North State Journal Vol. 7, Issue 34

New poll shows Budd leading Beasley by 6% Raleigh

Republican Ted Budd leads Democrat Cheri Beasley by a 50% to 44% margin according to a new East Carolina University Center of Survey Research Poll of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race. That doubles the lead Budd had in a September poll by the university.

“Budd’s most notable gains have come from women. Beasley currently leads Budd 48% to 46% among women; however, Beasley led 52% to 41% among likely female voters in September,” a summary of the results from the university read.

The poll also asked how respondents planned to vote in their U.S. congressional district races. The poll’s results show that 49% of likely voters say they intend to vote for the Republican candidate and 44% say they will vote for the Democratic candidate.

Finally, among likely voters, President Joe Biden’s job approval stood at 38%.

NSJ STAFF

DeSantis to continue migrant flights to Democratic states Tallahassee, Fla.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration plans to continue flying migrants who entered the country illegally to Democratic strongholds, his spokeswoman said, a day after newly released records showed the state paid nearly $1 million to arrange two sets of flights to Delaware and Illinois.

“While Florida has had all hands on deck responding to our catastrophic hurricane, the immigration relocation program remains active,” DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske said in an email.

The flights would be a follow-up to the Sept. 14 flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where former President Barack Obama owns a home.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

High Point furniture market begins Saturday High Point

The twice a year High Point Market, an international event for all things home furnishings, begins Saturday. The market’s dates this year are Oct. 22-26.

The event brings over 75,000 visitors to the Guilford County city and is estimated to bring an economic impact of $6.73 billion to the state each year for both events.

Over 40,000 retailers and designers attend each event.

NSJ STAFF

Millions of cookies: MacKenzie Scott gives Girl Scouts $85M

New York

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA and 29 of its local branches, the 110-year-old organization said Tuesday, calling it a vote of confidence.

It’s the largest donation the Girl Scouts have received from an individual since their founding in 1912. The funds will help the organization recover from the impact of the pandemic, which drove down membership.

Philanthropic giving to organizations that specifically serve women and girls represents less than 2% of all donations, according to a research project of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Youth membership of the Girl Scouts fell dramatically during the pandemic, dropping nearly 30% from about 1.4 million in 2019-2020 to just over 1 million in 2021-2022.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

State Fair sees higher attendance in opening weekend

The N.C. State Fair’s daily attendance has outpaced the 2021 Fair each day since opening day on Thursday, Oct. 13. Sunday’s total of 105,547 visitors was the highest on the first Sunday of the Fair since 2011. The annual event continues through Sunday, Oct. 23.

Violent week a grim sign as targeted killings of police rise

The Associated Press

THE SHOOTING DEATHS of two Connecticut officers and wounding of a third punctuated an especially violent week for po lice across the U.S. and fit into a grim pattern: Even as more offi cers left their jobs in the past two years, the number targeted and killed rose.

ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide

The Associated Press PHOENIX/RALEIGH —

Scores on the ACT college ad missions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.

The class of 2022’s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What’s more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT — showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.

The test scores, made public in a report on Oct. 12, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indi cators of how well students are ex pected to perform in correspond ing college courses.

In comparison, 38% of test tak ers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.

“Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline,” said Rose Babington, senior direc tor for state partnerships for the ACT. “Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important in formation to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.”

The ACT reports College Read iness Benchmark Scores are the minimum score needed on an ACT subject area test to indicate a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bear ing college courses.

The subject areas and the cor responding national benchmarks are English Composition (18), Al gebra (22), Social Science (22), Bi ology (23), STEM (26) and English Language Arts (20).

North Carolina’s scores also showed a decline with a composite score of 18.5 for the 88% of stu dents in the state who were tested.

According to organizations that track violence against police, 56 officers have been killed by gun fire this year — 14% more than this time last year and about 45% ahead of 2020’s pace. The country is on track for the deadliest year since 67 officers were killed in 2016.

While the figures include a few officers killed by accidental gun fire, the number of ambushes in which police were injured or killed in surprise attacks with little chance to defend themselves has soared since 2020 and accounts

for nearly half the officers killed this year.

Such an attack struck last Wednesday in Bristol, Connecti cut, where the state police said Bristol Police Sgt. Dustin Demon te and Officer Alex Hamzy were killed and Officer Alec Iurato was wounded when they responded to a 911 call that appears to have been “a deliberate act to lure law enforcement to the scene.”

At least 11 police officers were shot around the country this week, including one fatally in Greenville, Mississippi, and another in Las Vegas.

“Those are really scary num bers for law enforcement, not just for individual officers, but for the organizations they work for, which have to be taking this into account as they’re hiring, retaining and training officers,” said Bill Alex ander, executive director of the

See VIOLENCE ,

Democrat-tied group’s network of hyperpartisan local news sites includes three in NC

The websites are part of network set up by Media Matters founder and Clinton operative David Brock

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — A recent report by Axios has identified a net work of 51 websites masquerad ing as local news sites that trace back to a Democrat-tied group. Three of the 51 are operating in North Carolina.

These types of outlets are similar to the hyper-partisan sites masquerading as jour nalism housed under Courier Newsroom, which set up in 14 states in 2020 with funding by ACRONYM, a dark mon ey political action committee.

The sites are still active, in cluding one in North Carolina called Cardinal & Pine. The site is run by Billy Ball, a former re porter for the left-leaning N.C. Justice Center’s blog called NC Policy Watch.

According to Axios, the sites are “churning out Dem ocrat-aligned content” in key midterm battleground states.

The sites trace back to The American Independent (TAI) started by Democratic operative

ELIAS FUNEZ | THE UNION VIA AP, FILE

New high school students gather to see their school schedules during the first morning of school, in this Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, file photo.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

“Variety Vacationland”

Did God really care for him? And does God care for us, and think upon us — when we are poor and needy? Does God really care for us, as individuals? Does He give personal thought to any of us — to you, to me — according to our condition? Does pain or trouble in us — cause pity in His heart? Does God care? Does He see the individual in the crowd? When you are passing through some great trouble, enduring pain or adversity — does God know it, and does He care?

A daughter had a bitter sorrow, a sore disappointment. The mother knew just what her daughter was passing through. Her love for her child, entered into and shared all the child’s experiences. The mother cared. Is there ever anything like this in the heart of God — as He looks upon His children and knows that they are suffering?

When we turn to the Bible, we find on every page the revelation — that God does care — and has personal interest in His people.

Christ assured His disciples, that the very hairs of their heads are all numbered; meaning that God personally cares for all the minutest affairs of our lives — He cares for us as individuals. His love is as personal and individual, as the love of a mother for each one of her children.

Paul took the love of Christ to himself — as if he were the only one Christ loved. “He loved me — and gave Himself up for me!” God’s love is personal. He cares for us — for me.

Whatever your need, your trial, your perplexity, your struggle may be — you may be sure that God knows and cares — and that when you come to Him with it, He will take time amid all His infinite affairs, to help you — as if He had nothing else in all the world to do.

God cares! His love for each one of His children is so deep, so personal, so tender — that He has compassion on our every pain, every distress, every struggle. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:13. God is our Father, and His care is gentler than a human father’s — as His love exceeds human love.

Much human care has no power to help — but when God cares — He helps omnipotently. When human friendship can give no relief — then God will come. When no one in all the world cares — then God cares. “Cast all your cares upon Him, because He cares about you!” 1 Peter 5:7

J.R. Miller was a pastor and former editorial superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication from 1880 to 1911. His works are now in the public domain.

David Brock, a long-time ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton and founder of the left-leaning organization Media Matters for America.

TAI’s president is Matt Fueh rmeyer, a former senior aide to Nevada’s late Democratic Sen. and former Senate leader Harry Reid as well as being a researcher for former Senator Al Franken (D-MN). Fueh meyer was also a top aide with the Democratic Congressional Cam paign Committee.

“The American Independent is the No. 1 digital platform for pro gressive news, reaching millions of people each month. We strive to report with honesty and integrity, shining a light on those in power and the progressive politics move ment,” the TAI LinkedIn profile reads.

The profile says TAI has 19 em ployees from states that include Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and even one lo cated in Munich, Germany.

TAI’s named was changed in 2019 from the American Indepen dent Foundation (AIF). Before be ing renamed to AIF, the group was called Blue Nation Review before changing its name in 2016 to Share blue and then again changing the name to The American Indepen dent.

The organization is a 501(c)3 lo cated in Washington, D.C. whose 2020 total revenue was over $2.1 million. AIF has received large do nations in the past few years from Brock’s Media Matters. For the fis cal year ending June 2020, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund dropped $3,287,295 in funding to Media Matters “for grant recipients program purposes” and another $70,000 to AIF for the same reason.

According to the “terms” listed on TAI’s website, they are “operat

ed by True Blue Media, LLC (“True Blue Media”).” Brock founded True Blue Media in 2015 and is actually a group of organizations that include Brock’s other properties used to attack Republicans such as Media Matters for America and American Bridge 21st Century.

Each of the sites contact details refer to “Local Report Inc.,” which the Axios report notes was formed in Florida in 2021. An extended ver sion of Axios’ report says Local Re port has been accused of lifting and misrepresenting content from real news outlets in order to put Demo crats in a positive light.

“On Sept. 28, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer’s Nick Woo ten accused a Local Report web site of lifting some of his report ing on Georgia›s abortion ban for a piece. The Local Report story insinuated Gov. Brian Kemp could order investigations into violations

of the law,” Axios reported. Before the day was over, the write-up had earned a signal boost from Stacey Abrams and the Democratic Par ty of Georgia. (Abrams later de leted her tweet and posted a link to Wooten›s original story.)”

The three sites in North Carolina run by TAI and “Local Report Inc.” are the Mecklenburg Herald, Pied mont Tribune, and Triangle News. While they are separate websites, they appear to run identical con tent.

Most, if not all, articles are post ed by “staff” or “editorial staff,” but some have sub-bylines such as “Mo hamed Bughara,” who apparently resides in Washington State. Linke dIn lists him as a «Digital Writer» for «The American Independent.”

The most recent post under Bug hara’s byline is on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s new book and claims Robinson wants to do away with

social studies in elementary schools. Robinson rebutted the claim in an interview with North State Journal last month, saying the main focus in elementary grades should be on reading, writing and math.

Another article published on Sept. 15 touts a rosy headline about gas prices, “Out of the 100 Counties in North Carolina, Only 4 Counties are Above the National Average in Gas Prices.” The national average at the time was $3.70. While that’s less than the record national average of $4.86 per gallon set in early June of this year, it’s a far cry from the na tional average cost of s $2.39 when Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021.

In addition to Bughara, opinion writers Sheldon Clay and J. Patrick Coolican featured in TAI’s North Carolina websites are from Minne sota. Clay is “a long time member of the Minneapolis/St. Paul adver tising community and a regular contributor to the Minnesota Re former,” while Coolican is “the ed itor-in-chief of the Minnesota Re former.”

Another writer appears to be an actor from New York City named Parker Wallis. The Facebook pro file for Wallis describes them as “Non-binary // They/She/Fae // Performimg [SIC] artist-writer // Digital Content Writer for AIF.” Wallis also has a professional web site for their acting.

An Oct. 3 article posted to all three of the North Carolina web sites titled “grading North Caroli na’s democracy” written by Wallis offers a prime example of political propaganda being presented as a news report.

“The report is a collaboration between the Let America Vote Ac tion Fund and the End Citizens United (ECU) Action Fund, and it grades each of the fifty states based on three categories: Voting Rights Laws, Campaign Finance and An

ti-Corruption Laws, and Democ racy Subversion Protections,” reads one of the opening paragraphs.

Wallis does not link to the report, which resides on the End Citizens United website, nor does Wallis delve into who the two groups are or that the groups are partners.

“Let America Vote Action Fund” is a partner of End Citizens United Action Fund. Both are PACs that spend exclusively on Democrats. Filing information available on the campaign watchdog site Open Secrets shows End Citizen’s Unit ed received 18 payments total ing $5,170,000 from Let America Vote in 2020.

Wallis’ article highlights the grades given to Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, who both are Democrats. The ar ticle says Cooper vetoed a bill that would have “limited absentee vot ing” and “curtailed power” for the state board of elections. Both of those statements are lines lifted from the report.

Additionally, Wallis does not list the vetoed legislation being referred to; however, Cooper has not vetoed a bill that limited absentee ballot vot ing, in fact, it was the opposite. The governor issued his 66th veto on Senate Bill 326 which would have extended the Election Day deadline for absentee by-mail ballots.

The “curtailing of power” refer ence is likely Senate Bill 360 which sought to bar the N.C. State Board of Elections and Attorney Gen eral from entering into collusive agreements. Senate Bill 360 was a response to a secret settlement en tered into by the N.C. State Board of Elections, the Attorney General, and Democratic-aligned activist groups that effectively rewrote state election laws while absentee voting was underway, just 41 days before the 2020 election. The bill would have applied only to future lawsuits.

year is particularly alarming,”

Prior to the pandemic in 2019, North Carolina’s composite score was 19. That score dropped to 18.8 in 2020 and rose slightly to 18.9 in 2021. The overall testing rate for students in North Carolina in 2019 was 100%.

North Carolina’s composite scores broken down by subject include 17.1 for English, 18.5 for Math, 19.2 for Reading and 18.8 for Science. Comparatively, the 2019 score for English was 17.8, Math at 19.2, Reading at 19.4 and Science at 19.0.

ACT scores have declined steadily in recent years. Still, “the magnitude of the declines this

ACT CEO Janet Godwin said in a statement. “We see rapidly grow ing numbers of seniors leaving high school without meeting col lege-readiness benchmarks in any of the subjects we measure.”

The results offer a lens into systemic inequities in education, in place well before the pandem ic shuttered schools and colleges temporarily waived testing re quirements. For example, students without access to rigorous high school curriculum suffered more setbacks during pandemic disrup tions, Babington said. Those stu dents are from rural areas, come from low-income families and are often students of color.

The number of students taking the ACT has declined 30% since 2018, as graduates increasingly forgo college and some universi ties no longer require admissions tests. But participation plunged 37% among black students, with 154,000 taking the test this year.

Standardized tests such as the ACT have faced growing concerns that they’re unfair to minority and low-income students, as students with access to expensive test prep or advanced courses often per form better.

Babington defended the test as a measure of college readiness. “Now more than ever, the last few years have shown us the impor tance of having high-quality data

to help inform how we support students,” Babington said.

Test scores now are optional for first-year student admission at many institutions. Some colleges, such as the University of Califor nia system, even opt for a testblind policy, where scores are not considered even if submitted.

But many students still take the tests, hoping to get an edge in admissions by submitting their scores. Tyrone Jordan, a freshman at test-optional Arizona State University, said he took the ACT and the SAT to get ahead of oth er students and help him receive scholarships.

Jordan, who wants to pursue mechanical engineering, said

he thinks his rigorous schedule at Tempe Preparatory Academy prepared him for college, and the standardized tests helped support him and his family financially.

“All the test did for me was give me extra financial money,” Jordan said.

While Jordan was always planning to take the test, many students struggle with access or choose not to take the test since their universities of choice no lon ger require it. In Alabama, Loui siana, Mississippi, Nevada, Ten nessee and Wyoming, everyone is tested.

A.P. Dillon of North State Journal contributed to this report.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

“The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Lionello Spada (circa 1600) is a painting in the collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris.

AP PHOTO, FILE

David Brock, founder of Correct the Record, speaks at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, March 25, 2014.

“I am poor and needy — yet the Lord thinks upon me!” Psalm 40:17

Navy veteran jailed by NC judge for not wearing mask for jury duty

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — A Navy veteran who showed up to the Harnett County Courthouse in Lillington to do his civic duty found himself being booked and jailed not long after.

Gregory Hahn was jailed for 24 hours without bond by Su perior Court Judge Charles Gilchrist for refusing to wear a mask during jury duty.

Hahn was among 98 other jury candidates attending an ori entation and Hahn has said very few were wearing masks. He also said none of the potential jurors were notified of Gilchrist’s court room mask edict.

“The irony of all this is the judge was talking to me without a mask,” Hahn said in an inter view with Raleigh television sta tion WRAL.

North Carolina has no state mask mandate in place, includ

ing the Harnett County Court house where Hahn was called to serve jury duty. The only courtroom apparently requir ing masks is Gilchrist’s, and he has the power to do so based on a March 2022 joint order in Lee and Harnett counties. That order states, in part, that a “presiding judge in each courtroom may de cide, in their discretion, whether masks are required in the court room.”

“I never thought I would show up to jury duty and end up be hind bars,” Hahn said in an in terview on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

When Hahn asked to be ex cused instead of jailed because it was still just orientation and no jury members had been selected, Gilchrist told him “I could, but I’m not going to.”

Hahn said he was then re strained, a mugshot photo was taken, and he had to don an or ange jumpsuit. The jail he was

placed in also had no mask man date, according to Hahn.

To make matters worse, Gilchrist denied Hahn, a single father, the ability to contact his son.

“It was the worst 24 hours of my life,” the 47-year-old Hahn told Carlson. “I was refused to make a phone call to my minor child who is home.”

“Judge Gilchrist’s ruling is outrageous,” said U.S. Rep. Rich ard Hudson (NC-08) in a state ment. “Even if you agree with the Judge’s perspective on masks, Hahn should have never been arrested. There are other ways it could have been handled.”

Former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue first appointed Gilchrist to the 11th Judicial District bench in 2010. He ran for reelec tion for the District 11A seat on the North Carolina 3rd Superior Court and in the 2020 general election. Gilchrist’s current term ends on Dec. 31, 2028.

Spring Lake claim that new town manager was approved by Local Government Commission false

State Treasurer says LGC won’t approve payment for the hire of Justine Jones, the woman at the center of the mass resignation of Kenly Police force

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — State Treasurer

Dale Folwell issued a sternly word ed press statement refuting a claim that the Town of Spring Lake’s new hire for town manager was ap proved by the Local Government Commission (LGC).

On Oct. 10, the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen voted 3-2 to hire Justine Jones to be the new town manager. Members Adrian Jones Thompson, Sona L. Coo per and Robyn Chadwick voted yes to hiring Jones while Marvin Lackman and Raul Palacios voted against the move.

Cooper said she “put faith in the state’s Local Government Commis sion, which approved the hire,” ac cording to local news reports.

Spring Lake had provided a list of candidates to LGC staff, but ac cording to Folwell’s release neither the LGC staff nor the commission approved the list of candidates or the selection of any specific candi date.

“Although our staff was silent on this hiring decision, on matters this important, we should never assume that silence is consent,” Folwell said.

He also refuted that the LGC had approved a list of possible town manager candidates that included Jones’ name.

“Our primary goal is to save Spring Lake from drowning and return the town to financial health

and operational stability,” Folwell said in an Oct. 13 press release.

“New and unsettling information has come to light about the past employment history of the individ ual who was offered the job. That information does not generate con fidence that she is the right fit at this time to lead Spring Lake.”

Jones was previously hired in July as the town manager in the town of Kenly, a small town of fewer than 2,000 people located in Johnston County. Spring Lake is more than five times the size of Kenly with a population of 11,600.

She didn’t last long in the role and was fired a month later after the entire Kenly Police Department and two town clerks quit in protest.

Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson and others accused Jones of creating a “hostile work environment.”

“It has since been learned that Jones also had a rocky employment relationship with Richland County, S.C. After Richland County termi nated her employment, Jones filed an Equal Employment Opportuni ty Commission complaint that was dismissed, and then sued the coun ty,” Folwell’s press release said.

The state treasurer also men tioned the more than $500,000 in misappropriated funds uncovered for Spring Lake by the N.C. state auditor and said that “other ques tions about missing town property remain unanswered.”

Folwell, who chairs the LGC, also said he will not approve the funds to hire Jones as the new town manager.

“The town does not need a dis traction from the important work they are doing to return the town to fiscal health,” he said while refer ring to concern over town morale as well as the potential for legal and financial liabilities of the hire.

Spring Lake’s financial issues were so serious that the LGC voted unanimously to assume control of them in 2021.

More recently, the former town manager, Gay Cameron Tucker, pled guilty in late September to charges she embezzled more than $500,000 from the town between 2016 and 2021. The charges fol lowed a March 2022 audit report by State Auditor Beth Wood’s office outlining that more than $430,000 in taxpayer funds were spent for personal use by Tucker and that the case had been referred to the FBI.

The LGC had voiced concerns with Spring Lake’s leadership, in cluding a lack of compliance with state laws and reluctance to work with LGC staff. On April 5, the LGC voted unanimously to issue a letter about those concerns to the mayor of Spring Lake and its Board of Aldermen.

The April vote and letter fol lowed a $1 million loan Spring Lake secured to build a fire station without getting the approval of the LGC as well as a “lack of invoices” from the town attorney related to services provided for the 2022 fiscal year to date.

“We expect the Board of Alder men to act like professionals and to serve their constituents with the high degree of stewardship and accountability expected of elected officials. In turn, we strive to treat them in a professional manner with respect for their office,” said Fol well. “It is our desire to allow the Board to make the best decisions possible for all taxpayers and res idents. However, due to the town’s past inability to stay on course, they are under our power of the public purse, and I believe it is necessary to oppose this selection in the best interests of the community.”

UNC Asheville releases review findings of controversial active shooter training

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — The University of North Car olina at Asheville (UNCA) has completed its review of an active shooter training conduct ed in September that drew controversy from students.

Around 50 student employees of UNCA’s Highsmith Student Union participated in the training led by UNCA Director of Emergency Management David Weldon.

One student who spoke with North State Journal said participants were very upset and that Weldon had told them to “sacrifice them selves.”

“The fact that [Weldon] told us that we should ‘sacrifice ourselves’ like Riley Howell at the UNCC campus … that was what kind of sent everyone off the edge,” the student said in an interview with North State Journal.

An Oct. 7 email sent to students and staff from UNCA Vice Chancellor of Student Af fairs Meghan Harte Weyant listed the review’s findings, which included the miscommunica tion about the training, lack of reasonable or responsible preparation, and improper imple mentation. The findings also acknowledged that the training “occurred in an open, public building without advance warning to building staff or patrons.”

While this training’s content was largely consistent with active shooter training pre sented by UNC Asheville since 2012, the pro gram needs to be fully reviewed to determine what is best practice and how trainers and staff can best assess and determine the learn ing outcomes and impact.

“The end result of all of these issues to gether was that a critical training topic was implemented for student employees without the necessary care or consideration that is required for such content,” Weyant’s email states. “The staff involved did not reasonably or responsibly prepare and implement the training in a student centered or trauma-in formed manner, thereby causing ongoing dis tress and concerns for the students impacted.”

Weyant also wrote that “Based upon these determinations, I am proposing for continued conversation the following recommendations and action items regarding active shooter training. Moving forward, I plan to work di rectly with a group of identified students who have asked to be part of the advisory board and with the Student Government Associ ation to review, revise and implement these recommendations as necessary.”

Action items included in Weyant’s email in clude creating a Public Safety Advisory Board, a comprehensive set of policies and proce dures for Active Shooter Training, as well as determining recommended spaces for hosting Active Shooter Training.

other Black people at the hands of law enforcement.

seek help. ... Eventually it became ingrained in what we do. Today it’s called officer wellness.”

National Law Enforcement Offi cers Memorial, which tracks officer deaths in the line of duty.

“It’s not lost on the officers that the job they signed up for has be come more dangerous,” he said.

“That has to be taking a significant mental toll on the agencies at large and the individual officers doing the work.”

An off-duty officer was among five people killed in a shooting ram page by a 15-year-old boy in Raleigh last Thursday evening, but it wasn’t clear if the officer was targeted. In late June, a man in the Appala chian foothills of eastern Kentucky opened fire on officers serving a warrant in a domestic violence case, killing three and wounding five oth ers — a scene that deputies called “pure hell.”

The Fraternal Order of Police reported that through Sept. 30 of this year, there had been 63 am bush-style attacks in which officers were wounded, with 93 officers shot, 24 fatally. That’s a lower num ber of such attacks than the first nine months of 2021, when there were 75 ambushes of officers, with 93 shot and 21 killed. The total

number of ambushes in which po lice were hurt last year more than doubled from 2020.

The increase in ambushes and killings of police comes at a time when many departments around the country face staffing shortages, with some agencies down hundreds of officers and struggling to fill va cancies.

COVID-19 has been the biggest

killer of police officers in the past few years, with 280 deaths in 2020, 467 in 2021 and 64 so far this year, the Officer Down Memorial Page reports. But many officers have re tired early or resigned out of frus tration with what they see as sag ging public support amid “defund police” efforts prompted by the murder of George Floyd by a Min neapolis officer and the deaths of

The number of officers nationally fell from roughly 719,000 in 2020 to 688,000 in 2021, according to data reported to the FBI. Hiring of officers has rebounded some this year, but resignations and retire ments continue to prove a challenge for departments around the coun try, the Washington, D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum found in a survey early this year.

Mike Zaro is the police chief in Lakewood, Washington, a city of about 60,000 people where four of ficers were assassinated at a coffee shop in 2009. He was the assistant chief at the time, and he said the de partment continues to see officers retiring early due to anxiety and stress that can be traced back to the attack.

“I started back in the early ‘90s, and back then and for a long time you just sucked it up and moved on whenever you dealt with any trau ma related to the job, whether it was someone else’s or your own,” Zaro said. “After 2009, something of that magnitude, we recognized we had to try and do something different. We worked on the fly to develop methods of encouraging people to

Zaro recalls how crucial the support of the community was in helping the department get through the aftermath of the killings. Such support, he said, is instrumental in helping officers accept the risks they face.

Many law enforcement support ers worry about whether depart ments still have such backing, given the tenor of the national discourse around policing. They stress that questionable or illegal uses of force by officers are the rare exception, not the rule, but police have lost trust from many people outraged at repeatedly seeing cellphone or body-camera videos online of offi cers abusing their power.

“It would be infinitely harder to accept those risks and deal with the loss if the community is either suggesting the officers deserved it or making excuses for the person who committed the crime or just not supporting them,” Zaro said. “It’s more imperative now to make that part of the conversation, given the lashing out at police we’ve seen nationwide over the last couple of years.”

“Based upon these determinations, I am proposing for continued conversation the following recommendations and action items regarding active shooter training.”

UNCA Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Meghan Harte Weyant

PHOTO VIA AP

Raleigh Chief of Police Estella Patterson speaks during a news conference Friday, Oct. 14, 2022 outside the Avery C. Upchurch Municipal Complex in Raleigh, following a mass shooting on Thursday.

FILE PHOTO OF UNC ASHEVILLE CAMPUS

Murphy to Manteo

NC breweries shine at national festival

Fifteen NC breweries won awards at the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo. The annual festival, billed at the nation’s largest professional beer competition, awarded 300 medals to 268 breweries.

The awards came as the state celebrates NC Beer Month – a time for North Carolinians and tourists alike to explore the independent craft breweries of our state and savor a pint of finely crafted local beer.

North Carolina has more than 400 breweries and brewpubs –the most in the American South – making independent craft beer an essential part of our state’s experience, according to the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild.

NC breweries won their most gold medals since 2018 at this year’s festival.

GOLD

Bizarro American-Belgo-Style Ale Protagonist Beer – Southend Brewery Charlotte

Blackberry Gose Contemporary Gose Pilot Brewing Charlotte

Plumonary Groove Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer Lenny Boy Brewing Co. Charlotte

HICKORY FAIRVIEW MILLS RIVER

RALEIGHLEXINGTON

Cold IPA India Pale Lager Legion Brewing Co. Charlotte Luminous Beings Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale Wye Hill Brewing Charlotte

SILVER

Seductive Mullet Amber Ale American Amber Lager Goose and the Monkey Brewhouse Lexington

Franz

Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest Protagonist Beer – Southend Brewery Charlotte

Control ALT German-Style Altbier Devil’s Logic Brewing Charlotte

BRONZE

SLURP

Experimental India Pale Ale NoDa Brewing Co. – OG Charlotte

Shere Khan Experimental Wood-Aged Beer Olde Hickory Brewery Hickory

Sunny Little Thing Fruit Wheat Beer Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Mills River

Hillcrest

Old Ale or Strong Ale or Barley Wine Olde Hickory Brewery Hickory

Molasses Pumpkin Märzen Pumpkin Beer Whistle Hop Brewing Co. Fairview

& Blount

WEST PIEDMONT

Eric Church receiving NC top award

Caldwell County Country music star Eric Church is one of the six latest recipients of North Carolina’s highest civilian honor. On Nov. 15, Gov. Roy Cooper will present the North Carolina Awards, which were created more than 60 years ago to recognize significant contributions to the state and the country in several fields. Church, a native of Granite Falls, has received several Grammy nominations. Some of his top singles include “Drink in My Hand” and “Springsteen.”

He also has won multiple awards from the Academy of Country Music and the County Music Association, including 2020 CMA Entertainer of the Year.

911 call center earns $2.7M grant

Watauga County Watauga County Communications and Boone Police Department Emergency Communications received the state’s first Priority One Collaboration Grant. The organizations will receive $2.7 million to consolidate 911 call center operations. They will move into a new facility that seats five emergency dispatchers, up from the current capacity of three, and will upgrade their radio consoles.

Rep. Clayton to receive NC honor Warren County

U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton of Warren County will receive North Carolina’s highest civilian honor on Nov. 15, when Gov. Roy Cooper presents the latest class of the North Carolina Awards. More than six decades old, the awards recognize significant contributions to the state and the country in several fields. Clayton was the first African American woman to represent North Carolina in Congress when she took office in 1992. She was also the state’s first black representative since 1901.

2 shot, others hurt at Asian Doll college homecoming concert

Rowan County Officials say two people were shot and others were injured as they fled gunfire that broke out at a college homecoming concert featuring rapper Asian Doll. Police officers called to the Livingstone College campus in Salisbury found two people shot and others who were hurt as attendees fled the gunfire.

A city spokesperson said no one has been arrested. One victim flown to a hospital with a gunshot wound is in stable condition and another with a graze wound was treated at a local hospital. There was a fight during the concert and one person fired shots.

EAST

Four counties get $3M in 911 grants

Man sentenced for 2020 killing

Could ‘red wave’ bring surprise US House wins to GOP?

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

RALEIGH — Could a trio of races produce a shakeup in North Carolina’s congressional delegation?

As Republican fortunes continue to improve heading into the beginning of early voting on Thursday, three races could be closer than expected in the 2022 midterms: the 1st, 6th, and 14th Congressional Districts.

Originally forecasted as Democraticleaning seats, the three races are coming down to the wire — and drawing more interest from political observers.

In the 1st District, Democratic state Sen. Don Davis and Republican Sandy Smith are locked in a battle for the seat of retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.

is looking to fend off a challenge from veteran Christian Castelli, who has been running a more active campaign in recent weeks. Manning, who ran against U.S. Rep. Ted Budd in 2018 before winning a redrawn seat in 2020, saw the district boundaries change once again for her first reelection campaign. The new 6th District captures all of Guilford and Rockingham counties and parts of Forsyth and Caswell.

Castelli, a first-time candidate, prevailed in the May 17 primary over four other candidates. Touting his extensive military experience, he overhauled his campaign over the summer and is now touting his ability to “shake up Washington” in TV ads.

Manning is the only Democrat in the state on the DCCC’s Frontline list of potentially vulnerable incumbents.

AP

Foot chase ends in arrest

Jackson County

The Sylva Police Department arrested Joseph Connor after he fled from a traffic stop over the weekend. Connor was wanted on habitual felon charges and ran after being pulled over. The chase went through a mobile home park until police caught Connor as he attempted to climb a steep incline. Connor was charged with four felonies and four misdemeanors, including resisting arrest, breaking and entering, larceny, possession of meth and assault on a government official.

FOX CAROLINA

3 counties get 911 grants

Madison County

The N.C. 911 Board awarded $13.67 million in grants from the 911 Fund to nine organizations across the state, including three counties in Western North Carolina. Ashe County Communications will receive $226,750.28 to upgrade their radio workstations. Madison County 911 was awarded $224,147.61 for dispatch system improvements, and Yancey County 911 receives $4,897,636.72 for a primary PSAP (public safety answering point) facility project.

Michaux to receive NC Award

Durham County

Former lawmaker Mickey Michaux of Durham is being recognized as one of six recipients of the North Carolina Awards. He’ll receive the honor from the governor in a ceremony on Nov. 15. Michaux served in the state legislature for more than 45 years, almost all that time in the House where he served as the chief budget writer in the late 2000s. He was appointed a U.S. attorney in 1977 — becoming the first African American in such a role in the South since Reconstruction, according to the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

AP

AP Police: Severed finger left at crime scene helps ID suspect

Alamance County

A severed finger left at the scene of an attempted home invasion led investigators to a suspect. Burlington police say a resident encountered an armed man who tried to enter the house. The two struggled and the man’s gun went off before the resident was able to shut the door on his hand.

Brunswick County Four of the nine grants distributed statewide from the N.C. 911 Board went to organizations in Eastern North Carolina. The four counties will receive about $3 million of the $13.67 million awarded from the 911 Fund. Brunswick County Communications gets $238,721.50 to create a direct VIPER connection backup radio system. Chowan County Central Communications will receive $211,833.15 for a Motorola radio project. Johnston County Communications gets $1,756,657.27 for a radio and paging infrastructure upgrade. Perquimans County Communications will replace its end-of-life equipment for $864,002.50.

NC.GOV

Fugitive in Snow Hill murder case gains national attention

Greene County

The year was 1997 when Rebecca Moses was in the Snow Hill area at a mobile home on Highway 58. After that night, she was not seen alive again.

Lenoir County Clayton Clark Jr. will serve between four and five years after being sentenced in a shooting from 2020. Montez Garner was shot and killed near Kinston on Dec. 7, 2020. Clark was arrested and entered a guilty plea for voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal accepted last week. He will serve his time in state prison.

Davis, who represents Pitt and Greene counties in the General Assembly, has been boosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in his bid to hold the northeastern-area seat for the party.

WITN

Ferry returns to action after 2 years

Bladen County

The Elwell Ferry began operations again after a two-year hiatus. Trips across the Cape Fear River resumed on Monday, Oct. 10. Ferry boats had new parts and a new coat of paint, work that cost about $25,000. The ferry stopped service in 2020 due to budget cuts related to COVID-19. The ferry moves about 75 vehicles a day, and people can ride for free and without an appointment.

Smith, who ran against Butterfield in 2020, overcame domestic violence allegations to win the May 17 primary but has faced an onslaught of negative advertising. In the race against Butterfield, Smith lost by approximately 30,000 votes, and the redrawing of the district has made it more friendly to Republicans due to demographic changes.

Yet while Smith has campaigned extensively after losing that race, the allegations have made for campaign fodder by the DCCC. As of this week, the Democratic committee has spent $2.2 million in television advertising seeking to make Smith untenable for voters in the district.

Davis has attempted to stay above the fray, highlighting his record and personal history as a minister and Air Force veteran.

In the 14th District, Democratic state Sen. Jeff Jackson looks to defeat Republican Pat Harrigan. Jackson, a loquacious tweeter who attempted a 100-county tour in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary before bowing out to Cheri Beasley, appeared to be on a glide path to a congressional seat. Harrigan, an Army veteran, has sought to make Jackson’s record in the state Senate a top issue.

Harrigan has noted Jackson’s lack of support from Democratic colleagues in the General Assembly while touting his experience as both a Green Beret and as a small business owner.

DecisionDeskHQ sees Castelli and Harrigan as less likely to win their seats than Smith. Their forecast gives Manning and Jackson a more than 90% chance to win. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) added both Castelli and Harrigan to their Young Guns program although neither has seen any outside spending on their behalf.

WECT

In a forecast of the race national elections website DecisionDeskHQ said a declining black population will determine control of the district.

AP

The resident was grazed but not seriously injured. Police investigators found a finger in the suspect’s glove that fell off during the struggle. Investigators used fingerprints to identify a suspect. Police say Vernon Wilson was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary.

AP

Police believe it was the woman’s estranged husband, Ramirez Garcia, that shot and killed her. But Rebecca’s story caught the attention of the show ‘In Pursuit with John Walsh. The family’s episode will air Wednesday, October 19, at 9 p.m. on Investigation Discovery.

“Continuing population decline and shifts in the black belt counties (Bertie, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford, Northampton, Warren) are key to Republican chances here; Biden won these counties by 23.7%, while only carrying the rest by 0.6%,” the site said in July.

In previous Republican “wave” years, surprise winners have emerged. In 1994, longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price lost to Republican Fred Heineman. Price would reclaim the seat two years later. More recently, the 2010 “Tea Party wave” saw Republican Renee Ellmers defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge in a race that went to a recount. Ellmers would go on to serve three terms in Congress.

WITN

In the 6th District, first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning

Both parties are spending money in the state’s toss-up race in the 13th Congressional District featuring Democratic state Sen. Wiley Nickel and Republican Bo Hines.

CHARLOTTE

NC.GOV

NC.GOV

AP PHOTO

The U.S. Capitol building is seen before sunrise on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Monday, March. 21, 2022.

north STATEment

COLUMN | FRANK HILL

Holden Thorp and the charade of political neutrality

FORMER UNC CHAPEL HILL CHANCELLOR Holden Thorp published “The Charade of Political Neutrality” in the Sept. 16 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Once such equilibrium is established on college campuses, conservatives will find other things to worry about.

He tried to make the case that conservative politicians want to dictate what colleges teach and who teaches what subjects. What he and virtually all administrators and faculty fail to understand about conservatives is they couldn’t care less what any administrator or faculty says at Carolina or any other college ― as long as other faculty and students have the guaranteed freedom to say whatever they want in response without fear of reprisal, ostracism, suppression or ridicule supported by the administration. Or worse, be declined tenure as a young professor or get a failing grade as a student for not adhering to the liberal ideology imposed by their superiors.

