didn’t play well tonight. The main thing to fix is getting rejuvenated. This isn’t something that now we’ve got this problem and we’ve got that problem. It’s part of the season. It’s a long season.”

Since the first game, much has changed with both teams. Carolina entered that game giving up 3-pointers on a record-threatening pace. While teams still put up, and make, a good number of long-range shots against them, the Heels have managed to tighten up the perimeter defense.

Meanwhile, Pinson has emerged as a scoring threat in the final month of his college career.

The senior has scored 69 points in the four games since Duke, including a career-high 23 against Syracuse in the last game.

For Duke, the UNC loss and Bagley’s injury spurred Krzyzewski into looking to his bench.

The Blue Devils have gone as deep as nine players in the rotation, about two more than the team has typically used in recent years.

Grayson Allen has also been more aggressive about being a scoring option in Duke’s recent run, and, of course, Duke has been much tougher on defense.

As usual, there’s much at stake in Saturday night’s game. And, with tournament season looming, the outcome could again send both teams on wildly different trajectories.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B4 NC IN THE OLYMPICS

ALEXANDER from page B1

“You don’t believe it.

You go nuts. You’re screaming and yelling, trying to process that you won the Daytona 500.”

— Justin Alexander, RCR No. 3 crew chief

ERIC GAILLARD | REUTERS

JEFFREY SWINGER | USA TODAY SPORTS

Top, North Carolina native Heather Bergsma, left, and teammates Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello and Carlijn Schoutens of the United States celebrate their bronze medal in the Women’s Team Pursuit speedskating event on the podium last Thursday at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Left, Korea celebrates after Apex’s Randi Griffin (37) scored its first goal of the Olympics on Feb. 14 against Japan.

BRIAN SNYDER | REUTERS

Right, Siler City native Lowell Bailey, center, competes in a men’s biathalon relay during the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Alpensia Biathlon Centre.

NC’s Olympians bring home a bronze, lifetime of memories Heather Richardson Bergsma wins elusive medal; Randi Griffin scores historic goal for Korea

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal THERE WERE NO golden moments in Pyeongchang for the five Olympians with North Carolina ties. But plenty of memories were made, along with a little history and one bronze medal that made up for eight years of disappointment.

The history came off the stick of Apex native and Duke graduate student Randi Griffin, who scored the first and only goal of the tournament for the groundbreaking unified Korean women’s hockey team. The goal came midway through the second period of a 4-1 loss to Japan, which followed a pair of 8-0 setbacks to begin the

tournament.

One of several North Americans of Korean descent recruited to add talent and experience to a fledgling team making its Olympic debut, Griffin took a pass from teammate Park Yooniung, fought off a defender and slid the puck between the pads of Japanese goalie Akane Konishi.

The goal set off a joyous celebration both on the ice and in the stands, where the home fans had been waiting all week for something to cheer about. It also gained the attention of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, which requested the historic puck so that it can be displayed alongside other important artifacts in the sport’s history.

“I knew the goal would mean a lot to Korean supporters who wanted something to cheer for since we were losing games, and it certainly meant a lot to our team,” said Griffin, who played her collegiate hockey at Harvard. “But I didn’t think anyone outside Korea

would care.”

Although Heather Richardson Bergsma’s performance in the Team Pursuit speedskating event didn’t generate as much attention, it was no less important to her country’s Olympic program.

Or her own career.

Combining with U.S. teammates Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello, the High Point native skated to victory against Canada in the bronze medal race to end a 16-year Olympic medal drought for American women speedskaters. It also ended a personal quest for Bergsma, dating back to the Vancouver Games in 2010.

The former inline skater had never finished higher than sixth in two previous Olympics. Her frustration continued in Pyeongchang with eighth-place finishes in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters, along with an 11th in the 500 before her triumphant effort in the Team Pursuit event.

“I could barely see straight when we crossed the line, so it

took a second to register,” Bergsma told TeamUSA.com “Mia was like, ‘We did it!’ and all the weight lifted off my shoulders. … It’s been a long time coming for U.S. Speedskating and the ladies. We are extremely happy.”

North Carolina’s other speedskater in Pyeongchang, Winston-Salem’s Kimani Griffin, finished 26th in the men’s 500 meters, his only race of the Games. A first-time Olympian, Griffin said that the experience was more important than the result as he sets his sights on returning for a run at medals in the 2020 games in Beijing.

These will probably be the final Olympics for the two other athletes with state ties.

Bobby Sanguinetti, a former member of the Carolina Hurricanes who now lives in Wilmington, recorded an assist in an overtime loss to Slovenia. He played an average of nearly 20 minutes per game as a defenseman for the U.S. hockey team that was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

And Lowell Bailey, a 36-yearold biathlete who was born in Siler City, placed sixth in the men’s 4x5.5 kilometer relay and 15th in the mixed relay while finishing well off the pace in all three of his individual events.

Darrion Caldwell prepares for title defense Former NC State wrestling national champion defends Bellator world title on Friday

By Shawn Krest North State Journal THERE’S AN OLD SAYING among fighters that you aren’t really a champion until you’ve defended your title at least once. Don’t tell that to Darrion Caldwell, though.

“I don’t think that’s true,” said the former Wolfpack wrestling star. “If that was the case, then seniors that win the national title are not really a champion, because they don’t get a chance to defend that title.

“Once you’re a champion, you’re a champion,” he concluded. “No one can take that from you.”

Caldwell should know. He’s won plenty of titles in his career, including ACC titles in all four years with the Wolfpack and the NCAA title in 2009.

Now an MMA fighter and Bellator’s reigning bantamweight world champion, Caldwell has been watching NC State’s recent wrestling success with pride.

“Wolfpack wrestling has done a phenomenal job, ever since (coach) Pat Poplizio got there,” he said. “Man, they’ve been on a ride.

They’ve got a bunch of studs. I really think in the next few years, they’re going to win the national title.”

He’s quick to point out that this

“Once you’re a champion, you’re a champion. No one can take that from you.”

— Darrion Caldwell year’s ACC title is NC State’s first since Caldwell’s freshman year.

“We won the ACC title by the largest margin ever,” he said. “I don’t think that’s been broken yet.”

Caldwell credits his time at State for helping to prepare him for his pro career.

“I grew up wrestling,” he said. “I always had that ‘never say die’ attitude, because of that sport. When

I got to college, being at NC State just took it to the next level. Guys around me were all out, balls out.

It definitely helped in my transition to MMA.” Caldwell has been the Bellator champion since defeating Eduardo Dantas for the belt last October.

He’ll make his first title defense against Leandro Higo on Friday.

“Any time you’re a national champion, it’s just for the nation.

Only people here can win that,” Caldwell said. “Being a world champ is definitely a different feeling. You’ve got guys from Brazil and Europe trying to beat you.

Guys from Africa and Russia are trying to be the world champion.

It’s like the nationals on steroids.”

Despite that, Caldwell hasn’t changed his preparation, or his

erything. So I was like, racing would be really cool to get into.

I love the sport. I enjoy it. So I thought, why not?”

His first big break came shortly after graduation when he was offered a job by Chad Knaus, the crew chief for seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports, whom he had met a few months earlier at a seminar.

Alexander quickly moved through the ranks, moving over to RCR as crew chief for one of its Xfinity Series cars before taking over the duties for Dillon’s Cup Series ride last May. It was a partnership that clicked immediately, as Dillon drove to victory in the Coca-Cola 600, his first race together with Alexander.

“Justin is a smart guy,” said team owner Richard Childress, who also happens to be Dillon’s grandfather. “He’s really on top of it. He’s detail, detail, detail, and I’ve seen that. He’s been in (the Xfinity Series) and Austin has won with him there, so I knew it would be a good deal.”

Although many NASCAR crew chiefs came up through the ranks with grease under their fingernails, Alexander is one of a growing number of college graduates moving into those jobs as technology continues to play more of a role in the sport.

“It’s kind of a trend. It’s the way the sport’s moving,” Alexander said. “You don’t have to be an engineer to be a good crew chief.

There’s great crew chiefs that never went to college. Everyone has got their niches, where they have different strengths and weaknesses.”

One of Alexander’s greatest strengths, other than his technological savvy and his attention to detail, is his ability to communicate with his driver.

It’s a skill that came into play at Daytona, as he helped Dillon stick to the team’s conservative game plan and navigate his way through a series of wrecks that took out many of the race’s top contenders.

“I need someone that works with me who understands my fiery-ness, and he understands how to talk back to me,” Dillon said at a postrace celebration at RCR headquarters in Welcome last week. “When I get wired up and angry, he comes back at me in a way that doesn’t get me frustrated but challenges me.