Once such equilibrium is established on college campuses, conservatives will find other things to worry about. Trust me on that.

Chancellor Thorp declined to allow permission to reprint his opinion piece in its entirety, so what follows is an edited version of his article in quotation marks with comments, observations and questions following each section:

“Abortion. Guns. Climate change. The role of race and slavery in the history of the United States. Transgender rights. Are these political issues? Sure. Are they also squarely within the wheelhouse of higher education? You bet. Every. Single. One. Yet, as we careen into the election of November 2022, university administrators will tie themselves in knots trying to somehow stay neutral on issues that are clearly in the purview of research and teaching at their institutions. It’s not going to work very well.”

How difficult is it to ensure free and fair civil discourse on campuses today anyway? Colleges are supposed to be repositories of free thought where argumentation and disputation can take place in a safe place between presidents, chancellors, faculty and, most importantly, students. To many conservatives, college campuses look like unilateral demilitarized intellectual zones where far-left liberal professors and administrators seek unanimity of liberal belief at the expense of freedom of speech and political philosophy from the conservative side.

“I strongly support access to abortion services, and I will do everything in my power as president to ensure we continue to provide this critically important care,” (said Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan). “I am deeply concerned about how prohibiting abortion would affect U-M’s medical teaching, our research, and our service to communities in need.”

Thorp wistfully says President Coleman is retiring this fall so she can speak her mind freely and honestly. Anyone who serves in the public eye should be brave enough to speak the truth as they see it and engage in civil discourse with those who disagree with them. He also obscures the fact that the Dobbs decision returns the issue of abortion governance to the states ― it did not “prohibit abortion” anywhere.

“This tension has led many universities to adopt the so-called Chicago Principles, which is a mostly innocuous statement by the University of Chicago about

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

The outrage mob goes after Troy Aikman for ridiculous reasons

WITH THE NFL becoming more “socially aware” from a left-wing standpoint (aka “woke”) over the years, there have been increasing instances where popular sports commentators have said something off the cuff and got dinged by social media outrage mobs in the aftermath.

A few noteworthy examples come to mind.

Back in December 2020, NBC sports commentator Cris Collinsworth — a former wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals — was doing color commentary during a game when he committed the unforgivable offense of complimenting some female football fans for their knowledge of the sport.

What he means is, let them get down and dirty and play the damn game.

“Everybody’s a fan,” Collinsworth stated during the broadcast. “In particular, the ladies that I met. They have really specific questions about the game, and I’m like, ‘Wow, you’re just blown away by how strong the fans are here in this town.’”

The eruptions started immediately.

“On the Ravens-Steelers broadcast, Cris Collinsworth seemed surprised that ‘the ladies’ in Pittsburgh are able to talk in-depth about football,” one Twitter user wrote, tagging the “EverydaySexism” Twitter account for good measure.

Collinsworth got so pilloried over the innocent comment that he ended up apologizing, saying, “I’m sick about insulting any fan, but especially female fans and journalists.”

Not quite a year later, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback-turned-CBS NFL sports commentator Tony Romo was commenting on Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Tom Brady throwing his 600th touchdown pass. He jokingly came up with ideas on how Brady could get the ball back after it had been tossed to a fan. Romo’s suggestion was a date with Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, joking that Brady would be up for it as long as he could get that historic football back.

“A date with Gisele and I’m in,” Romo quipped while assuming the role of the fan. “OK, Tom will do it. One time, you got it,” he went on to say as though he was a Bucs rep.

Some so-called “fans” were not amused, with several suggesting Romo was saying Bündchen should be treated like “property.”

While Romo, to my knowledge, never bowed to the mob, another former Dallas quarterback did just last week.

welcoming different points of view. But to conservative university stakeholders, it sounds like something that will tamp down the purported liberal bias of the campus and lead to speakers and courses about conservative ideals. This supposedly sets the stage for the administration to try to stay neutral and affirm the ability for the faculty to speak their minds. But as we saw in recent reporting on the University of Florida, the end goal of the politicians is also to silence the faculty.”

The Chicago Principles do not seek to “silence the faculty.” The Chicago Principles seek to “open up dialogue” across the board in a perfectly simple small ’d’ democratic way. What is so scary about having conservative speakers and courses on campus anyway? If conservative ideas and ideals are so stupid, why not let them be aired out in public where everyone can see how stupid they really are?

The solution is not the restriction of speech but more free speech.

“Presidents are in an impossible situation, but this presidential squirming is not good for higher education. Faculty, staff, and students know the presidents are human beings who have views on these issues. Many of them knew the president before they got in the role. So, who are they fooling by saying they’re neutral? Nobody. I ought to know. I did a good share of squirming myself, but I always ended up stating my true position. I eventually learned I was better off to go ahead and do so.”

No one ever thought Holden Thorp was not a liberal. No one ever really cared if he, James Moeser or Carol Folt were card-carrying members of the far-left progressive socialist Democrat Party of America or not ― as long as they ran the University of the People in such a professional manner so as to provide an Ivy League-level education at public school prices for every student who attended Chapel Hill.

Conservatives want the education at Chapel Hill and all public universities — which is 40% subsidized by the taxpayers of North Carolina — to be “classically liberal” in all of its connotations meaning full and fair treatment of all political philosophies.

Administrators and faculty at Carolina have a golden opportunity at hand. They should not only welcome debate from “the other side” but actively encourage conservative students and faculty to come to Carolina and set the standard for free speech and thought across all universities and colleges in America.

Troy Aikman, who is now an ESPN analyst, found himself in the hot seat when out of frustration over what he felt were bad “roughing the passer” calls in two different games, he opined that “My hope is the competition committee looks at this in the next set of meetings, and you know, we take the dresses off.”

The outrage mob rushed to brand Aikman as “sexist” in response to the supposed insinuation that wearing a dress was a symbol of weakness.

As a result, in a later interview, Aikman referred to his comments as “dumb.”

“Yeah, I mean, my comments were dumb,” the Dallas Morning News reported Aikman as saying. “Just shouldn’t have made them, just dumb remarks on my part.”

My RedState.com colleague Bob Hoge had what I think was the best response to all the drama over Aikman’s use of the “dresses” analogy.

“In my view, Aikman is not making an attempt to demean women; he presumably knows like everyone else that women play rugby, professional basketball, and many other sports,” Hoge wrote. “He’d tell them to take their dresses off too (and no, not in a sexual way). What he means is, let them get down and dirty and play the damn game.”

My thought on these matters is that you have to view such comments in context before judging them. You also have to consider the person making them. Then step back for 30 seconds before jumping to conclusions. In most cases, people will shrug them off or chuckle in the spirit in which they were intended, as they should, and will then move on.

I mean that’s how it should be, right?

North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

The Left is using science ‘consensus’ to shut down free speech in America

History’s greatest minds and inventors were people who challenged the conventional wisdom of the day.

IT WAS ABOUT EIGHT TO 10 YEARS AGO that the Left made a unilateral decision to shut down all opposition and any skepticism about climate change by pronouncing that the debate was over.

The “scientific consensus” had been reached, as if sent down on tablets from God, that mankind was causing the rapid warming of the planet. Period. End of argument. Doubters will be denounced as science deniers and stripped of their science credentials and muzzled by the speech police.

This idea of a scientific consensus is, of course, the diametric opposite of what scientific inquiry is all about. It is completely ahistorical. History’s greatest minds and inventors were people who challenged the conventional wisdom of the day. It’s an updated version of the Flat Earth Societies in the Middle Ages that would imprison those who dared question the scientific consensus of the time that the Earth was flat. The Spanish Inquisition tortured heretics who questioned papal orthodoxy.

The irony of the modern-day inquisitionists is that they are the very people who were the doomsayers of the 1970s who have been so consistently wrong about the future. These were the people who peddled the “population bomb,” which fizzled. They were the ones who said the Earth was cooling and that we were headed into another Ice Age. They were the ones who said we were running out of energy, food and farmland, and we were headed to a Malthusian nightmarish future. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

You’d think they would be humbled. But they are reiterating their certainty that they are the fountains of wisdom. And now they are getting dangerous with their heavyhanded tactics to squash dissent.

Consider what has happened in California — and soon coming to blue states near you. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a law that will revoke a physician’s medical license for conveying “misinformation” (defined as deviation from expert “consensus”) about COVID-19 and its treatments. Remember, by the way, this comes from the same people who said that the scientific consensus was to shut down schools and businesses to stop the spread of COVID-19 and that children as young as 5 had to be vaccinated — yet another set of the catastrophic and wrongheaded decision by “the experts.”

Since when does the government have the right to censor doctors? Whatever happened to doctor-patient confidentiality? Whatever happened to “my body, my choice”? Even

EDITORIAL | RALPH HISE

Mission Health gives good news to employees

Nonprofit hospitals in our state receive significant tax breaks with the expectation that they will, in turn, use those savings on charitable care for the needy.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN ECONOMIST to see that a national recession is looming, if not already here. The warning signs are plentiful. Companies are cutting costs and laying off staff because the cost burden is simply too much to bear. Families are struggling to keep up with record-high inflation at the grocery store and gas pump.

There’s no shortage of news stories highlighting the hard times families are facing.

Western North Carolina isn’t immune to those issues. Folks across our region are struggling to make ends meet. We’re making hard decisions every day as we try to stretch our dollars as far as possible. It’s estimated that inflation is costing North Carolinians more than $600 per month.

That’s why I was pleased to see a bright spot in our otherwise dim news cycle.

The biggest health employer in the region, Mission Health, announced it was giving employees an extremely well-deserved raise to the tune of $22 million.

After the grueling years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the countless sacrifices they made, frontline health care workers deserve a pay raise more than anyone.

While the rest of the world adjusted to the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, our doctors and nurses quickly stepped up, risking their own health and quality of life. They worked long shifts at the hospital while many of us

Leana Wen, a former leader of Planned Parenthood and Baltimore’s health czar, warns this law “will have a chilling effect on medical practice.”

She worries that physicians could be suspended or have their licenses revoked “for offering nuanced guidance on a complex issue that is hardly settled by existing science.” Those accused of “misinformation” would be subject to discipline from the Medical Board of California, 13 of whose 15 members are appointed by none other than Newsom. We should call this the “inquisition panel.”

These are the political hacks who will decide what transgresses scientific consensus.

During COVID-19, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, resembled weather vanes as the “scientific consensus” seemed to shift on the pandemic from day to day. Newsom himself first insisted that travel restrictions were racist and unnecessary, that masks were superfluous and that California had the infection under control. If his censorship law had been around, would the doctors who disagreed with him have been punished for that?

We also now have major social media platforms censoring any skepticism about the effectiveness of the latest vaccines — even the opinions of major medical experts. Even when skeptics are wrong, they should be able to have their voices heard in a free society. Shouldn’t we all be able to agree on that basic truism?

If, God forbid, the COVID-19 speech restrictions are upheld by the courts, the next step will be to muzzle “climate misinformation.” Bans on free speech aren’t far behind in this new age of “scientific consensus,” which is apparently defined as whatever The New York Times and President Joe Biden’s administration decree the consensus to be. At that point, we can toss the First Amendment into the dustbin of history.

This is very scary and dangerous stuff the Left is imposing on us. Most alarming of all is that almost no commonsense liberals are speaking out against this madness. Have they been muzzled, too?

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an economist with FreedomWorks. His latest book is “Govzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government is Devouring our Economy.”

Why we need Major League Dad

“SON, YOU KNOW YOU ARE A MISTAKE… right? I mean you’re a good kid, but I just didn’t expect you and now you are in my way. So, I need you to chill out and not cause me problems so I can do what I need to do.”

These were the words my father, a prominent pastor, told me when I was just 10 years old. These words stuck with me for years ― and it hurt every single day.

I was blessed with a chance of redemption by having a conversation with my father almost 25 years later. This conversation was tough, but it was a blessing. It wasn’t until having a tough discussion with my father that I could see where those words came from in his fatherhood story and why those words were said to me.

The results indicated that children with more involved fathers experienced fewer behavioral problems and scored higher on reading achievement.

Some people can’t have those tough conversations with their dads, so what are we supposed to do?

When men have seen a generation of fathers being unavailable or not involved in their lives, does that mean we should operate in a new normal of how we view fathers? These questions are real in our society today, but there is an answer to these questions if we just pay attention to what the statistics point us to in serving fathers. Statistics show us that fathers are not just needed but are essential to the growth of a young man and the validation of a young woman.

Here are just a few statistics from reputable sources showing the need for involvement from fathers:

— Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. (U.S. Census Bureau)

— Children of single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers. (Journal of Marriage and Family)

— One in five prison inmates had a father in prison. (Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs)

— Teens without fathers are twice as likely to be involved in early sexual activity and young women are seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent. (Child Development Journal)

We see the repeated factors involved when fathers are absent and not positively active in the lives of children. It matters what our children see, hear and, ultimately, do. We see the inactiveness of fathers in the family which cannot be ignored in restoring the importance and value of the father.

BE IN TOUCH

stayed home. We owe our doctors and nurses a debt of gratitude.

At a time when so many businesses are forced to make tough cuts, it’s encouraging to see a company reward its workers for a job well done.

Mission’s salary increase is also a stark contrast to how several other North Carolina hospitals have operated during this period.

Nonprofit hospitals in our state receive significant tax breaks with the expectation that they will, in turn, use those savings on charitable care for the needy.

But reports have demonstrated that North Carolina’s nonprofit hospitals are not holding up that end of the deal. They’re missing the mark on providing the charity care they are required to in order to receive their tax-exempt status.

Usually when a staff feels valued by their employer, they perform better. In a hospital, happy doctors and nurses lead to happy patients, which benefits the entire community.

These raises are a direct investment that supports the entire Western North Carolina community.

So, in a sea of bad news, I’m thankful that Mission Health has provided some much-needed good news for its employees, patients and our community.

Sen. Ralph Hise represents the 47th District in the General Assembly and lives in Spruce Pine.

Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607 Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.

In a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology in 2022, researchers examined father involvement with 134 children of adolescent mothers over the first 10 years of life and found that father-child contact was associated with better socio-emotional and academic functioning. The results indicated that children with more involved fathers experienced fewer behavioral problems and scored higher on reading achievement. This study showed the significance of the role of fathers in the lives of at-risk children, even in the case of nonresident fathers.

It’s one thing to read a stat sheet about fatherlessness in our world today, but what is the practical answer to reach fathers and positively affect families and communities?

This is the aim of a local nonprofit I run, Major League Dad. Major League Dad makes this happen through dedicated volunteers as well as through local churches who support by providing resources and by praying for the fathers that we serve. Major League Dad provides fatherhood sessions through actual curriculum but also in relational coaching and presence to give these fathers the confidence of someone walking through the role of being a father together.

Major League Dad also partners with other local organizations and schools to help build a healthy view of fatherhood through different “Let’s Talk Fatherhood” sessions. Major League Dad provides every tool possible to support and walk with fathers to do what God created fathers to do.

We see the negative impact that comes from fathers being absent or not involved. We also see the affirming and overwhelming need for fathers to understand their role and responsibility in raising children, and the positive effects of fathers being present and positively influencing their children. From the time she takes the pregnancy test and says, “Sweetie, we’re pregnant” to the hustling around, packing the hospital bag with nervousness and anticipation to driving to the hospital to see that beautiful baby, the father has a significant role, and that role must be elevated, not diminished.

Gary Freeman lives in southeast Raleigh with his wife and two daughters. You can learn more about Major League Dad at www.majorleaguedad.org

NATION & WORLD

China’s Xi calls for military growth as party congress opens

The Associated Press

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for faster mili tary development and announced no change in policies that have strained relations with Washington and tightened the ruling Commu nist Party’s control over society and the economy.

China’s most influential figure in decades spoke as the party opened a congress that was closely watched by companies, governments and the public for signs of official direc tion. It comes amid a painful slump in the world’s second-largest econ omy and tension with Washington and Asian neighbors over trade, technology and security.

Party plans call for creating a prosperous society by mid-century and restoring China to its histor ic role as a political, economic and cultural leader. Beijing has expand ed its presence abroad including a multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to build ports and other infrastructure across Asia and Af rica, but economists warn reversing market-style reform could hamper growth.

“The next five years will be cru cial,” Xi said in a televised speech of one hour and 45 minutes to some 2,000 delegates in the cavernous Great Hall of the People. He repeat edly invoked his slogan of the “re juvenation of the Chinese nation,” which includes reviving the party’s role as economic and social leader in a throwback to what Xi regards as a golden age after it took power in 1949.

The party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, needs to “safeguard China’s dignity and core interests,” Xi said, referring to a list of territorial claims and other issues over which Beijing says it is ready to go to war.

China, with the world’s sec ond-largest military budget after the United States, is trying to ex tend its reach by developing bal listic missiles, aircraft carriers and overseas outposts.

“We will work faster to mod ernize military theory, personnel and weapons,” Xi said. “We will enhance the military’s strategic ca

pabilities.”

Xi cited his government’s severe “zero-COVID” strategy, which has shut down major cities and disrupt ed travel and business, as a success. He gave no indication of a possible change despite public frustration with its rising cost.

Analysts are watching whether a slump that saw economic growth fall to below half of the official 5.5% annual target might force Xi to compromise and include support ers of market-style reform and en trepreneurs who generate wealth and jobs.

Xi gave no indication of when he might step down.

During its decade in power, Xi’s government has pursued an in creasingly assertive foreign policy while tightening control at home on information and dissent.

Beijing is feuding with Japan, India and Southeast Asian govern ments over conflicting claims to the South China and East China Seas and a section of the Himalayas. The United States, Japan, Australia and India have formed a strategic group dubbed the Quad in response.

The party has increased the dominance of state-owned indus try and poured money into strate gic initiatives aimed at nurturing Chinese creators of renewable en ergy, electric car, computer chip,

aerospace and other technologies.

Its tactics have prompted com plaints that Beijing improperly protects and subsidizes its fledgling creators and led then-President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on Chinese imports in 2019, setting off a trade war that jolted the glob al economy. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, has kept those penalties in place and this month increased re strictions on Chinese access to U.S. chip technology.

The party has tightened control over private sector leaders includ ing e-commerce giant Alibaba Group by launching anti-monop oly, data security and other crack downs. Under political pressure, they are diverting billions of dollars into chip development and other party initiatives. Their share prices on foreign exchanges have plunged due to uncertainty about their fu ture.

The party has stepped up cen sorship of media and the internet, increased public surveillance and tightened control over private life through its “social credit” initiative that tracks individuals and punish es infractions ranging from fraud to littering.

Last week, banners criticizing Xi and “zero COVID” were hung from an elevated roadway over a ma jor Beijing thoroughfare in a rare

protest. Photos of the event were deleted from social media, and the popular WeChat messaging app shut down accounts that forwarded them.

The president appeared to dou ble down on technology self-reli ance and “zero COVID” at a time when other countries are easing travel restrictions and relying on more free-flowing supply chains, said Willy Lam, a politics specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Xi was joined on stage by party leaders including his predecessor as party leader, Hu Jintao, former Premier Wen Jiabao and Song Ping, a 105-year-old party veteran who sponsored Xi’s early career. There was no sign of 96-year-old former President Jiang Zemin, who was party leader until 2002.

The presence of previous leaders shows Xi faces no serious opposi tion, said Lam.

“Xi is making it very clear he in tends to hold onto power for as long as his health allows him to,” he said.

Xi’s government also faces crit icism over mass detentions and other abuses against mostly Mus lim ethnic groups and the jailing of government critics.

Xi said Beijing refuses to re nounce the possible use of force against Taiwan, the self-ruled is land democracy the Communist Party claims as its territory. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.

Beijing has stepped up efforts to intimidate the Taiwanese by flying fighter jets and bombers toward the island. That campaign intensified further after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August became the high est-ranked U.S. official to visit Tai wan in a quarter-century.

“We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification,” Xi said. “But we will never promise to re nounce the use of force. And we re serve the option of taking all mea sures necessary.”

The Communist Party leader ship agreed in the 1990s to limit the general secretary to two five-year terms in an effort to prevent a re peat of power struggles from earlier decades. That leader also becomes chairman of the commission that controls the military and holds the ceremonial title of national presi dent.

Xi made his intentions clear in 2018 when he had a two-term lim it on the presidency removed from China’s Constitution.

In Milwaukee, Latinos fed up with crime weigh GOP appeal

The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — In two de cades of street outreach on Mil waukee’s south side, evangelical pastor Marty Calderon has offered Bible study, gang prevention, a safe place to stay for those bat tling addiction, and help getting jobs for those newly released from prison.

But as he’s watched rising crime threaten those efforts to “clean up” his impoverished neighborhood, Calderon started bringing Repub lican politicians to his ministry, God Touch.

He hopes the largely Hispan ic, working-class community will hear what they can do for it — and the conservative candidates will learn these voters’ reality, espe cially their immigration journeys.

“We’ve never had the Republi cans come as strong as they are. … I’m very cautious doing this because I just don’t want people thinking they’re going to come get a vote,” Calderon said in his sanc tuary, adding that he doesn’t push specific candidates on his commu nity.

“I’m just saying go out and vote, and pray about it.”

Republican candidates across the country are seeking to expand recent gains the party has made with Hispanic voters from Florida to the Rio Grande Valley to Los Angeles. What seems to be driv ing them are bread-and-butter issues that Calderon’s neighbors constantly mentioned to Associ ated Press reporters last week — rampant lawlessness, struggling schools, and food and gas prices creeping beyond their paychecks’ reach.

Those consistently matter more to Latino voters than im migration, allowing Republicans to make inroads that constitute a “big realignment” — if they end up splitting their vote close to 40% Republican and 60% Democratic instead of historically a third of Latinos voting with the right, said

Geraldo Cadava, a Northwest ern University history and Latino studies professor.

Swinging even a few thousand votes in a state like Wisconsin — which delivered minuscule mar gins for Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 — could impact national politics because GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is in a close reelection race with Demo cratic challenger Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

A month before the midterms, Johnson was talking about the im portance of “renewed faith” as he met with Calderon and other com munity leaders in the Republican National Committee’s one-yearold Hispanic outreach center, two blocks from God Touch.

“We’re showing up,” Johnson said of the party’s outreach in communities like this. “We have a

universal message.”

These efforts encourage Hi lario Deleon, 21, who grew up on the south side and, after losing his dishwashing job during the COVID-19 lockdown, got involved in Republican campaigning.

“We’ve failed in the past to be in the community,” he said of the GOP. He added that he likes to see political and faith leaders walking the walk, like Calderon’s week ly food distribution. “I like to see God through people’s actions.”

Wisconsin’s elections commis sion doesn’t collect race or ethnic ity data, but the immigrant rights advocacy group Voces de la Fron tera estimates there are about 180,000 voters among the state’s Hispanics, nearly 40% of whom live in Milwaukee. Most are of Mexican origin, followed by Puer to Ricans.

And 46% of Latino registered voters consider themselves in dependent, according to pollster Charles Franklin of Marquette University Law School. His ag gregate polling data over the last two years shows that Wisconsin Latino voters fall about halfway between whites and blacks on po litical issues — and 71% identify as Christian.

“Political parties can’t take this population for granted,” said Fe lipe Hinojosa, a professor at Texas A&M University who studies the connection between religion and politics among Latinos.

“Folks on the ground hear, ‘No one ever reached out to us before’ or ‘I didn’t expect Republicans to reach out to us,’” said Ana Car bonell, a consultant for Hispanic outreach with the National Re publican Senatorial Committee, which launched Vamos efforts this midterm season in nine key states, including Wisconsin.

In a late September poll by the Pew Research Center, more Lati nos said they felt that the Demo cratic Party “works hard to earn Latinos’ vote” and “cares about Latinos” than the Republican Par ty.

The historic lack of outreach to the Latino community leaves Hispanic voters to “bundle” their own issues, often based on faith, instead of buying into an “ideo logical package” from either party, said Ali Valenzuela, an American University professor of Latino pol itics. That can benefit Republicans when the focus is on the economy, as in these midterms.

Since April, Vamos in Wiscon sin has contacted more Hispan ic voters there than over the last three election cycles combined — voters like the woman who chuck lingly told two Vamos canvassers last week, “You’re in the wrong neighborhood.”

“I can always learn more,” she nevertheless added, taking their fliers.

Ukraine envoy hopeful about fate of Musk’s satellite network

Washington, D.C.

A Ukrainian diplomat expressed optimism Sunday about securing the money needed for the continued operation of a satellite network funded by billionaire Elon Musk that has provided key battlefield and humanitarian contacts in the war with Russia.

“It’s there, it’s working,” said the envoy, Oksana Markarova. “It will need to be working for a longer time.”

“We got the Starlinks in Ukraine very quickly, in some areas for humanitarian support, it’s the only connection that we have,” Markarova told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And it’s very important to continue having it and I’m positive that we will find a solution there.”

Senior U.S. officials confirmed that Musk had asked the Defense Department to take over funding for the service Starlink provides in Ukraine. Starlink, which provides broadband internet service using more than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites, has provided crucial battlefield communications for Ukrainian military forces since early in the nation’s defense against Russia’s February invasion.

Musk also recently sparred with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the billionaire suggested that Ukraine cede the strategically important Crimea region to Russia and make other concessions as part of a peace deal.

Musk tweeted on Friday that it was costing SpaceX $20 million a month to support Ukraine’s communications needs.

Markarova said Ukraine has “disagreed with Elon Musk on some of his views about Crimea, and we were happy to discuss it with him.” She added that Ukraine is proud “to be one of the fastest growing Starlink countries globally.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Head of zero-emission truck venture found guilty of fraud

New York

The wealthy founder of Nikola Corp. was convicted Friday of charges he deceived investors with exaggerated claims about his company’s progress in producing zeroemission 18-wheel trucks fueled by electricity or hydrogen.

A jury reached the verdict against Trevor Milton after deliberating for about five hours in federal court in Manhattan.

Milton’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, signaled there would be an appeal.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” he told reporters.

At trial, the government had portrayed Milton as a con man while his lawyer called him an inspiring visionary who was being railroaded by overzealous prosecutors.

Those prosecutors alleged that Nikola — founded by Milton in a Utah basement six years ago — falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it. There also was evidence that the company produced videos of its trucks that were doctored to hide their flaws.

“The lies — that is what this case is about,” prosecutor Matthew Podolsky told the jury in closing arguments.

Milton, 40, had pleaded not guilty to securities and wire fraud. He resigned in 2020 amid reports of fraud that sent Nikola’s stock prices into a tailspin.

Sentencing for Milton was set for Jan. 27.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP PHOTO

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson and Pastor Marty Calderon talk at a local Republican election office in Milwaukee, on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.

PHOTO VIA AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China’s ruling Communist Party held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

UNC ranked No. 1, Duke 7th in AP preseason hoops poll

New York

UNC enters the 2022 23 season as the nation’s top team, earning 47 of 62 first place votes in The Associated Press preseason men’s basketball poll. The Tar Heels, who lost to Kansas in the national championship game in coach Hubert Davis’ first season leading the program, return four starters and outdistanced Gonzaga for the top spot. It’s the 10th time Carolina has started the season atop the rankings. Duke, which lost to rival UNC in the Final Four national semifinal, enters the season as the country’s seventh ranked team. Houston and Kentucky are ranked third and fourth, respectively, followed by Kansas and Baylor, who tied at No. 5.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Tar Heels enter AP poll at No. 22; Wake up to 13th

New York UNC entered The Associated Press college football poll for the first time this season on Sunday, coming in at No. 22 after beating rival Duke 38 35 on Saturday in Durham. The Tar Heels (6 1, 3 0 ACC) are the only team in the Coastal Division unbeaten in conference play. Carolina slotted one spot ahead of NC State (5 2, 1 2 ACC), which slid eight spots to No. 23 after losing 24 9 at Syracuse while playing without quarterback Devin Leary, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle. Wake Forest remained the top ranked team from the state, moving up one place to No. 13 despite being idle last week. The Demon Deacons (5 1, 1 1 ACC) will host Boston College on Saturday, while both UNC and NC State are off this week. Georgia and Ohio State remained first and second, while Tennessee jumped to No. 3 after defeating Alabama, which slid to sixth. Michigan and Clemson rounded out the top five.

Uncharted territory: A trip inside the NCAA transfer portal

Often discussed but rarely seen, here’s what the portal looks like from the inside

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

WE’RE ABOUT TO GO on a journey.

We’ve heard a lot about our des tination, but most of us have never seen this strange, foreign territory.

“I’m not sure I’m supposed to be talking about this,” said NC State women’s basketball player Diamond John son, with a nervous laugh.

Johnson is one of the college athletes who have gone to this mysterious place by the thousands in re cent years. But most of the rest of us don’t even know what it looks like.

The place is the NCAA transfer portal.

And while most ath letes return from their trip there and many even thrive, the portal is an unseen land. Parts unknown. Here there be dragons.

Join me, as we head into the portal.

Not what you think

As with any place shrouded in mystery, the portal is probably not how you imagine it.

The portal was developed in

2018 to give college athletes more freedom. They no longer need to get their coach’s permission before changing schools, and that has led to what many call free agency in college athletics.

More than 2,000 football play ers and 1,400 basketball players went through the portal over the past year. More than half of the 60 players representing their teams at the recent ACC men’s and women’s basketball media days in Char lotte had used it to change schools at least once — and more than a few had made multiple trips.

It’s easy to get the im pression that the portal is a secret website that athletes can head to whenever they get yelled at by Coach in practice or spend too much time on the bench in a game.

Many of us unfamiliars may have visions of an angry player, sitting in a dorm room with the cursor hovering over the “transfer now” but ton, wondering if today is the day they click it.

For the most part, however, ath letes don’t have access to the por tal.

“When you use the portal, you have to go to the compliance office,” said Cameron Swartz, a Georgia Tech women’s player by way of Bos ton College and Colorado.

Wilks, Panthers navigating 1-5 start,

Uncertainty reigns as Hornets start season

Charlotte is looking to raise expectations after a rocky offseason

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

CHARLOTTE — With the Hornets opening their 2022-23 season Wednesday in San An tonio, Charlotte fans can take solace that basketball is back and the most peculiar offseason in team history is officially over.

Perhaps the Atlanta Hawks’ 132-103 trouncing of the Hornets in April’s play-in tournament could be looked at as an omen for the chaos that followed the team into the summer.

signings during the offseason.

On top of Charlotte losing all five of its preseason games this month, Ball sustained an ankle injury that will sideline him for the season opener and possibly the first few games of the sea son.

“I would say, right now, Terry [Rozier], Kelly [Ou bre Jr.], Gordon [Hayward], P.J. [Washington] and Mason [Plumlee],” Clifford said this week when asked how his start ing lineup will look minus Ball.

196-214

Four-year coach James Borrego was fired despite leading his team to a 43-39 record and its first winning season in six years. Following a bi zarre coaching search that included Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson agreeing to take the job and then backing out, Hor nets general manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Michael Jordan decided to rehire coach Steve Clifford despite firing him in 2018 after five seasons.

Charlotte coach Steve Clifford’s record in his first five-year stint as Hornets coach

“There’s a lot of skill, and you have a lot of guys who have played a lot of minutes together. And that group played well in Philadelphia. So, I mean, it’s definitely one of the groups that we’re going to be look ing at, I would think, all year.”

As if the Hor nets needed more bad news, it was an nounced earlier this week that guard James Bouknight was arrest ed for driving while impaired last weekend just days after being charged with speeding and reckless driving, according to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

M iles Bridges, the team’s leading scorer last season, was then charged in late June with three counts of felony domes tic violence. With his legal is sues ongoing, Bridges’ future in Charlotte and the NBA are both in jeopardy.

Coming off last season, the Hornets had two clear objec tives: address the lack of skill at center and improve the defense as a whole.

The team addressed both concerns by drafting Duke cen ter Mark Williams and bring ing back the defensive-minded Clifford. Small forward Cody Martin was re-signed and jour neyman Dennis Smith Jr. was brought in to back up All-Star LaMelo Ball at the point guard position.

Facing a six-year playoff ab sence and a postseason series win drought that dates back to 2002, Hornets fans can be for given for feeling uninspired by the lack of big-name trades or

Bouknight, the team’s firstround draft pick in 2021, was poised to have a bigger role after a rookie season of incon sistent play and tension with the coaching staff, though this recent development isn’t going to help him.

“We are just gathering infor mation right now,” Clifford said of Bouknight’s arrest. “Until we know more definitely on what happened I can’t comment on that.”

With an offseason of arrests, coaching changes and roster stagnation behind them, the Hornets have some league an alysts see the upcoming season as a potential “quiet tank” for likely 2023 No. 1 draft pick Vic tor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4, 210-pound center from France.

But any franchise with Ball in the lineup is going to win games, making it unlikely Charlotte would fall that far in the standings. In his second NBA season, Ball averaged 20.1

CHUCK BURTON | AP PHOTO

Steve Clifford, who officially starts his second tour of duty with the Hornets on Wednesday when Charlotte plays its opener in San Antonio, will begin the year without injured star point guard LaMelo Ball.

“It’s a very, very fast process. Very intense.” Cameron Swartz, Georgia Tech women’s basketball player

KARL B. DEBLAKER | AP PHOTO Guard Diamond Johnson transfered to NC State before the 2021-22 season after playing one year at Rutgers.

TRENDING

Mitch Trubisky:

The Steelers quarterback came on in relief for injured rookie Kenny Pickett and led Pittsburgh to a 20‑18 win Sunday over the Buccaneers. The former UNC standout connected with Chase Claypool on a 6‑yard touchdown pass to give the Steelers an eight‑point cushion, one they needed when Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass with 4:38 left but failed on a two‑point conversion to tie the game. Trubisky finished 9‑of‑12 passing for 144 yards to help improve Pittsburgh to 2‑4 on the season.

Kurt Busch:

The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion said Saturday that he won’t be back for the rest of the season because of a concussion and also will not compete full time in 2023. The 44‑year‑old made his announcement at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track. Busch was injured in a routine crash in July that exposed a design flaw in NASCAR’s new Next Gen car. Tyler Reddick will replace Busch in the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing next season.

Ian Cole:

The NHL said Saturday it found no evidence to substantiate allegations posted on social media against the Lightning defenseman and has concluded its investigation. The league said it was unable to make contact with the anonymous source of the Oct. 7 social media post that alleged he sexually abused a woman when she was a minor. The Lightning suspended Cole, who played for the Hurricanes last season, on Oct. 9 pending the investigation.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

NASCAR

Joey Logano became the first driver to earn the chance to win the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship by winning Sunday at Las Vegas, becoming one of four drivers who will race for the title at Phoenix on Nov. 6. Logano, the 2018 champion, used new tires to pick his way through the field and overcome Ross Chastain to get his third win of the season.

UNC coach Mack Brown after the Tar Heels improved to 6‑1 with a 38‑35 win over rival Duke on Saturday.

BOXING

Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns on his return to San Jose, where he played 11 seasons, following Carolina’s 2‑1 win Friday.

PRIME NUMBER

40,004

Attendance at Wallace Wade Stadium for UNC’s 38‑35 win over Duke. It matched the total from Notre Dame’s visit to Durham in 2019, tying for the most at a Blue Devils home game since the Tar Heels’ visit on Nov. 19, 1994, drew 40,103.

Charles Barkley will not be leaving TNT or the “Inside the NBA” crew for the foreseeable future after signing a 10‑year extension with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports to stay with the network. Barkley’s agreement coincides with contract renewals for host Ernie Johnson and analysts Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

American Devin Haney remained the undisputed lightweight boxing champion by defeating former titleholder George Kambosos Jr. a second time with a unanimous decision victory in Melbourne. The unbeaten Haney (29‑0, 15 KOs) has unified the WBA, IBF, WBO and The Ring lightweight belts.

The University of Tennessee was fined $100,000 by the Southeastern Conference after Volunteers fans stormed the field following the team’s 52‑49 win Saturday over Alabama. The victory ended the Vols’ 15‑game losing streak to the Crimson Tide and was followed by Tennessee moving to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll.

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

HAMISH BLAIR | AP PHOTO

NBA

DAVID J. PHILLIP | AP PHOTO

“It was special. It was great.”

“There’s an upside here that we haven’t scratched.”

BEN MCKEOWN | AP PHOTO

KARL B. DEBLAKER | AP PHOTO

WADE PAYNE | AP PHOTO

East Carolina, UCF try to move past big wins

Houston said.

UCF has a top-five rushing of fense and a dangerous quarterback in John Rhys Plumlee, who ran for three scores and threw for four last week.

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

WHEN UCF TRAVELS to East Carolina on Saturday, both teams will be testing college football’s 24hour rule.

The old coach-speak adage dictates that a team not celebrate a win for more than 24 hours to avoid a letdown in the next game, which is usually just a week away.

Not all wins are created equal, however, and both the Knights and Pirates are coming off big ones last Saturday. The Knights put up 70 points on Temple, scoring the last 56 points of the game and throt tling the hapless Owls as six dif ferent players scored touchdowns to improve to 5-1 and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference.

“That was one week we played really good,” said UCF coach Gus Malzahn. “We have a lot of respect for our opponent we’re playing this week. We played them last year and it went down to almost the last play. They’ve got a lot of guys back. We’ve got a lot of our guys back. So I don’t expect any letdown.”

It’s safe to say East Carolina has a bit farther to come down after last week. The Pirates erased a 17-point deficit to beat Memphis in a four-overtime classic.

A raucous coach Mike Houston met the media, shouting, “How about those freaking Pirates!”

“You guys aren’t nearly as ener getic as our locker room is,” Hous ton continued. “But that’s what the story is tonight. You can ask me whatever the freak you want to. There’s been a ton of doubters. It’s been a rough week. But the freak ing Pirates bowed their back and won a big ball game tonight. And we’re going to celebrate it.”

More than 60 hours after the win, Houston was still talking about the game at his Tuesday press conference.

“It was a game to remember for our alumni and fans,” he said. “You

have certain games in your career that you’ll remember, and I think that’s one of them.”

Now, however, Houston and the Pirates need to move on and prepare for a pivotal game in their season. The Memphis win lifted ECU to 2-2 in the conference and 4-3 on the year, and the Pirates need two more wins to finally

play in their first bowl game since 2014. East Carolina was selected for the Military Bowl last season, but the game was canceled due to COVID-19.

Following UCF, the Pirates play at BYU and Cincinnati, then host Houston in a stretch where wins will be tough to come by. A win over the Knights makes the bowl

Deacons class of NC at midway point

things get tough for the Deacons with games against three current ly ranked teams (NC State, UNC and Syracuse) before ending their season at surprising Duke.

North State Journal

THE PECKING ORDER in col lege football is becoming clearer, and that is also true in North Car olina.

While the start of the season included NC State edging ECU, UNC’s barn-burning win over App State and, most memorably, the Mountaineers’ improbable victory over Texas A&M the next week, the chaos has given way to a hierarchy among the state’s seven teams.

Members of North State Jour nal’s sports staff ranked North Carolina’s FBS entries and came up with nearly identical orders, making this midseason power ranking pretty clear-cut.

1. Wake Forest (5-1, 1-1 ACC)

The Demon Deacons started the season with the worst possible news: Sam Hartman would begin the 2022 campaign on the sideline due to Paget-Schroetter syndrome that caused a blood clot.

The star quarterback only missed Wake’s opener against VMI, and he has thrown for 1,442 yards with 16 touchdowns and two interceptions in five games. The only blemish on the Deacs’ season was a 51-45 home overtime loss to powerhouse Clemson in which Hartman threw six touchdown passes.

Wake Forest hosts Boston Col lege on Saturday before traveling to Louisville the following week — two expected wins. After that,

2. UNC (6-1, 3-0 ACC)

The Tar Heels started their sea son with many of the same prob lems they had a year ago — namely a defense that was unable to stop pretty much anyone.

But one thing UNC has been able to do that it couldn’t in 2022 is win close games — the Tar Heels are 4-0 in games decided by one score after going 2-3 in those games last season.

Carolina is in the driver’s seat in the downtrodden Coastal Division, meaning that a spot in the ACC Championship Game is well with in the Heels’ reach. UNC will get to face the two teams with a shot to supplant them, Pitt and Georgia Tech, at home, and the season fina le against rival NC State will be at Kenan Memorial Stadium.

The one game to circle: a visit to Winston-Salem to face Wake For est on Nov. 12. With wins already over App State and Duke, the Tar Heels still have a chance to be 4-0 against in-state opponents this season.

3. NC State (5-2, 1-2 ACC)

Many thought this was the Wolfpack’s year, but fate — as it often does for NC State — inter vened.

Coach Dave Doeren’s team started the year with a clos er-than-expected win at East Car olina and a 4-0 start. That meant an early-season showdown at

Clemson for the right to be consid ered the ACC’s favorite.

The Wolfpack’s surprising Achilles’ heel in their first four games, the offense, sputtered, and the loss to the Tigers has sent NC State into a spiral. The Pack man aged a game win over Florida State despite losing Devin Leary to inju ry, but they couldn’t overcome his loss — he’ll miss the rest of the sea son — last weekend at Syracuse.

NC State will need to find its offense with Jack Chambers at quarterback, but hopes of an ACC title and even a Cinderella run to the College Football Playoff are over. Now the Wolfpack will look to play spoiler, particularly against Wake Forest (Nov. 5 in Raleigh) and UNC (Nov. 25 in Chapel Hill).

4. Duke (4-3, 1-2 ACC)

Coach Mike Elko wasn’t inter ested in the moral victory of tak ing rival UNC down to the final seconds before losing 38-35 last weekend. How quickly expecta tions have changed.

For all the good David Cutcliffe did in Durham, the Blue Devils were 5-18 with just one win in con ference play over his final two sea sons. Elko looks like he’s on pace to surpass both those win totals in his first year at Duke.

Duke’s three losses — on the road at Kansas and Georgia Tech and at home to the Tar Heels — came by a combined 14 points, and the Blue Devils look like a team with a bowl on its mind.

5. East Carolina (4-3, 2-2 AAC)

The Pirates started their sea

HORNETS from page B1 points, 7.6 assists and 6.7 re bounds, improving on his Rookie of the Year season in 2020-21.

Rozier will once again man the shooting guard spot, and his hot-or-cold shooting could again dictate the team’s success many nights. The eighth-year player

averaged 19.3 points in his third season with the Hornets.

Hayward and Washington each have their work cut out for them this year if the Hornets are going to achieve a winning re cord, especially with the void left by Bridges’ absence.

Hayward is a veteran and ver

satile forward when healthy — which has only been about 60% of the time since he signed with Charlotte. When he’s able to play, Hayward has been a reliable scoring option, averaging 17.6 points in his two seasons with the Hornets.

Washington, meanwhile, will

path much less bumpy.

It won’t be easy, however. Last week’s outburst against Temple was hardly a good one-week per formance, as Malzahn claimed. The Knights have scored 56, 41 and 40 this season.

“UCF has a very explosive of fense. … It’s probably our big gest challenge of the year so far,”

“They have multiple quality running backs. You’ve got a lot of challenges with the weapons they have,” Houston said. “You put a QB like Plumlee with those skill posi tions, that’s why their offense is so explosive.”

Malzahn isn’t worried about ECU having a letdown this week. He sees the Memphis win as the start of something for the Pirates.

“They have momentum,” he said. “That was a huge win, the way that thing unfolded. They won it at the end. Teams have momentum late in the year, the second half of the year. I think that’s important. We know we’re going to get their best. They’re a confident team and they’re playing at home.”

That’s a new challenge for this year’s UCF team. The Knights are one of just seven teams in all of FBS to play five of their first six games in their home stadium. UCF has yet to leave the state, as their only road contest so far was at Florida Atlantic.

“We’re going to have to be ready for the crowd noise,” Malzahn said. “Everything that goes with that. I think we had a good road test ear lier in the year. This is a conference road test. It’s completely different. We’ll have to be a little bit more prepared as far as the crowd noise and everything that goes with that. But we’ll need to continue to play good football.”

That will include finding an an swer for ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers.

“Probably one of the most veter an guys in the country,” Malzahn said. “He’s played a lot of football. He’s scary to prepare for. … You do your best to keep him off balance. He’s seen a lot of football, a lot of defenses. The moment’s not too big for him.”

Two coaches, coming off huge wins, preparing for dangerous opposing offenses — it makes for a compelling matchup. One that might tempt the winner to flaunt the old 24-hour rule once again.

son with a crushing home loss to NC State but have won four of six since. That included last weekend’s four-overtime win over Memphis in which ECU trailed 17-0 before rallying to get back in the game.

There are tough games ahead for the Pirates, starting this week against 5-1 UCF and a trip to Cin cinnati on Nov. 11. East Carolina doesn’t play the week before visit ing the Bearcats, so Mike Houston will have plenty of time to game plan for the matchup.

6. App State (3-3, 1-2 Sun Belt)

It’s a bit surprising that this is where Appalachian State finds itself. After nearly knocking off UNC and then stunning then-No. 6 Texas A&M in College Station, the Mountaineers seemed poised for a big year.

Instead, App State has won just two of four, beating Troy on a mir acle Hail Mary and blanking over matched The Citadel while losing at home to James Madison and at Texas State.

There’s still a path to the Sun Belt title game, but the Mountain eers will need to win out and get some help along the way.

7. Charlotte (1-6, 0-3 CUSA)

Will Healy looked like he was one of the nation’s young up-andcoming coaches when he led the 49ers to a bowl in 2019 in his first year in Charlotte. But UNCC is 8-17 since and has managed just one win this year — a 42-41 win over Georgia State.

The 49ers will join East Caroli na in the AAC next season, and it’s worth wondering if Healy will be leading them when they do.

have an opportunity to take a step forward in his career as a starter at power forward. His performance could bolster the Hornets’ thin playoff chances.

Charlotte already knows what to expect from Plumlee, so Wil liams’ progress could make the Hornets better in the paint.

Depth players Nick Richards, JT Thor, Jalen McDaniels and Kai Jones could also carve out roles.

In a tough Eastern Conference, Charlotte will need many pieces to fall perfectly in place to match the record set by the team last year and have a shot at returning to the postseason.

NSJ’s sports staff ranks the state’s seven FBS football teams

Both teams are coming off emotional weeks and need to regroup for an AAC showdown

SCOTT DAVIS | THE DAILY REFLECTOR VIA AP

Coming off a big win over Memphis, running back Keaton Mitchell and East Carolina will look to keep momentum going in the right direction when they host UCF this weekend.

CHUCK BURTON | AP PHOTO

Quarterback Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons are off to a 6-1 start, with their only blemish being an overtime loss to unbeaten Clemson.

Steve Wilks faces uphill climb with Panthers

The interim coach was greeted with fire-sale rumors and a player revolt in his first week

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

LAST WEEK, Steve Wilks was officially introduced as interim head coach of the Carolina Pan thers in a press conference filled with hope and optimism.

The honeymoon lasted almost exactly five days.

“I want to be a part of trying to turn this thing around. … I’ve been around when it’s good,” said Wilks, a Charlotte native and for mer defensive coordinator who went to the Super Bowl with Ron Rivera and Cam Newton in 2015.

The Panthers then went out and showed that things are about as far from good as they can be, blowing a lead against the Rams and falling to 1-5 on the season. Backup quarterback PJ Walker was just 10 of 16 for 60 yards be fore giving way to Jacob Eason, a veteran of exactly five NFL passes heading into the game.

Showing just how dire the quarterback situation is, receiver D.J. Moore couldn’t recall Eason’s name when listing all the options the Panthers have to start this week, a list that includes injured high draft picks Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield.

As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, Wilks didn’t make it to halftime of his first game before facing a player revolt. Veteran re ceiver Robbie Anderson, upset he had not been targeted during the game and was being taken out on third down, got into a sideline dust-up with receivers coach Joe Dailey.

“I’m here to do all I can to help us win,” Anderson told the me dia afterward. “It’s third down, I’m being taken out the game. I don’t think I should be OK with that, you know what I’m sayin’? So, I made a comment. It’s money down. Why am I being taken out? And that’s that.”

Wilks yelled at both Dailey and Anderson to stop bickering and eventually sent Anderson back to the locker room in the second half.

“I was confused, honestly,” Anderson said. “I was honest ly confused ’cause I wanna be in the game. I’ve never been told in X amount of years to get out the game, in the fourth quarter. I was honestly confused and upset by it, as I should be.”

After the public blow-up, Wilks wasted little time in resolving the matter, trading Anderson to Ari zona — the team Wilks formerly coached.

“I spoke (to the team) this morning,” Wilks said on Monday after sending Anderson out of town, “and we want Robbie to ex cel and do well. But I also pointed out to the players that it’s about acting like a champion, being ac countable, that great level of com mitment and really building that trust and believing in the process.”

Wilks held up Moore as a role model for the team, pointing out

that the receiver “didn’t get the touches he likely wanted, but if you really study and watch the tape, his blocking was phenom enal – outstanding. That’s tough for a receiver to buy in and do be cause he really wants the ball. So we want guys that are going to be accountable, guys that are com mitted and, most importantly, guys that we can trust.”

The process Wilks wants the team to trust could get even rock ier as time goes on. With the Nov. 1 trade deadline less than two weeks away, the team is report edly accepting offers for star run ning back Christian McCaffrey as it appears the Panthers will strip things down to the bolts and start over.

There’s also the matter of Wilks’ interim tag. As he tries to put his stamp on his hometown team and inspire respect in the locker

room, reports have surfaced out of Dallas that Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is the favorite to take over as Panthers head coach following the season, with one outlet reporting the deal is already all but done.

In the short run, the team needs to settle on a quarterback. With Walker, Darnold and May field all ailing, it’s possible Eason will get the ball on Sunday. If not, it could be someone not yet on the roster.

The team is already going deep er into the depth chart at wide re ceiver with Anderson gone.

“It is more opportunity for guys to come in and show what they can do,” said Shi Smith, who will like ly see his touches increase, along with backups Terrace Marshall and Laviska Shenault. And, if the team pulls the trigger on McCaf frey, Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta

Foreman will see their carries in crease. Of course, all of it could be for naught as, like Wilks, there’s the possibility the team will move on from all of them as part of the rebuilding process.

Steve Wilks said he was around when it was good in Carolina. It’s not clear who on the team, if any one, will still be around when it happens again.

Fred Couples beats his age to win SAS Championship

It was the 63-year-old’s first victory since 2017

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

CARY — Fred Couples broke his age by three shots with the lowest round of his PGA Tour Champions career, a 12-under 60 that sent him to a six-shot victo ry Sunday in the SAS Champi onship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary for his first title in more than five years.

Couples was two shots be hind after four holes when the 63-year-old went on a run that

amazed even him. He ran off five straight birdies, made a key par on the 10th hole and then fin ished with seven straight birdies.

“An unreal day,” Couples said.

Couples won for the first time since the American Family In surance Championship in 2017, and this was one he never saw coming. He started the tourna ment with a double bogey.

For all the birdies, Couples felt the key to his day was a par.

He was two shots ahead of Jer ry Kelly when he holed an 18-foot par putt. Kelly closed the gap to one with a birdie on the par-3 11th and then Couples took off. Kelly put his second shot on the

par-5 12th in the water, while Couples two-putted for birdie.

Couples made an 8-foot bird ie on the next hole, an 18-foot er on the 14th and then saw his shot from rough narrowly clear the bunker and take a big hop onto the green to 5 feet. It nev er stopped, even on the last hole when his approach rolled out to 7 feet.

Couples finished at 20-under 196 for his 14th career win on the PGA Tour Champions. He won $315,000.

“My game can come and go,” Couple said. “I’m done for the year, but I’m definitely ... my game on the Champions Tour is

trending and I like where it’s go ing. I’ve got next year. Everyone thinks they can win out here. To day was my day.”

Steven Alker closed with a 64 to finish second and extend his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup standings going into the post season. Kelly needed an 18-foot birdie putt to tie for second, and he three-putted for bogey and a 67 to finish third.

The top 72 players are eligible for the postseason. Couples said he won’t play again the rest of the year. Steve Stricker, who won last week in Florida, also doesn’t plan to play except for the season fina le in Arizona.

other group of frequent portal visi tors: The coaches.

Compliance is the department that makes sure a college abides by NCAA rules. They hold the keys to the portal for an athlete looking to roam.

Since compliance is driving the process, there’s no “welcome to the portal” message on the website — just menu options.

“It’s just ‘get down to business,’” said Swartz. “It’s just a list. It’s a very, very fast process. Very in tense.”

“You have to answer some ques tions,” said Johnson, a Wolfpack player by way of Rutgers. “You choose whether you want to be contacted by coaches and how you want them to contact you.”

“You had to go talk to compli ance and, like, let them know,” said Bianca Jackson, Swartz’s team mate at Georgia Tech, by way of Florida State and South Carolina.

“So compliance kind of presses the button for you.”

Some players remember seeing the “are you sure” warning message on the screen after the button is pushed. Others don’t have that rec ollection. That may be because of the portal’s next big secret: You may not enter it when you think you do.

After an athlete tells them he or she wants to transfer, compliance offices have up to 48 business hours

to actually enter them into the por tal. So it may not happen while the player is sitting there in the office. Often, a compliance officer will recommend that the player talk to the coach and give him or her the chance to change their mind.

“They’ve given you everything you should give them their re spect,” Swartz said, echoing the message compliance gives many athletes.

Compliance doesn’t always take the 48 hours. It seems to be on a

case-by-case basis. Some athletes reported that they began hearing from coaches immediately. John son said she returned to the office to temporarily change her response to a “do not contact” after getting swamped with calls. Others, like Reigan Richardson — a Duke Blue Devil by way of Georgia — said it was “a couple of days” before she heard from anyone, likely because of a delay by compliance in enter ing her in the portal. That creates a problem for the

The other side of the portal

Every coach wants to be the first to contact a prime transfer target, but contacting them before they’re officially in the portal is a rules vi olation.

“Mostly, social media tells you about who’s in the portal,” said NC State men’s coach Kevin Keatts. “A kid is tweeting, and then (the me dia) find out and tweet about it. Then before we make any calls, we have to go and check to make sure they’re actually in the portal.”

Other coaches take a different approach.

“It’s not like (high school) re cruitment, where you get to know a kid,” Pitt’s Jeff Capel said. “It’s more like speed dating.”

As a result, coaches need to get ahold of a player fast — before they get overwhelmed and ask compli ance to change to “do not contact,” a status marked on the coach’s por tal site by a bright red yield sign next to the player’s name. (There are also graduation cap icons to de note which players are grad trans fers)

“It’s pretty much immediate that they contact you,” said Jacob Gran dison, who joined the Blue Devils after playing at both Illinois and

Holy Cross. “There’s somebody on staff watching that portal at every school.”

Capel said he had to organize coverage of the portal.

“I don’t think we were equipped last year to handle the transfer por tal as a staff,” he said, “and that’s on us. I thought we were more pre pared for it this year.”

It shows. Seven of the 15 players on Pitt’s roster are transfers.

“I think you have to have one person on the staff that’s dedicat ed, that’s constantly just looking,” Capel said. “I don’t think at our level that can be just an assistant coach because you have so many other responsibilities.”

That includes hitting the most important button on the portal site — the refresh button. One area of frustration for coaches is that the site does not update automatical ly. You have to keep refreshing the screen to see new entries. During busy times, like immediately fol lowing a season, each click of re fresh brings a new crop of names. Each of those names represents someone who took the trip to the compliance office and sat there, contemplating the question on the screen: “Are you sure you want to transfer?”

“It’s a scary moment,” Swartz said, “but it’s a risk that you got to take for a better path for yourself.”

“Everyone thinks they can win out here. Today was my day.”

Fred Couples

ASHLEY LANDIS | AP PHOTO

Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks walks on the field before Carolina’s game last Sunday against the Rams.

A slide from an NCAA presentation on how to use the transfer portal.

“We want guys that are going to be accountable, guys that are committed and, most importantly, guys that we can trust.”

Steve Wilks, Panthers interim coach

“data breaches” that it says “have become more commonplace, se vere and consequential.”

The group also wants CBP for the first time to provide import ers with advance notice whenev er it suspects forced labor is be ing used. Activists say such a move puts whistleblowers overseas at risk of retaliation.

The proposal to make vessel data confidential comes as Amer ican companies are under increas ing pressure from consumers to provide greater transparency re garding their sourcing practices, something reflected in the ambi tious language found in many cor porate social responsibility state ments.

But Vandenberg said the pro posed restrictions are in line with less-touted litigation and lobby ef forts by major companies to water down enforcement of the U.S. ban on forced labor.

She cited a brief filed last week by the American Chamber of Com merce, the world’s largest business federation, in a case now before a federal appeals panel in Washing ton. At issue is whether tech com panies can be held responsible for the death and injury of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo forced to mine cobalt that ends up in products sold in the U.S.

The mismatch in rules govern ing disclosure of trade data for dif ferent forms of transportation goes back to 1996, when lobbying by the airline industry reversed a law passed by Congress that same year that for the first time required air freight manifests be made public.

In 2017, Scottsdale, Arizo na-based ImportGenius — a plat form used to search shipping data — was among companies that un successfully sued the federal gov ernment seeking to obtain aircraft manifests.

“Suppressing information about goods coming into our country is breathtakingly stupid,” said Mi chael Kanko, CEO of ImportGe nius. “From discovering imports of human hair linked to forced labor, to understanding the flow of PPE during the pandemic, to track ing importers of tainted, dead ly dog treats, public access to this data has empowered journalism and kept consumers safe. We need more transparency in trade, not less.”

Student loan forgiveness application website goes live

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pres ident Joe Biden on Monday of ficially kicked off the applica tion process for his student debt cancellation program and an nounced that 8 million borrow ers had already applied for loan relief during the federal govern ment’s soft launch period over the weekend.

He encouraged the tens of mil lions eligible for potential relief to visit studentaid.gov and tout ed the application form that the president said would take less than five minutes to complete. An early, “beta launch” version of the online form released late Friday handled the early stream of ap plications “without a glitch or any difficulty,” Biden said.

“It means more than 8 million Americans are — starting this week — on their way to receiving life-changing relief,” Biden, ac companied by Education Secre tary Miguel Cardona, said Mon day.

The president called his program a “game-changer” for millions of Americans saddled with student loan debt.

The number of borrowers who applied during the testing pe riod already amounts to more than one-fourth of the total num ber of applicants the administra tion had projected would submit forms, underscoring the popular

ity of the program and the eager ness of borrowers to receive the debt relief. Some 8 million bor rowers who have income informa tion already on file with the Ed ucation Department would see their debt canceled without ap plying.

Biden’s plan calls for $10,000 in federal student debt cancella tion for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that make less than $250,000 a year. Those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college are eligible for an additional $10,000. The plan makes 20 million eli gible to get their federal student debt erased entirely.

Biden promised to pursue widespread student debt forgive ness as a presidential candidate, but the issue went through more than a year of internal delibera tion amid questions about its le gality. His plan sparked intense debate ahead of the midterm elec tions, with Republicans and some Democrats saying it’s an unfair handout for college graduates.

But on Monday, Biden offered a full-throated defense of his de cision.

“My commitment was if elect ed president, I was going to make government work to deliver for the people,” Biden said. “This roll out keeps that commitment.”

He also took aim at Republican officials who have either criticized

the plan or are working in court to defeat it.

“Their outrage is wrong and it’s hypocritical,” Biden said. “I will never apologize for helping work ing Americans and middle class people as they recover from the pandemic.

Biden on Monday said the White House has received more than 10,000 comments and calls of thanks from borrowers. In deed, thousands took to social media to share the form, with many saying they submitted their applications with little trouble.

The Biden administration has touted it as a “simple, straightfor ward” application. It asks for the borrower’s name, Social Security number, contact information and date of birth. It does not require income information but asks us ers to check a box attesting that they are eligible under the pro gram’s income limits.

That information will be checked against Education De partment records to help iden tify applicants who are likely to exceed the income limits, the ad ministration says. Those people will be asked for more informa tion to prove their incomes.

An estimated 1 million to 5 million people will be required to provide that extra documenta tion, the Education Department said in a recent submission to the White House’s Office of Manage

ment and Budget.

Creating and processing the form is estimated to cost near ly $100 million, a figure that an gered advocates who view the application as an unnecessary barrier. The form is meant to help exclude the roughly 5% of borrow ers who exceed the income limits, but advocates say it could also de ter some lower-income Ameri cans who need the relief.

Once the Education Depart ment begins processing applica tions, borrowers should expect to see their debt forgiven in four to six weeks, officials say. Most ap plications submitted by mid-No vember will be processed by Jan. 1 — the day federal student loan pay ments are set to resume after being paused during the pandemic.

Borrowers will be able to sub mit applications through the end of 2023.

The Biden administration is pushing ahead with the debt can cellation even as it fights a grow ing number of legal challenges. Six Republican-led states are su ing to block the plan, saying it oversteps Biden’s authority and will lead to financial losses for student loan servicers, which are hired to manage federal student loans and earn revenue on the in terest.

A federal judge in St. Louis is now weighing the states’ request for an injunction to halt the plan. In court documents, the Educa tion Department has vowed not to finalize any of the debt cancel lation before Oct. 23.

Biden acknowledged Monday that litigation is ongoing but said his administration believes the lawsuits won’t ultimately affect the program.

Kanye West to buy conservative social media platform Parler

The Associated Press

THE RAPPER FORMERLY known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social net work Parler shortly after getting locked out of Twitter and Insta gram for antisemitic posts.

The acquisition of Parler would give West, legally known as Ye, control of a social media platform and a new outlet for his opinions with no gatekeeper.

But even among the new breed of largely right-wing, far-right and libertarian social apps that purport to support free speech by having looser rules and moderation, Parl er’s user base is tiny — and with competition only increasing for the relatively small swath of most ly older people who want to discuss politics online, there is no clear roadmap to growing it beyond a niche platform chasing crumbs left by mainstream social media.

If Tesla CEO Elon Musk goes through with his planned purchase of Twitter, things may get even more complicated for Parler. That’s because Musk has already made it clear he would like to loosen Twit ter’s rules and content-moderation efforts, including reinstating the account of former President Don ald Trump. If the libertarian and far-right users who left Twitter — either because they felt it was con stricting to their political views or because they were kicked off — return, sites like Parler, Gab and Trump’s Truth Social could end up losing users.

Parlement Technologies, which owns Parler, and West said Mon day the acquisition should be com pleted in the fourth quarter, but the price and other details were not disclosed.

Parlement Technol ogies said the agreement includes the use of private cloud services via Parlement’s private cloud and data center infrastructure.

Parler restructured its busi ness last month to form Parlement Technologies, which it said aims to become the “world’s premier free speech technology infrastructure and platform.” This means that rather than running a single plat form such as Parler, the company wants to provide services to other niche sites that are often deemed too extreme for mainstream tech companies to support. A Parlem ent spokesperson said the deal with West was not yet in the works when the company was restructured and the two transactions are separate.

Ye was blocked from posting on Twitter and Instagram a week ago over antisemitic posts that the so cial networks said violated their policies. In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records, mak ing an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

Ye has also suggested slav

ery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast.” Earlier this month, he was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collec tion at Paris Fashion Week.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be con troversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express our selves,” Ye said in a prepared state ment.

Parler has struggled amid com petition from other conserva tive-friendly platforms like Truth Social, which are tiny as well com pared with mainstream social me dia sites. Parler had an average of 725,000 monthly active users in the U.S. for the first half of this year, according to Data.ai, which tracks mobile app usage. That’s down from 5.2 million in the first half of 2021. Overall, including people outside the U.S., Parler still failed to reach the 1 million mark in the first half of this year.

Truth Social, meanwhile, had

2.4 million monthly users during the same period, despite launching just in February and only on Apple devices, according to Data.ai. The market research firm said anoth er right-leaning platform, Gettr, which launched in July 2021, is ahead of both Parler and Truth So cial with about 3.8 million month ly active users. None of them come close to Twitter, which reported that it had a daily average of about 237.8 mil lion active users during its most re cent quarter. Many of the rightwing platforms emerged from opposition to the content-moder ation restrictions at mainstream services such as Twitter and Face book, but they have failed to attract users in large numbers.

Part of that reason may be that most people don’t actually want to discuss politics online. According to the Pew Research Center, onethird of tweets sent in the U.S. are political in nature, but these are mainly sent my a small subset of mostly older people. While Amer icans ages 50 and older make up 24% of the U.S. adult Twitter pop ulation, they produce nearly 80% of all political tweets, according to Pew. This is the audience Ye’s Parl er would have to be courting if the rapper is serious about growing Parler’s user base.

Parler launched in August 2018 but it didn’t start picking up steam until 2020. It was kicked of fline in January 2021 over its ties to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier that month. A month after the attack, Parler an nounced a relaunch. It returned to Google Play last month.

“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parle ment Technologies CEO George Farmer, who is married to con servative activist Candace Owens, said in a prepared statement.

AP PHOTO

Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 9, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Toyota Corolla

The best first car ever

By Jordan Golson North State Journal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the same way a dog does, the car you drive says a lot about you.

If you roll up to the school drop-off line in a Mercedes-Benz G Wagon, you want people to no tice you. You’re not going for sub tle. The same is true if you own the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Or a helicop ter.

On the other hand, for those with no need or want of flash in their automobile, we have the 2023 Toyota Corolla. Never has there been a finer chariot for peo ple wishing to go from Point A to Point B and, after a quick stop off for coffee at Point C, back to Point A again.

The Corolla gets a mid-cy cle refresh this year, with a larg er engine in the base LE trim, improved fuel economy, and an

upgraded version of Toyota Safe ty Sense. The new 8-inch infotain ment screen with standard wire less Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will draw the biggest ap plause for many buyers.

My first car was a Dodge Neon that, while theoretically having pretty decent fuel economy (not the way I drove it), didn’t have Toyota Safety Sense, Apple Car Play, or even anti-lock brakes. This new Corolla has (almost) more tech inside than a Mercedes-Benz S-Class did 20-something years ago when I was first driving.

Active safety features are essen tial for both new and experienced drivers. We know that features like automatic emergency brak ing (AEB) reduce front-end col lisions by as much as 40 percent (thanks to research done by Vol vo), and safety features can really help keep distracted drivers safe.

The Corolla not only has AEB

with pedestrian detection, some thing which used to only be avail able on high-end vehicles, but it has adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and lane keeping assist. It even has active lane centering as standard equip ment in a car that starts under $23,000. Blind spot monitoring is optional, as are parking assist sen sors front and rear with automat ic braking to keep you from bump ing into obstacles.

Proactive Driving Assist is new for 2023, helping to provide brak ing and steering support in curves or to control the distance between you and the car or bicyclist in front of you. The fact that these fea tures have made their way from luxury cars down to the most en try-level of vehicles is astonishing and something to be celebrated. It wasn’t that long ago that an ti-lock brakes weren’t standard on all cars, which seems unthinkable now.

The amount of safety tech in this Toyota Corolla exceeds that offered in even some current luxu

ry cars. Annoyingly, Toyota — and they’re not alone in this — uses a bunch of its own names for these safety technologies, making it dif ficult for buyers to compare fea tures across competitors. Some one should do something about that.

Under the hood is an entire ly unremarkable 169 horsepower 2.0L four-cylinder that provides adequate power. However, it does get 41 mpg highway and 35 mpg combined, which is impressive for a non-hybrid.

The car is assembled in Ameri ca at a Toyota facility in Mississip pi, and the new Corolla’s infotain ment system was engineered by Toyota’s Connected Technologies team in Texas.

There’s a voice assistant called “Hey Toyota,” available cloudbased navigation, integrated streaming from Apple Music and Amazon Music, and an available Wi-Fi 4G LTE hotspot through AT&T for $20 a month for unlim ited data.

Those are nice, but I’m guessing

most people will use the wireless CarPlay or Android Auto and plug their phone into one of the four USB-C ports in the car (two in front, two in rear). The entry-lev el stereo is nothing to write home about, though the SE and SXE grades get an improved JBL ver sion that is decent.

There’s also a ten-year subscrip tion to Toyota Safety Connect, of fering an emergency button for instantly calling 911, roadside as sistance, and automatic collision notification in the event of a crash. Think of it as Toyota’s version of GM’s OnStar. It even can be used to find the location of a stolen car.

The Corolla isn’t the fastest or flashiest car in the world, but it is remarkably well-equipped and very affordable. I’d be okay buy ing this car today, never mind get ting one like it when I learned to drive. We didn’t even have iPods back then, never mind satellite radio, Apple Music, and wireless CarPlay.

Kids these days don’t know how good they have it.

TAKE

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

Shephard, Jennifer

Stephanie

James F.

January

the

Trustee(s),

offer for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 31, 2022 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Tax Id Number(s): 0415-19-1457Land Situated in the City of Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland in the State of NC Being all of Lot 74, Woods Edge Subdivision, Section Two, per plat of the same duly record in Book of Plats 46, Page 31, Cumberland County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 2223 Wingate Road, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Commonly known as: 2223 Wingate Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28304 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by

offer for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on October 24, 2022 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Hope Mills in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 102, a subdivision known as Raintree II, Section One, Sheet 3, and the same being duly recorded in Book of Plats 84, Page 36, Cumberland County North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6111 Arabello Road, Hope Mills, North Carolina.

is/are Pam Lyne and Kenneth Lyne. 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 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 offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject

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 N.C.G.S. 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 are expressly 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

to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order

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 its sole discretion, if it believes 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

agreement entered into or

on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of

to the

to be effective on a date stated in the

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 Firm Case No: 9638 - 38615

in Cumberland

been

in

by the said Deed

the undersigned, Substitute Trustee

having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly

in the Office of the Register of Deeds Cumberland 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

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. 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 N.C.G.S. 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 are expressly 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 its sole discretion, if it believes 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 Firm Case No: 8933 - 35117

PHOTO COURTESY TOYOTA

CUMBERLAND

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sudoku solutions

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Stanly highway named after local jazz icon

Lou Donaldson (aka Sweet Poppa Lou), the 95-yearold jazz legend from Stanly County, was recognized by the North Carolina Department of Transportation during a ceremony in Badin this past Thursday morning. A fivemile stretch of NC Hwy 740 will no bear the name of the jazz saxophonist who was in attendance at the event. During the induction ceremony, Donaldson thanked his mother, Lucy, and gave her credit for his love for the saxophone and his professional success. This is the second major piece of recognition that Donaldson has received from the state, as he was also inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Cash Calendar Fundraiser returns to Stanly County

The Stanly Health Foundation and the John P. Murray Community Care Clinic have brought back their popular Cash Calendar Fundraiser this year. The fundraiser was designed to raise money for these two local healthcare organizations and allows them to give primary care to the uninsured, afford medications, and provide educational materials for those dealing with chronic illnesses.

Each person who purchases a calendar for $100 dollars is entered into a drawing for multiple cash prizes. This year, there are drawing for $250, $500, $1000, $3,000, and $5,000 prizes. There are only 2,000 calendars available, and a total of $100,000 in prizes will be given away.

Calendars purchased before October 31 will be entered into an additional $1,000 bonus drawing on November 1. For more information, please contact the Foundation office at (980) 323-4103.

Early voting begins in Stanly County Hudson earns Friend of Farm Bureau Award

North State Journal

EARLY VOTING officially starts this Thursday, October 20, and runs through November 5, the Saturday before Election Day. By voting early, you can avoid long lines, access more flexible voting hours and locations, and have a chance to register or update your registration on-site.

Here are the early voting locations for Stanly County:

LOCUST TOWN CENTER

Joel Honeycutt Room at 186 Ray Kennedy Dr., Locust, NC 28097.

Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm Saturday November 5 from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.

STANLY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS OFFICE at 1000 N First St., Albemarle, NC 28001.

Hours of Operation:

Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm Saturday November 5 from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Note: Early Voting sites are different than your Election Day voting location.

Stanly County Journal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) received the Ameri can Farm Bureau Federal “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award for his efforts and advocacy on behalf of North Carolina’s farmers. The “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award is given to legisla tors whose voting record reflects support for farmers and was presented to Hudson during a meeting with the North Carolina Farm Bureau last Wednesday.

“Agriculture is a core pillar of both North Carolina and our nation, contributing trillions of dollars to our economy, creating millions of jobs, and supplying essential commodities to families worldwide. I will continue to work in Congress to provide certainty for our farmers and ensure they have access to the tools they need to produce an affordable and stable food supply,” said Hudson. “Thank you to the Ameri can Farm Bureau for this honor and for all they do to support farmers across the state and na tion.”

Hudson is a founding member of the bipar tisan “Agriculture and Rural American Task Force.”

Stanly commissioners appoint health and human services board members

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

ALBEMARLE — At its Oct. 17 meeting, the Stanly Coun ty Board of Commissioners vot ed to fill three expired seats for the county’s Consolidated Health & Human Services Board. Ap plicants Diane Robinson, Amy Furr, and Teresa Lanier each re ceived four-year terms on the board.

With a 4-2 vote, Robinson was reappointed for a new four-year term to her previous interim seat on the board that expired earli er this month. Robinson received votes from Commissioners Mike Barbee, Scott Efird, Bill Lawhon, and Vice Chairman Zach Al mond, while Chairman Tommy Jordan and Commissioner Peter Ascuitto voted for Furr.

Furr was then appointed to the seat formerly held by Nan cy Smoak following a 6-0 board vote; no other candidates were

nominated to that position.

For the expired seat that was vacated by Elizabeth Teal, appli cants Shawanna Long and Tere sa Lanier were both nominated prior to the vote; Lanier won the vote with a 4-2 margin. She re ceived votes from Commission ers Mike Barbee, Scott Efird, Bill Lawhon, and Vice Chair man Zach Almond, while Long received votes from Chairman Tommy Jordan and Commission er Peter Ascuitto.

Jordan addressed the room following the three rounds of vot ing: “These boards are import ant…Thank you, guys, for your votes tonight. Congratulations to those three that are Diane Rob inson, Amy Furr, and Teresa La nier, our three new appointees for the consolidated board of health.”

Before the appointments and nominations were made, Stan ly County Health Director David Jenkins had presented the rec

ommendations from the CHHS board that differed from how the commissioners ultimately voted. They consisted of the reappoint ment of Robinson and Smoak as well as the appointment of Long — only Robinson was granted a seat out of the three recommen dations.

Commissioner-elect Patty Crump also addressed the commission ers before the voting began, stat ing her concerns with what she observed as a lapse in the ap plication-vetting process at the most recent CHHS meeting.

“I did want you to be complete ly aware that no one on the health board except possibly (Chairper

Agriculture is a core pillar of both North Carolina and our nation.

son) Jann Lowder had read any of the applications when they made the recommendations to you, and that’s a shame. And I hope that moving forward, the board will take that role much more seri ously,” Crump said.

Jordan agreed with Crump’s concerns about the application process, adding that he views the increased applicant pool as a step in the right direction.