“If I’m mad on the radio and say, ‘This car ain’t driving good,’ he’ll say, ‘Well, how do we make it better?’ He doesn’t just say, ‘Well, drive harder.’ He knows I’m driving hard, and he believes in me. He’s a very good communicator.”

As strong as his communications skills might be, Alexander still found himself at a loss for words as he watched Dillon bring the No. 3 car he’d pulled for in his youth across the finish line first at Daytona once again.

“My mind went blank for a while,” Alexander said. “I think I blacked out. It’s kind of surreal.

You don’t believe it. You go nuts.

You’re screaming and yelling, trying to process that you won the Daytona 500. It’s just real special.”

goals, at all.

“The goal’s still the same,” he said. “Be better than I was last fight. It’s no difference. Obviously, I’ve got a strap around my waist, and guys are coming to take it.

So that pushes me a little harder.

When you’re a champion, you get put in a different bracket, but I’ve still got the same teammates. The guys around me are still grinding.

I wake up, go to practice, come home to my girlfriend, then go to the next training session. Only difference is you’re under a microscope now.”

He’ll face a wily veteran in Higo on Friday. The Brazilian black belt began his pro career when Caldwell was still in high school and has an 18-3 record.

“He doesn’t present any challenges I haven’t seen before, with my training team,” Caldwell said.

“I do know I’ll be the champion for a while. This belt will be around my waist for a really long time.”

Miss North Carolina celebrates literacy in eastern N.C., Page 6

WEDNESDAY

2.28.18

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL

the good life IN A NORTH STATE OF MIND Elton John performs “Tiny Dancer” at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in New York, on Jan. 28.

play list

Feb. 28-March 4 2018 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro Don’t miss the action at the 2018 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro.

For 65 years, women’s college basketball teams have competed in this single-elimination tournament for the chance to advance to the NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championship. Visit the ACC webpage for game times and ticket information.

March 1-March 4 Dance Theatre of Harlem The Carolina Theatre, Durham See the inspiring eclectic ballet performance of the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem Company instructs hundreds of Harlem’s youth on dance disciplines each year as a way of teaching self-reliance and artistic relevance. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. and tickets may be purchased online.

LUCAS JACKSON | REUTERS

Carolina concerts 12 months of headliners

By Clay Abernathy North State Journal RALEIGH — The concert card for the Old North State is starting to fill out with an impressive list of world-class artists set to perform over the next 12 months. Winston-Salem landed a coveted stadium performance

by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel, who will visit the Twin City on Oct. 13 at Wake Forest’s BB&T Field.

The Queen City landed a coveted date with Super Bowl halftime show headliner Justin Timberlake as his “The Man of the Woods Tour” will stop at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center on Jan. 8, 2019. The Spectrum Center will also be the only stops in North Carolina for Maroon 5 (Oct. 4), James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt (May 16) and Rod Stewart (July 28).

The Capital City will also host an exclusive concert with Raleigh’s PNC Arena securing the only N.C. stop for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s “Soul2Soul” world tour on June 22, 2018. This tour is the couple’s first in support of a joint album, their 2017 “The Rest of Our Life” record.

The tour was extended after and 80-date run of sellouts in 2017.

Raleigh is — so far — the only N.C. stop on Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, set for March 12, 2019. John’s final tour kicks off in the U.S. on Sept.

8, 2018, and will consist of more than 300 shows across five continents, hitting North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australia before reaching its conclusion in 2021.

Greensboro will also host a farewell tour stop as Paul Simon will make a stop in the Gate City on June 19, 2018. The 76-year-old is calling his “Homeward Bound — The Farewell Tour” his last.

“I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I’d consider bringing my performing career to a natural end,” Simon said in a statement

shared to Twitter. “Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a ANDREW KELLY | REUTERS | FILE relief.”

Rock ’n’ roller Bon Jovi will Metallica performs at the Global Citizen Festival at Central Park play at Charlotte’s Spectrum in Manhattan, on Sept. 24, 2016.

Center and Raleigh’s PNC Arena on April 21 and April 24, respectively. The two venues will also host the Eagles (April 11 in Charlotte and April 17 in Raleigh) and Journey and Def Leppard (June 5 in Raleigh and June 9 in Charlotte).