“I’ve worked very hard these last few years to get people to put their names in, and we’re start ing to see the results. Now we’re starting to get four or five and six and eight names where we used to get one, so I do like that,” he said. “That is a good thing, and you’re right — it is this board’s job to dig into that, and it should also be the nominating board’s job as well.”

The Stanly County Board of Commissioners will hold its next regularly-scheduled meeting on November 7 at 6 pm.

“These boards are important.”

Tommy Jordan

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Bobby Allen Randolph County President of Farm Bureau hands Congressman Richard Hudson a friend of the farm plaque during a visit to Allen Dairy farm in Asheboro on Oct. 12, 2022.

“Join the conversation”

California baker creates life-sized Han Solo out of bread

The Associated Press

BENICIA, Calif. — Han Solo may be a hunk. But “Pan Solo” is a hunk of bread.

That’s what a bakery in the San Francisco Bay Area has dubbed its 6-foot (1.8 meter) bread sculp ture of the “Star Wars” character as he appeared after being fro zen in carbonite in “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Hannalee Pervan and her moth er, Catherine Pervan, co-owners of One House Bakery in Benicia, California, spent weeks molding, baking and assembling the lifesized sculpture using wood and two types of dough, including a type of yeastless dough with a higher sugar content that will last longer.

The two worked at night, af ter the day’s business was done.

The lovingly crafted details show Han Solo’s anguished face and his hands straining to reach out.

Hannalee said she might have gotten a bit obsessed.

“Mom made me leave it because I was obsessing over the lips,” Hannalee Pervan told the New York Times. “She was like, ‘You need to walk away.’”

Creating Pan Solo was partic ularly meaningful, she told the paper, because she contracted COVID-19 in January 2021 and lost much of her senses of smell and taste.

“So just to find joy in a differ ent part of food is really import ant,” she said.

The sculpture is now on dis play outside of the bakery, located about a half-hour’s drive north of San Francisco.

Pan Solo is the bakery’s entry

in the annual Downtown Benicia Main Street Scarecrow Contest.

The public will get to vote on their favorites from among more than two dozen creations entered by lo cal businesses.

The Pervans, who are big sci ence-fiction and fantasy fans, en

WEEKLY CRIME LOG

LITTLE, MICHAEL DAVID (W /M/40), CARRYING CONCEALED GUN (M), 10/16/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

CLARK, JEREMY DESHAWN (B /M/28), FORGERY OF INSTRUMENT, 10/15/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

LESTER, DAQUAN VIDAL (B /M/29), RESISTING PUBLIC OFFICER, 10/15/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

LUNA, OMAR GARCIA (U /M/20), TRAFFICKING,OPIUM OR HEROIN, 10/15/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ SMITH, DAVID WAYNE (W /M/55), FAIL REGISTER SEX OFFENDER(F), 10/15/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ VENTURA CASTRO, LUIS ANGEL (W /M/21), TRAFFICKING,OPIUM OR HEROIN, 10/15/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ HARTIS, JAYMES DEAN G (W /M/36), ATT BREAKING OR ENTER BLDG (M), 10/14/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ THOMAS, JAZMYNE LURIA (W /F/29), ASSAULT WITH DEADLY WEAPON (M), 10/14/2022, Stanly County

Sheriff’s Office

♦ VARGAS-AGUILAR, JOSE ANTONIO (W /M/49), INDECENT LIBERTIES WITH A CHILD, 10/14/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ BURLESON, ERIC LEE (W /M/35), FELONY POSSESSION SCH II CS, 10/13/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ THOMAS, KAREN JEAN (W /F/57), COMMUNICATE THREATS, 10/12/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ WILLIAMS, GEORGE ALBERT (B /M/41), FUGITIVE FROM

JUSTICE, 10/12/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ BLAKENEY, LATOYA DENISE (B /F/39), FLEE/ELUDE ARREST W/MV, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ CLARK, JUSTIN WAYNE (W /M/26), POSSESS METHAMPHETAMINE, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ FAMILETTE, CHARLES WILLIAM (W /M/47), RESISTING PUBLIC OFFICER, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ HARRIS, NATHAN ADRYLL (B

tered another “Star Wars”-themed creation in 2020 featuring the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda.

Unfortunately, Pan Solo won’t last forever. The dough eventually will be composted, not eaten.

So as a wise Jedi might warn: Don’t use the forks, Luke.

/M/47), CIVIL ORDER FOR ARREST - CHILD SUPPORT, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

LENTZ, ALEXANDER HARRIS (W /M/34), DAMAGE TO PROPERTY - FREE TEXT, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

SCOTT, DEVONTE EUGENE (B /M/24), FELONY LARCENY, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

THRASH, BRYAN KEITH (B /M/54), SECOND DEGREE TRESPASS, 10/11/2022, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

AP PHOTO

Catherine Pervan, with Our House Bakery in Benicia, Calif., talks about creating the life-sized Han Solo on Oct. 13, 2022.

OPINION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

A future built on freedom

“AMERICA IS BEST DESCRIBED by one word, freedom.”

President Dwight Eisenhower captured one of the fundamental truths about America in his 1959 State of the Union address.

Freedom means the ability to forge your own path and make your own decisions for yourself and your family without fear of an allpowerful government. It also means the ability to freely exercise your God-given rights that are protected in our Constitution. Sadly, this is a concept that has been taken for granted and repeatedly encroached upon in our nation today.

predators, and data breaches. Under our plan, Republicans have solutions to help keep your kids safe.

Liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.”

Freedom is under attack from direct assaults on your constitutional freedoms, from big tech censorship, and from many forms of progressive bullying. I refuse to sit idly by and accept this. That’s why House Republicans have put forward a plan called a “Commitment to America” that will create a future built on freedom.

A central pillar of our plan includes improving education for all students. As a parent, it’s disheartening to see education levels that have declined drastically because of Covid-19 lockdowns. Keeping kids out of school nullified decades of progress in math and reading scores for 9-year-olds, the time experts say is critical for a student’s long-term academic success. Our children’s future depends on the quality of education they receive today. That’s why Republicans are committed to reversing these trends and building an educational environment that fosters success for all students.

We also believe parents should have a say in their child’s education. For too long, liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.” As the son of a retired public school teacher, I know student success depends on parents being involved in their child’s education. That is why I will work to pass a “Parents Bill of Rights” and expand parental choice, so all children have the chance to succeed.

At the same time, my Republican colleagues and I will work to equip parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online. Our kids currently spend an average of 7 hours a day in front of a screen. They are potentially exposing themselves to harmful content, online

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

Explaining conservatism

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS many young people shy away from conservatism.

The most obvious is that they have been exposed only to leftwing values — from elementary school through graduate school, in the movies, on television, on social media and now even at Disneyland.

A future built on freedom also means better health care freedom by lowering costs and giving you and your family more options. We want to help Americans live healthier, happier lives by refining health care to meet their specific needs. This means personalizing care to provide more affordable and better-quality options; ensuring lower prices through greater transparency, choice, and competition; increasing investments in new technology; and expanding access to telemedicine. To that end, I was proud the House and Senate passed my bipartisan MOBILE Health Care Act. This legislation will expand health care access in rural and underserved communities in North Carolina and beyond. On Thursday, I was proud to visit a local community health center and receive the 2022 Distinguished Community Health Center Advocate award for work on this bill. I will continue working to support these critical providers in our community. Meanwhile, we also remain committed to blocking the Biden administration from imposing needless vaccine mandates on American citizens –especially members of the military.

Finally, a future built on freedom also means securing your constitutional rights, including your right to free speech, the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, and the freedom of religion. Tragically, a report last week found 220 churches have been attacked over the past two years across the country - another example of rising crime that must be addressed. Protecting these rights also involves standing up to politically motivated bureaucrats, institutions, and companies that attempt to restrict these rights. This includes combating big tech censorship of opinions it doesn’t agree with, as well as by demanding online fairness and greater privacy and data security for all Americans.

Freedom is the bedrock on which our nation’s Constitution and character were founded. As your congressman, rest assured I will always work to keep ensuring a future that is built on freedom.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

There is no liberty other than individual liberty.

Less obvious but equally significant is that they have never been properly exposed to conservative values. Since at least the World War II generation, most parents who held conservative values either did not think they had to teach their children those values or simply did not know how to do so. Most still don’t. If asked to define conservative values, most conservatives will be tongue-tied.

In light of this, I present here, and in subsequent columns, a list of conservatism’s defining characteristics.

We will begin with the most important conservative value — liberty.

Conservatives believe in individual liberty (there is no liberty other than individual liberty). It has been the primary value of the American experiment. While many countries include the word “liberty” in their national mottoes and national anthems, no country has so emphasized liberty as has America.

That is why:

—The French designers of the Statue of Liberty gave the statue to America.

—The iconic symbol of America is the Liberty Bell.

—The one inscription on the Liberty Bell is a verse about liberty from the Book of Leviticus: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

—Americans sing of their country as “the land of the free” and “sweet land of liberty.”

—Until recently, every America schoolchild knew by heart Patrick Henry’s cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

—Chinese young people who protested the Communist takeover of Hong Kong waved the American flag.

And that is why America’s founders were adamant that the state — the national government — be as small, as limited, as possible. The bigger the government, the smaller the liberty. Big government and big liberty are mutually exclusive.

Moreover, liberty is not the only victim of big government. Human life is also a victim. Every genocide of the 20th century, the century of genocide, was committed by big government. Without big government, one hundred million people would not and could not have been slaughtered, and a billion more would not and could not have been enslaved. (There was one exception: the Hutu genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which was tribal in nature. Tribal

culture, like left-wing culture, emphasizes the group over the individual.)

In order to limit the size and power of the national government, the founders delegated most governmental powers to the states. They did so in the Constitution by specifying what powers the national government had and by asserting that all other powers be delegated to the states. In addition, they increased the power of the states by having presidential elections decided by the states — the Electoral College — rather than by the popular national vote, and by how they structured the Senate, one of the two branches of Congress. They gave every state equal representation in the Senate, no matter how small the population of the state.

The Left’s opposition to the Electoral College and to the Senate makes perfect sense. It is the power inherent in big government, not liberty, that animates the Left. The defining characteristic of every left-wing party and movement in the world has always been an ever bigger and therefore more powerful government.

Liberty is a liberal value as well as a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. Liberty cannot be a left-wing value because the more liberty individuals have, the less power the government has. Conversely, the weaker the state, the weaker the Left.

This especially holds true for the greatest of all liberties — free speech.

Free speech is a fundamental conservative value, and it has been a fundamental liberal value. But it has never been a left-wing value. For that reason, everywhere the Left is dominant — government, media, universities — it stifles dissent. The reason is simple: no left-wing movement can survive an open exchange of ideas. Leftist ideologies are emotion- and power-based, not reason- or moralitybased. So, leftists cannot allow honest debate. They do not argue with opponents; they suppress them.

For the first time in American history, freedom of speech is seriously threatened — indeed it has already been seriously curtailed. With the ascent of the Left, the inevitable suppression of free speech is taking place.

That liberals — who have always valued liberty and free speech — vote for the great suppressor of liberty, the Left, is the tragedy of our time. The reason they do so is that liberals forgot what they stand for they only remember what they believe they stand against conservatives.

So, the next time a liberal or left-wing friend or relative asks you what conservatives stand for, say “liberty” — especially free speech. And explain that is why you fear and oppose big government — because big government and individual liberty cannot coexist.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest books are “The Rational Passover Haggadah” and “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis

SIDELINE REPORT

NASCAR Wallace charges after Larson following crash at Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Bubba Wallace tried to fight reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson after a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that also collected title contender Christopher Bell. Wallace had led 29 laps before Larson attempted a three-wide pass and Larson slid up the track against Wallace. When Wallace didn’t lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace’s Toyota into the wall. Wallace bounced back down the track, followed Larson’s car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. That spent Larson spinning into Bell’s path. Wallace then charged after Larson and shoved him multiple times before a NASCAR official separated the two.

NBA Rockets agree to 4-year extension with Porter

Houston

The Houston Rockets announced a multiyear contract extension with Kevin Porter Jr. on Monday that could be worth as much as $82 million. The four-year deal was reached Monday, the deadline for players out of the rookie draft class of 2019 to agree to extensions.

The 22-year-old Porter will make $3.2 million this season in the last year of his current deal which remains in place, according to the person who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because details were not released.

SOCCER

Qatar World Cup ticket sales top 90% of stadium capacity

Doha, Qatar

Nearly 2.9 million tickets have been sold for the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and organizers said Monday, leaving about 7% of seats still available. People living in the United States, Saudi Arabia and England topped the list of international ticket buyers, while Mexico was the biggest market outside Qatar for corporate hospitality sales. About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the 29-day tournament with extra accommodation still being added to avoid a shortage of rooms in the tiny emirate.

NFL Executive VP Easterby let go by Texans

Houston

The Houston Texans, off to a 1-3-1 start, have parted ways with executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby.

Easterby came to Houston in 2019 after working for the New England Patriots for several years in jobs such has chaplain and character coach. He was hired as executive vice president of team development before being promoted to his current role in January 2020.

Easterby and the Texans drew criticism in 2021 when they ignored a search firm’s recommendations and instead hired former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their new GM.

Logano wins at Las Vegas for spot in title race

The Team Penske No. 22 is the first to secure one of four slots for the season finale at Phoenix

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Team Penske has a shot at two major champion ships this year — Joey Logano be came the first driver to qualify for the Cup Series’ title-deciding fina le with a win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’re racing for a champion ship! Let’s go!” Logano screamed to the crowd. “All you want to do is get to the championship four when the season starts and race for a championship, and we’ve got the team to do it. I don’t see why we can’t win at this point.”

Logano, who won for the third

time this season and third time at Las Vegas, is the Cup Series’ 2018 champion and advanced to the ti tle race for the fifth time in his ca reer. Team Penske last month cele brated the IndyCar championship when driver Will Power won his second title.

Logano used a late pit stop for new tires hoping the new Good years would give him a shot. He gained six immediate spots, but his Ford was still in eighth on the final restart with 16 laps remain ing.

Chase Briscoe restarted as the leader ahead of Justin Haley and Ross Chastain, and Chastain used a sweeping three-wide pass on the bottom of the track to take the lead. Logano charged through the field, but Chastain successfully used several blocks to hold him off.

Logano ultimately pulled along side Chastain on the frontstretch

with three laps remaining to claim the first spot in next month’s cham pionship race.

“There was a clear difference in tires there, so we fully believed that we could hold him off and win the race on the tires we had, and Joey did a good job of getting through the field,” said Chastain, who finished second in a Chevro let for Trackhouse Racing.

Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, finished third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Playoff drivers Briscoe finished fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and Denny Hamlin, in a Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing, came from 31st to finish fifth.

The race was the first of three in this round of the Cup Series’ play offs. The eight remaining drivers will be whittled down to four for the winner-take-all finale at Phoe

Warriors out to defend amid tons of contenders

The NBA season began Tuesday night

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

GOLDEN STATE COACH

Steve Kerr went into last season uncertain if his club would be good enough to contend for an other NBA championship.

He got his answer. He’s getting another ring.

And now, the Warriors will try to do it all again.

The NBA’s 77th season start ed Tuesday night with NBA Com missioner Adam Silver will be in San Francisco for Golden State’s ring night as the Warriors began their quest for what would be a fifth championship in nine sea sons.

“We’re back in it,” Kerr said.

“But there’s a lot of teams that are right in it, and the league is super competitive. I think the West has gotten even stronger. There’s a lot of competition out there. And so, we’re one of the teams that is in the mix and that’s exciting. But we have to start over. It doesn’t just automatically happen from one

year to the next, so we’ve got a lot of work.”

There is no shortage of con tenders for the Warriors to fend off and no shortage of teams that made big moves with hopes of be ing the last team standing this season. Minnesota traded with Utah for Rudy Gobert and Cleve land traded with Utah for Dono

van Mitchell; the Timberwolves and Cavaliers are trying to reach the league’s upper echelon, and the Jazz are starting on a new path after a few years of being good but nowhere near good enough.

“There’s a very high level of competition this year,” Gobert said. “I think a lot of teams got better.”

nix next month.

With the stakes so high, the race was fraught with tension from the start and even included nearly a fight between Bubba Wallace and reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson. NASCAR said it will re view the incident, which includ ed what appeared to be Wallace deliberately wrecking Larson and Wallace pushing an official, and any penalties would be issued next week.

The dustup between Wallace and Larson collected Christopher Bell, who won last week at Char lotte to advance into this round of the playoffs and is now ranked last in the standings following his 34th-place finish.

“We will see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat,” Bell said.

Joining Bell below the cut line for elimination were William By ron, Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Blaney led for 39 laps but hit the wall with what appeared to be a tire failure. He finished 28th, sev en laps down.

Logano is locked in to the finale, while Chastain, Hamlin and regu lar-season champion Chase Elliott are above the cut line. Elliott fin ished 21st.

Some teams might have gotten better by not doing something. Kevin Durant asked for a trade out of Brooklyn; cooler heads prevailed, and Durant remained with the Nets, who also should have Kyrie Irving — whose deci sion not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 means he’ll be tested often but won’t keep him off the floor — for many more games this season than the 29 he was limited to last season. And Ben Simmons, who didn’t play at all last season, will be out there with Durant and Irving as well.

LeBron James enters this sea son 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s alltime scoring lead, and the Lakers — if they can stay healthy — figure to be much better than the 33-49 record they posted last year. The Los Angeles Clippers have Kawhi Leonard back after a year off with a knee injury, just as the Denver Nuggets get Jamal Murray back from knee rehabilitation to join forces again with two-time reign ing MVP Nikola Jokic. Phoe nix has a core that has won more games than any team in the NBA over the last two regular seasons.

All those clubs, and a few oth ers, plan on contending.

“Hopefully, we can take anoth er step,” Leonard said. “That’s all I can hope for.”

AP PHOTO

Stephen Curry and the Warriors will began the defense of their NBA title on Tuesday when the league started play on the 2022-23 season.

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

Joey Logano celebrates after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas.

Braves excited for future despite playoff exit

ries, their title hopes still alive while two 101-win teams that fought to the wire for the division title are all done.

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press

MORE THAN FOUR

MONTHS of dazzling baseball carried the Atlanta Braves to a fifth straight NL East title. Their hopes of repeating as World Se ries champion fell apart in less than a week.

The season came to an unimag inable end with two dismal per formances in Philadelphia, where the Braves were outscored 17-4 and lost the Division Series 3-1 to a Phillies team they beat by 14 games during the regular season.

“Man, I’m disappointed,” man ager Brian Snitker said Sunday, less than 24 hours after the final game. “Just remembering what we went through this year and ex pecting to (win the World Series) again.”

Instead, the Braves made their earliest exit from the postseason since 2019.

The wild card Phillies are now heading to the Championship Se

The Braves climbed back from a 10½-game deficit to chase down the Mets, sweeping New York on the final weekend of the season and winning the dramatic pen nant race on a tiebreaker to earn the first-round bye.

The Mets were upset in the opening round by the San Diego Padres. Atlanta went down next, doomed by poor starting pitching, an offense that suddenly went cold and a bullpen that couldn’t keep it close with the season on the line.

“We didn’t do a lot of things well,” Snitker said. “We’re a bet ter team than the way we played in this Division Series.”

For good measure, a glaring lack of hustle by one of the team’s best players, Ronald Acuña Jr., marred the decisive game and sparked a tirade from team ra dio announcer Joe Simpson, who called it “embarrassing.”

Still, Snitker said his biggest memory of this team will be the way it fought back to catch the Mets. The future certainly looks bright, with most of the young

core locked up to long-term con tracts and nearly everyone set to return in 2023.

“We have a great team. We real ly do,” general manager Alex An thopoulos said. “You have to turn the page at some point.”

Snitker, too, is excited about what the future holds.

“We have talented players,” he said. “We’ll reconvene in March and the goal is going to be to win the division again.”

The Braves have the two lead ing candidates for NL rookie of the year — outfielder Michael Harris II and pitcher Spencer Strider — and locked them both up to lengthy contracts even though they were years away from being eligible for free agency.

Harris, 21, was brought up from Double-A to bolster the team’s de fense and wound up being one of the Braves’ best all-around play ers. He hit .297 with 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

The hard-throwing Strider, still a few days from his 24th birthday, solidified the rotation while be coming the first pitcher in base ball history to record 200 strike outs and give up fewer than 100 hits.

North Stanly rolls past South Stanly in 68-6 rout

The Comets have won four of their past five games

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

NORTH STANLY left little doubt as to which was the bet ter team Friday night with a 68-6 victory over winless South Stanly in New London.

The Comets (5-3, 2-1 YVC) have now won four of their past five games — including a 2-1 re cord in Yadkin Val ley Conference play — while South Stanly (0-8, 0-3 YVC) at least managed to get on the scoreboard after five straight shutout losses.

North Stanly run ning back Camer on Smith scored early in the first quarter on a 15-yard touchdown rush then added a 50yard run on the next drive to put North up 14-0. He finished with 100 rushing yards and four touchdowns, add ing two punt returns for touchdowns to his pair of rushing scores.

The Comets out scored the Bulls 41-6 in the second quarter alone.

as had 124 passing yards, two touchdowns and an intercep tion, while Forest Hills quarter back Brady Hibbard threw for 251 passing yards, three touch downs and an interception.

Dual-threat Matthew Parker provided 95 receiving yards and 26 rushing yards for the Colts, and running back Shane Mec imore added a team-high 107 rushing yards on 17 carries. West will now travel to Mon roe (7-1, 2-0 RRC) for a chal lenging road test against the Redhawks, who have outscored their op ponents 364-57 this year.

4Mount Pleasant 56, Albemarle 21

Touchdowns — two rushing and two on punt returns — for North Stanly running back Cameron Smith

Next up, the Comets will host Mount Pleasant (6-2, 3-0 YVC) in a battle of two top YVC teams. The Bulls travel to Jay M. Rob inson (7-1, 3-0 YVC).

Forest Hills 35, West Stanly 14

West Stanly lost its fifth con secutive game Friday, dropping a 35-14 Rocky River Confer ence decision to unbeaten For est Hills in Oakboro.

The Colts (3-5, 0-2 RRC) trailed 21-7 at halftime and were unable to erase the Yel low Jackets’ (8-0, 3-0 RRC) 14-point lead in the second half.

West quarterback Jett Thom

Albemarle dropped its fourth game in the last five with its 5621 home loss to Yad kin Valley foe Mount Pleasant on Friday. The teams were tied at 7-7 after the first quarter before the Tigers (6-2, 3-0 YVC) outscored the Bulldogs (2-6, 1-2 YVC) 49-14 the rest of the way.

Albemarle quarter back Dre Davis scored on a 65yard touchdown run early in the game and finished 136 pass ing yards, a touchdown throw and an interception on 10-of-16 passing.

Bulldog wide receiver Ja’zy ion Geiger continued his strong 2022 campaign with two more touchdown receptions to go with 124 yards on eight catches. The sophomore has now record ed six touchdowns since the be ginning of September.

This week, Albemarle is scheduled to travel to Union Academy (1-7, 0-3 YVC) to face a Cardinals team that hasn’t won a game since Aug. 19 and is coming off a 42-0 home loss to Robinson.

Shaun White poses in the halfpipe course after the men’s halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China. White’s first full season in retirement also marks the beginning of his first year as a full-fledged business owner.

The three-time Olympian retired following the Beijing Games

By Eddie Pells The Associated Press

IN A LOT OF WAYS, this au tumn is like so many others for Shaun White. The now-retired, three-time Olympic halfpipe champion was on a glacier in Swit zerland earlier this month, taking turns down the halfpipe, trying to figure out what works, what has potential and what needs a com plete overhaul.

He is getting ready for winter, though this time, there are no big

contests coming up. He is sizing up his snowboards, though this time, he’s seeing what other people might like, not necessarily what he needs to win.

The 36-year-old’s first full sea son in retirement also marks the beginning of his first year as a fullfledged business owner. The brand he introduced with a soft open in the lead-up to the Beijing Olym pics earlier this year will be ful ly operational starting Monday. The name is Whitespace. It’s de buting with a limited line of snow boards and outerwear, and White, in an attempt to be as calculat ing in the marketplace as he was on the mountain, isn’t in any hur ry to place his business in compe

tition with some of the behemoths in those industries.

“I have this visual in my head, looking at a chairlift and see ing my name” on the bottom of a snowboard, White said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Saas-Fee, Switzerland. “And it’s knowing that my product is being enjoyed by somebody.”

An iconoclast who went against snowboarding’s traditions by mak ing it cool to ride for money and medals, White says he wants his brand to stand out on the moun tain the same way he did. One way to do that, he says, is developing a personal touch to what he sells.

“The other day, multiple pallets of boards showed up at my mom’s

house,” White said. “We’re do ing it. But we’re not taking a huge swing. To start, we’re doing, like, three jackets, two pairs of pants, three snowboards. When you think about the lineup, we’re do ing the essentials. I’m thinking, ‘If I were going on a trip, what would I pack?’”

The eight months since White’s emotionally charged exit from the halfpipe in the mountains outside Beijing have been a whirlwind. He took the advice of his girl friend, actress Nina Dobrev, and made a bucket list of things he’d always wanted to do but hadn’t. It started with a trip to the Super Bowl and, as his Instagram feed has documented, included a vis

it to the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, trips to Cannes and Mona co, and a chance to meet Formu la One driver Lewis Hamilton, a game-changing superstar in his sport who is about the same age as White.

Yet, when asked what the most memorable moment of his still-na scent retirement has been, White talked about a trip to Avignon, France, to visit with Dobrev’s fam ily.

“We hung out with her mom. Rode bikes around the city,” White said. “Food was great. We’re hang ing by the river. Going to the swap meet. Going to the fruit market. Just everyday stuff. It was taking time to go see someone else’s fam ily and just spend some time. It’s using that currency, which is time, and spend it on some things I’d been putting aside for so long.”

Atlanta was ousted from the postseason by the upstart Phillies

LEE JIN-MAN | AP PHOTO

Shaun White’s next mountain: businessman, snowboard maker

MATT SLOCUM | AP PHOTO

Ronald Acuna Jr. and the Braves have a bright future despite getting eliminated from the postseason by the Phillies.

Judge rules new DACA program can continue temporarily

By Juan A. Lozano The Associated Press

HOUSTON — A federal judge ruled the current version of a fed eral policy that prevents the depor tation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children can continue, at least temporarily.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen — who last year declared the Deferred Action for Child hood Arrivals program illegal — said that the policy, which is set to proceed under new regulations at the end of the month, can con tinue with limitations that he pre viously set. Those limitations say there can be no new applicants for DACA and that those who are al ready in the program can contin ue to be in it and renew their ap plications.

During a court hearing Fri day, Hanen ordered attorneys for the federal government to pro vide more information on the new rule and said he expects addition al legal arguments related to it, but there was no timetable set for future hearings. It’s also unclear when Hanen will give his final de cision on the case, which is expect ed to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The legality of the new DACA regulation ... is now the task before this court,” said Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican Ameri can Legal Defense and Education al Fund, or MALDEF, who is rep resenting DACA recipients, said after attending Friday’s hearing.

Karina Ruiz De Diaz, one of the DACA recipients being represent ed by MALDEF, said she was re lieved Hanen kept the program in place but upset the judge declined

to open it up to thousands of new applicants who need its protec tions.

Ruiz was part of a group of more than 50 community activists and DACA recipients who gathered be fore and after the hearing in sup port of the program at a park next to the federal courthouse. They held up signs that said, “Judge Hanen Do the Right Thing Protect DACA” and “Immigrants Are Wel comed.”

“It was important to show up to the hearing. We don’t want the judge to think that this is just an abstract concept. I want him to see our faces, to see that it’s impact ing real people,” said Ruiz, 38, who traveled from her home in Phoenix

to attend the hearing.

The current version of DACA, which the Biden administration created to improve its chances of surviving legal scrutiny, is set to take effect Oct. 31.

The case went back to Hanen after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said last week he should take another look at DACA following revisions ad opted by the Biden administration.

Hanen last year declared DACA illegal after Texas and eight other Republican-leaning states filed a lawsuit claiming they are harmed financially, incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs, when immigrants are allowed to remain

in the country illegally. They also argued that the White House over stepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that are for Congress to decide.

“Only Congress has the abili ty to write our nation’s immigra tion laws,” Texas Attorney Gener al Ken Paxton said Thursday in a statement.

Hanen found DACA had not been subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Proce dures Act. But he left the Obamaera program intact for those al ready benefiting from it, pending the appeal. There were 611,270 people enrolled in DACA at the end of March.

Most say voting vital despite dour US outlook: AP-NORC poll

By Hannah Fingerhut The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — From his home in Collegeville, Penn sylvania, Graeme Dean says there’s plenty that’s dishearten ing about the state of the coun try and politics these days. At the center of one of this year’s most competitive U.S. Senate rac es, he’s on the receiving end of a constant barrage of vitriolic ad vertising that makes it easy to fo cus on what’s going wrong.

But the 40-year-old English teacher has no intention of dis engaging from the democratic process. In fact, he believes that the first national election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is “more significant” than in years past.

“This could very well sway the country in one direction or an other,” the Democratic-leaning independent said.

Dean is hardly alone in feel ing the weight of this election. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center of Public Af fairs Research finds 71% of reg istered voters think the very fu ture of the U.S. is at stake when they vote this year. That’s true of voters who prefer Republicans win majorities in Congress, and those who want to see Democrats remain in control, though likely for different reasons.

While about two-thirds of vot ers say they are pessimistic about politics, overwhelming major ities across party lines — about 8 in 10 — say casting their ballot this year is extremely or very im portant.

The findings demonstrate how

this year’s midterms are play ing out in a unique environment, with voters both exhausted by the political process and deter mined to participate in shaping it. That could result in high turn out for a midterm election.

In the politically divided state of Michigan, for instance, over 150,000 voters have already cast absentee ballots. A total of 1.6 million people have requested absentee ballots so far, surpass

ing the 1.16 million who chose the option in the 2018 midterm election.

Since the last midterm elec tions, voters have grown more negative about the country and people’s rights: 70% say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., up from 58% in October 2018.

Republicans have become enormously dissatisfied with a Democrat in the White House.

While Democrats have be come less negative since Donald Trump left office, they remain largely sour on the way things are going.

Fifty-eight percent of voters also say they are dissatisfied with the state of individual rights and freedoms in the U.S., up from 42% in 2018. About two-thirds of Republicans are now dissatisfied, after about half said they were satisfied when Trump was in of

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court up held Hanen’s initial finding but sent the case back to Hanen so he could review the impact of the fed eral government’s new DACA reg ulation.

The new rule’s 453 pag es are largely technical and rep resent little substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to pub lic comments as part of a formal rule-making process.

During Friday’s hearing, Hanen seemed hesitant about tackling the constitutionality of the DACA program with any ruling he would make and said he wanted all par ties involved to initially focus on issues related to the federal Ad ministrative Procedures Act in re viewing the new regulation.

Perales said the uncertainty about DACA’s ultimate fate in the courts should be another signal to Congress that it needs to act to provide permanent protections. After last week’s appeals court ruling, President Joe Biden and advocacy groups renewed their calls for Congress to pass perma nent protections for “Dreamers,” which is what people protected by DACA are commonly called. Con gress has failed multiple times to pass proposals called the DREAM Act to protect DACA recipients.

Whatever Hanen decides, DACA is expected to go to the Su preme Court for a third time. In 2016, the Supreme Court dead locked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a version of the pro gram for parents of DACA recipi ents. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administra tion improperly ended DACA, al lowing it to stay in place.

fice. Among Democrats, views have stayed largely the same, with about half dissatisfied.

Shawn Hartlage, 41, doesn’t think her views as a Christian are well represented, lamenting that she’d love to vote “for some one that really stood for what you believe,” but that it’s very im portant to her to vote anyway.

The Republican stay-at-home mother of two in Washington Township, Ohio, said the direc tion of the country is “devastat ing,” noting both inflation and a decline in moral values.

“I’m scared for my children’s future,” Hartlage said. “You al ways want to leave things better for them than what you had, but it’s definitely not moving in that direction.”

The poll showed majorities of voters overall say the outcome of the midterms will have a sig nificant impact on abortion pol icy, with Democratic voters more likely than Republican voters to say so. Most voters across party lines say the outcome will have a lot of impact on the economy.

More voters say they trust the Republican Party to handle the economy (39% vs. 29%), as well as crime (38% vs. 23%). Republi cans also have a slight advantage on immigration (38% vs. 33%). The Democratic Party is seen as better able to handle abortion policy (45% vs. 22%), health care (42% vs. 25%) and voting laws (39% vs. 29%).

Despite the uncertainty in the outcome, Dean in Pennsylvania has faith in the American system to work for the will of the people.

“I think it’s important that our representatives represent what the majority of people want,” Dean said. “That’s what we claim we do in this country and it feels like it is what should happen. And I am hopeful.”

AP PHOTO

Cornelius Whiting fills out his ballot at an early voting location in Alexandria, Va., Sept. 26, 2022.

AP PHOTO

A group of more than 50 community activists and others gathered Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, at a park next to the federal courthouse in Houston.

Kelly "PawPaw" Lynn Whitley

March 24, 1960 - October 15, 2022

Kelly “PawPaw” Lynn Whitley, 62, of Mt. Pleasant, NC passed away on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at his home surrounded by family.

Mr. Whitley was born March 24, 1960 in Stanly County to the late Horace Clarence Whitley, Jr. and Mary Faye Mauney Whitley. Kelly worked 17 years with Kannapolis Fire Department before retiring in 2014 as a Captain. He also volunteered for 46 years with Georgeville Fire Department and served as a previous Chief. Mr. Whitley enjoyed camping, traveling, attending tractor shows, and was a huge Mayberry fan. He was a member at St. Stephen’s Wesleyan Church and spent some time as an over the road truck driver. Kelly loved spending time with his family, especially his granddaughter AvaLynn, his sidekick who he loved to the moon and back.

Kelly is survived by his wife of 37 years Gail Hatley Whitley of the home; daughter: Hannah Bogue (Cody) of Fishers, IN; son: Jacob Whitley of Mt. Pleasant; granddaughter: AvaLynn Whitley. He was preceded in death by a daughter: Sarah Whitley; and a sister: Mary Katherine Whitley.

obituaries

Robbie Lowder Powell

September 22, 1954 - October 12, 2022

Robbie Arlene Lowder Powell, 68, of Statesville, NC, passed away on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at Mitchell Mack Hospice House in Mooresville, NC.

Mrs. Powell was born September 22, 1954, in Stanly County to the late Robert Alfred Lowder and Edith Mae Drye Lowder. She will always be remembered as a perfectionist and the greatest cook in her family. Robbie was a devoted wife and mother and her love for her family was infinite. She enjoyed going to Cherokee with friends, bowling, playing softball, and cooking.

Robbie is survived by her husband of 24 years, Billy Ray Powell of Statesville, NC; sons: Preston Troutman of Statesville, NC, Charlie Powell (Emily) of Mebane, NC; grandchildren: C.J., Easton, and William Powell; sisters: Gail Garner (Bobby) of Albemarle, NC, June Lowder of Albemarle, NC, Debbie Bachofen (Max) of Raleigh, NC; several nieces and nephews; special friend: Helen Hawkins of Charlotte, NC.

Memorial contributions can be made to Stanly Funeral and Cremation Care at PO Box, 207, Albemarle, NC 28002 to help with funeral expenses.

Stanly Funeral and Cremation Care of Albemarle is serving the Powell family.

Donna Maness Burris

March 31, 1948 - October 9, 2022

Donna Maness Burris, 74, of Norwood passed away on Sunday, October 9, 2022 at Atrium Health Cabarrus.

Mrs. Burris was born March 31, 1948 in Stanly County to the late Robert William Maness and Eunice Ferol Mabry Maness. She attended Albemarle Wesley an Church. Some of her hobbies included spending time in her greenhouse, growing flowers and vegetables, posting scripture on Facebook, and family genealogy. She was a member of the Daugh ters of the American Revolution and retired as the store manag er for Merita Bread. Donna was a wonderful wife and mother, and she loved her family dearly.

Donna is survived by her hus band Rick Burris; sons: Todd Frick (Rebecca) of Norwood, Mi chael Frick (Wanda) of New Lon don; stepdaughter: Brigette Kim mer (Richard) of New London; grandchildren: Hannah Cooper, Tyler Buchanan, Andrea Frick, Angela Frick, Anna Frick, Mi chele Kimmer, Alyson Kimmer, John Michael Kimmer; and sev eral great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by two sisters: Doris Herrin and Shirley Smith.

Pauline Mabry

October 11, 1934 ~ October 13, 2022

Pauline Kimrey Mabry, 88, of Cottonville, passed away Thursday morning, October 13, 2022 at Trinity Place in Albemarle.

Pauline was born October 11, 1934 in Stanly County to the late Samuel and Bessie Huneycutt Kimrey. She was a member of Cottonville Baptist Church, where for many years she played the piano and organ. Pauline loved her family and enjoyed spending time with them.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Billly Ray Mabry; brother, Roy Kimrey and sister Violet McSwain.

She is survived by her daughter, Terry Lynn Smith(Terry) of Norwood and son, Ricky Mabry(Debi) of Norwood; grandchildren, Chad Smith, Phillip Smith(Natalie), Stacey Laney(Dusty) and Dillon Mabry; great grandchildren, Nathan, Amos and Abby Smith, Mykel, Nash and Tate Laney; sisters, Patsy Mabry of Aquadale and Rachel Thomas of Stanfield.

Memorials may be made to: Hospice of Stanly and the Uwharrie, 960 North First Street, Albemarle, NC 28001.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in SCJ at obits@stanlyjournal.com

STATE & NATION

Biden’s late push across West aims to deliver votes for Dems

By Colleen Long The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Presi

dent Joe Biden strode into the telephone bank at a crowd ed union hall and eagerly began making calls and eating dough nuts — one frosted, one glazed — as he tries every page in the polit ical playbook to deliver votes for Democrats.

“What a governor does mat ters,” Biden said in a pep talk to volunteers who were making Fri day night calls for Oregon guber natorial hopeful Tina Kotek and other candidates. “It matters! It matters, it matters, it matters!”

Before leaving Portland on Saturday, the president attended a union hall reception for Kotek as he tried to boost her chances in a three-way race that could cost Democrats a reliably blue gover nor’s seat. He also gave a speech at a community center, warning that his administration’s prog ress “goes away, gone” if Repub licans take control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Portland was the final stop on a four-day swing through Ore gon, California and Colorado that has encapsulated Biden’s strate gy for turning out voters on Elec tion Day, Nov. 8: flex the levers of

government to help boost candi dates, promote an agenda aimed at strengthening an uncertain economy and haul in campaign cash.

And this: show up for candi dates when Biden can be helpful, steer clear of places where a vis it from a president with approval ratings under 50% isn’t necessar

ily a good thing.

Throughout the trip, Biden had to compete for the spotlight and contend with a troubling new inflation report and rising gas prices.

“Folks are still struggling. We can’t kid ourselves about that,” Biden said.

He touted Democratic legis

lation that he says will fight cli mate change with clean energy incentives and limit the cost of prescription drugs, saying that “we’re fighting for folks who need our help.”

In Oregon, Democratic offi cials hope that Biden can help consolidate the party’s support behind Kotek. The party is in danger of losing the governor’s race in the traditional Democrat ic stronghold as Betsy Johnson — who has quit both the Democrat ic and Republican parties — has run a well-financed race against Kotek and the GOP nominee Christine Drazan.

Biden said Kotek has the “heart of a lion,” and he described her as “an articulate, tough, com mitted woman.”

But his remarks came as the government reported that con sumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, jumped 6.6% in September from a year ago — the fastest such pace in four decades. Biden acknowl edged that people were being “squeezed by the cost of living. It’s been true for years, and folks don’t need a report to tell them they’re being squeezed.”

Democratic candidates have been far more likely to appear with Biden at official White House events underscoring their achievements than at overt cam paign events. In California, Biden was joined by state law makers and the city’s mayor, and he called them out individually. Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, made a takeout run with Biden to a taco

What spiking US veterinary prices reveal about inflation

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most pets hate visiting the vet. Now it’s becoming a lot more unpleasant for their owners, too.

America’s worst bout of infla tion in four decades has swollen the cost of your dog or cat’s visit to the animal doctor. Prices for vet services have jumped 10% in the past year, government data shows — the biggest such spike on re cords dating back two decades.

The surging cost of veterinary services illustrates how high in flation has spread well beyond physical goods, such as cars, that became scarce as the economy ac celerated out of the pandemic re cession, to numerous services of which pet care is one example. The trend has stoked fears that infla tion is growing more entrenched and that the Federal Reserve will feel compelled to keep raising in terest rates at an ever-higher risk of causing a recession.

From dental care and apart ment rents to auto repairs and hotel rates, prices for services keep going up. Such inflation is especially hard to quell, because it’s driven mainly by a tight labor market and consumer demand, which won’t likely cool unless the economy slows drastically or sinks into a recession.

The cost of housing is the big gest driver of higher services pric es. But even excluding rents, ser vices prices rose 7.4% in August from a year ago.

The Fed’s rate hikes, which af fect consumer and business loans, aren’t ideally suited to taming

services inflation. And in today’s economy, the service sector ac counts for the bulk of consumer spending.

“It takes more to move the pric es of services,” said Joseph Gag non, a former Fed official who is a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The real question is: What level of un employment is going to be needed to cool off all this pressure?”

Spiking services prices are a big reason why Fed officials have stressed their determination to keep raising rates to move infla

tion back toward their 2% target, even as worries have grown that they’ll go too far and derail the economy.

Like many services, veterinary care is labor-intensive; worker pay makes up about half the cost of running a practice. With wag es rising nationally at the fast est pace in decades, many clin ic owners have had to pay more to find or keep employees. Those wage increases have typically been passed on to pet owners in the form of higher prices.

Other vet costs, including for

medical supplies, lab testing fees and advanced pharmaceuticals, have accelerated, too.

The industry has also been transformed by corporate pur chases of vet clinics and hospitals — a trend that some independent vets blame for increasing prices.

The Federal Trade Commission has responded by forcing some large chains to cut back their ac quisitions after concluding that they threatened competition.

Like many industries, vet erinary care endured wrench ing changes after the pandemic struck in 2020, driven by in creased demand from pet owners and a shift in how they do busi ness.

Nationally, traffic at vet clin ics rose 4.5% in 2020 and an ad ditional 6.5% in 2021, according VetSuccess, a data analytics firm.

Yet at the same time, a survey by the American Veterinary Med ical Association found that the number of pets that veterinarians treated per hour declined 25% in 2020. Such a steep drop in effi ciency, combined with increased demand, left vets and their staffs burned out. Many left the field for other jobs.

Government data shows that hourly pay in the vet industry jumped 7% in August from a year earlier, well above the 5% average for all workers. Measured year over year, pay leapt 14.2% in Jan uary, the highest jump on records dating from 2007.

One factor in the rising cost of pet care is that it’s increasing ly mimicking human health care.

Specialty pet hospitals use MRI

shop.

Biden raised $5 million at a fundraiser in the Brentwood backyard of TV producer Mar cy Carsey. Guests included fash ion designer Tom Ford and ac tor-filmmaker Rob Reiner.

In Colorado, the president des ignated the first national mon ument of his administration at Camp Hale, a World War II-era training site, with a group of Democrats by his side. His au dience in a canyon of stunning views, tall pines and bright yel low aspens included Sen. Mi chael Bennet, who is facing a tough reelection campaign and had worked for the new monu ment. Democrats hope the desig nation, popular in the state, will boost Bennet’s numbers.

Early voting is underway in California and begins this week in Oregon and Colorado. The president notably stayed away from states where his presence could hurt Democrats, so far skipping Nevada and Arizona, where Democratic senators are in tough races.

Democrats are trying to retain power in the face of widespread economic uncertainty and the traditional midterm headwinds against the party in power. Re publicans, aiming to regain the House and Senate, think they can capitalize on gas prices, inflation and the economy.

During his taco stop, Biden’s chicken quesadilla order ran to $16.45, but he handed the clerk $60 and asked him to use the change to pay the next patron’s bill.

machines, expensive drugs have become available to fight cancer in pets and cats can receive kid ney transplants. Vets and their technicians require advanced training to deliver such sophis ticated services, which also can further inflate costs and the pric es paid by consumers.

Many pet owners are increas ingly willing to spend more, and large corporate providers of vet services are happy to cater to them. Though the industry be gan consolidating long before the pandemic, the pace has accelerat ed in the past two years.

John Volk, a senior consultant at Brakke Consulting, estimates that 25% of the 30,000 vet clinics in the United States are owned by large chains. The consolidation is much higher among the 1,200 emergency and specialty vet hos pitals, about 75% of which are owned by chains.

Mars, the candy and pet food company, is the biggest owner of vet practices, with 2,500 clinics and hospitals worldwide. Anoth er chain, National Veterinary As sociates, owns 1,400 vet practic es in the U.S. and overseas. It was acquired in 2020 by a Luxem bourg-based private equity firm, JAB, and has recently come un der scrutiny by the FTC.

Some industry experts say larg er chains can hold prices down by using their size to secure low er prices for supplies and drugs. How much the industry’s consol idation has contributed to high er costs is hotly debated within the vet industry, just as it is in the broader economy.

In the meantime, many vets are still looking to hire, a sign that the inflationary pressure from rising wages may take a long time to ease.

CAROLYN KASTER | AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden holds a box of doughnuts during a grassroots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats at the SEIU Local 49 in Portland, Ore. Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.

AP PHOTO

Dr. Alexandra Kintz Konegger, of K. Vet Animal Care, examines a rescued Pekin Duck with an infected eye at her veterinary clinic in Greensburg, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

Randolph record

Hudson earns Friend of Farm Bureau Award

U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) received the American Farm Bureau Federal “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award for his efforts and advocacy on behalf of North Carolina’s farmers. The “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award is given to legislators whose voting record reflects support for farmers and was presented to Hudson during a meeting with the North Carolina Farm Bureau last Wednesday.

“Agriculture is a core pillar of both North Carolina and our nation, contributing trillions of dollars to our economy, creating millions of jobs, and supplying essential commodities to families worldwide. I will continue to work in Congress to provide certainty for our farmers and ensure they have access to the tools they need to produce an affordable and stable food supply,” said Hudson. “Thank you to the American Farm Bureau for this honor and for all they do to support farmers across the state and nation.”

Hudson is a founding member of the bipartisan “Agriculture and Rural American Task Force.”

COUNTY

Police investigate apparent murdersuicide in Archdale

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what it believes to be a murder-suicide, which occurred last week.

According to a press release, the sheriff’s office responded to a call regarding a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Huff Rd. in Archdale. The caller reported being on the phone with a male subject who was threatening to shoot himself, which ended in a gunshot. When police arrived on the scene, no one responded, and deputies were forced to enter the building, where they located two male subjects.

One subject was found to have stab wounds, and the other individual had been shot. Both men were pronounced dead on the scene. At this time, the criminal investigators have not released information regarding the identity of the deceased.

Man confesses to Asheboro murder during assault arrest

Last week, on October 11, the Asheboro Police Department responded to a call about a fight in progress at the intersection of east Pritchard and Farr Streets.

According to the police report from the incident, 26-year-old David James Alexandro Rosales stepped out of the vehicle, laid on the ground, put his hands behind his back, and confessed to ramming the other vehicle and assaulting its occupants with a knife. In addition to the assault, Rosales also confessed to murdering 44-year-old Katie Bishop (the owner of the vehicle he was driving) and hiding her body in a closet at her apartment in Randleman. Rosales has been charged with murder and placed in the Randolph County Jail without bond. The investigation is ongoing with the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

McCrary Park takes on another new look

Megasite project results in requests for change in classification

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — The grand stand is gone, and renovations are picking up again at McCrary Park.

This latest development marks the latest phase in the upgrades for the baseball park.

“It’s a lot of work to do,” said Ronnie Pugh, an owner of the Coastal Plain League’s Asheboro ZooKeepers. “It’s moving along, and it’s pretty exciting. It can’t happen soon enough.”

For any past visitors, the sight

of the grandstand no longer in place might be jarring. The con cession stand and restrooms will have the same fate.

Grading for the construction of a new grandstand is supposed to be completed in early November.

Asheboro mayor David Smith said recently that he considers renovations to the city-owned ballpark as part of a larger plan to lure more visitors to the city and provide the facility’s main ten ants with a top-notch venue.

Before the past season, a play ing surface and dugouts were in stalled. That phase of the project was geared toward on-field par ticipants, while the current stage is aimed at making the facility

15 schools designated as low-performing by state assessment

Substitute teacher requirements revised by board

ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Board of Education met Monday, where they were pre sented with the state assessments for all the schools in the district, particularly the low-performing schools.

The board was given an up date on the procedures for the preliminary plans for improve ment/school improvement plans for schools that were designated as low-performing by the recent state assessments.

The Department of Public In struction identified 15 schools within the district that are desig nated as low-performing schools.

Those schools are Coleridge El ementary School, Eastern Ran dolph High School, Franklinville Elementary School, Liberty El ementary School, Northeastern Randolph Middle School, Ram seur Elementary School, Randle man Elementary School, Randle man Middle School, Southeastern Randolph Middle School, South

western Randolph High School, Southwestern Randolph Mid dle School, Trinity Elementary School, Trinity Middle School, Uwharrie Ridge Six-Twelve, and The Virtual Academy.

“I’m responsible for this school system, and as I told principals, we’re going to take this as our baseline and work to get better from where we are,” Superinten dent Dr. Stephen Gainey said.

“That’s what we’ll do, and that’s our plan moving forward. Our ac tions will be driven by our school improvement plans, as it’s what drives all schools academically, and we will continue to work with our principals and staff and go from there. This is our new base line, and we’re going to move for ward and minimize any back ward movement.”

According to Assistant Super intendent of Curriculum and In struction Cathy Waddell, there will be a few requirements from the state in relation to these low-performing schools.

“The State Board of Education and the local board of education

Early voting begins in Randolph County

Randolph Record

EARLY VOTING officially starts this Thursday, October 20, and runs through November 5, the Saturday before Election Day.

By voting early, you can avoid long lines, access more flexible voting hours and locations, and have a chance to register or update your registration on-site.

Here are the early voting locations for Randolph County: BRAXTON CRAVEN SCHOOL GYM at 7037 NC Hwy 62, Trinity, NC 27370

FRANKLINVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH at 227 W. Main St., Franklinville, NC 27248

RANDLEMAN CIVIC CENTER at 122 Commerce Sq., Randleman, NC 27317

Hours of Operation:

• Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm, Saturday October 22 and October 29 from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm, • Saturday November 5 from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Note: Early Voting sites are different than your Election Day voting location.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

The grandstand has been flattened at McCrary Park as another phase of the renovation is in the works at the baseball park in Asheboro.

OPINION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VOICES

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

A future built on freedom

“AMERICA IS BEST DESCRIBED by one word, freedom.”

President Dwight Eisenhower captured one of the fundamental truths about America in his 1959 State of the Union address.

Freedom means the ability to forge your own path and make your own decisions for yourself and your family without fear of an all-powerful government. It also means the ability to freely exercise your God-given rights that are protected in our Constitution. Sadly, this is a concept that has been taken for granted and repeatedly encroached upon in our nation today.

predators, and data breaches. Under our plan, Republicans have solutions to help keep your kids safe.

Liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.”

Freedom is under attack from direct assaults on your constitutional freedoms, from big tech censorship, and from many forms of progressive bullying. I refuse to sit idly by and accept this. That’s why House Republicans have put forward a plan called a “Commitment to America” that will create a future built on freedom.

A central pillar of our plan includes improving education for all students. As a parent, it’s disheartening to see education levels that have declined drastically because of Covid-19 lockdowns. Keeping kids out of school nullified decades of progress in math and reading scores for 9-year-olds, the time experts say is critical for a student’s long-term academic success. Our children’s future depends on the quality of education they receive today. That’s why Republicans are committed to reversing these trends and building an educational environment that fosters success for all students.

We also believe parents should have a say in their child’s education. For too long, liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.” As the son of a retired public school teacher, I know student success depends on parents being involved in their child’s education. That is why I will work to pass a “Parents Bill of Rights” and expand parental choice, so all children have the chance to succeed.

At the same time, my Republican colleagues and I will work to equip parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online. Our kids currently spend an average of 7 hours a day in front of a screen. They are potentially exposing themselves to harmful content, online

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

Explaining conservatism

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS many young people shy away from conservatism.

The most obvious is that they have been exposed only to left-wing values — from elementary school through graduate school, in the movies, on television, on social media and now even at Disneyland.

A future built on freedom also means better health care freedom by lowering costs and giving you and your family more options. We want to help Americans live healthier, happier lives by refining health care to meet their specific needs. This means personalizing care to provide more affordable and better-quality options; ensuring lower prices through greater transparency, choice, and competition; increasing investments in new technology; and expanding access to telemedicine. To that end, I was proud the House and Senate passed my bipartisan MOBILE Health Care Act. This legislation will expand health care access in rural and underserved communities in North Carolina and beyond. On Thursday, I was proud to visit a local community health center and receive the 2022 Distinguished Community Health Center Advocate award for work on this bill. I will continue working to support these critical providers in our community. Meanwhile, we also remain committed to blocking the Biden administration from imposing needless vaccine mandates on American citizens –especially members of the military.

Finally, a future built on freedom also means securing your constitutional rights, including your right to free speech, the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, and the freedom of religion. Tragically, a report last week found 220 churches have been attacked over the past two years across the country - another example of rising crime that must be addressed. Protecting these rights also involves standing up to politically motivated bureaucrats, institutions, and companies that attempt to restrict these rights. This includes combating big tech censorship of opinions it doesn’t agree with, as well as by demanding online fairness and greater privacy and data security for all Americans.

Freedom is the bedrock on which our nation’s Constitution and character were founded. As your congressman, rest assured I will always work to keep ensuring a future that is built on freedom.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

There is no liberty other than individual liberty.

Less obvious but equally significant is that they have never been properly exposed to conservative values. Since at least the World War II generation, most parents who held conservative values either did not think they had to teach their children those values or simply did not know how to do so. Most still don’t. If asked to define conservative values, most conservatives will be tongue-tied.

In light of this, I present here, and in subsequent columns, a list of conservatism’s defining characteristics.

We will begin with the most important conservative value — liberty.

Conservatives believe in individual liberty (there is no liberty other than individual liberty). It has been the primary value of the American experiment. While many countries include the word “liberty” in their national mottoes and national anthems, no country has so emphasized liberty as has America.

That is why:

—The French designers of the Statue of Liberty gave the statue to America.

—The iconic symbol of America is the Liberty Bell.

—The one inscription on the Liberty Bell is a verse about liberty from the Book of Leviticus: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

—Americans sing of their country as “the land of the free” and “sweet land of liberty.”

—Until recently, every America schoolchild knew by heart Patrick Henry’s cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

—Chinese young people who protested the Communist takeover of Hong Kong waved the American flag.

And that is why America’s founders were adamant that the state — the national government — be as small, as limited, as possible. The bigger the government, the smaller the liberty. Big government and big liberty are mutually exclusive.

Moreover, liberty is not the only victim of big government. Human life is also a victim. Every genocide of the 20th century, the century of genocide, was committed by big government. Without big government, one hundred million people would not and could not have been slaughtered, and a billion more would not and could not have been enslaved. (There was one exception: the Hutu genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which was tribal in nature. Tribal culture, like

left-wing culture, emphasizes the group over the individual.)

In order to limit the size and power of the national government, the founders delegated most governmental powers to the states. They did so in the Constitution by specifying what powers the national government had and by asserting that all other powers be delegated to the states. In addition, they increased the power of the states by having presidential elections decided by the states — the Electoral College — rather than by the popular national vote, and by how they structured the Senate, one of the two branches of Congress. They gave every state equal representation in the Senate, no matter how small the population of the state.

The Left’s opposition to the Electoral College and to the Senate makes perfect sense. It is the power inherent in big government, not liberty, that animates the Left. The defining characteristic of every left-wing party and movement in the world has always been an ever bigger and therefore more powerful government.

Liberty is a liberal value as well as a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. Liberty cannot be a left-wing value because the more liberty individuals have, the less power the government has. Conversely, the weaker the state, the weaker the Left.

This especially holds true for the greatest of all liberties — free speech.

Free speech is a fundamental conservative value, and it has been a fundamental liberal value. But it has never been a left-wing value. For that reason, everywhere the Left is dominant — government, media, universities — it stifles dissent. The reason is simple: no left-wing movement can survive an open exchange of ideas. Leftist ideologies are emotion- and power-based, not reason- or moralitybased. So, leftists cannot allow honest debate. They do not argue with opponents; they suppress them.

For the first time in American history, freedom of speech is seriously threatened — indeed it has already been seriously curtailed. With the ascent of the Left, the inevitable suppression of free speech is taking place.

That liberals — who have always valued liberty and free speech — vote for the great suppressor of liberty, the Left, is the tragedy of our time. The reason they do so is that liberals forgot what they stand for they only remember what they believe they stand against conservatives.

So, the next time a liberal or left-wing friend or relative asks you what conservatives stand for, say “liberty” — especially free speech. And explain that is why you fear and oppose big government — because big government and individual liberty cannot coexist.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest books are “The Rational Passover Haggadah” and “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis

SIDELINE REPORT

NASCAR Wallace charges after Larson following crash at Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Bubba Wallace tried to fight reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson after a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that also collected title contender Christopher Bell. Wallace had led 29 laps before Larson attempted a three-wide pass and Larson slid up the track against Wallace. When Wallace didn’t lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace’s Toyota into the wall. Wallace bounced back down the track, followed Larson’s car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. That spent Larson spinning into Bell’s path. Wallace then charged after Larson and shoved him multiple times before a NASCAR official separated the two.

NBA Rockets agree to 4-year extension with Porter

Houston

The Houston Rockets announced a multiyear contract extension with Kevin Porter Jr. on Monday that could be worth as much as $82 million. The four-year deal was reached Monday, the deadline for players out of the rookie draft class of 2019 to agree to extensions.

The 22-year-old Porter will make $3.2 million this season in the last year of his current deal which remains in place, according to the person who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because details were not released.

SOCCER

Qatar World Cup ticket sales top 90% of stadium capacity Doha, Qatar

Nearly 2.9 million tickets have been sold for the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and organizers said Monday, leaving about 7% of seats still available. People living in the United States, Saudi Arabia and England topped the list of international ticket buyers, while Mexico was the biggest market outside Qatar for corporate hospitality sales. About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the 29-day tournament with extra accommodation still being added to avoid a shortage of rooms in the tiny emirate.

NFL Executive VP Easterby let go by Texans

Houston

The Houston Texans, off to a 1-3-1 start, have parted ways with executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby.

Easterby came to Houston in 2019 after working for the New England Patriots for several years in jobs such has chaplain and character coach. He was hired as executive vice president of team development before being promoted to his current role in January 2020.

Easterby and the Texans drew criticism in 2021 when they ignored a search firm’s recommendations and instead hired former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their new GM.

Logano wins at Las Vegas for spot in title race

The Team Penske No. 22 is the first to secure one of four slots for the season finale at Phoenix

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Team Penske has a shot at two major champion ships this year — Joey Logano be came the first driver to qualify for the Cup Series’ title-deciding fina le with a win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’re racing for a champion ship! Let’s go!” Logano screamed to the crowd.

“All you want to do is get to the championship four when the season starts and race for a championship, and we’ve got the team to do it. I don’t see why we can’t win at this point.”

Logano, who won for the third

time this season and third time at Las Vegas, is the Cup Series’ 2018 champion and advanced to the ti tle race for the fifth time in his ca reer. Team Penske last month cele brated the IndyCar championship when driver Will Power won his second title.

Logano used a late pit stop for new tires hoping the new Good years would give him a shot. He gained six immediate spots, but his Ford was still in eighth on the final restart with 16 laps remain ing.

Chase Briscoe restarted as the leader ahead of Justin Haley and Ross Chastain, and Chastain used a sweeping three-wide pass on the bottom of the track to take the lead. Logano charged through the field, but Chastain successfully used several blocks to hold him off.

Logano ultimately pulled along side Chastain on the frontstretch

with three laps remaining to claim the first spot in next month’s cham pionship race.

“There was a clear difference in tires there, so we fully believed that we could hold him off and win the race on the tires we had, and Joey did a good job of getting through the field,” said Chastain, who finished second in a Chevro let for Trackhouse Racing.

Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, finished third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Playoff drivers Briscoe finished fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and Denny Hamlin, in a Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing, came from 31st to finish fifth.

The race was the first of three in this round of the Cup Series’ play offs. The eight remaining drivers will be whittled down to four for the winner-take-all finale at Phoe

Warriors out to defend amid tons of contenders

The NBA season began Tuesday night

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

GOLDEN STATE COACH

Steve Kerr went into last season uncertain if his club would be good enough to contend for an other NBA championship.

He got his answer. He’s getting another ring.

And now, the Warriors will try to do it all again.

The NBA’s 77th season start ed Tuesday night with NBA Com missioner Adam Silver will be in San Francisco for Golden State’s ring night as the Warriors began their quest for what would be a fifth championship in nine sea sons.

“We’re back in it,” Kerr said.

“But there’s a lot of teams that are right in it, and the league is super competitive. I think the West has gotten even stronger. There’s a lot of competition out there. And so, we’re one of the teams that is in the mix and that’s exciting. But we have to start over. It doesn’t just automatically happen from one

year to the next, so we’ve got a lot of work.”

There is no shortage of con tenders for the Warriors to fend off and no shortage of teams that made big moves with hopes of be ing the last team standing this season. Minnesota traded with Utah for Rudy Gobert and Cleve land traded with Utah for Dono

van Mitchell; the Timberwolves and Cavaliers are trying to reach the league’s upper echelon, and the Jazz are starting on a new path after a few years of being good but nowhere near good enough.

“There’s a very high level of competition this year,” Gobert said. “I think a lot of teams got better.”

nix next month.

With the stakes so high, the race was fraught with tension from the start and even included nearly a fight between Bubba Wallace and reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson. NASCAR said it will re view the incident, which includ ed what appeared to be Wallace deliberately wrecking Larson and Wallace pushing an official, and any penalties would be issued next week.

The dustup between Wallace and Larson collected Christopher Bell, who won last week at Char lotte to advance into this round of the playoffs and is now ranked last in the standings following his 34th-place finish.

“We will see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat,” Bell said.

Joining Bell below the cut line for elimination were William By ron, Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Blaney led for 39 laps but hit the wall with what appeared to be a tire failure. He finished 28th, sev en laps down.

Logano is locked in to the finale, while Chastain, Hamlin and regu lar-season champion Chase Elliott are above the cut line. Elliott fin ished 21st.

Some teams might have gotten better by not doing something. Kevin Durant asked for a trade out of Brooklyn; cooler heads prevailed, and Durant remained with the Nets, who also should have Kyrie Irving — whose deci sion not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 means he’ll be tested often but won’t keep him off the floor — for many more games this season than the 29 he was limited to last season. And Ben Simmons, who didn’t play at all last season, will be out there with Durant and Irving as well.

LeBron James enters this sea son 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s alltime scoring lead, and the Lakers — if they can stay healthy — figure to be much better than the 33-49 record they posted last year. The Los Angeles Clippers have Kawhi Leonard back after a year off with a knee injury, just as the Denver Nuggets get Jamal Murray back from knee rehabilitation to join forces again with two-time reign ing MVP Nikola Jokic. Phoe nix has a core that has won more games than any team in the NBA over the last two regular seasons.

All those clubs, and a few oth ers, plan on contending.

“Hopefully, we can take anoth er step,” Leonard said. “That’s all I can hope for.”

AP PHOTO

Stephen Curry and the Warriors will began the defense of their NBA title on Tuesday when the league started play on the 2022-23 season.

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

Joey Logano celebrates after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas.

Randleman, E. Randolph win key road games

the Cougars largely stalled.

“Our defense was flying around making plays,” Timmons said.

The Tigers made it tough on Southwestern Randolph.

Randolph Record

RANDLEMAN and Eastern Randolph won road games Fri day night to move closer to a huge Piedmont Athletic Conference showdown in two weeks.

Randleman rocked South western Randolph, while East ern Randolph knocked off neigh bor Providence Grove.

Here’s a look at Friday night’s games.

Randleman 34, Southwestern Randolph 7: At Asheboro. Am arion Moton ran for two touch downs, and Tyshaun Goldston scored on two passes from Chris tian Long for the visiting Tigers (6-2, 3-0 PAC).

Christian McLeod kicked field goals from 33 and 24 yards for Randleman.

The Long-to-Goldston con nections were for 29 and 34 yards in the third quarter, allowing the Tigers to break away from a 10-7 halftime edge. Long was 9-for-15 for 123 yards.

“We told our (players) keep an swering what they did,” Randle man coach Shane Timmons said.

Easton Clapp scored the game’s first points on a 2-yard touchdown run for Southwestern Randolph (5-3, 1-2). After that,

“Their defensive line was in control the whole time,” Cou gars coach Seth Baxter said. “We couldn’t block them.”

Moton, who finished with 132 rushing yards on 19 carries, had Randleman’s first touchdown on a 52-yard run. He scored from 2 yards out in the fourth quarter for the game’s last touchdown.

“He just wore us down,” Bax ter said.

Eastern Randolph 28, Providence Grove 7

At Climax, Devonte Brooks scored three touchdowns as the visiting Wildcats won their sev enth game in a row.

Lucas Smith returned an in terception 70 yards for a touch down for Eastern Randolph (7-1, 3-0). That was one of five pickoffs for the Wildcats.

Brooks gained 145 yards on the ground.

Providence Grove (5-3, 1-2) scored on Brady Collins’ 19-yard pass to Lemuel Coltrane. Wheatmore 27, Trinity 26

At Trinity, the Warriors (26, 1-2) came back from a dou

WEEK 10 SCHEDULE

Friday’s games

Providence Grove at Southwestern Randolph Trinity at Randleman Eastern Randolph at Wheatmore Asheboro at Ledford

ble-digit deficit in the second half for their first PAC win in two sea sons.

For Trinity (4-4, 0-3), Domi nic Payne threw two touchdown passes to Jacob Hodges. Chance Grogan scored a touchdown and rushed for 154 yards.

North Davidson 49, Asheboro 6

At Asheboro, the Blue Comets stumbled on homecoming in the Mid-Piedmont Conference.

Asheboro (1-7, 0-3) has lost four games in a row. North Da vidson is 3-5, 2-1.

David Agudelo

PREP NOTES

Providence Grove’s Johnathon Ortega, left, and Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Carlos Parroquin battle for the ball during a boys’ soccer game last week.

Asheboro’s Lee wins league golf crown

ARCHDALE — Salem Lee of Asheboro won last week’s Mid-Piedmont Conference championship in girls’ golf.

Lee shot 73 in the final confer ence competition at Holly Ridge Golf Links. Asheboro was the team runner-up.

Golf regionals were to be con tested early this week. The state tournament is next week.

Cross country

At Trinity, Uwharrie Char ter Academy won girls’ and boys’ meets in the Piedmont Athletic Conference last week on Wheat more’s course among some top teams.

Abbie Gudino of UCA was the

individual winner in the girls’ race in 25 minutes, 37 seconds across the 3.1-mile course. Team mate Jazmin Palma was second in 25:38.

Third place went to South western Randolph’s Sadie Mabe in 27:05, followed by UCA’s Alys sa Ramusson (27:21) and Wheat more’s Allison Hill (27:52).

In the boys’ race, Zach Hazel wood of Wheatmore was the win ner in 18:59 for an overwhelm ing victory. UCA’s Chris White was second in 21:09. The top five also included Southwestern Ran dolph’s Austin McMahan (22:13), UCA’s Ethan Kinney (23:59), and UCA’s Kamrin Hussey (24:02).

Mid-Piedmont Conference

At Biscoe, Asheboro’s Seth Hy

dzik placed fourth in a confer ence meet last week.

Hydzik completed the 3.1-mile course in 19:24.66. That put him about 65 seconds off the win ning pace set by Grayson Byrd of North Davidson.

Also, in the boys’ race, Ashe boro had the Nos. 10-13 finishers with Hunter Wilson (23:22.00), Jacob Leveille (23:22.72), John Hunsucker (23:49.09), and Nico las Garcia (23:53.00).

Montgomery Central was the team winner, followed by North Davidson and Asheboro.

In the girls’ race, the first 12 finishers were from North Da vidson. Asheboro’s Carlisle Dozer was 16th in 32:22.11. Emma Red ding was next at 33:22.85. They were the only entrants for the Blue Comets.

Asheboro, boys’ soccer

Agudelo, a senior goalkeeper, has been up to the task for Asheboro, even without a lot of action in some cases.

Agudelo has been at the back end for the Blue Comets, who’ve recorded eight shutouts this season. He has been credited with 28 saves.

Last week, Asheboro posted a 3-0 victory at Oak Grove, with Cristian Ortiz scoring three goals. Edwin Perez had two assists, and Reece Gutierrez had one assist.

The Blue Comets, who entered this week with a 16-1 overall record and 6-0 mark in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, have a nonconference showdown scheduled for Friday night at Burlington Williams, which was undefeated until last week.

Final points races set for Caraway season

Randolph Record

SOPHIA — Championship night has nearly arrived at Caraway Speedway.

Track champions will be determined Satur day night at the speedway.

After some weather-related cancelations in volving scheduled race nights at the track, this should be a busy regular-season finale.

Races are set for Late Models (60 laps), Modifieds (35), Challengers (35), Mini Stocks (20), UCARs (15), Legacy (25), Bootleggers (10), and Enduro (10).

Some classes haven’t raced since August at the track.

Meanwhile, the build-up is continuing in advance of the 20th edition of the North-South Shootout, which is scheduled for Nov. 4-5 at the speedway.

Modified competitors will be chasing al most $60,000 in purse and bonus money in their 125-lap feature. Among the bonus mon ey is $1,500 designated for the fastest qualifier.

A tradition returns to the North-South Shootout with the addition of “Lap Leader” bo nus money for each lap of the event. Fans and businesses can sponsor a lap for $100. The “Lap Leader” bonus money will be distributed to the top three drivers on each lap completed. The race leader will receive $50, $30 goes to second, and $20 to third.

Also, Caraway Speedway has posted $200 for the leader of lap 6 and lap 17 in honor of Ol lie “Josh” Jenkins for his dedication to the NSS and Modified racing. The Nos. 6 and 17 were the numbers on cars Jenkins owned or spon sored.

Early entries chasing the North-South Shootout include six-time winner and defend ing champion Matt Hirschman, as well as twotime winner Burt Myers and his brother Jason Myers. Also expected in the field are SMART Modified Tour leaders Caleb Heady and Jim my Blewett.

Carson Loftin and Cody Newman are the contenders for the track title in the Modifieds class.

NORTH STATE JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Asheboro goalkeeper David Agudelo, right, makes a save in front of Southwestern Randolph’s Fernando Hernandez earlier this season.

Wildcats, Cougars cruise to wins

Randolph Record

NORTH STATE JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Amarion Moton tries to run away from Southwestern Randolph’s Jentezen Cox and the rest of the Cougars.

NORTH STATE JOURNAL

FILE PHOTO

Judge rules new DACA program can continue temporarily

By Juan A. Lozano The Associated Press

HOUSTON — A federal judge ruled the current version of a fed eral policy that prevents the depor tation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children can continue, at least tem porarily.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen — who last year declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program illegal — said that the policy, which is set to pro ceed under new regulations at the end of the month, can continue with limitations that he previous ly set. Those limitations say there can be no new applicants for DACA and that those who are already in the program can continue to be in it and renew their applications.

During a court hearing Friday, Hanen ordered attorneys for the federal government to provide more information on the new rule and said he expects additional legal ar guments related to it, but there was no timetable set for future hearings. It’s also unclear when Hanen will give his final decision on the case, which is expected to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The legality of the new DACA regulation ... is now the task before this court,” said Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican Ameri can Legal Defense and Education al Fund, or MALDEF, who is repre senting DACA recipients, said after attending Friday’s hearing.

Karina Ruiz De Diaz, one of the DACA recipients being represented by MALDEF, said she was relieved Hanen kept the program in place but upset the judge declined to open it up to thousands of new applicants

who need its protections.

Ruiz was part of a group of more than 50 community activists and DACA recipients who gathered be fore and after the hearing in sup port of the program at a park next to the federal courthouse. They held up signs that said, “Judge Hanen Do the Right Thing Protect DACA” and “Immigrants Are Welcomed.”

“It was important to show up to the hearing. We don’t want the judge to think that this is just an abstract concept. I want him to see our faces, to see that it’s impact ing real people,” said Ruiz, 38, who traveled from her home in Phoenix to attend the hearing.

The current version of DACA,

which the Biden administration created to improve its chances of surviving legal scrutiny, is set to take effect Oct. 31.

The case went back to Hanen after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said last week he should take another look at DACA following revisions adopted by the Biden administration.

Hanen last year declared DACA illegal after Texas and eight other Republican-leaning states filed a lawsuit claiming they are harmed financially, incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs, when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally. They also

argued that the White House over stepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that are for Congress to decide.

“Only Congress has the ability to write our nation’s immigration laws,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday in a state ment.

Hanen found DACA had not been subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Proce dures Act. But he left the Obamaera program intact for those al ready benefiting from it, pending the appeal. There were 611,270 peo ple enrolled in DACA at the end of March.

Most say voting vital despite dour US outlook: AP-NORC poll

By Hannah Fingerhut The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — From his home in Collegeville, Pennsyl vania, Graeme Dean says there’s plenty that’s disheartening about the state of the country and poli tics these days. At the center of one of this year’s most competitive U.S. Senate races, he’s on the receiving end of a constant barrage of vitriol ic advertising that makes it easy to focus on what’s going wrong.

But the 40-year-old English teacher has no intention of disen gaging from the democratic pro cess. In fact, he believes that the first national election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is “more significant” than in years past.

“This could very well sway the country in one direction or anoth er,” the Democratic-leaning inde pendent said.

Dean is hardly alone in feeling the weight of this election. A new poll from The Associated PressNORC Center of Public Affairs Re search finds 71% of registered vot ers think the very future of the U.S. is at stake when they vote this

year. That’s true of voters who pre fer Republicans win majorities in Congress, and those who want to see Democrats remain in control, though likely for different reasons.

While about two-thirds of vot ers say they are pessimistic about politics, overwhelming majorities across party lines — about 8 in 10 — say casting their ballot this year is extremely or very important.

The findings demonstrate how this year’s midterms are playing out in a unique environment, with voters both exhausted by the politi

cal process and determined to par ticipate in shaping it. That could result in high turnout for a mid term election.

In the politically divided state of Michigan, for instance, over 150,000 voters have already cast absentee ballots. A total of 1.6 mil lion people have requested absen tee ballots so far, surpassing the 1.16 million who chose the option in the 2018 midterm election.