Charlotte will get an early date on Metallica’s world tour on Oct. 22, 2018, at the Spectrum Center. Raleigh will have to wait until Jan. 28, 2019, to hear “Enter Sandman” ring through PNC Arena. Following last summer’s 25-date stadium run, Metallica is returning to North America for a second leg, bringing the in-theround production currently beRONALD WOAN CC ing seen in European arenas. The band is also offering a “Wherever Miranda Lambert performs at the 2013 CMA Music Festival, I May Roam Black Ticket” that on June 6, 2013. will give a limited number of fans floor access to any show on the tour. “Feel like trucking to Tulsa? Booking to Boise? Motoring to Minneapolis? No problem... you pick the show, call us no less than 48 hours before the gig and you’re in!,” the release reads. A limited number of 250 of these Black Tickets will be available for $598. Spotify will have presale tickets starting Feb. 28. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, March 2nd at 10 a.m.

The summer country Mega Ticket series will again be staged at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Amphitheater and Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion. This year the VINCENT WEST | REUTERS | FILE series — which runs from May to October — will feature eight Paul Simon performs at the Bilbao Exhibition Center in events. Raleigh and Charlotte Barakaldo, northern Spain, on Nov. 17, 2016. will host Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebel- Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Greensboro’s Cone Denim Entertainment Center on March 3. lum & Darius Rucker, and Kenny Mar. 24, 2018.

North Carolina’s Scotty Mc- McCreery will also take the stage Chesney. Brad Paisley will complete the set in Raleigh while Lit- Creery will celebrate his first No. at Harrah’s Cherokee on May 4, tle Big Town & Miranda Lambert 1 single — “Five More Minutes” 2018. fill out Charlotte’s slate. Lambert reached the top spot on Billwill also perform a solo gig at board’s Country Airplay Chart Reuters contributed to this Winston-Salem’s Lawrence Joel this week — this weekend at article.

March 2-March 4 31st Annual N.C. Potters Conference Randolph Arts Guild, Asheboro Discover a premier ceramics showcase featuring artists from across the globe at the 31st Annual N.C. Potters Conference. Artists will perform live demonstrations and offer various concepts and techniques to their audiences. Visit the Randolph Arts Guild webpage for information on conference times and fees.

Rumba on the Lumber Downtown, Lumberton What can be better than fast races and hot chili? The 2018 Rumba on the Lumber features events the whole community will enjoy like a spaghetti dinner with live accordion music, a chili cook-off with simultaneous beer and wine festival, arts and crafts for all ages, and miles of racing on foot or bike. Visit the Robeson Road Runners webpage for a schedule of events.

March 3 Dinner Cruise on Belle of Washington Water Street, Washington Spend an evening on the Pamlico River aboard the Belle of Washington. A delicious buffetstyle dinner will be served, and beer, wine and soda may be purchased separately. The cruise departs at 5:00 p.m. and tickets may be purchased online.

Mad Mule Pro Mod Shootout Galot Motorsports Park, Benson Experience the thrill of drag racing at the Mad Mule Pro Shootout at Galot Motorsports Park. Spectators will rally on regional racers as they compete in an eighth-mile drag run. The race starts at 9:00 a.m. and tickets may be purchased online.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B6

NeCessities! history marked March 1, 1898

The Holding Family and First Citizens Bank

state visit Miss N.C. tours eastern North Carolina

The Bank of Smithfield, now known as First Citizens Bank, opened for business. The bank, Johnston County’s first, was founded

by Allen W. Smith who remained president until 1906. The institution became First National Bank of Smithfield before merging with Citizens National Bank to become First and Citizens National Bank. In 1929, the company adopted the now-familiar moniker of First Citizens Bank & Trust Company.

Robert Powell Holding, who joined the bank as an assistant cashier in 1918, became president in 1935. He piloted First Citizens through the Depression and World War II, and by the time of his death in 1957, it was the second largest bank in North Carolina.

Holding’s three sons continued in their father’s footsteps by occupying the key posts of chairman of the board, president and vice president. The Holdings grew First Citizens into one of the largest family-controlled banks in the United States, and the family continues to own the bank today.