Since the last midterm elections, voters have grown more negative about the country and people’s

rights: 70% say they are dissatis fied with the way things are going in the U.S., up from 58% in Octo ber 2018.

Republicans have become enor mously dissatisfied with a Dem ocrat in the White House. While Democrats have become less neg ative since Donald Trump left of fice, they remain largely sour on the way things are going.

Fifty-eight percent of voters also say they are dissatisfied with the state of individual rights and free doms in the U.S., up from 42% in 2018. About two-thirds of Repub licans are now dissatisfied, after about half said they were satisfied when Trump was in office. Among Democrats, views have stayed largely the same, with about half dissatisfied.

Shawn Hartlage, 41, doesn’t think her views as a Christian are well represented, lamenting that she’d love to vote “for someone that really stood for what you believe,” but that it’s very important to her to vote anyway.

The Republican stay-at-home mother of two in Washington Township, Ohio, said the direction of the country is “devastating,” not

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court up held Hanen’s initial finding but sent the case back to Hanen so he could review the impact of the fed eral government’s new DACA regu lation.

The new rule’s 453 pages are largely technical and represent lit tle substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public com ments as part of a formal rule-mak ing process.

During Friday’s hearing, Hanen seemed hesitant about tackling the constitutionality of the DACA pro gram with any ruling he would make and said he wanted all par ties involved to initially focus on is sues related to the federal Adminis trative Procedures Act in reviewing the new regulation.

Perales said the uncertainty about DACA’s ultimate fate in the courts should be another signal to Congress that it needs to act to pro vide permanent protections.

After last week’s appeals court ruling, President Joe Biden and ad vocacy groups renewed their calls for Congress to pass permanent protections for “Dreamers,” which is what people protected by DACA are commonly called. Congress has failed multiple times to pass pro posals called the DREAM Act to protect DACA recipients.

Whatever Hanen decides, DACA is expected to go to the Supreme Court for a third time. In 2016, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a ver sion of the program for parents of DACA recipients. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump ad ministration improperly ended DACA, allowing it to stay in place.

ing both inflation and a decline in moral values.

“I’m scared for my children’s fu ture,” Hartlage said. “You always want to leave things better for them than what you had, but it’s definitely not moving in that direc tion.”

The poll showed majorities of voters overall say the outcome of the midterms will have a signif icant impact on abortion policy, with Democratic voters more like ly than Republican voters to say so. Most voters across party lines say the outcome will have a lot of im pact on the economy.

More voters say they trust the Republican Party to handle the economy (39% vs. 29%), as well as crime (38% vs. 23%). Republicans also have a slight advantage on immigration (38% vs. 33%). The Democratic Party is seen as better able to handle abortion policy (45% vs. 22%), health care (42% vs. 25%) and voting laws (39% vs. 29%).

Despite the uncertainty in the outcome, Dean in Pennsylvania has faith in the American system to work for the will of the people.

“I think it’s important that our representatives represent what the majority of people want,” Dean said. “That’s what we claim we do in this country and it feels like it is what should happen. And I am hopeful.”

AP PHOTO

A group of more than 50 community activists and others gathered Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, at a park next to the federal courthouse in Houston.

AP PHOTO

Cornelius Whiting fills out his ballot at an early voting location in Alexandria, Va., Sept. 26, 2022.

Christine Moffitt Kivett

Mary Christine Moffitt Kivett of Asheboro, age 95 passed away peacefully after a short illness on October 15, 2022 at Clapp's Convalescent Nursing Home.

Christine was born in Randolph County on April 8, 1927 to Martin Luther and Anna Catherine Martin Moffitt. She was a graduate of Asheboro High School and Asheboro Commercial College. She retired from the Randolph County Library and had worked with several businesses as an office administrator. Christine was a member of Brower's Chapel United Methodist Church, where she served as treasurer for several years. In addition to her parents, Christine was preceded in death by her husband, George C. "Jack" Kivett, Sr., infant brother, Mack Martin, and sisters, Nova Moffitt and Leffie M. Clark and her husband Bill.

She is survived by her son, George C. "Jackie" Kivett, Sr. and wife Linda of Asheboro; granddaughter, Tonyia K. Johnson and husband Joe of Franklinville; great grandsons, Houston Johnson and wife Catherine of Fayetteville, Kerry Johnson and Grayson Johnson both of Franklinville.

The family would like to express a special thanks to Randolph Health and Clapp's Convalescent Nursing Home for the care and concern given to Christine.

Helen Dixon Sledge

May 23, 1938 — October 14, 2022

Helen Dixon Sledge, age 84, of Franklinville passed away on Friday, October 14, 2022 at the home of her daughter.

Mrs. Sledge was born in Charlotte on May 23, 1938 to Perry and Ruby Dixon. Helen was the coowner of "The Woodwright Shop" in Asheboro. In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Donald D. Sledge who passed away in 2015 and Billy Northrop who passed away in 1960, and her sister, Phyllis Bard. Mrs. Sledge was a lover of antiques and Revolutionary history. Her passion for collecting antiques was second only to her precious grandchildren and greatgrandchildren whom she loved spending time with.

She is survived by her daughter, Rebecca Ridgeway and husband Doug; son, Bill Carr and wife Carolyn; 6 grandchildren, Billy Ridgeway, wife Megan, Matthew Ridgeway, wife Lala, Chris Ridgeway, wife Jennifer, David Ridgeway, wife Tracie, Brice Carr, wife Courtney, and Gibson Carr, wife Misty; 10 great-grandchildren; brothers, David Dixon and Stanley Dixon both of Wilmington; and several nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank the Randolph Cancer Center, Dr. Lewis and Tammy, and Hospice of Randolph for their care and loving treatment.

Mildred Leonard Snow

November 19, 1934 — October 11, 2022

Mildred Leonard Snow, age 87, of Asheboro passed away on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at the home of her daughter.

Mrs. Snow was born in Randolph County on November 19, 1934 to Eli and Lillie Lambert Leonard. She was retired from Fayetteville Street Christian School after 28 years of service. Mildred was a member of Fayetteville Street Baptist Church and attended Clearview Baptist Church. Mildred was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Herbert Snow, Jr., her parents, and all three of her siblings. She enjoyed working outside in her garden. Mildred loved her grandchildren and talking on her phone. She is survived by her daughter, Melanie Boyles (Julian) of Fayetteville; grandchildren, Chasity Julch (Jeremy) and Heath Boyles; and great grandchildren, Lilyian and Mortdecai Julch.

Carroll "Curly" Eutah King

December 20, 1931 — October 13, 2022

Carroll "Curly" Eutah King, age 90, passed away Thursday, October 13, 2022 in High Point under hospice care.

Curly was a native of Randolph County and graduated from Asheboro High School in 1950. He served in the US Army during the Korean War and retired from Union Camp after 38 years of service.

Curly enjoyed watching football and racing and in the past years enjoyed hunting and fishing. He loved spending time with his family and gardening. Curly attended Community Baptist Church in Hillsville. He is preceded in death by his parents, James and Bessie King, sisters, Hazel Hinshaw and Rachel Morris, brothers, Joe and J.D king.

Curly is survived by his wife of 51 years, Frances Inman King; daughter, Jennifer Wilson (Michael) of High Point; son Tony Meyers (Terry) of Kernersville; grandsons: Matthew Meyers, Mychal Wilson, and Hayden Wilson; sisters: Joyce and Carrie King, and Wilma McKenzie; brother, Bill King (Joyce).

Jane McAlister Greene

March 15, 1937 — October 15, 2022

Jane McAlister Greene, 85, of Star, passed away on Saturday, October 15, 2022, surrounded by family. Jane was born on March 15, 1937, to Ezra Eugene McAlister and Minnie Blanche Maness McAlister.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Robert “Bobby” Greene; daughter, Sandra Holleman; three brothers: James, Howard, and David, and two of her sisters, Carol Myers and Martha McAlister.

She is survived by two sisters, Nancy McInnis of Rockingham, NC, and Rebecca Allison of Matthews, NC, as well as three daughters: Beth Greene (Bob) of Raleigh, NC, Susan Maness (Robin) of Summerfield, NC, and Patty Faulkner (Keith) of Grundy, VA; grandchildren: Megan Brandberg (Jake), Will Maness, Hannah Faulkner, Erin Faulkner, and Ryan Faulkner.

Jane was a 1955 graduate of Biscoe High School. She attended Campbell College and received her B.A. in education from The Woman’s College (UNC-G). She spent her entire career teaching in the Biscoe and Star Elementary Schools, leaving a lasting impression with her wisdom, creativity, generosity, patience and love for each and every student.

James Hutson

November 15, 1942 — October 8, 2022

James Edward Hutson age 79 of Denton, NC passed away from cancer on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at his home.

Jimmy was born in Asheboro, NC on November 15, 1942 to James Phillip Hutson and Ruth Jarrell Hutson. Jimmy retired from Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company after 23 years service. Jimmy was a member of West Asheboro Church of God where he had served in various positions including teaching in the adult Sunday School class and on the Pastor’s Council.

Jimmy was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Dorothy Burress Hutson, his parents and his sister, Etta Jane Hutson Roberts. He is survived by his daughters, Cheryl Hutson Ly (William) of Denton, NC and Donna Christine Shrewsbury, of Asheboro, NC, grandchildren; Kent Lynch (Vanessa), Brittany Grooms (Lauren), Danielle Hutson (Miles), Channing Lynch, greatgrandchildren; Jamison Willard, Bradyn Willard, Dalton Lynch and Bryson Lynch and Miles McLean: Sisters, Judy Greene and Elaine Boggs and one brother Ronald Hutson (Lisa); nieces and nephews and many cousins: One beloved uncle, Jerry Jarrell (Davonne).

Other special family in-laws: brother and sister in law, Rev. Avon Craven and Donna Burress Craven; Steve Roberts; Judy Carver, Bobby and Sheila Garland.

Jacky Don Mabe

June 15, 1960 — October 10, 2022

Jacky Don Mabe, 62, of Seagrove, passed away on October 10, 2022 at Randolph Hospice House.

Jacky was born in Montgomery County on June 15, 1960, to Emory Don and Estelle McNeill Mabe. Jacky was a textile worker and he loved fishing, hunting, looking for arrowheads and Mustangs.

He was preceded in death by his son Jamie Lee Mabe, mother Estelle Mabe and brother Darrell Mabe.

Jacky is survived by his wife, Frankie Shields Mabe of the home; sons Jeremy Mabe of Asheboro; Matthew Bibey (Tina) of Biscoe and Brandon Bibey (Tara) of Robbins; daughter Kori Bales (Chris) of Asheboro; father Don Mabe of Seagrove; and brother Farrell Mabe (Regina) of Robbins. Grandchildren Kolbi, Aurea, Hope, Chloe, Max and Colby and his beloved dog Ruger.

Virginia "Jenny" Quillen Porch August 22, 1935 — October 11, 2022

Mrs. Virginia "Jenny" Quillen Porch, 87, died Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at Chatham Hospital. Jenny was born on August 22, 1935 in Floyd County Kentucky, to Charles Livingston Quillen and Sylvia Ann Cox Quillen. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Bruce Eugene Porch, and daughter Dana "Missy" Porch. She is survived by her daughter, Donna P. Tucker and husband Michael; grandchildren, Leslie K. Wilkie and husband Drew, Jennifer K. Eu and husband Ryan, Tracy T. Bullock and husband Chris, Meredith T. Mallory and husband David, and Christopher P. Tucker and wife Katie; great grandchildren, Caroline and Claire Mallory, Tucker and Gray Bullock, Brennen and Braylen Wilkie, Jackson and Reagan Tucker, and Cameron Eu.

Virginia worked in customer service at First Union for many years and she loved her family especially her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was a wonderful cook and could bake some of the most delicious things. Traveling was one of her favorite things and it didn't matter if it was by land or sea. She enjoyed the mountains and the beach and going on cruises to new and exciting places.

Raymond Charles Crotts, Jr.

June 27, 1946 — October 14, 2022

Raymond "Chuck" Charles Crotts, Jr., 76, of Siler City, passed away on Friday, October 14, 2022 at his home. Mr. Crotts was born in Randolph County on June 27, 1946, the son of Raymond C. Crotts, Sr. and Sarah Smith Crotts.

Chuck was a proud United States Air Force Veteran, serving during the Vietnam War. He retired after many years with Collins & Aikman. He loved hunting, spending time in the swamp, and going to Jordan Lake. Chuck was a sports fan, and loved his Carolina Tarheels. He had a soft spot for any animal, especially his dogs. Chuck adored his family. In addition to his parents, Chuck is preceded in death by all of his K9 friends.

Chuck is survived by his sisters, Carolyn Shepherd of Greensboro and Sally Conte of Raleigh; nephews, Brad Conte of Raleigh, and Edward Alan of Las Vegas, NV; friend and caretaker, Janet Cartrette of Orrum, NC; special family, Dana Daniel (Paul), of Chapel Hill, and Donna Zogopoulos (Todd) of Pittsboro.

She took great pride in her family, and treasured time spent with her brothers and sisters and their families. She spent her lifetime tirelessly and selflessly providing and caring for, encouraging and praising her children and grandchildren. She also enjoyed gardening, canning, cooking, feeding and watching birds on her deck, Hallmark movies and playing Wordle. She was the family’s reigning champion of Scrabble. She sewed many of her daughters’ clothes when they were young, made quilts for each of her children and grandchildren and enjoyed scrapbooking in her later years to preserve a lifetime of family memories.

She was a member of Dover Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School, Kids for Christ, and sang in the choir for many years. She set a beautiful example of Christian love and service toward all.

Sandra "Kay" Dunn

January 1, 1945 — October 11, 2022

Sandra "Kay" Dunn, 77, of Troy, passed away on October 11, 2022.

Kay was born in Randolph County on January 1, 1945, to Charles Clyde and Myrtie Nichols McDuffie. She owned and operated Kay's Beauty Shop in Star for many years.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister Barbara Freeman.

She is survived by her sons, Tim L. Dunn of Star; and Terry W. Britt (Renee) of Troy; daughter Kelly Siegler (Kurt) of Sanford, FL; grandchildren Eryrn and Tanner; great grandchild Colden.

STATE & NATION

Biden’s late push across West aims to deliver votes for Dems

By Colleen Long The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Presi

dent Joe Biden strode into the telephone bank at a crowd ed union hall and eagerly began making calls and eating dough nuts — one frosted, one glazed — as he tries every page in the polit ical playbook to deliver votes for Democrats.

“What a governor does mat ters,” Biden said in a pep talk to volunteers who were making Fri day night calls for Oregon guber natorial hopeful Tina Kotek and other candidates. “It matters! It matters, it matters, it matters!”

Before leaving Portland on Saturday, the president attended a union hall reception for Kotek as he tried to boost her chances in a three-way race that could cost Democrats a reliably blue gover nor’s seat. He also gave a speech at a community center, warning that his administration’s prog ress “goes away, gone” if Repub licans take control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Portland was the final stop on a four-day swing through Ore gon, California and Colorado that has encapsulated Biden’s strate gy for turning out voters on Elec tion Day, Nov. 8: flex the levers of

government to help boost candi dates, promote an agenda aimed at strengthening an uncertain economy and haul in campaign cash.

And this: show up for candi dates when Biden can be helpful, steer clear of places where a vis it from a president with approval ratings under 50% isn’t necessar

ily a good thing. Throughout the trip, Biden had to compete for the spotlight and contend with a troubling new inflation report and rising gas prices.

“Folks are still struggling. We can’t kid ourselves about that,” Biden said.

He touted Democratic legis

lation that he says will fight cli mate change with clean energy incentives and limit the cost of prescription drugs, saying that “we’re fighting for folks who need our help.”

In Oregon, Democratic offi cials hope that Biden can help consolidate the party’s support behind Kotek. The party is in danger of losing the governor’s race in the traditional Democrat ic stronghold as Betsy Johnson — who has quit both the Democrat ic and Republican parties — has run a well-financed race against Kotek and the GOP nominee Christine Drazan.

Biden said Kotek has the “heart of a lion,” and he described her as “an articulate, tough, com mitted woman.”

But his remarks came as the government reported that con sumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, jumped 6.6% in September from a year ago — the fastest such pace in four decades. Biden acknowl edged that people were being “squeezed by the cost of living. It’s been true for years, and folks don’t need a report to tell them they’re being squeezed.”

Democratic candidates have been far more likely to appear with Biden at official White House events underscoring their achievements than at overt cam paign events. In California, Biden was joined by state law makers and the city’s mayor, and he called them out individually. Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, made a takeout run with Biden to a taco

What spiking US veterinary prices reveal about inflation

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most pets hate visiting the vet. Now it’s becoming a lot more unpleasant for their owners, too.

America’s worst bout of infla tion in four decades has swollen the cost of your dog or cat’s visit to the animal doctor. Prices for vet services have jumped 10% in the past year, government data shows — the biggest such spike on re cords dating back two decades.

The surging cost of veterinary services illustrates how high in flation has spread well beyond physical goods, such as cars, that became scarce as the economy ac celerated out of the pandemic re cession, to numerous services of which pet care is one example. The trend has stoked fears that infla tion is growing more entrenched and that the Federal Reserve will feel compelled to keep raising in terest rates at an ever-higher risk of causing a recession.

From dental care and apart ment rents to auto repairs and hotel rates, prices for services keep going up. Such inflation is especially hard to quell, because it’s driven mainly by a tight labor market and consumer demand, which won’t likely cool unless the economy slows drastically or sinks into a recession.

The cost of housing is the big gest driver of higher services pric es. But even excluding rents, ser vices prices rose 7.4% in August from a year ago.

The Fed’s rate hikes, which af fect consumer and business loans, aren’t ideally suited to taming

services inflation. And in today’s economy, the service sector ac counts for the bulk of consumer spending.

“It takes more to move the pric es of services,” said Joseph Gag non, a former Fed official who is a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The real question is: What level of un employment is going to be needed to cool off all this pressure?”

Spiking services prices are a big reason why Fed officials have stressed their determination to keep raising rates to move infla

tion back toward their 2% target, even as worries have grown that they’ll go too far and derail the economy.

Like many services, veterinary care is labor-intensive; worker pay makes up about half the cost of running a practice. With wag es rising nationally at the fast est pace in decades, many clin ic owners have had to pay more to find or keep employees. Those wage increases have typically been passed on to pet owners in the form of higher prices.

Other vet costs, including for

medical supplies, lab testing fees and advanced pharmaceuticals, have accelerated, too.

The industry has also been transformed by corporate pur chases of vet clinics and hospitals — a trend that some independent vets blame for increasing prices.

The Federal Trade Commission has responded by forcing some large chains to cut back their ac quisitions after concluding that they threatened competition.

Like many industries, vet erinary care endured wrench ing changes after the pandemic struck in 2020, driven by in creased demand from pet owners and a shift in how they do busi ness.

Nationally, traffic at vet clin ics rose 4.5% in 2020 and an ad ditional 6.5% in 2021, according VetSuccess, a data analytics firm.

Yet at the same time, a survey by the American Veterinary Med ical Association found that the number of pets that veterinarians treated per hour declined 25% in 2020. Such a steep drop in effi ciency, combined with increased demand, left vets and their staffs burned out. Many left the field for other jobs.

Government data shows that hourly pay in the vet industry jumped 7% in August from a year earlier, well above the 5% average for all workers. Measured year over year, pay leapt 14.2% in Jan uary, the highest jump on records dating from 2007.

One factor in the rising cost of pet care is that it’s increasing ly mimicking human health care.

Specialty pet hospitals use MRI

shop.

Biden raised $5 million at a fundraiser in the Brentwood backyard of TV producer Mar cy Carsey. Guests included fash ion designer Tom Ford and ac tor-filmmaker Rob Reiner.

In Colorado, the president des ignated the first national mon ument of his administration at Camp Hale, a World War II-era training site, with a group of Democrats by his side. His au dience in a canyon of stunning views, tall pines and bright yel low aspens included Sen. Mi chael Bennet, who is facing a tough reelection campaign and had worked for the new monu ment. Democrats hope the desig nation, popular in the state, will boost Bennet’s numbers.

Early voting is underway in California and begins this week in Oregon and Colorado. The president notably stayed away from states where his presence could hurt Democrats, so far skipping Nevada and Arizona, where Democratic senators are in tough races.

Democrats are trying to retain power in the face of widespread economic uncertainty and the traditional midterm headwinds against the party in power. Re publicans, aiming to regain the House and Senate, think they can capitalize on gas prices, inflation and the economy.

During his taco stop, Biden’s chicken quesadilla order ran to $16.45, but he handed the clerk $60 and asked him to use the change to pay the next patron’s bill.

machines, expensive drugs have become available to fight cancer in pets and cats can receive kid ney transplants. Vets and their technicians require advanced training to deliver such sophis ticated services, which also can further inflate costs and the pric es paid by consumers.

Many pet owners are increas ingly willing to spend more, and large corporate providers of vet services are happy to cater to them. Though the industry be gan consolidating long before the pandemic, the pace has accelerat ed in the past two years.

John Volk, a senior consultant at Brakke Consulting, estimates that 25% of the 30,000 vet clinics in the United States are owned by large chains. The consolidation is much higher among the 1,200 emergency and specialty vet hos pitals, about 75% of which are owned by chains.

Mars, the candy and pet food company, is the biggest owner of vet practices, with 2,500 clinics and hospitals worldwide. Anoth er chain, National Veterinary As sociates, owns 1,400 vet practic es in the U.S. and overseas. It was acquired in 2020 by a Luxem bourg-based private equity firm, JAB, and has recently come un der scrutiny by the FTC.

Some industry experts say larg er chains can hold prices down by using their size to secure low er prices for supplies and drugs. How much the industry’s consol idation has contributed to high er costs is hotly debated within the vet industry, just as it is in the broader economy.

In the meantime, many vets are still looking to hire, a sign that the inflationary pressure from rising wages may take a long time to ease.

CAROLYN KASTER | AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden holds a box of doughnuts during a grassroots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats at the SEIU Local 49 in Portland, Ore. Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.

AP PHOTO

Dr. Alexandra Kintz Konegger, of K. Vet Animal Care, examines a rescued Pekin Duck with an infected eye at her veterinary clinic in Greensburg, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Hudson earns Friend of Farm Bureau Award

U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) received the American Farm Bureau Federal “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award for his efforts and advocacy on behalf of North Carolina’s farmers. The “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award is given to legislators whose voting record reflects support for farmers and was presented to Hudson during a meeting with the North Carolina Farm Bureau last Wednesday.

“Agriculture is a core pillar of both North Carolina and our nation, contributing trillions of dollars to our economy, creating millions of jobs, and supplying essential commodities to families worldwide. I will continue to work in Congress to provide certainty for our farmers and ensure they have access to the tools they need to produce an affordable and stable food supply,” said Hudson. “Thank you to the American Farm Bureau for this honor and for all they do to support farmers across the state and nation.”

Hudson is a founding member of the bipartisan “Agriculture and Rural American Task Force.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Early voting begins in Hoke County

Early voting officially starts this Thursday, October 20, and runs through November 5, the Saturday before Election Day. By voting early, you can avoid long lines, access more flexible voting hours and locations, and have a chance to register or update your registration onsite. Here are the early voting locations for Hoke County:

HOKE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS OFFICE at 227 N Main St., Raeford, NC 28376.

Hours of Operation: • Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm • Saturdays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.

ROCKFISH COMMUNITY CENTER at 2749 Lindsay Rd., Raeford, NC 28736.

Hours of Operation: • Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm • Saturdays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Note: Early Voting sites are different than your Election Day voting location.

Raeford woman arrested for attempted firstdegree murder

The Hoke County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call pertaining to a stabbing that took place on Quail Drive last Friday. When deputies arrived, they found a male victim lying on the kitchen floor, struggling to survive. The on-scene deputies attended to the stabbing victim until EMS arrived and transported him to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he is currently recovering. After an investigation, sheriff deputies arrested Linda Roper and charged her with attempted first-degree murder. Roper is currently being held at the Hoke County Detention center on a $250,000 secured bond. The investigation is still ongoing at this time. If anyone has additional information regarding this incident, please contact Detective Hoskins at the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office at (910) 875-5111.

Board of Commissioners approves budget amendment for HCS

Commissioners approve funding match for Tia Heart grant

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

RAEFORD — The Hoke Coun ty Board of Commissioners met Monday, where they approved a budget amendment to the Hoke County Schools Capital Outlay Budget and approved a funding match for a grant with Tia Hart Community Recovery Program.

The board approved the reap pointment of Tax Collector Daph ne Dudley and Deputy Tax Collec tor Susan Quick to new terms.

Along with that, the board also approved the 2012 Insolvent Tax Bill write-offs.

“These are our 11-year bills,” Dudley said. “For real estate, we’ll be writing off $8,058.45, for per sonal property $5,329.67, and for motor vehicles $181,156.38 for a total of $194,544.50. The law says you have to carry ten years of bills, so this is the 11th year that we ac tually have them. Once we get to

that 10th year, we can write them off. I kind of try to wait to see if we can collect some of that money, but now it’s about time to get rid of those.”

According to Dudley, there are two more years of motor vehicle bills before they will be with the new system. She also stated that when that happens, the number of motor vehicle bills will go down a lot which will allow the depart ment to concentrate more on real estate and personal property.

The board also approved a re quest from Hoke County Schools for a budget amendment to the Capital Outlay Budget.

“In our projects that we sub mitted, one of the projects that we hadn’t originally planned for was the sewer extension,” said HCS Fi nance Officer Wannaa Chavis. “So we set aside $250,000 for the sew er system at Rockfish. Current ly, with everything being com pleted, except a few projects, we have a remaining balance of about $61,053.”

“The school system received an athletic grant, and when we filled out for it, we looked at some athlet

ic needs, and of those projects, we did bleachers at West Hope Mid dle, and we did an irrigation sys tem for the baseball field, a wres tling mat for East Hope Middle and windscreen for the High School. When we looked at the bleachers at West Hope Middle, at the time, we were looking at those bleachers and didn’t do East because it was our understanding that we would get another funding source for it. During that time, it has fallen through, so we don’t have the fund ing to do East Hope Middle. With us having the $61,053 left in capi tal, we would like to do the bleach ers at East Hope Middle also, and we have received quotes, and the lower one was for $59,000.”

The board approved a funding match of $20,000 for a three-year period with Tia Hart Communi ty Recovery Program for a grant from Vital Strategies to leverage opioid settlement dollars to sup port harm reduction program ming in Hoke County.

“Hoke County, right now, is in an overdose epidemic historical ly driven by prescription opioids and, more recently, driven by hero

in, fentanyl, and fentanyl analogs,” said Director Shirley Hart. “Since 2010, the number of all intents poisoning deaths in NC has in creased by more than 106%, from 1,201 to 2,479 in 2019. Additional ly, in 2019, there were over 12,000 hospitalizations and over 38,000 Emergency Department visits re lated to medication and drug poi soning.”

Finally, the commissioners were given an update by the Sandhills Prescribed Burn Association on Hoke Community Forest Resto ration Project, Phase II.

“Phase I of the Hoke Communi ty Forest was the thinning to get things started,” said SPBA Coor dinator Jesse Wimberley. “Phase II now is where we start spend ing some money, and that involves planting some trees. I’m not asking for a dime from you guys. We’ve got all that covered. All we want is your blessing.”

The SPBA will also host a com munity tree-planting event on De cember 3, according to Wimberley.

The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will next meet No vember 7.

Hoke County Schools given results on 21-22 audit

Board of Education accepts $1.6 million literacy grant

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

RAEFORD — The Hoke Coun ty Board of Education met Tuesday, October 11, where they were given the results of their 2021-22 audit, as well as updates on a child nutri tion bid as well as a new grant.

The board was delivered the findings of their 2021-22 financial audit and approved it as presented.

“Overall, the audit went very well,” said Dale Smith, CPA of An derson Smith & Wike PLLC. “We were very happy with everything that we saw and the testing that we performed. We thank Ms. Cha vis and her staff, who continue to do an outstanding job of manag ing the finances of the district. The district’s finances are very trans parent, and anything that can be asked for or any backup documents that we asked for could be provid ed.”

According to Smith, the district had total assets of $3,158,915 as

of June 30, 2022, which was com posed primarily of cash and cash equivalents, which amounted to $3,142,338. The district had total liabilities of $1,862,980, and the assets minus the liabilities gave the district a fund balance, as of June 30, of $1,295,935.

“This amount represents an in crease of approximately $194,000 over the amount that was report ed in the prior year, and most of the districts that we’ve audited so far this year and last year have seen their fund balances increase pri marily due to all the COVID fund ing that has flowed through the dis tricts,” Smith said. “As I mentioned to you all last year, with the uncer tainties of the economy and where we are right now, we feel like it’s a very good and very wise budgeting strategy to try and build up your fund balance as much as you can right now. A lot of calls are going to be going up; you have the min imum wage increases, retirement rates seem to go up every year, and healthcare costs go up every year. So again, we feel like it’s very wise to try and build up that fund bal ance as much as you can here and

these years leading up to the expi ration of that federal COVID fund ing which I think is supposed to happen two years from now.”

Along with the financial audit, the firm performed compliance au dits of the state and federal grants received by the district, as well as tested a significant amount of pay roll and general disbursement transactions as part of those audits.

“We’re happy to report that all three of these letters are clean re ports, which means there were no internal control weaknesses, find ings, or questionable costs reflect ed in any of these letters,” Smith said. “We also performed a good bit of testing on the individual schools, and there were no significant is sues that were noted in that testing. Overall, it appears that the school bookkeepers are doing a good job.”

The board then approved the re newal of a contract with Darryl’s Gourmet Specialities.

“We’ve been dealing with this company for some years now, and Mr. Darryl Campbell was our ven dor, and he passed away suddenly.

from

And so it took them some time go ing through his estate and all that to get the company back together,” said Executive Director for Child Nutrition Deborah Carpenter. “So they’re back together now, so we have enough product to carry us through, and then they also donat ed product to help get us through. They have submitted their bid, and this is Darryl’s Gourmet Special ties out of Eastover. This product does meet the USDA requirement for seasonings of our food. It’s less sodium, and all of the other crite ria is met, and they are one of the very few companies in this area that we can use.”

Finally, the board accepted a $1.6 million DoDea Grant that fo cuses on literacy.

“We have been awarded an other DoDea Grant,” said Assis tant Superintendent for Curric ulum/PreK-5th Dawn Ramseur.

“With each DoDea grant, we have a name, and the name for this one is F.R.E.S.H. Reads: Facili tating Reading for Every Student in Hoke County. This is actual ly our first reading grant through DoDea. Typically our grants have been STEM grants, and there is a STEM component to this grant, but it is really devoted to literacy. It is our third active DoDea grant.”

According to Ramseur, the grant supports students from el ementary through high school through clubs, project-based learning modules, and reading camps focused on research-based strategies and building relation ships around books.

“The idea behind F.R.E.S.H. Reads is offering an opportuni ty for our students to do some inschool, some after school, some during the summer, some be fore-school activities around lit eracy,” Ramseur said. “Promoting reading as a life skill for learning and pleasure.”

The goals of the grant are to leverage the media center as a hub of the school and communi ty, teach staff how to use the me dia center to its full potential, en gage students multidisciplinary through STEM, CTE, and the Arts and Humanities, and increase books available to students accord ing to Ramseur.

The Hoke County Schools Board of Education will next meet November 8.

OPINION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

A future built on freedom

“AMERICA IS BEST DESCRIBED by one word, freedom.”

President Dwight Eisenhower captured one of the fundamental truths about America in his 1959 State of the Union address.

Freedom means the ability to forge your own path and make your own decisions for yourself and your family without fear of an allpowerful government. It also means the ability to freely exercise your God-given rights that are protected in our Constitution. Sadly, this is a concept that has been taken for granted and repeatedly encroached upon in our nation today.

predators, and data breaches. Under our plan, Republicans have solutions to help keep your kids safe.

Liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.”

Freedom is under attack from direct assaults on your constitutional freedoms, from big tech censorship, and from many forms of progressive bullying. I refuse to sit idly by and accept this. That’s why House Republicans have put forward a plan called a “Commitment to America” that will create a future built on freedom.

A central pillar of our plan includes improving education for all students. As a parent, it’s disheartening to see education levels that have declined drastically because of Covid-19 lockdowns. Keeping kids out of school nullified decades of progress in math and reading scores for 9-year-olds, the time experts say is critical for a student’s long-term academic success. Our children’s future depends on the quality of education they receive today. That’s why Republicans are committed to reversing these trends and building an educational environment that fosters success for all students.

We also believe parents should have a say in their child’s education. For too long, liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.” As the son of a retired public school teacher, I know student success depends on parents being involved in their child’s education. That is why I will work to pass a “Parents Bill of Rights” and expand parental choice, so all children have the chance to succeed.

At the same time, my Republican colleagues and I will work to equip parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online. Our kids currently spend an average of 7 hours a day in front of a screen. They are potentially exposing themselves to harmful content, online

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

Explaining conservatism

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS many young people shy away from conservatism.

The most obvious is that they have been exposed only to left-wing values — from elementary school through graduate school, in the movies, on television, on social media and now even at Disneyland.

A future built on freedom also means better health care freedom by lowering costs and giving you and your family more options. We want to help Americans live healthier, happier lives by refining health care to meet their specific needs. This means personalizing care to provide more affordable and better-quality options; ensuring lower prices through greater transparency, choice, and competition; increasing investments in new technology; and expanding access to telemedicine. To that end, I was proud the House and Senate passed my bipartisan MOBILE Health Care Act. This legislation will expand health care access in rural and underserved communities in North Carolina and beyond. On Thursday, I was proud to visit a local community health center and receive the 2022 Distinguished Community Health Center Advocate award for work on this bill. I will continue working to support these critical providers in our community. Meanwhile, we also remain committed to blocking the Biden administration from imposing needless vaccine mandates on American citizens –especially members of the military.

Finally, a future built on freedom also means securing your constitutional rights, including your right to free speech, the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, and the freedom of religion. Tragically, a report last week found 220 churches have been attacked over the past two years across the country - another example of rising crime that must be addressed. Protecting these rights also involves standing up to politically motivated bureaucrats, institutions, and companies that attempt to restrict these rights. This includes combating big tech censorship of opinions it doesn’t agree with, as well as by demanding online fairness and greater privacy and data security for all Americans.

Freedom is the bedrock on which our nation’s Constitution and character were founded. As your congressman, rest assured I will always work to keep ensuring a future that is built on freedom.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

There is no liberty other than individual liberty.

Less obvious but equally significant is that they have never been properly exposed to conservative values. Since at least the World War II generation, most parents who held conservative values either did not think they had to teach their children those values or simply did not know how to do so. Most still don’t. If asked to define conservative values, most conservatives will be tongue-tied.

In light of this, I present here, and in subsequent columns, a list of conservatism’s defining characteristics.

We will begin with the most important conservative value — liberty.

Conservatives believe in individual liberty (there is no liberty other than individual liberty). It has been the primary value of the American experiment. While many countries include the word “liberty” in their national mottoes and national anthems, no country has so emphasized liberty as has America.

That is why:

—The French designers of the Statue of Liberty gave the statue to America.

—The iconic symbol of America is the Liberty Bell.

—The one inscription on the Liberty Bell is a verse about liberty from the Book of Leviticus: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

—Americans sing of their country as “the land of the free” and “sweet land of liberty.”

—Until recently, every America schoolchild knew by heart Patrick Henry’s cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

—Chinese young people who protested the Communist takeover of Hong Kong waved the American flag.

And that is why America’s founders were adamant that the state — the national government — be as small, as limited, as possible. The bigger the government, the smaller the liberty. Big government and big liberty are mutually exclusive.

Moreover, liberty is not the only victim of big government. Human life is also a victim. Every genocide of the 20th century, the century of genocide, was committed by big government. Without big government, one hundred million people would not and could not have been slaughtered, and a billion more would not and could not have been enslaved. (There was one exception: the Hutu genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which was tribal in nature. Tribal culture, like

left-wing culture, emphasizes the group over the individual.)

In order to limit the size and power of the national government, the founders delegated most governmental powers to the states. They did so in the Constitution by specifying what powers the national government had and by asserting that all other powers be delegated to the states. In addition, they increased the power of the states by having presidential elections decided by the states — the Electoral College — rather than by the popular national vote, and by how they structured the Senate, one of the two branches of Congress. They gave every state equal representation in the Senate, no matter how small the population of the state.

The Left’s opposition to the Electoral College and to the Senate makes perfect sense. It is the power inherent in big government, not liberty, that animates the Left. The defining characteristic of every left-wing party and movement in the world has always been an ever bigger and therefore more powerful government.

Liberty is a liberal value as well as a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. Liberty cannot be a left-wing value because the more liberty individuals have, the less power the government has. Conversely, the weaker the state, the weaker the Left.

This especially holds true for the greatest of all liberties — free speech.

Free speech is a fundamental conservative value, and it has been a fundamental liberal value. But it has never been a left-wing value. For that reason, everywhere the Left is dominant — government, media, universities — it stifles dissent. The reason is simple: no left-wing movement can survive an open exchange of ideas. Leftist ideologies are emotion- and power-based, not reason- or moralitybased. So, leftists cannot allow honest debate. They do not argue with opponents; they suppress them.

For the first time in American history, freedom of speech is seriously threatened — indeed it has already been seriously curtailed. With the ascent of the Left, the inevitable suppression of free speech is taking place.

That liberals — who have always valued liberty and free speech — vote for the great suppressor of liberty, the Left, is the tragedy of our time. The reason they do so is that liberals forgot what they stand for they only remember what they believe they stand against conservatives.

So, the next time a liberal or left-wing friend or relative asks you what conservatives stand for, say “liberty” — especially free speech. And explain that is why you fear and oppose big government — because big government and individual liberty cannot coexist.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest books are “The Rational Passover Haggadah” and “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis

NBA Rockets agree to 4-year extension with Porter

Houston

The Houston Rockets announced a multiyear contract extension with Kevin Porter Jr. on Monday that could be worth as much as $82 million.

The four-year deal was reached Monday, the deadline for players out of the rookie draft class of 2019 to agree to extensions.

The 22-year-old Porter will make $3.2 million this season in the last year of his current deal which remains in place, according to the person who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because details were not released.

SOCCER

Qatar World Cup ticket sales top 90% of stadium capacity

Doha, Qatar

Nearly 2.9 million tickets have been sold for the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and organizers said Monday, leaving about 7% of seats still available. People living in the United States, Saudi Arabia and England topped the list of international ticket buyers, while Mexico was the biggest market outside Qatar for corporate hospitality sales.

About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the 29-day tournament with extra accommodation still being added to avoid a shortage of rooms in the tiny emirate.

NFL Executive VP Easterby let go by Texans

Houston

The Houston Texans, off to a 1-3-1 start, have parted ways with executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby. Easterby came to Houston in 2019 after working for the New England Patriots for several years in jobs such has chaplain and character coach. He was hired as executive vice president of team development before being promoted to his current role in January 2020.

Easterby and the Texans drew criticism in 2021 when they ignored a search firm’s recommendations and instead hired former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their new GM.

Logano wins at Las Vegas for spot in title race

nix next month.

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Team Penske has a shot at two major champion ships this year — Joey Logano be came the first driver to qualify for the Cup Series’ title-deciding fina le with a win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’re racing for a champion ship! Let’s go!” Logano screamed to the crowd. “All you want to do is get to the championship four when the season starts and race for a championship, and we’ve got the team to do it. I don’t see why we can’t win at this point.”

Logano, who won for the third

time this season and third time at Las Vegas, is the Cup Series’ 2018 champion and advanced to the ti tle race for the fifth time in his ca reer. Team Penske last month cele brated the IndyCar championship when driver Will Power won his second title.

Logano used a late pit stop for new tires hoping the new Good years would give him a shot. He gained six immediate spots, but his Ford was still in eighth on the final restart with 16 laps remain ing.

Chase Briscoe restarted as the leader ahead of Justin Haley and Ross Chastain, and Chastain used a sweeping three-wide pass on the bottom of the track to take the lead. Logano charged through the field, but Chastain successfully used several blocks to hold him off.

Logano ultimately pulled along side Chastain on the frontstretch

with three laps remaining to claim the first spot in next month’s cham pionship race.

“There was a clear difference in tires there, so we fully believed that we could hold him off and win the race on the tires we had, and Joey did a good job of getting through the field,” said Chastain, who finished second in a Chevro let for Trackhouse Racing.

Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, finished third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Playoff drivers Briscoe finished fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and Denny Hamlin, in a Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing, came from 31st to finish fifth.

The race was the first of three in this round of the Cup Series’ play offs. The eight remaining drivers will be whittled down to four for the winner-take-all finale at Phoe

With the stakes so high, the race was fraught with tension from the start and even included nearly a fight between Bubba Wallace and reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson. NASCAR said it will re view the incident, which includ ed what appeared to be Wallace deliberately wrecking Larson and Wallace pushing an official, and any penalties would be issued next week.

The dustup between Wallace and Larson collected Christopher Bell, who won last week at Char lotte to advance into this round of the playoffs and is now ranked last in the standings following his 34th-place finish.

“We will see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat,” Bell said.

Joining Bell below the cut line for elimination were William By ron, Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Blaney led for 39 laps but hit the wall with what appeared to be a tire failure. He finished 28th, sev en laps down.

Logano is locked in to the finale, while Chastain, Hamlin and regu lar-season champion Chase Elliott are above the cut line. Elliott fin ished 21st.

The Team Penske No. 22 is the first to secure one of four slots for the season finale at Phoenix

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

Joey Logano celebrates after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas.

Braves excited for future despite playoff exit

the line.

“We didn’t do a lot of things well,” Snitker said. “We’re a bet ter team than the way we played in this Division Series.”

Hoke prep sports report

Varsity Football

The Hoke County Bucks took to the road this past weekend to play their next to last regu lar season game at Union Pines. The Bucks emerged victorious in their conference matchup with a final score of 42-22.

Ethan Wallace scored five touchdowns during the team’s impressive win over the Vi kings. With those five touch downs, Wallace amassed 166 yards rushing and is now the second-place leader of the con ference with 1,471 yards rush ing. In addition to Wallace’s suc cess, Joey Castaneda also scored a touchdown for the Bucks off a 14-yard reception from Bran don Saunders. Quarterback Brandon Saunders went 11-18 in passing attempts. He now leads the conference with 1,380 yards passing.

Hoke County ended the game with 417 yards total offense, 243

Bucks will host the Patriots this Friday night in Raeford at Raz Autry Stadium at 7:30 pm.

yards passing, and 173 yards on the ground.

The Bucks are now 5-4 over all and 3-2 in the Sandhills Ath letic Conference, which puts them in third place in the con ference. Hoke County has a piv otal game coming up this Friday against Pinecrest, who leads the conference with an undefeated record. The Bucks will host the Patriots this Friday night in Ra eford at Raz Autry Stadium at 7:30 pm.

Varsity Volleyball

The Bucks’ varsity volleyball team suffered three straight loss es as they closed out their season

against Jack Britt. The team lost a conference game on October 11 while on the road in Southern Pines, 3-0. Last Wednesday, in their final match of the season against Jack Britt, the girls lost again, 3-0. The Bucks finished their season with an 8-13 over all record and placed fifth in the conference with a 4-8 record.

Boys Varsity Soccer

The varsity soccer team had a busy last week, which ulti mately ended in success, as the boys defeated Southern Lee (53), Union Pines (8-1), and Gray’s Greek (10-1). On Monday, Hoke County played against Pinecrest in their final conference away game, which ended in a tie after double overtime. The score was 1-1. On Thursday, the boys will play their final game of the regu lar season against South View at 7:00 pm. Heading into their last game, the Bucks have an 11-7 overall record and are 4th in the conference with a 6-5 record.

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press

MORE THAN FOUR

MONTHS of dazzling baseball carried the Atlanta Braves to a fifth straight NL East title. Their hopes of repeating as World Se ries champion fell apart in less than a week.

The season came to an un imaginable end with two dismal performances in Philadelphia, where the Braves were outscored 17-4 and lost the Division Series 3-1 to a Phillies team they beat by 14 games during the regular season.

“Man, I’m disap pointed,” manager Bri an Snitker said Sunday, less than 24 hours af ter the final game. “Just remembering what we went through this year and expecting to (win the World Series) again.”

Instead, the Braves made their earliest exit from the postseason since 2019.

The wild card Phillies are now heading to the Champi onship Series, their title hopes still alive while two 101-win teams that fought to the wire for the di vision title are all done.

The Braves climbed back from a 10½-game deficit to chase down the Mets, sweeping New York on the final weekend of the season and winning the dramatic pen nant race on a tiebreaker to earn the first-round bye.

The Mets were upset in the opening round by the San Diego Padres. Atlanta went down next, doomed by poor starting pitch ing, an offense that suddenly went cold and a bullpen that couldn’t keep it close with the season on

For good measure, a glaring lack of hustle by one of the team’s best players, Ronald Acuña Jr., marred the decisive game and sparked a tirade from team ra dio announcer Joe Simpson, who called it “embarrassing.”

Still, Snitker said his biggest memory of this team will be the way it fought back to catch the Mets. The future certainly looks bright, with most of the young core locked up to long-term con tracts and nearly ev eryone set to return in 2023.

“We have a great team. We really do,” general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “You have to turn the page at some point.”

Snitker, too, is excit ed about what the future holds.

“We have talented players,” he said. “We’ll reconvene in March and the goal is going to be to win the division again.”

The Braves have the two leading candidates for NL rookie of the year — outfielder Michael Har ris II and pitcher Spencer Strid er — and locked them both up to lengthy contracts even though they were years away from being eligible for free agency.

Harris, 21, was brought up from Double-A to bolster the team’s de fense and wound up being one of the Braves’ best all-around play ers. He hit .297 with 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

The hard-throwing Strid er, still a few days from his 24th birthday, solidified the rotation while becoming the first pitcher in baseball history to record 200 strikeouts and give up fewer than 100 hits.

Melissa SWARBRICK

HAS A PLAN TO CUT TAXES

COMBATTING HIGH INFLATION SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT

FIGHTING FOR BETTER EDUCATION

North State Journal

“We’re a better team than the way we played in this Division Series.”

Brian Snitker, Braves manager

MATT SLOCUM | AP PHOTO

Ronald Acuna Jr. and the Braves have a bright future despite getting eliminated from the postseason by the Phillies.

Atlanta was ousted from the postseason by the upstart Phillies

Melissa SWARBRICK

PUTTING

White grubs in your lawn?

By Robert Brockman NC Cooperative Extension Hoke County

WITH SUMMER now behind us, many of us are looking around our lawns and gardens and won dering what happened and what can be done. Hot summers aren’t just difficult on us, they are diffi cult on newly established plants and those plants that don’t have strong root systems. A healthy, es tablished lawn should have a ro bust root system that can get it through hot, dry periods. But what is happening if you have an es tablished lawn that still struggled during the summer? To under stand what happened, we have to put on our detective hat and look for clues. The first step is to make sure that you have the right grass for your location. Cool season grasses such as fescue and peren nial ryegrass are easily stressed by our hot summers and will thin out during dry periods. St. Augustine grass, while a great choice for more shaded locations in Hoke County, doesn’t like full sun and so will of ten be attacked by insects such as chinch bugs during dry periods. Grass species well suited to our southeastern lawns include ber mudagrass, centipedegrass, and zoysiagrass.

The next step is to make sure that the soil has the right pH, enough nutrients, and the grass can access those nutrients. A sim ple soil sample can determine your soil’s pH and its nutrient con tent.

The NC department of agri culture and consumer services of fers soil testing free of charge until Thanksgiving. Soil boxes and in formation is available at the coop erative extension office. We also want to make sure that our soil isn’t compacted and that the grass has a strong root system. When you dig up your grass, does it have short stubby roots? If so, you may have a problem with white grubs, the lar val stage of beetles in the Scarab family. Some of the most common white grub species in our area in clude Japanese beetles, green June beetles, masked chafers, and MayJune beetles. With the exception of green June beetles, these grubs are herbivores that love to munch on the roots of our grass.

If you suspect that you have a problem with white grubs in your lawn, it is important to determine their population size in early fall. Locate a sparse area of your lawn, dig up a square foot flap of soil, and look for grubs in the top four inch es of your lawn’s roots. If, after do ing this several times throughout your lawn, you find an average of 4 or more grubs, it is likely time for a treatment. These grubs have an annual life cycle and are small est in the fall. As they grow, they cause more extensive damage to your lawn and are also more diffi cult to control. Green June beetles are very different than other white grubs and have the nasty habit of crawling to the soil surface to die after insecticide treatments. Be cause of this, it’s important to de termine that you don’t have green June beetle grubs before treating. While all other white grubs crawl on their stomach using their legs, green June beetle grubs will crawl on their back with their legs in the air. This activity can help distin guish them from other species so that you do not spray at an inop portune time and have large num bers of grubs dying on the surface of your lawn.

There are two biological con trols for white grubs. The first bi ological control treatment is the milky spore bacteria which only infect the most damaging white grub, Japanese beetles. While this biological control is effec tive in many locations, it prefers soils with a pH between 6 and 7, higher than many soils here in the Sandhills. The second bio logical control is another bacteri um which goes by the trade name grubGoneG. While grubGoneG affects all beetles, it is unknown how effective it is in the Sand hills region. Other natural kill ers of white grubs include birds and moles, both of which destroy your lawn as they hunt for food.

A few insecticides that are effec tive against white grubs include chlorantraniliprole (Acelepryn), clothianidin (Arena), imidaclo prid (Merit), thiamethoxam (Me ridian), trichlorfon (Dylox, Prox ol), and dinotefuran (Zylam). For rates and all other information, check the label on your insecti cide. When applying insecticides,

remember that you will get the best control by applying your in secticide in the fall while grubs are still small.

If

like

information regarding lawn maintenance or white grubs, please contact Rob by Brockman at the Hoke Coun

ty Cooperative Extension Service,

East Palmer Street, Raeford. By phone at

or email at robby_brockman@ncsu.edu

AP PHOTO

A demonstrator waves a flag with marijuana leaves depicted on it during a protest calling for the legalization of marijuana, outside of the White House on April 2, 2016, in Washington, D.C.

MATT SLOCUM | AP PHOTO

Homeowner Joyce Bayles, 85, mows the lawn around her home in this June 23, 2022, file photo.

FILE PHOTO

obituaries

SPONSORED BY CRUMPLER FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION

Joyce Parker Barrow

May 21, 1942 ~ October 16, 2022

Mrs. Joyce Parker Barrow of Raeford went home to be with her Lord and Savior on October 16, 2022.

Joyce was born in Scotland County on April 21, 1942, to the late Jimmy Lilly Parker and Bertha Currie Hendrix.

She was preceded in death by her son, Jimmy Thomas, and her sister, Louise Barwick.

Joyce was a member of Sandy Grove United Methodist Church and a member of the United Methodist Women. She retired in 2012 from Liberty Home Health Care.

She is survived by her husband, Charles (Chuck) L. Barrow of Raeford, son, Don Thomas of Ashley Heights, daughter Rebecca (Becky) Riley of Boca Raton, Florida, stepson, Charles (Chuck Jr.) L. Barrow and his wife Carol of Conetoe, NC, three stepdaughters, Phylis Gardner of Roanoke Rapids, NC, Beverly Massey, and her husband James of Roanoke Rapids, NC, Greta Templeton and her husband Bruce of Roanoke Rapids, NC, several grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, a sister Dianne Hubbard and her husband Michael, of Raeford, NC, and an aunt, Betty Ginn and her husband Nick of Fayetteville, NC.

Steven C Swan

June 14, 1944 ~ September 22, 2022

Steven C. Swan age, 78 transitioned from earth to glory on September 22, 2022.

He and his adoring wife of 56 years, Vernell E. Swan are joined together. The Legacy Steven C. Swan left behind will always shine in our hearts, and he will surely be missed by all.

He leaves to cherish his memories three children: Steven Swan Jr. (Clare) of Baldwin, NY, Arno Peters (Sheila) of New Milford, NJ, and LeShon Swan (Ingrid) of Wingdale, NY; two grandsons: Steven K. Swan III and Vincent Aloi; five granddaughters: Jennifer Elawar, Victoria Aloi, Savannah Swan, LaShon Swan and Heaven Swan; two great-grandchildren: Ariana Ricon and Nicolas Elawar. He also leaves a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Lessie Jane Melvin

October 4, 1928 ~ October 10, 2022

Ms. Lessie Melvin age, 94 went home to rest with her heavenly father on October 10, 2022.

Lessie leaves to cherish her memory two sisters: Ruby McArthur and Ruth King of Hartford, Connecticut; Nieces: Catherine Maynor, Mary Delores Johnson, Shirley Johnson and Sharon Mitchell, all of Fayetteville, NC., Mary Ann Timmons of Lumber Bridge, NC, Belinda Young (Melvin), Lisa King, Gwendolyn King and Carolyn McArthur all of Hartford, Conn.; Nephews: Charles Johnson, John Rainey(Angelene) and Dwight Pitts (Donna) all of Fayetteville, NC; a special childhood friend, Eola Leach; and her dear and loyal friends, Mike St. Pierre and his family; and several great nieces, great nephews, cousins and other relatives and friends.

Delton Harden

May 1, 1937 ~ October 17, 2022

Mr. Delton Harden of Raeford, NC has gone to be with his Lord and Savior on Monday, October 17, 2022.

Delton was born in Robeson County on May 1, 1937, to the late Dolan Harden and Lula Edwards Harden.

He was preceded by his son, Delton Harden Jr., a brother, Talmadge Harden, three sisters, Kathleen Hales, Ernestine Hinson, Clemateen Britt, and two stepsisters, Hazel Haire and Carrie Jacobs.

Delton faithfully attended the Church of God of Prophecy. He was the owner and operator of Harden Appliance Service. He was well known throughout Hoke County, and everybody loved him. Delton would either make you laugh, or make you blush, and he never met a stranger. His hobbies included fishing at the beach, exploring the mountains, playing in the men’s softball league, and spending time with his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Juanita Lee Harden of Raeford, NC, four children, Pamela Harden of Raeford, Daren Harden of Raeford, Sharon Spear, and her husband Kevin of Southern Pines, Chris Harden of Raeford, 8 grandchildren, Joshua, Benjamin, Quienton, Anthony, Favour, Koleman, Hannah, Caleb, a great-granddaughter, Adeleiah, and a sister Geraldine Garrett of Cookesville, TN.

December 15, 1958 ~ October 14, 2022

Mrs. Sylvia McQueen age, 63 transitioned from earth to glory on October 14, 2022. She was preceded in death by her son Tim McQueen.

She leaves to cherish her loving memories her husband, Larry McQueen, children: Chiquita Alexander, Tremain McQueen, Larry Maurice McQueen, Sharonda McQueen; parents: Simon (Buck) and Arletha B. Headen; sisters: Janie McPhatter, Doris McLean, Carolyn Perkins, Shirley McPhatter, Barbara Powell, Mary McLaurin, Dorothy Smith; brother, Mike McPhatter, twelve grandchildren, one great grandchild along with a host of other family and friends. Sylvia will be greatly missed.

Doreatha Jackson

September 6, 1940 ~ October 13, 2022

Ms. Doreatha Jackson age, 82 went home to rest with her heavenly father on October 13, 2022. She was the daughter of the late Charlie and Lillian White. She leaves to cherish her loving memories her son, Felix Jackson; sisters: Mary H. White, Lillian Jane Davis; brothers: Willie R. White, Melvin L. White; grandchildren: Jermaine King, Lakia King, Micheal King, Kashiya Smith; great grandchildren: Jacob Johnson, Kaden Scott, Asher Scott, Ziar King, along with a host of other family and friends. Doreatha will be greatly missed.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@northstatejournal.com

Sylvia McQueen

Sample Ballot Hoke County, NC

Not an o cial Ballot Produced by Hoke GOP

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Car show to raise money for music scholarships

Rowan County

The second annual Camden Cohick Memorial Car Show will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at South Rowan High School in China Grove. The event will raise awareness for suicide prevention, after Cohick, a former South Rowan graduate and Western Carolina music student, ended his own life in 2021 at age 20. The show will also raise money to fund music scholarships.

The fund—Camden Cohick’s Love of Music Scholarship—honors a South Rowan student planning to pursue a music major. Music majors at Western Carolina are also eligible for an award. The first Car Show raised $4,000, which went to a South Rowan band member who now plays trombone in the Western Carolina marching band.

The event includes food trucks, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Proceeds will be split between the scholarship fund and the South Rowan High band program.

NTSB: Plane breaks up in flight when pilot loses control

Rural Hall

The National Transportation Safety Board said an October 2020 crash in Rural Hall was most likely caused by the pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control and improper recovery from an unusual attitude, which resulted in an in-flight breakup. The pilot said he was attempting to pitch and roll to practice a chandelle and may have released the back pressure on the control stick. He said he became disoriented and tried to correct visually, instead of by reference to the instruments. He inadvertently increased the rate of descent and was unable to determine the airplane’s position as it rapidly gained airspeed.

He then deployed the airplane’s ballistic recovery system (BRS). The BRS system’s parachute deployed successfully, and the airplane came to rest in trees near Rural Hall without its left wing.

Ukrainian delegation of medical professionals visit Winston-Salem

Twin City Herald

A DELEGATION of medi cal professionals from Ukraine are visiting Winston-Salem for a 10-day tour to learn disaster medicine techniques practiced in the United States and share their experiences and expertise with lo cal first responders, physicians and health care leaders.

The visit is through the Con gressional Office for Internation

al Leadership’s Open World pro gram and is being hosted locally by Friendship Force of Central North Carolina. The visit was planned before the current war in Ukraine. Ukrainian delegates will stay with volunteer host families while tour ing local facilities to learn about things like burn treatment, trau ma management, intensive care, and related medicine.

The delegation of five medi cal professionals, one interpret

er and one facilitator arrived on Oct. 14 and are expected to leave Oct. 22. During their time here, delegates will visit Forsyth Coun ty Emergency Medical Services, Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, Atrium Health Wake For est Baptist Medical Center, Triad Healthcare Preparedness Coali tion and the American Red Cross.

The Open World program is an exchange and partnership pro gram designed to enhance under

standing and cooperation between the Congress, American commu nities, and global leaders. It has facilitated visits for 30,000 lead ers from other countries in all 50 states since 1999.

Founded in 1977, Friendship Force International is a non-prof it cultural organization focused on promoting understanding, cultur al education, and citizen diploma cy through homestay journeys and personal friendships.

Dr. Ebony Boulware, named dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Wake Forest University School of Medicine announced Dr. L. Eb ony Boulware, as its new dean. She will also serve as vice chief aca demic officer and chief science of ficer of Atrium Health. Boulware will join the medical school in Jan uary 2023 and will succeed Dr. Ju lie Ann Freischlag, who remains as CEO of Atrium Health Wake For est Baptist and chief academic offi cer of Atrium Health.

A s dean and chief science offi cer, Boulware will lead all aspects of the medical school, including programs to advance the clini cal, research, education, innova tion and community engagement missions.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Boulware to Wake Forest Univer sity,” said Susan R. Wente, pres ident of Wake Forest University.

“She is an outstanding physician, a pioneer of public health equity, and will be a truly inspiring dean of our medical school.”

“She joins the university at a time when we celebrate the 120th anniversary of our School of Med icine and as we look to the future — specifically to 2034, when Wake Forest will enter its third century,” Wente added.

“As we strive to em body inclusive excellence in all we do and live out our pro humani tate motto we will be stronger for Dr. Boulware’s leadership, advoca

cy and partnership.”

Boulware joins the organiza tion at a historic time as Wake Forest University School of Med icine is growing as the academic core of Atrium Health, expanding its model to support a new campus in Charlotte and continuing its role as a key school of Wake For est University.

“Among her many inspiring ac complishments, Dr. Boulware is an international leader in study ing health equity who is passionate about improving health for under represented minorities, especial ly those suffering with chronic dis ease,” Freischlag said.

Her groundbreaking work to develop successful interventions, raise physician awareness and change clinical practice will ben efit our medical school, our health system and our community as we seek to accelerate learning and discovery by advancing the science of medicine to better care for our patients,” Freischlag added. “Dr. Boulware also brings with her an energy and determination that will be integral as we continue to grow as an inclusive organization and educate the next generation of health care leaders.”

Boulware most recently direct ed the Duke Clinical and Trans lational Science Institute, in Durham, North Carolina, as vice dean for translational science and associate vice chancellor for trans

lational research at Duke Univer sity. She was also a distinguished professor of medicine and served as chief of the division of general internal medicine in the depart ment of medicine at the Duke Uni versity School of Medicine.

I am deeply honored and thrilled to join Wake Forest Uni versity School of Medicine and Atrium Health at this transfor mational time to advance a vision for improving health and health equity through our educational, research and clinical missions,” Boulware said.

Her research has been contin uously funded by the National In stitutes of Health, the Patient Cen tered Outcomes Research Institute and other organizations through out her career. She has published more than 200 manuscripts, book chapters and editorials and has mentored numerous students, res idents, fellows and faculty mem bers. She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the National Acade

my of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“Dr. Boulware brings the type of transformative leadership that will propel us to be the model for academic learning health systems across the nation,” said Eugene A. Woods, president and CEO of Atri um Health. “Her depth of experi ence and commitment to health equity, translational research and clinical excellence will help guide our vision of educating and train ing the next generation of caregiv ers, leaders and innovators.”

Boulware received her bache lor’s degree in English from Vas sar College and her medical de gree from Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency at the University of Maryland pri or to completing a research fel lowship in general internal medi cine at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a master’s de gree in public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Freischlag’s role as chief aca demic officer of Atrium Health in cludes leading the newly formed Health Sciences System, which includes Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Atrium Health Cabarrus College of Health Scienc es, Atrium Health Carolinas Col lege of Health Sciences and clini cal training programs that include nearly 1,500 residents and fellows.

Twin City Herald

“We will be stronger for Dr. Boulware’s leadership, advocacy and partnership. Wake Forest president Susan R. Wente

PHOTO VIA FORSYTH COUNTY FLICKR

A group of medical professionals from Ukraine observe a simulated crash staged by the Winston-Salem fire department.

DEATH NOTICES

♦ Betty Jo Bumgardner (Tilley), 85, of Winston-Salem, died October 16, 2022.

♦ Terry Alvin Byrd, 73, of Guilford County, died October 14, 2022.

♦ Wayne Eugene Ellingham, 85, of Clemmons, died October 13, 2022.

♦ Betty Lou Tuttle Fox, 85, of Forsyth County, died October 16, 2022.

♦ Betty Jean Mize Hoover, 89 of Winston-Salem, died October 15, 2022.

♦ Cecil Edgar Houck, Jr., 88, of Winston-Salem, died October 15, 2022.

♦ Melissa Jane Kite, 61, of Clemmons, died October 16, 2022.

♦ Michael John Petroccia, 34, of Forsyth County, died October 12, 2022.

♦ Carolyn Frances Pickett, 82, of Winston-Salem, died October 14, 2022.

♦ Carrie Reader, of WinstonSalem, died October 16, 2022.

♦ Susan Gayle Lewellyn Schramm, 77, of Clemmons, died October 13, 2022.

♦ Jacob “Jack” Michael Schwartz, 70, died October 12, 2022.

♦ Sterling Ashley Spainhour, of Winston-Salem, died October 12, 2022.

♦ Benny Stoltz, 67, of Forsyth County, died October 15, 2022.

♦ Vicki Jones Strupe, 70, of Winston-Salem, died October 15, 2022.

♦

Elrico Torrence, of WinstonSalem, died October 12, 2022.

♦ Robert “Bobby” Durant Wham, Jr., 69, of Winston-Salem, died October 12, 2022.

♦ Maude Brown White, 101, of Winston Salem, died October 12, 2022.

♦ James Anderson Williams, 85, of Winston-Salem, died October 13, 2022.

Joan Adams Wintemberg, 86, died October 14, 2022.

Dennis Eugene Wright, 67, of Winston-Salem, died October 12, 2022.

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

Explaining conservatism

There are a number of reasons many young people shy away from conservatism.

The most obvious is that they have been exposed only to left-wing values — from elementary school through graduate school, in the movies, on television, on social media and now even at Disneyland.

Less obvious but equally significant is that they have never been properly exposed to conservative values. Since at least the World War II generation, most parents who held conservative values either did not think they had to teach their children those values or simply did not know how to do so. Most still don’t. If asked to define conservative values, most conservatives will be tongue-tied.

In light of this, I present here, and in subsequent columns, a list of conservatism’s defining characteristics.

We will begin with the most important conservative value — liberty.

Conservatives believe in individual liberty (there is no liberty other than individual liberty). It has been the primary value of the American experiment. While many countries include the word “liberty” in their national mottoes and national anthems, no country has so emphasized liberty as has America.

That is why:

—The French designers of the Statue of Liberty gave the statue to America.

—The iconic symbol of America is the Liberty Bell.

—The one inscription on the Liberty Bell is a verse about liberty from the Book of Leviticus: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

—Americans sing of their country as “the land of the free” and “sweet land of liberty.”

—Until recently, every America schoolchild knew by heart Patrick Henry’s cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

—Chinese young people who protested the Communist takeover of Hong Kong waved the American flag.

And that is why America’s founders were adamant that the state — the national government — be as small, as limited, as possible. The bigger the government, the smaller the liberty. Big government and big liberty are mutually exclusive.

Moreover, liberty is not the only victim of big government. Human life is also a victim. Every genocide of the 20th century, the century of genocide, was committed by big government. Without big government, one hundred million people would not and could not have been slaughtered, and a billion more would not and could not have been enslaved.

(There was one exception: the Hutu genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which was tribal in nature. Tribal culture, like leftwing culture, emphasizes the group over the individual.)

In order to limit the size and power of the national

WEEKLY CRIME LOG

♦ Baker, Lamondre Dwayne (M/36)

Arrest on chrg of 1) Assault-point Gun (M), 2) Communicate Threats (M), 3) Weap-poss By Felon (F), and 4) Ccw (M), at 4828 Dippen Rd, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/12/2022 14:00.

♦ Billings, Ruby Ann (F/21) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drug Trafficking (F), 2) Drug Trafficking (F), 3) P/w/i/s/d Sched Ii (F), 4) P/w/i/s/d Sched Ii (F), and 5) Ccw (M), at 3682 Wyandotte Av, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/13/2022 11:53

♦ BOGER, JOSHUA RAYMOND was arrested on a charge of VIO. PROTECTIVE ORDER BY COURTS ANOTHER STATE/ INDIAN TRIBE at 201 N CHURCH ST on 10/17/2022

♦ Bowman, Janice Sue (F/69)

Arrest on chrg of Impaired Driving Dwi (M), at 7000 Red Bank Rd, Germanton, NC, on 10/17/2022 16:15.

♦ Broderson, Ira Austin (M/45)

Arrest on chrg of Communicate Threats (M), at 2855 Reynolda Rd, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/13/2022 16:53.

♦ Buckallew, Tyler Austin (M/25) Arrest on chrg of 1) Impaired Driving Dwi (M), 2) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), 3) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), 4) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), 5) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), and 6) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), at 6490 Stadium Dr, Clemmons, NC, on 10/14/2022 22:19.

♦ Burns, Travis Wayne (M/31) Arrest on chrg of Poss Cocaine Fel (F), at 3682 Wyandotte Ave, Winston Salem, NC, on 10/13/2022 11:53.

♦ Burton, Nevin Casey (M/31) Arrest on chrg of 1) Larceny-felony (F), 2) Larceny/misdemeanor (M), 3) Drug Paraphernalia (M), 4) Resisting Arrest (M), and 5) Resisting Arrest (M), at 3633

Clemmons Rd, Clemmons, NC, on 10/15/2022 08:52.

♦ Butler, Anthony Deon (M/19) Arrest on chrg of 1) Assault On Female (M), 2) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), and 3) Fail To Appear/ compl (M), at 201 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/14/2022 14:57.

♦ Clayton, Pamela Melissa (F/47) Arrest on chrg of Larceny-felony (F), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 10/16/2022 14:56

♦ Cowan, Stephen Ramount (M/54) Arrest on chrg of 1) Order For Arrest (M) and 2) Ofa/fta-assault On A Female (M), at 1505 Mariners Ct, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/12/2022 10:28.

♦ Cox, Misty Ladawn (F/40) Arrest on chrg of Resisting Arrest (M), at 5906 King Charles Ct, Clemmons, NC, on 10/17/2022 11:30

♦ EAGLE, ELIZABETH JANE was arrested on a charge of POSS COCAINE FEL at 201 N CHURCH ST on 10/16/2022

♦ FORBES, TYRKE DEON was arrested on a charge of WEAPPOSS BY FELON at 201 N CHURCH ST on 10/14/2022

♦ Francogomez, Israel Gustavo (M/21) Arrest on chrg of 1) Fail To Appear/compl (M), 2) Probation Violation (M), and 3) Ofa-ftamisdemeanor Probation Viol (M), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 10/13/2022 17:26.

♦ GRAHAM, MAURICE ANTWAN was arrested on a charge of ALTER, DESTRUCT, REMOVE SERIAL NUMBER FIREARM; POSS FIREARM at 1100 SALEM VALLEY RD on 10/16/2022

♦ Hall, Rahnard Amund (M/19) Arrest on chrg of 1) Robbery (F) and 2) Robbery (F), at 201 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on

government, the founders delegated most governmental powers to the states. They did so in the Constitution by specifying what powers the national government had and by asserting that all other powers be delegated to the states. In addition, they increased the power of the states by having presidential elections decided by the states — the Electoral College — rather than by the popular national vote, and by how they structured the Senate, one of the two branches of Congress. They gave every state equal representation in the Senate, no matter how small the population of the state.

The Left’s opposition to the Electoral College and to the Senate makes perfect sense. It is the power inherent in big government, not liberty, that animates the Left. The defining characteristic of every left-wing party and movement in the world has always been an ever bigger and therefore more powerful government.

Liberty is a liberal value as well as a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. Liberty cannot be a left-wing value because the more liberty individuals have, the less power the government has. Conversely, the weaker the state, the weaker the Left.

This especially holds true for the greatest of all liberties — free speech.

Free speech is a fundamental conservative value, and it has been a fundamental liberal value. But it has never been a left-wing value. For that reason, everywhere the Left is dominant — government, media, universities — it stifles dissent. The reason is simple: no left-wing movement can survive an open exchange of ideas. Leftist ideologies are emotion- and power-based, not reason- or morality-based. So, leftists cannot allow honest debate. They do not argue with opponents; they suppress them.

For the first time in American history, freedom of speech is seriously threatened — indeed it has already been seriously curtailed. With the ascent of the Left, the inevitable suppression of free speech is taking place.

That liberals — who have always valued liberty and free speech — vote for the great suppressor of liberty, the Left, is the tragedy of our time. The reason they do so is that liberals forgot what they stand for they only remember what they believe they stand against conservatives.

So, the next time a liberal or left-wing friend or relative asks you what conservatives stand for, say “liberty” — especially free speech. And explain that is why you fear and oppose big government — because big government and individual liberty cannot coexist.

10/12/2022 13:30.

♦ Hemrick, Robert Wilson (M/40) Arrest on chrg of 1) Felony Habitual Larceny (F), 2) Felony Habitual Larceny (F), 3) Felony Habitual Larceny (F), 4) Felony Habitual Larceny (F), 5) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 6) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 7) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 8) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 9) Fail To Appear/compl (F), 10) Fail To Appear/compl (F), 11) Resisting Arrest (M), 12) Probation Violation (M), and 13) Probation Violation (M), at 5906 King Charles Ct, Clemmons, NC, on 10/17/2022 11:10

♦

HOLLAND, ANTHONY STAFFON was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 623 WAUGHTOWN ST on 10/16/2022

♦

ISMAIL, MAZEN FAWZY was arrested on a charge of RESISTING ARREST at 2013 E FOURTEENTH ST on 10/15/2022

♦ Joseph, Alfred Beresford (M/46) Arrest on chrg of Fugitive (F), at 2099 Bethania-rural Hall Rd/ walker Rd, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/12/2022 17:26.

♦ Martin, Tristan Marcel (M/33) Arrest on chrg of 2nd Degree Trespass, M (M), at 899 Woodbriar Path/heatherton Ln, Rural Hall, NC, on 10/12/2022 08:19.

♦ MCHARGUE, MATTHEW LEE was arrested on a charge of DRUGS-POSS SCHED I at 5910 UNIVERSITY PW on 10/15/2022

♦ Mitchell, Mark Alan (M/55) Arrest on chrg of 1) Order For Arrest (M), 2) Ofa/fta-second Degree Trespass (M), and 3) Ofa/ftamisdemeanor Probation Viol (M), at 4645 Duffer Ct, Pfafftown, NC, on 10/16/2022 22:30.

♦ Moore, Joshua (M/43) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched Ii (F) and 2) Weap-poss By Felon (F),

at 201 North Church St, Winston Salem, NC, on 10/16/2022 09:22.

♦ Oakes, Trequan Makell (M/20) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-misd Poss (M), 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), 3) Contrib Delinq Minor (M), 4) Resisting Arrest (M), 5) Speeding To Elude Arrest (F), 6) Imp Regis - Expired, Suspended, Revoked, Altered Plate (M), and 7) Speeding - Posted (M), at 1405 Underwood Av, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/12/2022 17:26.

♦ ONEAL, RYAN DALE was arrested on a charge of FELONY HABITUAL LARCENY at 955 PETERS CREEK PW on 10/14/2022

♦ Pardue, Scottie Dwayne (M/45) Arrest on chrg of Assault On Female (M), at 4731 Ben Ln, Walkertown, NC, on 10/12/2022 01:45.

♦ Raisig, Reid Joshua (M/38) Arrest on chrg of 1) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 2) Poss Stolen Goods (F), 3) Fail To Appear/compl (M), 4) Fail To Appear/compl (M), and 5) Aid And Abet Larceny ($1,000 Or Less) (M), at 5230 Beauchamp Ln, Winston-salem, NC, on 10/12/2022 00:37.

♦ Rivera, Omar Alejandro (M/24) Arrest on chrg of 1) Poss Marijuana Fel (F), 2) P/w/i/s/d Marijuana (F), 3) P/w/i/s/d Sched I (F), 4) Drug Paraphernalia (M), and 5) Equip - Violation Tinted Windows (M), at 1300 Lewisville-clemmons Rd, Lewisville, NC, on 10/15/2022 20:50.

♦ ROJAS, LYSETTE MARIE was arrested on a charge of ASSAULTSIMPLE at 2350 CARLYLE PLACE DR on 10/16/2022

♦ Schacht, Crystal Marie (F/40) Arrest on chrg of 1) Larceny-credit Card (F) and 2) Fraud-credit Card (M), at 1956 Pondarosa Dr, Kernersville, NC, on 10/15/2022 14:16.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talkshow host and columnist. His latest books are “The Rational Passover Haggadah” and “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis

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SIDELINE REPORT

NASCAR Wallace charges after Larson following crash at Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Bubba Wallace tried to fight reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson after a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that also collected title contender Christopher Bell. Wallace had led 29 laps before Larson attempted a three-wide pass and Larson slid up the track against Wallace. When Wallace didn’t lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace’s Toyota into the wall. Wallace bounced back down the track, followed Larson’s car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. That spent Larson spinning into Bell’s path. Wallace then charged after Larson and shoved him multiple times before a NASCAR official separated the two.

NBA Rockets agree to 4-year extension with Porter

Houston

The Houston Rockets announced a multiyear contract extension with Kevin Porter Jr. on Monday that could be worth as much as $82 million. The four-year deal was reached Monday, the deadline for players out of the rookie draft class of 2019 to agree to extensions.

The 22-year-old Porter will make $3.2 million this season in the last year of his current deal which remains in place, according to the person who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because details were not released.

SOCCER

Qatar World Cup ticket sales top 90% of stadium capacity Doha, Qatar

Nearly 2.9 million tickets have been sold for the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and organizers said Monday, leaving about 7% of seats still available. People living in the United States, Saudi Arabia and England topped the list of international ticket buyers, while Mexico was the biggest market outside Qatar for corporate hospitality sales. About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the 29-day tournament with extra accommodation still being added to avoid a shortage of rooms in the tiny emirate.

NFL Executive VP Easterby let go by Texans

Houston

The Houston Texans, off to a 1-3-1 start, have parted ways with executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby. Easterby came to Houston in 2019 after working for the New England Patriots for several years in jobs such has chaplain and character coach. He was hired as executive vice president of team development before being promoted to his current role in January 2020.

Easterby and the Texans drew criticism in 2021 when they ignored a search firm’s recommendations and instead hired former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their new GM.

Logano wins at Las Vegas for spot in title race

The Team Penske No. 22 is the first to secure one of four slots for the season finale at Phoenix

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Team Penske has a shot at two major champion ships this year — Joey Logano be came the first driver to qualify for the Cup Series’ title-deciding fina le with a win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’re racing for a champion ship! Let’s go!” Logano screamed to the crowd. “All you want to do is get to the championship four when the season starts and race for a championship, and we’ve got the team to do it. I don’t see why we can’t win at this point.”

Logano, who won for the third

time this season and third time at Las Vegas, is the Cup Series’ 2018 champion and advanced to the ti tle race for the fifth time in his ca reer. Team Penske last month cele brated the IndyCar championship when driver Will Power won his second title.

Logano used a late pit stop for new tires hoping the new Good years would give him a shot. He gained six immediate spots, but his Ford was still in eighth on the final restart with 16 laps remain ing.

Chase Briscoe restarted as the leader ahead of Justin Haley and Ross Chastain, and Chastain used a sweeping three-wide pass on the bottom of the track to take the lead. Logano charged through the field, but Chastain successfully used several blocks to hold him off.

Logano ultimately pulled along side Chastain on the frontstretch

with three laps remaining to claim the first spot in next month’s cham pionship race.

“There was a clear difference in tires there, so we fully believed that we could hold him off and win the race on the tires we had, and Joey did a good job of getting through the field,” said Chastain, who finished second in a Chevro let for Trackhouse Racing.

Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, finished third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Playoff drivers Briscoe finished fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and Denny Hamlin, in a Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing, came from 31st to finish fifth.

The race was the first of three in this round of the Cup Series’ play offs. The eight remaining drivers will be whittled down to four for the winner-take-all finale at Phoe

Warriors out to defend amid tons of contenders

The NBA season began Tuesday night

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

GOLDEN STATE COACH

Steve Kerr went into last season uncertain if his club would be good enough to contend for an other NBA championship.

He got his answer. He’s getting another ring.

And now, the Warriors will try to do it all again.

The NBA’s 77th season start ed Tuesday night with NBA Com missioner Adam Silver will be in San Francisco for Golden State’s ring night as the Warriors began their quest for what would be a fifth championship in nine sea sons.

“We’re back in it,” Kerr said.

“But there’s a lot of teams that are right in it, and the league is super competitive. I think the West has gotten even stronger. There’s a lot of competition out there. And so, we’re one of the teams that is in the mix and that’s exciting. But we have to start over. It doesn’t just automatically happen from one

year to the next, so we’ve got a lot of work.”

There is no shortage of con tenders for the Warriors to fend off and no shortage of teams that made big moves with hopes of be ing the last team standing this season. Minnesota traded with Utah for Rudy Gobert and Cleve land traded with Utah for Dono

van Mitchell; the Timberwolves and Cavaliers are trying to reach the league’s upper echelon, and the Jazz are starting on a new path after a few years of being good but nowhere near good enough.

“There’s a very high level of competition this year,” Gobert said. “I think a lot of teams got better.”

nix next month.

With the stakes so high, the race was fraught with tension from the start and even included nearly a fight between Bubba Wallace and reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson. NASCAR said it will re view the incident, which includ ed what appeared to be Wallace deliberately wrecking Larson and Wallace pushing an official, and any penalties would be issued next week.

The dustup between Wallace and Larson collected Christopher Bell, who won last week at Char lotte to advance into this round of the playoffs and is now ranked last in the standings following his 34th-place finish.

“We will see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat,” Bell said.

Joining Bell below the cut line for elimination were William By ron, Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Blaney led for 39 laps but hit the wall with what appeared to be a tire failure. He finished 28th, sev en laps down.

Logano is locked in to the finale, while Chastain, Hamlin and regu lar-season champion Chase Elliott are above the cut line. Elliott fin ished 21st.

Some teams might have gotten better by not doing something. Kevin Durant asked for a trade out of Brooklyn; cooler heads prevailed, and Durant remained with the Nets, who also should have Kyrie Irving — whose deci sion not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 means he’ll be tested often but won’t keep him off the floor — for many more games this season than the 29 he was limited to last season. And Ben Simmons, who didn’t play at all last season, will be out there with Durant and Irving as well.

LeBron James enters this sea son 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s alltime scoring lead, and the Lakers — if they can stay healthy — figure to be much better than the 33-49 record they posted last year. The Los Angeles Clippers have Kawhi Leonard back after a year off with a knee injury, just as the Denver Nuggets get Jamal Murray back from knee rehabilitation to join forces again with two-time reign ing MVP Nikola Jokic. Phoe nix has a core that has won more games than any team in the NBA over the last two regular seasons.

All those clubs, and a few oth ers, plan on contending.

“Hopefully, we can take anoth er step,” Leonard said. “That’s all I can hope for.”

AP PHOTO

Stephen Curry and the Warriors will began the defense of their NBA title on Tuesday when the league started play on the 2022-23 season.

JOHN LOCHER | AP PHOTO

Joey Logano celebrates after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas.

STATE & NATION

Biden’s late push across West aims to deliver votes for Dems

By Colleen Long The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Presi dent Joe Biden strode into the telephone bank at a crowd ed union hall and eagerly began making calls and eating dough nuts — one frosted, one glazed — as he tries every page in the polit ical playbook to deliver votes for Democrats.

“What a governor does mat ters,” Biden said in a pep talk to volunteers who were making Fri day night calls for Oregon guber natorial hopeful Tina Kotek and other candidates. “It matters! It matters, it matters, it matters!”

Before leaving Portland on Saturday, the president attended a union hall reception for Kotek as he tried to boost her chances in a three-way race that could cost Democrats a reliably blue gover nor’s seat. He also gave a speech at a community center, warning that his administration’s prog ress “goes away, gone” if Repub licans take control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Portland was the final stop on a four-day swing through Ore gon, California and Colorado that has encapsulated Biden’s strate gy for turning out voters on Elec tion Day, Nov. 8: flex the levers of

government to help boost candi dates, promote an agenda aimed at strengthening an uncertain economy and haul in campaign cash.

And this: show up for candi dates when Biden can be helpful, steer clear of places where a vis it from a president with approval ratings under 50% isn’t necessar

ily a good thing.

Throughout the trip, Biden had to compete for the spotlight and contend with a troubling new inflation report and rising gas prices.

“Folks are still struggling. We can’t kid ourselves about that,” Biden said.

He touted Democratic legis

lation that he says will fight cli mate change with clean energy incentives and limit the cost of prescription drugs, saying that “we’re fighting for folks who need our help.”

In Oregon, Democratic offi cials hope that Biden can help consolidate the party’s support behind Kotek. The party is in danger of losing the governor’s race in the traditional Democrat ic stronghold as Betsy Johnson — who has quit both the Democrat ic and Republican parties — has run a well-financed race against Kotek and the GOP nominee Christine Drazan.

Biden said Kotek has the “heart of a lion,” and he described her as “an articulate, tough, com mitted woman.”

But his remarks came as the government reported that con sumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, jumped 6.6% in September from a year ago — the fastest such pace in four decades. Biden acknowl edged that people were being “squeezed by the cost of living. It’s been true for years, and folks don’t need a report to tell them they’re being squeezed.”

Democratic candidates have been far more likely to appear with Biden at official White House events underscoring their achievements than at overt cam paign events. In California, Biden was joined by state law makers and the city’s mayor, and he called them out individually. Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, made a takeout run with Biden to a taco

What spiking US veterinary prices reveal about inflation

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most pets hate visiting the vet. Now it’s becoming a lot more unpleasant for their owners, too.

America’s worst bout of infla tion in four decades has swollen the cost of your dog or cat’s visit to the animal doctor. Prices for vet services have jumped 10% in the past year, government data shows — the biggest such spike on re cords dating back two decades.

The surging cost of veterinary services illustrates how high in flation has spread well beyond physical goods, such as cars, that became scarce as the economy ac celerated out of the pandemic re cession, to numerous services of which pet care is one example. The trend has stoked fears that infla tion is growing more entrenched and that the Federal Reserve will feel compelled to keep raising in terest rates at an ever-higher risk of causing a recession.

From dental care and apart ment rents to auto repairs and hotel rates, prices for services keep going up. Such inflation is especially hard to quell, because it’s driven mainly by a tight labor market and consumer demand, which won’t likely cool unless the economy slows drastically or sinks into a recession.

The cost of housing is the big gest driver of higher services pric es. But even excluding rents, ser vices prices rose 7.4% in August from a year ago.

The Fed’s rate hikes, which af fect consumer and business loans, aren’t ideally suited to taming

services inflation. And in today’s economy, the service sector ac counts for the bulk of consumer spending.

“It takes more to move the pric es of services,” said Joseph Gag non, a former Fed official who is a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The real question is: What level of un employment is going to be needed to cool off all this pressure?”

Spiking services prices are a big reason why Fed officials have stressed their determination to keep raising rates to move infla

tion back toward their 2% target, even as worries have grown that they’ll go too far and derail the economy.

Like many services, veterinary care is labor-intensive; worker pay makes up about half the cost of running a practice. With wag es rising nationally at the fast est pace in decades, many clin ic owners have had to pay more to find or keep employees. Those wage increases have typically been passed on to pet owners in the form of higher prices.

Other vet costs, including for

medical supplies, lab testing fees and advanced pharmaceuticals, have accelerated, too.

The industry has also been transformed by corporate pur chases of vet clinics and hospitals — a trend that some independent vets blame for increasing prices.

The Federal Trade Commission has responded by forcing some large chains to cut back their ac quisitions after concluding that they threatened competition.

Like many industries, vet erinary care endured wrench ing changes after the pandemic struck in 2020, driven by in creased demand from pet owners and a shift in how they do busi ness.

Nationally, traffic at vet clin ics rose 4.5% in 2020 and an ad ditional 6.5% in 2021, according VetSuccess, a data analytics firm.

Yet at the same time, a survey by the American Veterinary Med ical Association found that the number of pets that veterinarians treated per hour declined 25% in 2020. Such a steep drop in effi ciency, combined with increased demand, left vets and their staffs burned out. Many left the field for other jobs.

Government data shows that hourly pay in the vet industry jumped 7% in August from a year earlier, well above the 5% average for all workers. Measured year over year, pay leapt 14.2% in Jan uary, the highest jump on records dating from 2007.

One factor in the rising cost of pet care is that it’s increasing ly mimicking human health care.

Specialty pet hospitals use MRI

shop.

Biden raised $5 million at a fundraiser in the Brentwood backyard of TV producer Mar cy Carsey. Guests included fash ion designer Tom Ford and ac tor-filmmaker Rob Reiner.

In Colorado, the president des ignated the first national mon ument of his administration at Camp Hale, a World War II-era training site, with a group of Democrats by his side. His au dience in a canyon of stunning views, tall pines and bright yel low aspens included Sen. Mi chael Bennet, who is facing a tough reelection campaign and had worked for the new monu ment. Democrats hope the desig nation, popular in the state, will boost Bennet’s numbers.

Early voting is underway in California and begins this week in Oregon and Colorado. The president notably stayed away from states where his presence could hurt Democrats, so far skipping Nevada and Arizona, where Democratic senators are in tough races.

Democrats are trying to retain power in the face of widespread economic uncertainty and the traditional midterm headwinds against the party in power. Re publicans, aiming to regain the House and Senate, think they can capitalize on gas prices, inflation and the economy.

During his taco stop, Biden’s chicken quesadilla order ran to $16.45, but he handed the clerk $60 and asked him to use the change to pay the next patron’s bill.

machines, expensive drugs have become available to fight cancer in pets and cats can receive kid ney transplants. Vets and their technicians require advanced training to deliver such sophis ticated services, which also can further inflate costs and the pric es paid by consumers.

Many pet owners are increas ingly willing to spend more, and large corporate providers of vet services are happy to cater to them. Though the industry be gan consolidating long before the pandemic, the pace has accelerat ed in the past two years.

John Volk, a senior consultant at Brakke Consulting, estimates that 25% of the 30,000 vet clinics in the United States are owned by large chains. The consolidation is much higher among the 1,200 emergency and specialty vet hos pitals, about 75% of which are owned by chains.

Mars, the candy and pet food company, is the biggest owner of vet practices, with 2,500 clinics and hospitals worldwide. Anoth er chain, National Veterinary As sociates, owns 1,400 vet practic es in the U.S. and overseas. It was acquired in 2020 by a Luxem bourg-based private equity firm, JAB, and has recently come un der scrutiny by the FTC.

Some industry experts say larg er chains can hold prices down by using their size to secure low er prices for supplies and drugs. How much the industry’s consol idation has contributed to high er costs is hotly debated within the vet industry, just as it is in the broader economy.

In the meantime, many vets are still looking to hire, a sign that the inflationary pressure from rising wages may take a long time to ease.

CAROLYN KASTER | AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden holds a box of doughnuts during a grassroots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats at the SEIU Local 49 in Portland, Ore. Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.

AP PHOTO

Dr. Alexandra Kintz Konegger, of K. Vet Animal Care, examines a rescued Pekin Duck with an infected eye at her veterinary clinic in Greensburg, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Early Voting begins in Moore County

Early voting officially starts this Thursday, October 20, and runs through November 5, the Saturday before Election Day. By voting early, you can avoid long lines, access more flexible voting hours and locations, and have a chance to register or update your registration on-site. Here are the early voting locations for Moore County:

MOORE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL CENTER at 707 Pinehurst Ave., Carthage, NC 28327

Hours of Operation:

• Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm

• Saturdays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm, or Sundays from 1:00pm until 4:00pm.

PINEHURST COMMUNITY CENTER at 210 Rattlesnake Trl., Pinehurst, NC 28374.

Hours of Operation:

• Monday through Friday: 8:00 am until 7:30 pm

• Saturdays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm, or Sundays from 1:00pm until 4:00pm.

Note: Early Voting sites are different than your Election Day voting location.

County to hold 14th annual Household Hazardous Waste event

Moore County Solid Waste will be holding its 14th annual Household Hazardous waste event on Saturday, November 19, at Pinecrest High School. Between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm, Moore residents can dispose of an array of hazardous household materials, including outdated prescription medications, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, pool chemicals, paints, light tubes, etc. All pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and medications must be maintained in their original containers. They are unable to accept injectables or sharps. No commercial or electronic waste will be accepted.

Fayetteville man arrested in connection to West End homicide

On October 10, investigators from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office arrested a second individual after discovering physical evidence which linked him to a 2021 homicide. Ryan Simmons, 35, of Fayetteville, was apprehended after a joint operation was carried out between the Moore and Hoke County Sheriff’s Offices. Simmons was transported to the Moore County Detention Center and charged with one count of first-degree murder. He is being held without bond and is set to have his first court appearance on Wednesday, October 26.

Sheriff’s office investigating shooting in Aberdeen

The Moore County Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating a shooting that took place in Aberdeen on Saturday, October 15. According to reports, a man was shot twice just after 5 pm in the Sherwood Park neighborhood off Sand Pit Road. Authorities evacuated the victim by setting up a nearby landing zone. At this time, the victim’s condition is still unknown. In a recent statement, Sheriff Ronnie Fields revealed that the office does not believe that this shooting was a random act of violence. No arrests have been made, and the sheriff’s office is still conducting an investigation.

MOORE

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Hudson earns Friend of Farm Bureau Award

U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) received the American Farm Bureau Federal “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award for his efforts and advocacy on behalf of North Carolina’s farmers. The “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award is given to legislators whose voting record reflects support for farmers and was presented to Hudson during a meeting with the North Carolina Farm Bureau last Wednesday.

“Agriculture is a core pillar of both North Carolina and our nation, contributing trillions of dollars to our economy, creating millions of jobs, and supplying essential commodities to families worldwide. I will continue to work in Congress to provide certainty for our farmers and ensure they have access to the tools they need to produce an affordable and stable food supply,” said Hudson. “Thank you to the American Farm Bureau for this honor and for all they do to support farmers across the state and nation.”

Hudson is a founding member of the bipartisan “Agriculture and Rural American Task Force.”

Pinehurst council continues discussion over regulation of short-term rentals

Council to make changes to municipal code to address peddling and soliciting

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council continued the process of attempting to regulate short-term rentals to address the concerns of citizens as they dis cussed amendments to the Pine hurst Development Ordinance.

“This final document will ad dress all the key issues that the council has been dealing with its staff and through comments from you for several months,”

said Mayor John Strickland. “We believe that this document, once completed and voted on, will deal with some of our key issues with STRs, which include the rap id growth, classifying STRs as non-conforming uses, maintain ing the integrity of our neighbor hoods, and also establish an en forceable, regulatory structure to reduce nuisances and other in conveniences and provide safe ty provisions for the ordinance of Pinehurst.”

The major amendments that the council discussed were pro hibiting STRS in single-fami ly districts, permitting STRs in areas zoned VMU, H, and VCP, eliminating amortization, allow

Southern Pines council approves new mural

Watershed Protection Permit granted for development of townhomes

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

SOUTHERN PINES — The Southern Pines Town Council met Tuesday, October 11, where they held public hearings for a UDO ex emption for the creation of a mural and the annexation of property.

The council held a public hearing for a UDO exemption for the Arts Council of Moore County in order to create a 40’x24’ mural installa tion at 311 Southeast Broad Street.

“Over time, we have had some mural requests, and so a program was developed by the Moore Coun ty Arts Council. And this council has adopted that as being appropri ate for vetting these mural propos als that come forward,” said Prin cipal Planner Pam Graham. “We have that program in place now, and this is the first mural to be con sidered.”

The mural is by artist Nick Na poletano and is funded fully by the property owners, as well as a small grant by the Moore County Arts Council.

“The piece is playing off of the passage of time and the importance of staying in the present moment,” said Arts Council Director Chris Dunn.

“While it was inspired by the first stop-motion imagery of a horse in motion by Edward Mybridge in the late 1800s, it’s also a nod to the critical role horses have played in

Southern Pines and the surround ing area.”

Following the hearing, the coun cil voted to approve the exemption, and according to Dunn, the Arts Council will hold additional meet ings in the future to show what the finished mural will look like before it is created.

The council held a second public hearing, this one for the annexation of 2.32 acres of property at the cor ner of S. Carlisle Street and Bruce wood Road.

“The subject property is the fu ture site of Sandhills Pediatric, which council has looked at a cou ple of times,” said Town Manag er Reagan Parsons. “This simply brings it into town so that they can access utilities and get construction underway.”

Following the hearing, the coun cil approved the annexation.

The council also approved the issuing of a Watershed Protection Permit to Bantembo, LLC, in or der to develop 20 single-family at tached dwelling units on 1.22 acres of protected watershed land.

Finally, the council approved a request for relief from an ordinance in the Town Code for McNeil Road that would have required the exten sion of water to new developments along it.

“The extension of the water main to these five lots would be deemed an inefficient extension due to the small number of customers being served and the resulting dead end of the waterline,” Graham said.

The Southern Pines Town Coun cil will next meet November 8.

ing all existing STRs to remain as non-conforming uses which run with the land (which does not re quire registration or permission to rent to continue lawful oper ation as a non-conforming use), adding a Cessation of Use pro vision if not operated within a 365 day period, the creation of a non-conforming use certificate that shall be issue officially rec ognizes the legal non-conform ing status and will be required of all non-conforming uses, com pliance with the SR-9 standards would be required of existing and new STRs recognizing that most of the housing, building, or fire codes already apply and improve ments to the municipal code to

get at some of the nuisance relat ed issues.

The meeting revolved around working through the language of the amendments and ensuring the best document would be pre sented.

“I want us to get the best prod uct, and I want the best ideas to go into this preamble,” said May or Pro Tem Pat Pizzella. “And we may have some disagreements about what the best ideas are, but that’s what we should end up with. We want a document that we can be proud of and is accu rate.”

However, it was clear that not

Moore prep sports report

By PJ-Ward Brown North State Journal

WITH FALL SPORTS season coming to an end, the first wave of Playoffs starting is girls ten nis. All three high schools’ tennis teams made the Team Duel play offs. In 1A North Moore’s team will be the #13 seed and will trav el to #4 seed Jones Senior in the first round. In 3A Union Pines will be the #8 seed and host #9 seed Carrboro. In 4A Pinecrest will be the #5 seed and host #12 seed Broughton. These games will start on Wednesday the Oc tober 19.

Robbins

North Moore’s Football team won a close game against Cum mings 28-25 to remain unde feated with a record of 8-0. Kol by Ritchie had 170 rushing yards on 21 carries with 2 touchdowns. Their next game is Friday at Graham.

In boys soccer, the team lost to Seaford 2-0 on October 10 and Jordan-Matthews 6-1 on the Oc tober 12. They went to double OT with Graham in a 2-2 tie. Their next match is against Cummings at home on October 25.

In Volleyball, the team lost to Bartlett Yancey in 3 sets 3-0 on the 11th.

Cameron

The football team lost to Hoke County 42-22. They play at Southern Lee on Friday night at 7:30pm.

In boy’s soccer, the team de feated Richmond 3-1 on the 10th

and then lost to Hoke Coun ty 8-1 on October 12. They play Pinecrest at home on Wednes day, October 19 at 7:00pm. In Volleyball they went 2-1 on the week defeating Southern Lee in 3 sets 3-0 on the 11th. They then lost to Pinecrest in 3 sets 3-0 on October 13. On Monday night they hosted Southern Lee in the first round of the confer ence tournament defeating them

all the members of the council were in support of the amend ments.

“It is, to me, pretty clear that the ordinance that is going to come before us in a couple of weeks is going to pass 3-2,” said council member Lydia Boesch. “I don’t know about Jeff Mor gan, but whatever the other three of you want in the claus es is what’s going to pass. And despite anything I might say, it’s going to pass. I don’t know how you three will decide, but what ever you say will be what is pre sented and passed.”

Along with Boesch, council member Jeff Morgan also ex pressed his concerns.

“The unfortunate part of this is that the way we’re track ing here, we’re putting a cap on things in exchange for help ing a few players out,” Morgan said. “In essence, the economics of this for the people that own STRs is enhanced because now they’re going to have a certifi cate that is going to help them sell versus those who don’t have that. So it’s the law of unintend ed consequences in government. That frustrates me because I don’t want to help one group or the other. I want the free mar

ket to work its route. One of the reasons I’m not really keen on a ban here is I think the free mar ket will do a better job of it.”

“We don’t have the power giv en to us by the state to regulate this. I truly believe the solution to this is to be able to permit folks to have these and, if they violate certain criteria, to sus pend them. We can’t do that without the state legislature, so I think we need to push that, and I want the STR folks to start working with the community to be able to conform to the behav ioral issues that are going on.”

Along with the STR ordi nance, the council discussed amendments to the Pinehurst Municipal Code with regard to peddling and soliciting.

“In a previous meeting, we had a very brief preliminary dis cussion about our perceptions about the current situation re garding peddling and solicita tion that is currently allowed in our municipal code, and we sug gested at that time a change to the municipal code that would eliminate the opportunity for commercial peddling and solic itation across the village,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn.

In large part, the village de cided to do away with the allow ance of any type of soliciting or

peddling within Pinehurst, mi nus a few key exceptions.

“Due to some changes in the procedure of being able to do criminal background checks, which was a former part of our ability, the recommendation from the council was to remove the ability for for-profit or busi nesses from being able to so licit or peddle within the Vil lage of Pinehurst,” said Village Clerk Kelly Chance. “This, with the exception of religious, po litical, or similar purposes. The corrections that were made fo cus on those areas, and really, the biggest change was adding the verbiage that no person shall canvas, solicit or sell food, bev erages, services, or merchandise or engage in any act of canvass ing or soliciting in any public or semi-public space, door-to-door or place to place within the Vil lage of Pinehurst.”

The council was going to vote on the amendments, but coun cil member Boesch moved to have the ordinance be brought back in a week or two after she has time to sit down and make minor edits and tighten up the language before the council ap proves it.

The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet October 25.

moore happening

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Moore County:

Oct. 20

Music Bingo Thursday 6pm

Join Music Bingo every Thursday night at the Whispering Q! Test your knowledge and have fun! The Whispering Q is located at 2 Clubhouse Blvd in Whispering Pines.

Trivia Thursday at the Brewery

6pm

in 3 sets 3-0. 25-18, 25-9, and 25-

9. Players of the Game was Junior Setter, #5 Sydney Hay. Individu al Stats as follows Sydney Hay: 15 Assists, 4 Digs, 3 Aces, 3 Kills ,Brisi Gonzalez: 14 Digs, Ellie Chapin: 10 Kills, 10 Digs, Allie Bauer: 7 Assists, 6 Digs, 3 Aces , Devyn Craven: 6 Kills, 4 Digs, 2 Blocks , Alleigh Mabe: 6 Kills,

4 Aces, 3 Digs , Alison DeMasi: 6 Digs , Ellie Everhart: 5 Digs, 4 Kills , Savannah McCaskill: 5 Digs, 3 Kills.

Southern Pines

Pinecrest football team is on a four-game winning streak after defeating Scotland high school 30-21 last Friday night. They play at Hoke County on October 21 at

7:30pm.

In boy’s soccer, the team lost to Southern Lee 2-1 on October 13. They played Hoke County on Monday night. Their next game is against Union Pines on Octo ber 19.

In Volleyball, the team defeat ed Hoke County in 3 sets 3-0 and Union Pines last week to finish the regular season 20-2 and 12-0 in conference.

Come out for Trivia at the Southern Pines Brewery! Enjoy fun and prizes each Thursday. Southern Pines Brewing Company is located at 565 Air Tool Dr., Southern Pines, NC.

Oct. 21

Fall on the Farm 2022 10am – 8pm

Come out to the Kalawi Farm and Ben’s Ice Cream and enjoy all of the fun, fall activities! There will be a corn maze, hayride, pumpkin patch, and much more!

TUNE INTO

The John and Maureen show

Sundays 1 - 2PM

Holly Jolly Halloween Spooktacular Lights

6:30pm

Load up the car and come out for Holly Jolly Halloween Spooktacular Lights, which is located at 135 Fox Run Rd. in Pinehurst. Enjoy the light show and display from your car.

Outdoor Movie in the Pines 6:45pm

Join for a free, family friendly outdoor movie screening of Encanto at Southern Pines Downtown Park! Concessions will be available for purchase.

OPINION

REP. RICHARD HUDSON

A future built on freedom

“AMERICA IS BEST DESCRIBED by one word, freedom.”

President Dwight Eisenhower captured one of the fundamental truths about America in his 1959 State of the Union address.

Freedom means the ability to forge your own path and make your own decisions for yourself and your family without fear of an allpowerful government. It also means the ability to freely exercise your God-given rights that are protected in our Constitution. Sadly, this is a concept that has been taken for granted and repeatedly encroached upon in our nation today.

Liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.”

Freedom is under attack from direct assaults on your constitutional freedoms, from big tech censorship, and from many forms of progressive bullying. I refuse to sit idly by and accept this. That’s why House Republicans have put forward a plan called a “Commitment to America” that will create a future built on freedom. A central pillar of our plan includes improving education for all students. As a parent, it’s disheartening to see education levels that have declined drastically because of Covid-19 lockdowns. Keeping kids out of school nullified decades of progress in math and reading scores for 9-year-olds, the time experts say is critical for a student’s long-term academic success. Our children’s future depends on the quality of education they receive today. That’s why Republicans are committed to reversing these trends and building an educational environment that fosters success for all students.

We also believe parents should have a say in their child’s education. For too long, liberal politicians have sought to keep parents out of schools, even going as far as to label concerned moms and dads as “domestic terrorists.” As the son of a retired public school teacher, I know student success depends on parents being involved in their child’s education. That is why I will work to pass a “Parents Bill of Rights” and expand parental choice, so all children have the chance to succeed.

At the same time, my Republican colleagues and I will work to equip parents with more tools to keep their kids safe online. Our kids currently spend an average of 7 hours a day in front of a screen. They are potentially exposing themselves to harmful content, online predators, and data breaches. Under our plan, Republicans have solutions to help keep your kids safe.

A future built on freedom also means better health care freedom by lowering costs and giving you and your family more options. We want to help Americans live healthier, happier lives by refining health care to meet their specific needs. This means personalizing care to provide more affordable and better-quality options; ensuring lower prices through greater transparency, choice, and competition; increasing investments in new technology; and expanding access to telemedicine. To that end, I was proud the House and Senate passed my bipartisan MOBILE Health Care Act. This legislation will expand health care access in rural and underserved communities in North Carolina and beyond. On

Thursday, I was proud to visit a local community health center and receive the 2022 Distinguished Community Health Center Advocate award for work on this bill. I will continue working to support these critical providers in our community. Meanwhile, we also remain committed to blocking the Biden administration from imposing needless vaccine mandates on American citizens –especially members of the military. Finally, a future built on freedom also means securing your constitutional rights, including your right to free speech, the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, and the freedom of religion. Tragically, a report last week found 220 churches have been attacked over the past two years across the country - another example of rising crime that must be addressed. Protecting these rights also involves standing up to politically motivated bureaucrats, institutions, and companies that attempt to restrict these rights. This includes combating big tech censorship of opinions it doesn’t agree with, as well as by demanding online fairness and greater privacy and data security for all Americans. Freedom is the bedrock on which our nation’s Constitution and character were founded. As your congressman, rest assured I will always work to keep ensuring a future that is built on freedom.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

For

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

AP PHOTO

People listen as House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks at DMI Companies in Monongahela, Pa., Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

John A. Whelan

July 6, 1940 - October 13, 2022

John A. Whelan, of Seven Lakes died October 13, 2022 at Peak Resources.

He is survived by his wife, “Bunny” Whelan; son, Mark Whelan of Baltimore, MD; daughter-in-law, Ronda Whelan; granddaughters, Veronica and Alexandra of Baltimore, MD; and brother, Michael Whelan of Colorado Springs, CO.

He was predeceased by his mother Veronica McConnin of Seven Lakes and his father John E. Whelan of East Setauket, NY.

John graduated from the University of Maryland (European Division) in November 1972 with a BA in Business Administration. Prior to this, John enlisted in the United States Air Force Security Service where he completed two overseas tours in Misawa, Japan and Peshawar, W. Pakistan. In 1966 John joined the National Security Agency (NSA). Between 1966-1994, he spent 10 years in England, UK with tours in Harrogate, Yorkshire and Bedfordshire at RAF Chicksands. He also completed a four tour in Yakima, WA where he was Deputy Chief of Station. John was a lifetime member of the Phoenix Society. After retiring from NSA in 1994, he began a second career in real estate with Southern Lakes Real Estate, followed by a three year stint managing Coldwell Banker office in Seven Lakes. In 2001 he opened Whelan Realty, LLC in Seven Lakes, NC and continued operating the company until December 2016 when he decided to retire because of health issues.

Between 1999-2000, John was a Director of the PinehurstSouthern Pines Area Association of Realtors. He fully enjoyed owning and managing Whelan Realty and working with folks moving to and from Seven Lakes.

As per John’s wishes there will be no burial service or memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Wounded Warriors.

Katherine Davies Fields

March 8, 1957 - October 13, 2022

Katherine Davies Fields, 65 of Pinehurst, passed away on October 13, 2022.

Born on March 8, 1957 in Columbia, South Carolina to the late Colonel Joseph and Laura Davies of Fayetteville, she spent her childhood moving around the country and Germany with her father's military career until settling in Pinehurst in 1979 after graduating ECU and beginning nursing career at Moore Regional Hospital.

Devoted wife, mother, and grandmother "Honey", she loved making everything beautiful. She loved working outside in her yards, Lake Tillery, and supporting her children's activities including Girl Scouts, Sandhills Sandsharks, Sandhills Fury Soccer, and Pinecrest High School athletics. Described by a nephew as "aggressively hospitable", her first priority was always taking care of others.

She is survived by her husband, Mac Fields; two daughters, Stacy Fields and Jenny Lowd (Andrew) and grandson, Connor; her two sisters, Lindy Dodd (Mark, of Charleston, SC) and Sharon DeLoach (Bill, of Alpharetta, GA); sister-in-laws, Freda Alley (of Pinehurst, NC), Carol Kocevar (Hank, of Winchester, VA) and Eleanor Holcombe (Monty, of Springfield, VA); also survived by many nieces, nephews and other family and friends who she cared for dearly.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Sandhills Moore Coalition for Human Care or Family Promise

Eldon J Sandy

December 9, 1932 ~ October 13, 2022

Eldon Johnson Sandy of Carthage passed away on Thursday, October 13, 2022, at the age of 89. Eldon was born in Hoke County on December 9, 1932, to the late Lloyd and Maude Davis Sandy. Eldon grew up in Hoke County and on July 4, 1954, he married Betty Long. He grew up enjoying music. Eldon, learned by ear to play the bass fiddle, fiddle, and mandolin. He and his brothers played with the likes of Charlie Daniels among other notable stars. Eldon enjoyed fishing and would spend countless hours out by the water. Whether fishing at the coast for spots or a local pond, there is where he found peace and enjoyment. But there is nothing or no one he loved better than his family. Eldon deeply loved his family and often reminded his children how much he loved them. He proudly served in the National Guard and in the U.S. Air Force. He is preceded in death by his wife, Betty; his son, Sammy Sandy; his grandchildren, Jason Sandy and Emily Hamilton; he is also preceded in death by all 9 of his siblings.

He leaves behind his children, Catherine Butler (Robert) of Pinebluff, Theron Sandy (Rose) of Vass, Patricia Sandy of Carthage, Gail Key (Steve) of Carthage; Paula Sandy of Pinehurst; 14 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to New Covenant Fellowship, 1305 Hulsey Rd, Carthage, NC 28327, and/or FirstHealth Hospice and Palliative Care, 150 Applecross Rd, Pinehurst, NC 28374.

Camilla "Kay" David Anderson

August 13, 1942 - October 11, 2022

Camilla “Kay” David Anderson, 80, of Aberdeen, passed away peacefully at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital on Tuesday, Oct. 11th surrounded by her family.

Born in Moore County, Aug. 13, 1942, she was the daughter of the late Douglas and Madge David.

Kay was a graduate of Aberdeen High School, class of 1960. On Nov. 5, 1961, she married her high school sweetheart, Howard Anderson. The couple would live in Winston - Salem and Raleigh early in their marriage before returning to Moore County in 1974. Kay was a dedicated and active member of Page memorial United Methodist Church for 48 years.

She was incredibly generous and always put others first. She brought everyone she met into her family. She made her extended family, inlaws, and the family of her inlaws feel as if they had always been her family from the first day they met. She was selfless, kind, and compassionate.

She was a brilliantly polished diamond who brought love and light to all those who came into her presence. She was truly one in a million who united everyone and always brought people together.

Kay’s beautiful smile and warmth touched the heart of everyone from the first time they met her.

Kay worked tirelessly to make everything perfect without taking the credit for doing the hard work.

She created magic out of the smallest of activities or festivities for those that she loved. She made Christmas absolutely magical for her family. Her belief that the bigger, the better, resonated across all aspects of her life from making moments extra special to making sure that she was dressed in her best style at all times. She was the biggest cheerleader for all of those that she cared for. She embraced and lived in the moment every day.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@northstatejournal.com

Kay was the loving wife of 61 years to H. Howard Anderson. She was the mother of David Anderson (Ann), and Molly Anderson Wolf (Tim). She is also survived by her six grandchildren: Kristin Anderson Pileski (Kyle), Lyndsey McKeever (Bradley), Gray Anderson (Lacey), Zackery Stoltenberg, Cassidy Stoltenberg and Katy Stoltenberg, and her three great - grandchildren: Parker McKeever, Marleigh McKeever and Mason Pileski. Kay was the sister of Diana Kilpatrick (Gerry), Chris David (Judy) and Jennifer David Chadwick. She is preceded in death by her brothers John and Stewart David. She leaves behind her beloved fur babies, Nickels and Trixie.