COURTESTY OF MISS NORTH CAROLINA ORGANIZATION

Miss North Carolina Victoria Huggins reads a book to students at Edna Andrews Elementary in Oak City, N.C, on Feb. 26.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NCDOT

March 2, 1927

By NSJ Staff

Memorial to the Wright Brothers Dedicated

RALEIGH — Miss North Carolina Victoria Huggins is traveling across eastern N.C. this week in celebration of Read Across America Day on March 2. The National Education Association’s Read Across America Day is a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually on March 2 — Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The day is celebrated across the country by thousands of schools, libraries, and community

President Calvin Coolidge signed legislation authorizing the Kill Devil Hills National Monument. Five years later, a 60-foot granite monument was dedicated in Dare County. The monument itself was built on a 90-foot sand dune stabilized through the planting of special grasses. The dune was part of a larger natural embankment that the Wright Brothers used to launch gliders in the years leading up to their famed first powered flights in 1903. Designed to mimic the look of a marine beacon, the monument’s double entrance doors each have six panels depicting moments from mankind’s attempts at flight. The inscription notes the momentous achievements in the history of flight that the Wright Brothers attained at Kill Devil Hills. Though the monument’s 1932 dedication was expected to draw tens of thousands of people bad weather kept all but a handful away. Orville Wright was in attendance and the featured guest of honor. In 1953, Congress renamed and designated the monument as the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It continues to be on the premiere attractions on the Outer Banks, drawing more than 425,000 visitors each year.

March 2, 1936

Agriculture’s Voice, the North Carolina Farm Bureau J. E. Winslow called to order the first meeting of the North Carolina Farm Bureau (NCFB) in Greenville. No records exist to show who was elected to the nonprofit, grassroots organization’s first board of directors, but 77 years later, the Farm Bureau has much to show for its years of service to the state’s rural families. As the unified “voice of agriculture” in North Carolina, NCFB has been—and continues to be—a powerful and effective legislative advocate for Tar Heel farmers at the local, state, national and international levels. In 1942, farm women became members and gained a voice by forming what would become the Women’s Committee.

During its early days, NCFB’s support helped make Governor Kerr Scott’s system of Farmto-Market roads a reality. More recently, it has led the fight for drought relief, transportation regulations and immigration reform. In 1953, the organization introduced its first serviceto-member program: the North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company.

Today, NCFB programs offer its more than 500,000 members a wide selection of services and savings, from prescription drug plans to banking services to educational assistance. Based in Raleigh since 1958, the Farm Bureau has offices in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

centers.

Huggins will travel to nine counties as she tours the state during her year-long reign as Miss North Carolina. Her stops this week include Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Martin, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Washington counties. “It’s my goal to reach all 100 counties and these nine counties are areas that I have not reached yet,” said Huggins.

At her stops on Monday and Tuesday, Huggins read books to students

and gave out books at Martin County’s Edna Andrews Elementary in Oak City, East End Elementary in Robersonville, and Jamesville Elementary in Jamesville, Perquimans County’s Central School in Winfall, and Bertie County’s Windsor Elementary in Windsor. She also visited the Washington County Public Library in Plymouth.

She will travel to Chowan and Gates counties on Wednesday, Pasquotank and Currituck counties on Thursday, and end her tour in Camden on Friday.

prescribed an opioid?

Ask your doctor these questions

By Dr. Sam Ho, chief medical officer UnitedHealthcare If your doctor or dentist prescribes a pain reliever, take charge of your health and find out exactly what you are getting. UnitedHealth Group medical experts recommend you ask your doctor these questions about any opioid prescription. Common opioid brand names include Vicodin and Percocet.

1. Why do I need this medicine?

Ask your doctor for reasons why it is right for you.

2. Are there other options that will address my pain?

Opioids are not the only option for treating pain. Other options are available. An over-the-counter pain reliever (such as Tylenol, Aleve or Advil) may be enough, or, physical therapy or chiropractic care could give the same results.

3. How long do I take this?

Extended opioid use can increase the risk of dependence and addiction. Talk with your doctor about how long you should take the medicine and whether it should be refilled.

4. Does this medicine line up with current medical guidelines?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published specific guidelines, directing doctors to prescribe the lowest dose for the shortest length of time possible.

5. What are my risks for addiction?

Some people may be more prone to addiction than others. A report published by the CDC suggests that the risk of chronic opioid use rises with each additional day after the third day, with a steep rise after the fifth day.

GEORGE FREY | REUTERS

A pharmacist holds prescription painkiller OxyContin, 40mg pills, made by Purdue Pharma L.D. at a local pharmacy, in Provo, Utah, on April 25.

6. How does this medicine mix with other medicines I’m taking?

Opioids can be deadly when mixed with other drugs, especially those taken for treatment of anxiety, sleeping disorders and seizures. It’s a bad idea to mix alcohol with an opioid pain reliever

or muscle relaxants.

7. What are the expected side effects?

These vary. They might include feeling sick to your stomach, sleepiness, extreme excitement, itching and more.

Talk with your doctor.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B7

entertainment

All that jazz: Saudis attend country’s first jazz festival

AMC offers free ‘Wrinkle in Time’ tickets for underprivileged children

By Dave McNary Variety LOS ANGELES — Color Of Change and the AMC Theatres chain are teaming to provide free tickets to underprivileged children for screenings of Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” starting March 9.

The free tickets are being offered through the “Give A Child The Universe” initiative, which encourages individual and group benefactors to purchase and donate tickets to the movie. Using the donations, Color Of Change will distribute tickets to local partners, schools and community-based organizations for showings at AMC locations.

Based on the children’s book, “A Wrinkle in Time” stars Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mindy Kaling and Storm Reid as the heroine. Jennifer Lee, who wrote and co-directed “Frozen” with Chris Buck, penned the adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel. Ava DuVernay, the director of “Selma” and the Oscar-nominated documentary “13th,” was hired by Disney for the gig in early 2016, making her the first woman of color to helm a $100 million-budgeted movie.

Color Of Change is a civil rights advocacy organization that was formed in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“Color Of Change believes in the power of images and supports those working to change the rules in Hollywood so that inclusive, empathetic and human portrayals of Black people and people of color are prominent on the screen,” Color of Change ex-

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Men and women swayed to music at Saudi Arabia’s first-ever jazz festival on Friday, the second of a three-day outdoor event that showcases the kingdom’s recent efforts of shedding its conservative image. Locals and foreigners flocked to the festival to watch bands from Riyadh, Beirut and New Orleans. The crowd sang along when Lebanon’s Chady Nashef performed the Eagles’ “Hotel California” — an unusual moment in the Islamic country after the religious police last year condemned concerts that feature singing as harmful and corrupting.

Ed Sheeran searches for new lines in movie ‘Songwriter’ Berlin British singer Ed Sheeran said on Friday that the hardest part of songwriting was coming up with lines that had never been written before as a new documentary detailing his creative process premiered at Berlin’s international film festival. The movie “Songwriter” was directed

by Sheeran’s cousin, Murray Cummings, and follows the Grammy winner as he travels around the U.S. and England writing songs, jamming in a garden and recording in the studio.

COURTESTY OF DISNEY

Wilkesboro, N.C. native Zach Galifianakis stars as The Happy Medium in Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time.”

ecutive director Rashad Robinson said. “From ‘Selma’ to now ‘A Wrinkle In Time,’ Ava DuVernay has set out to change the rules in Hollywood for people of color and women.”

“By casting a black teenage actress Storm Reid as the heroine at the center of this story, the filmmakers and the studio send a powerful message to millions of young people who will see some-

one like them embracing their individuality and strength to save the world,” Robinson added. “We are pleased to partner with AMC to ensure that as many young people as possible, regardless of economic and financial hardships, can see this groundbreaking film.”

AMC is the largest chain in the United States, with more than 8,200 screens in 661 multiplexes.

Nikkole Denson-Randolph, AMC’s vice president of special content, said, “The ‘Wrinkle in Time’ story is one that children from all backgrounds and walks of life can identify with and draw inspiration from, and we are thrilled to celebrate this film in a meaningful way, through the vision of Ava DuVernay and in partnership with Color Of Change.”

Deeply indebted Lisa Marie Presley and manager in dueling lawsuits Los Angeles Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley, says she is facing financial ruin and has filed a $100 million lawsuit accusing her former business manager of negligence and mismanaging her finances. Her ex-manager has filed his own lawsuit, accusing Presley, 50, of squandering her famous father’s inheritance because of her lavish lifestyle. The lawsuit seeks $800,000 in unpaid bills.

TAKE NOTICE RANDOLPH NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 17 SP 460 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Brian R. Campbell to Alie Yates Brown, Trustee(s), dated the 9th day of May, 2011, and recorded in Book RE2232, Page 438, and Modification in Book 2528, Page 190, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on March 6, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Franklinville Township, Randolph County, North Carolina: BEGINNING at an iron stake in the Eastern right of way line of Old U.S. Highway 64 and N.C.49, Harvey C. Whitley’s Southwest corner; thence along Whitley’s line two calls: South 64 degrees 12 minutes 54 seconds East 177.86 feet to an iron stake and North 26 degrees 25 minutes 34 seconds East 133.58 feet to an iron stake in Vernon Garner’s line; thence along the Garner line South 2 degrees 38 minutes 30 seconds West 189.60 feet to an iron stake, corner of Garner and Dallas Keene (N.S. Grid: X = 1,777.166.81 and Y = 718,461.24); thence crossing a 30-foot driveway easement and along Dallas Keene’s line South 5 degrees 39 minutes 09 seconds East 104.87 feet to an iron stake, corner of Keene and Hazel T Cameron; thence along Cameron’s line South 00 degrees 01 minute 58 seconds East 99.66 feet to an iron stake; thence continuing along Cameron’s line North 74 degrees 47 minutes 07 seconds West 187.47 feet to an iron stake, corner of James C Street; thence along Street’s line two calls: North 28 degrees 04 minutes 30 seconds East 224.49 feet to an iron stake in the Southern edge of a 30-foot driveway; thence along said driveway North 64 degrees 12 minutes 54 seconds West 178.37 feet to an iron stake in the Eastern right of way line of Old U.S. highway 64 and 49; thence along said right of way line North 29 degrees 02 minutes 20 seconds East 30.08 feet to the Beginning and containing 0.8962 acres, more or less. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 2000 Trogdon Hill Road, Asheboro, North Carolina.

The above property is subject to an easement 30feet wide for driveway purposes as described in that certain easement to Dallas C. Keene in Book 1209, Page 1879, Randolph County Registry.

The above description was prepared from a plat of a survey by William Donald Smith, RLS, dated November 3, 1989, designated as Job No. 891102A, Notebook 109, entitled “Property of Ronald Davis Hyler”.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §4521.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a) (1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1231174 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: February 21, 2018 and February 28, 2018.

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 18 SP 5 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Darin Matthew Duncan and April Berg Duncan (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Darin M. Duncan) to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated the 7th day of November, 2007, and recorded in Book RE 2225, Page 667, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on March 6, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the Township of Trinity, in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: The land referred to in this policy is situated in the State of NC, County of GUILFORD, City of ARCHDALE and described as follows: All that certain lot or parcel of land situated in Trinity Township, Randolph County, North Carolina and more particularly described as follows: Being Lot 13 of Green Meadows, Map 2, a plat of which is duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Randolph County, North Carolina, in Plat Book 10, Page 131. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 5855 Joan Drive, Archdale, North Carolina.

Being the that parcel of land conveyed to Darin Matthew Duncan and April Berg Duncan from Glenda C. Duncan, single by that deed dated 06/03/1999 and recorded 06/08/1999 in Deed Book 1611, at Page 508 of the Randolph County, NC Public Registry.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a) (1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1231159 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: February 21, 2018 and February 28, 2018

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 18 SP 4 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Curtis R. Davis and Rhonda E. Davis (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Curtis Ray Davis) to Lee Johnson, Trustee(s), dated the 29th day of November, 2000, and recorded in Book 1689, Page 724, in Randolph County Registry,

North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on March 13, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Tract 1: BEGINNING: At a point on the Northern line of Lot 7 as shown on a Survey by Clotus Craven, Registered Land Surveyor No. L-483, dated June 7, 1983, designated as Survey for A. C. Miller, said point being located South 85 degrees 42 minutes 01 seconds East 478.01 feet from the Eastern right of way line of S.R . #1648; thence from said beginning point South 85 degrees 42 minutes 01 seconds East 203.64 feet to a point; thence South 04 degrees 20 minutes 46 seconds West 209.31 feet to a point; thence North 80 degrees 43 minutes 40 seconds West 204.40 feet to a point; thence North 04 degrees 20 minutes 46 seconds East 191.59 feet to the point of Beginning, containing 0.937 acres and being designated as Lot “C” on a Survey by Wm. F. Freeman Associates, dates July 1, 1984, Job No. 21, 741 and entitled “Survey for William E. Leonard”, and being a portion of that 5.314 acres tract conveyed to William Ernest Leonard and wife by Deed dated June 5, 1984 and duly recorded in Book 1153, Page 122, Randolph County Registry.

Tract 2: BEGINNING: At a point in the northernmost line of the 5.310 acre tract described as Tact #6 on the survey for A.C. Miller prepared by Clotus Craven, RLS, dated 7/7/83, said point being located South 88 deg.

33 min. East as measured along the northernmost line of Tract #6, 518.00 feet from the centerline of N.C.S.R. #1648; thence from said beginning point South 4 deg. 23 min. East 202.70 feet to a point in the southernmost line of Tact #6; thence with the common line of Tract #6 and Tract #7, South 83 deg. 36 min. East 280.00 feet to a point in the southernmost line of Tract #6, said point being also located North 83 deg. 36 min. West 267.93 feet from the southeast corner of Tract #6; thence North 4 deg. 20 min. West 226.89 feet to a point in the northernmost line of Tract #5; thence North 88 deg. 33 min. West 280.00 to the point and place of beginning, containing 1.379 acres.

TOGETHER WITH a 35 foot easement for ingress, egress, regress and access in and to the above described property from N.C.S.R. #1648, being described as follows: BEGINNING At a point in the northernmost line of the 5.310 acre tract described as Tract #6 on the survey for A.C. Miller prepared by Clotus Craven, RLS, dated 7/7/83, said point being located South 88 deg. 33 min. East as measured along the northernmost line of Tract #6, 92.50 feet from the northwest corner of the above referenced 5.310 acre tract, said point being also in the centerline of N.C.S.R. #1648; thence from said beginning point South 88 deg. 33 min. East 308.00 feet to a point, the northernmost line of the 5.310 acre tract; thence South 7 deg.

16 min. East 153.82 feet to a point; thence South 83 deg. 36 min. East 458.75 feet to a point in the westernmost line of the above described 1.379 acre tract being described herein thence with the westernmost line of the above described property South 4 deg. 20 min. East 35.02 feet to a point, the southeast corner of said 1.379 acre tact; thence with the southernmost line of said tract and the southernmost line of the 5.310 acre tract described as Tract #6 referred to above, North 83 deg. 36 min. West 310.00 feet to a point; thence North 7 deg. 16 min. West 153.00 feet to a point; thence North 88 deg. 33 min. West 280 feet more or less to a point in the centerline of N.C.S.R. # 1648; thence with the centerline of said road North 35 deg. 12 min. East 35.02 feet to the point and place of beginning.

Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6126 Joe Hoffman Road, Archdale, North Carolina.

The easement herein granted is for the use and benefit of the lands now owned by the Grantees, and it is specifically instructed that the Grantees shall have no authority to authorize use of said easement save and excepting only for the benefit lands at the present time owned by the Grantees.

SUBJECT TO a 35 foot perpetual easement being reserved for ingress, egress, regress, and access to

run with title to the 1.464 acre tract lying immediately west of the property being conveyed herein and being also the westernmost portion of the 5.310 acre tract above referred to, said easement being 35 feet in width and being described as follows: BEGINNING At a point, the southwest corner of the 1.379 acre tract being conveyed herein; thence with the southernmost line of said tract South 83 deg. 36 min., East 280.00 feet to a point, the southeast corner of said tract; thence with the easternmost line of said tract North 4 deg. 23 min. West 35.02 feet to a point; thence with a line parallel to the first call of said easement North 83 deg. 36 min. West 280.00 feet to a point in the westernmost line of said tract; thence with the westernmost line of said tract South 4 deg. 20 min. East 35.02 feet to the point and place of beginning.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §4521.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a) (1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1225744 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: February 28, 2018 and March 7, 2018.

North State Journal for Wednesday, February 28, 2018

B8

pen & paper pursuits comic relief

sudoku

SOLUTIONS FROM 02.21.18

Experience It All. All In One Place. #AllinOnePlace 50 Years of NC Arts Council in All 100 Counties State Parks and Recreation Areas North Carolina Aquariums Historic Sites North Carolina ZOO Museums of History, Art and Science Libraries and Archives North Carolina Symphony

dncr.nc.gov/AllinOnePlace

Happy New Year!

I wish you all the best in 2018 as you experience everything North Carolina has to offer.

Secretary Susi H. Hamilton

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES