North State Journal — Vol. 3., Issue 7

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 7

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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018

sports ECU brings back Dooley as basketball coach, B1

PHOTO COURTESY OF N.C. PORTS AUTHORITY

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

Lawmakers hear from school psychologists Raleigh A legislative subcommittee studying ways to improve school mental health services heard testimony from school counselors Tuesday who said they need to reduce staff to student ratios. The N.C. School Psychology Association said that the number of school counselors are about one for every 336 students. They urged lawmakers to move the state toward a one counselor for every 250 students to help provide better services.

Trump’s homeland security adviser Bossert resigns at Bolton’s request Washington, D.C. White House homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, resigned Tuesday at the request of new national security adviser John Bolton, marking the latest departure from the White House of a senior adviser. Bossert, a former deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush, had overseen the administration’s response to the Hurricane Maria disaster in Puerto Rico, as well as cybersecurity policy. An official said Bolton, who started his new role on Monday, urged Bossert’s departure.

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

New security equipment is installed at the N.C. General Assembly ahead of the May 16 short session.

Jones & Blount

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20177 52016 $2.00

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Quickly expanding resources on N.C.’s coast is changing the look of the port city and bringing more international trade

By Donna King North State Journal

SPOTLIGHT: COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Businesses seek skilled workers in evolving economy North Carolina community colleges depend on funding from the state legislature for the majority of their revenue. For several programs crucial to employers — in fields such as health care, construction, manufacturing and public safety — training programs are funded at a lower rate than traditional curriculum programs, simply because they award a certificate or credential, instead of a diploma.

In a three-part series, North State Journal will look at the impact of this funding imbalance, and what is currently being done to solve it.

Part 1, April 4: What the funding imbalance means to community colleges in the state, and the results of a one-year pilot program that is increasing the funding for selected workforce training programs.

Part 2, April 11: How employers around the state, who are desperately seeking qualified candidates for many specialized jobs, would benefit from a change in the funding model.

Part 3, April 18: Will the state legislature provide parity in funding for noncredit and curriculum courses?

By Emily Roberson North State Journal

INSIDE

Port of Wilmington gets a new skyline

RALEIGH — North Carolina community college advocates will be petitioning policy makers in the upcoming legislative session to work toward achieving funding parity for traditional curriculum and noncredit (shortterm, skill-based certificate programs) course offerings. A top priority for these state-funded institutions this year, it is also one that is echoed in both sentiment and on-the-ground job numbers from business groups and employers across the state.

The N.C. Chamber of Commerce shares space alongside community colleges on the front line of this issue as the state’s largest nonpartisan business advocacy group, in frequent partnership with the colleges to develop strategies and programs surrounding workforce develop-

ment. Vice President of Governmental Affairs Gary Salamido believes that continuing to identify opportunities to increase the skilled labor pool will only strengthen N.C.’s ability to fill jobs across the board.

“Businesses in North Carolina are thriving, but the biggest issue impeding their growth is the growing shortage of workers with the adaptable life skills they need to succeed in the modern workplace,” Salamido said.

Salamido noted that the N.C. Chamber is focused on advocating for workforce solutions but sees the need for attention at a higher level if these are to produce more measurable results.

“Many aspects of the North Carolina talent supply chain are working hard to cultivate top talent in our state, but struggle to unite behind a clearly defined See COLLEGES, page A2

WILMINGTON — Last week, residents along the Cape Fear River in Wilmington watched as two massive cranes were erected in the Port of Wilmington. Seventeen boats from federal, state and local agencies helped safely guide the ship carrying the cranes up the Cape Fear River and into the port.

They began their journey in January from Shanghai to N.C. A third neo-Panamax crane will arrive later this year.

The Cape Fear was temporarily closed as the cranes made their journey up the river on a 767-footlong Zhen Hua vessel. Watch parties were held at Waterfront Park in Southport and RiverLights Marina and River Road Park in Wilmington as residents gathered for a unique view of the future of the region’s economy.

Expected to be fully operational in about six weeks, the 1,500ton cranes are more than a photo op — they will allow the port to service bigger cargo ships. According to NC Ports, there’s been a big boost in container volume at the Port of Wilmington over the last 24 months, currently up 31 percent in fiscal year 2018 and year-to-date volume in January and February is up 58 percent.

See WILMINGTON, page A2

Lawmakers best Cooper in court, appeal likely Monday’s rulings mean that after filing four lawsuits against the General Assembly, of the ones already decided, Gov. Cooper has lost all but one

By Donna King North State Journal RALEIGH — On Monday, the Republican-led N.C. General Assembly prevailed in two separate cases in superior court stemming from a lawsuit brought by Democrat Governor Roy Cooper. As part of Cooper v. Berger, the court first rejected claims brought by Cooper that the General Assembly was usurping his executive power by expanding the Opportunity Scholarships program and streamlining the Court of Appeals from fifteen judges to twelve. Second, the court rejected Cooper’s claim that he should control Volkswagen mitigation funds, not the legislature.

The Opportunity Scholarships pilot program was estab-

lished in 2013 as a vehicle to provide mid-to-low-income parents with a state-funded $4,200 annual scholarship to attend another school, including private, if their base school does not meet the needs of their child. Championed by school choice advocates and N.C. Parents for Educational Freedom, the program was instituted in 2015 and met with immediate enthusiasm by many families, leading to a 1,500-student waitlist within the first year. In 2016-2017 the program provided scholarships for 6,200 students.

The increased demand led lawmakers in 2017 to expand the program in the budget by $10 million over ten years, outside of the money budgeted for public schools, potentially providing 36,000 scholarships by 2028-2029. Cooper objected to the expansion, saying it was a voucher program that undermined spending on traditional public schools. Cooper filed a lawsuit saying that the General Assembly was forcing him to include fuSee COOPER, page A2

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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Nearly a sixth of adults in North Carolina can’t afford to see a doctor DHHS Health Equity Report demonstrates disparities toward minority groups

“The whole state.

The whole story.”

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

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By Liz Moomey North State Journal RALEIGH — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released its 2018 Health and Equity Report, showing minorities fare worse when it comes to mortality rates, access to health care and infant mortality.

The report, released April 6, shows racial and ethnic health disparities in the state. It is a reflection of America’s Health Rankings report, which ranked North Carolina No. 32 in the nation in overall health status in 2016, saying “health status is directly impacted by the health status of minorities and other underserved populations.”

The report demonstrates the state’s progress toward eliminating these gaps in minority groups, gives data to help organizations and informs people about eliminating these disparities.

“The report provides clear data on health disparities across a va-

riety of conditions and metrics, like breast cancer, infant mortality, heart disease, obesity, the opioid crisis and insurance coverage status,” Cornell Wright, executive director of the N.C. Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, said. “While it details some areas where we have made progress in closing gaps and addressing inequities, it also illustrates how much work we have left to do to build a healthier, more equal state.”

The cost of health care is a hurdle for North Carolina, specifically for minorities. According to the report, 15 percent of adults can’t afford to see a doctor, with Hispanic/Latino at 27 percent, African-Americans at 18 percent and whites at 13 percent. African-Americans, Hispanic/Latino and other racial groups, however, were more likely to have seen a dentist in the past year than their white counterparts.

The report concluded that access to health care, access to healthy foods (23 percent of North Carolinians live in a food desert) and environmental conditions are significant factors to the social determinants of health. Another factor is the socioeconomic status, education, employment, income and dis-

“While it details some areas where we have made progress in closing gaps and addressing inequities, it also illustrates how much work we have left to do to build a healthier, more equal state.”

— Cornell Wright, executive director of the N.C. Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities ability, which can influence health.

According to the report, African-Americans die of breast cancer at a rate of 28.3, compared to whites at 19.4, American Indians at 20.2, Hispanic/Latinx at 9.9 and Pacific Islanders at 13.2.

The study concluded the state’s total infant death rate is 7.2 per 1,000 live births, more than the nation’s average. American Indians have an infant death rate of 9.0 and the rate among African Amer-

WILMINGTON from page A1 “It’s critical that we continue to help the Port of Wilmington grow,” said Rep. Ted Davis (R-New Hanover). “These cranes are only the beginning.”

NC Ports is working to bring more shipping business into Wilmington and Morehead City with a sales pitch to companies around the world, saying that N.C. has less bureaucracy, less congestion, quick turnaround, low cost, tons of available storage and — of course — location, location, location.

“With the high demand on trucking capacity and efficient terminal operations, NC Ports’ model of best-in-class gate truck turn times coupled with the fastest ship-to-shore crane productivity on the East Coast; carriers, BCOs and truckers are taking notice,” said NC Ports Executive Director Paul J. Cozza.

The cranes cost about $33.5 million each and are part of a $200 million investment in the port’s infrastructure. Before 2015, the North Carolina State Ports Authority did not get recurring state

PHOTO COURTESY OF N.C. PORTS AUTHORITY

funds for infrastructure, but in 2016 and 2017, the N.C. General Assembly started appropriating $35 million in recurring money to expand the port. In 2018 and 2019, that increased to $45 million for NCSPA. The new cranes were bought with those state budget capital funds. Lawmakers took a tour of the port new set up last week.

“The General Assembly made a

long-term commitment to growing the Port of Wilmington, and it’s amazing to see these incredible cranes in place,” said Rep. Holly Grange (R-New Hanover).

The shipping expansion in the Port City has been underway for several years. In February, Wilmington welcomed its first container of bananas, as part of an agreement to joining the USDA’s Southeast In-Transit Cold Treat-

COLLEGES from page A1

COOPER from page A1

common goal,” he said.

ture money for a program he didn’t support in his proposed budgets.

The Superior Court -Justice Jay Hockenbury (New Hanover), Justice Nathaniel Poovey (Catawba), and Justice Henry Hight (Vance) – heard the case in February and ruled 2-1 Monday that the state constitution protected the General Assembly’s action and Cooper retains his authority to recommend a budget.

“We cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that Session Law 2017–57 disrupts the governor’s core executive power of preparing and recommending a comprehensive budget under Article III Section 5(3),” the court’s ruling on Monday read.

Lawmakers praised the decision calling Cooper’s lawsuits a “power grab.”

“Appropriating public funds is such an important responsibility that our constitution gives that authority to 170 of the people’s elected representatives — not to one single politician, whose job is to execute the law rather than attempt to make his own,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland). “We are pleased the court stopped some of Gov. Cooper’s latest attempted power grabs and urge him to abandon these self-serving lawsuits.”

On a different issue in the same case, lawmakers were again favored by the court over the legislature’s decision last year to reduce the number of justices on the N.C. Court of Appeals from fifteen to twelve. In April 2017, Lawmakers overrode Cooper’s veto of the law which reduces the bench by attrition as the judges reach mandatory retirement age, even if they haven’t served out their eight-year term.

Cooper was able to appoint a judge to the bench before the legislature could override the veto when Judge Douglas McCullough, a Republican, retired suddenly to open a seat.

Cooper tapped Judge John Ar-

The numbers A study by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released last week showed that an important measure of U.S. factory employment dropped in March, believed to be a strong indicator that labor and skill shortages were affecting overall production. North Carolina depends on skilled labor in multiple industries that contribute to the state’s economy, with one of the largest high-skill pools surrounding and supporting manufacturing businesses.

“Many different North Carolina industries, including health care, agriculture and construction, face challenges finding employees with the right skills necessary for the job,” said Salamido.

He pointed to statewide workforce data that reflects the nationwide skilled labor force trend.

“For example, the manufacturing industry accounts for nearly 21 percent of North Carolina’s total economic output and employs 10.8 percent of our workforce,” he said. “But manufacturers face challenges overcoming outdated stigmas, and while more than 1 million new manufacturing jobs have been created in the U.S. over the last seven years, 390,000 of those remain unfilled.”

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry is navigating the realities borne out by these anemic skilled labor numbers. The 117-year old Charlotte-based manufacturer makes pipes and fittings for plumbing systems out of cast iron and plastic, and relies on a workforce that is well trained on the machines they operate. Vice President of marketing Brad Muller of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry — which employs more than 1,400 workers in seven plants around the country — said that the company is not only in need of skilled labor to run the plants and operate

EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL | FILE

Faculty and students come and go a week before classes start in the Student Services Center on main campus of Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh. the machines, but also as the ultimate points of sale for their products.

“We employ extruder operators, mold technicians, electricians, maintenance people, engineers, cost accountants and more. We also depend on plumbers as our end-use customers. As with other skilled trades, there are a shortage of plumbers and other construction workers in the U.S.” Muller pointed to a long-term relationship with South Piedmont Community College, which is located across the street from its plastics plant in Monroe, Central Piedmont Community College and UNC Charlotte, as reliable training grounds for skilled workers in the past, and he thinks funding parity would benefit not only Charlotte Pipe and Foundry but the U.S. economy overall.

“College is not for everyone, and having a skill or trade can be a good living for someone,” Muller said.

Reinventing business as usual Currently, the N.C. Chamber partners with the N.C. Community College System on multiple

fronts, often working with many other statewide stakeholders, to advance strategies aimed toward creating a workforce that best matches the state’s evolving business engines.

“We’re grateful to work with local community colleges throughout the state to promote apprenticeships, study workforce development challenges, and better align education systems with workforce needs,” Salamido said. “Funding is just one aspect of this process,” that his group will continue to follow, as member businesses remain concerned about the current skills gap.

As their call for course funding parity takes shape during the upcoming legislative session, Johnston Community College President David Johnson shares the concerns of many businesses across the state.

“The employers are saying, ‘We’ve got to find employees, and they’re not out there,’ and the community is saying, ‘We’ve got to have jobs, and they aren’t out there,’” Johnson said. “The General Assembly, I think, will look at this favorably, because it will support both efforts.”

icans is 13.0. The study illustrates the significance of the lowering the infant mortality rate, saying improving the well-being of mothers and children can benefit the future of health care. North Carolina has attempted to decrease the rate through its Perinatal Health Strategic Plan, an effort to address medical issues along with social and economic inequalities.

The opioid epidemic continues to predominantly affect white males ages 24-34, though American Indians have a higher rate of opioid overdoses than any other race. Last year, a report showed four of the most addicted cities in U.S. are in North Carolina, with Wilmington ranking first.

DHHS has recently announced a call for applications for community projects to combat the opioid crisis as a part of the N.C. Opioid Action Plan.

“These grants will help local communities work together to turn the tide of the opioid crisis through treatment and recovery assistance,” DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said. “We look forward to collaborating with communities around the state to accomplish the vision set forth in the N.C. Opioid Action Plan.”

ment Pilot program. The program will bring weekly banana imports for the next year. Offering one of few on-port cold storage in the country, Wilmington will see more direct imports of produce including blueberries, grapes, apples, pears and citrus passing through.

“This represents major progress in our ability to service North Carolina’s significant grocery sector, several of which are having their headquarters and perishable distribution centers in N.C.,” said Hans Bean, vice president of trade development for NC Ports.

The Wilmington port, as well as the Morehead City port and inland terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro, make up a shipping network that means 76,000 jobs across the state and $700 million in annual tax revenue.

The expansion is getting much-needed attention from industry, but it’s not cheap. Maintaining shipping channels at federally authorized depths is still a challenge in coastal North Carolina, and some of the costs are covered by operating revenues at NCPSA.

rowood in McCullough’s place before the veto was overridden. Arrowood lost a 2014 re-election bid to the Court of Appeals and his 2017 appointment shifted the bench to be more left-leaning.

Cooper’s lawyers argued that the legislature does not have authority to reduce terms of judges and was infringing on the executive authority to appoint new ones as judges on the bench retire. The court disagreed, pointing to the statutes that give power to the legislature over “structure, organization, and composition” of the Court of Appeals.

“We believe that Governor Cooper cannot argue that his Section 19 appointment power allows him to effectively demand that a seat not be abolished,” read the ruling.

“As such, the Governor’s power to appoint individuals to seats on the Court of Appeals under Section 19 only applies to offices authorized by the General Assembly.”

Hight was the dissenting opinion saying that the state legislature was overstepping its authority on both issues. However, Hight ruled against Cooper in the second separation of powers case in which Cooper wanted control over $87 million that the state will receive from Volkswagen stemming from a class-action suit over fraudulent emissions tests. The judge said that the money awarded to the state should go through the appropriations process.

“The budget process … is constitutionally mandated… There is no basis in the Constitution or North Carolina court precedent to deviate from these budget and appropriation processes,” Hight’s ruling read.

The office of Governor Cooper indicated in response to a request for comment that he plans to appeal the rulings.

“This was the first step in the judicial process. We remain confident in the merits of our claims and look forward to having them heard by appellate courts,” said Ford Porter, Press Secretary for Gov. Roy Cooper.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a meeting with Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 9.

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FAST FACTS Sponsored by

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg aims to pacify U.S. lawmakers

By David Ingram and Dustin Volz Reuters

Two projects have been awarded North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants to support productions in Wilmington and the High Point area, Governor Cooper announced last week. The awardees include the feature film “Words on Bathroom Walls,” an adaptation of an acclaimed novel, and a set of five commercials for Home Depot.

“North “North Carolina Carolina is excited to once again have is excited cameras rolling to once in our state on a major motion again have picture,” said cameras Governor Cooper. rolling in “Productions filmed here in our state North Carolina on a major provide jobs and motion can pump millions of dollars into local picture.” economies. We have the skilled — Gov. Roy workforce, the Cooper diverse locations and a diverse and welcoming people for film to thrive here in North Carolina once more,” said Gov. Cooper.

“Words on Bathroom Walls” is a feature adaption of the book by the same name that tells the story of Adam, a teenager navigating high school while living with paranoid schizophrenia. The production is expected to have a direct in-state spend in excess of $9.3 million while creating more than 650 job opportunities in the state, including 120 well-paying crew positions. It is eligible for a rebate, funded through the film and entertainment grant fund, of up to $2,349,415.

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SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON — Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will strike a conciliatory tone on Tuesday in testimony before Congress as he looks to fend off the possibility of new regulations as a result of the privacy scandal engulfing his social network.

The 33-year-old internet mogul is set to appear in Washington before a joint hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Commerce and Judiciary committees some 15 or 20 minutes after the originally scheduled time of 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT) because of a Senate vote.

Four hours before the hearing, more than 45 people waited in a line inside the Hart Senate Office Building, set off by velvet ropes, stretching from the briefing room down a corridor. Some brought folding chairs, while others stood or sat on the floor.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, is fighting to demonstrate to critics that he is the right person to go on leading what has grown into one of the world’s largest companies.

Facebook faces a growing crisis of confidence among users, advertisers, employees and investors after acknowledging that up to 87 million people, mostly in the United States, had their personal information harvested from the site by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that has counted U.S. President Donald Trump’s election campaign among its clients.

Zuckerberg, who has never testified in a congressional hearing, said in written testimony on

“Now we have to go through every part of our relationship with people and make sure we’re taking a broad enough view of our responsibility.”

— Mark Zuckerberg Monday that he had made mistakes and had held too narrow a view of the social network’s role in society.

“Now we have to go through every part of our relationship with people and make sure we’re taking a broad enough view of our responsibility,” he said.

Facebook hired several outside consultants to help coach Zuckerberg, even holding mock sessions to prepare him for questions from lawmakers.

In an olive branch on Friday, Zuckerberg threw his support behind proposed legislation requiring social media sites to disclose the identities of buyers of online political campaign ads. Twitter Inc also said on Tuesday, for the first time, that it supports the bill, called the Honest Ads Act. U.S. lawmakers have discussed legislation that would strengthen data privacy protections and enforcement. Tighter regulation of how Facebook uses its members’ data could affect its ability to attract advertising revenue, its lifeblood.

Some 40 senators out of the 100-member Senate sit on the two committees holding Tuesday’s hearing, setting up a possibly marathon hearing.

To ease the way, Zuckerberg on Monday met some lawmakers privately, listening to their concerns before they will have a chance to interrogate him in public.

Zuckerberg appeared willing “to turn things around where he sees mistakes that have been made,” Senator Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, said after meeting with the CEO. For hearings last year about Russia’s alleged use of social media to influence American politics, Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc’s Google sent lawyers, angering lawmakers.

Zuckerberg may face a torrid time from some senators. On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Judiciary committee, complained via Twitter about fake profiles.

“On today of all days, I just found out that there are two fake Facebook accounts impersonating me, and guess what? Many of the ‘friends’ appear to be Russian accounts,” he tweeted. “@facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg-this is unacceptable.”

Zuckerberg will get a second dose of questioning on Wednesday from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

His perch atop Facebook is assured as long as he wants it, given that he remains its controlling shareholder.

But his reputation has suffered as television comedians have mocked his perceived robotic speaking patterns and allegedly cavalier attitude toward privacy.

Shares in Facebook are down more than 14 percent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke last month.

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Sponsored by

Self-Taught Lexington Woodworker Creates Simple Elegance The artists who call NC Public Power communities home never cease to amaze. Take woodworker Andrew McCarn, owner of Carolina Grain Co. in Lexington, North Carolina.

McCarn taught himself woodturning

by Googling topics and watching YouTube videos. “As soon as I started getting the flow of turning and being able to see my bowls take shape, there was no more motivation needed. I was addicted,” he says. His addiction soon evolved to making one-of-a-kind pieces— especially for the kitchen—and launching Carolina Grain Co. McCarn’s serving spoons, bowls, rolling pins, serving boards and other creations have a simple elegance that makes you immediately rethink the tools in your kitchen. Some of his latest work includes an accent table and serving pedestal. Ninety percent of the wood he uses is from local sources.

Watch an inspiring video that Our State magazine created about McCarn and Carolina Grain Co. at http://bit. ly/OS-CarolinaGrainCo. You can catch McCarn and his handiwork in Raleigh this Saturday at Live & Local Spring Fest on Hillsborough Street.

To see great product photos and a list of additional upcoming events, visit www.carolinagrainco.com.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Murphy

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Sponsored by

The goal of each competitor, whether solo or team, is completing each event perfectly, with no deductions for mistakes, also called infractions or gigs.

Wake Forest

What does it take to be a lineworker?

It takes a lot of skill—not just knowledge. You have to be physically capable, and you have to be willing to give up time and leave your family to work after hours, especially during storms. It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

When we go out during storms and help restore power to people who may have been out a while.

It feels good to make someone’s life a little easier after they’ve gone through a natural disaster.

Being a part of helping them start to rebuild … that’s the most rewarding.

Rose Foster, Senior Safety Specialist at Santee Cooper

Lineworkers aren’t all linemen Take Rose Foster, for example. With

no line work experience but in need of a job, she applied for a temporary position with Santee Cooper: “a grunt on the line crew,” she says. “I was carrying conduit, framing poles, running hand line, digging holes—doing whatever they needed.” The Santee Cooper crew must have been impressed, because they brought her on full time.

Nearly 24 years later, Rose is Santee Cooper’s senior safety specialist.

It wasn’t an easy road, but she was determined, whether that meant passing pole-climbing and earning her CDL—as was required within her

first six months of employment—or just proving to herself and her very skeptical supervisor that she could do the job.

“You fall in love with it,” she says.

“The first time you ever go on a trouble call, whether it’s for a little old man and lady or a young couple with kids, when you get their power on in the middle of the night or when it’s freezing cold, [line work] gets in you. You can’t get it out.”

Foster acknowledges that a lot women don’t gravitate to this kind of work, but she says, “It wouldn’t hurt to reach out” and simply include women in the recruiting conversation for lineworkers, as well as roles in solar and wind.

When Lineworkers Benefit, Communities Benefit Mike Barton, director of public works for Wake Forest, points out that lineworkers refining their skills translates to faster restoration when they’re back home on the job, “working safely to get the power back on as quickly as possible.”

Aaron Haderle, manager of transmission & distribution (T&D) operations at Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) and this year’s Journeyman Master Judge, says, “One of the things that’s really cool is working together and

NC Legislative building installs metal detectors, X-ray machines

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — The General Assembly is implementing a new security protocol at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

New equipment, including metal detectors and X-ray machines, will be installed at the entrances, screening visitors prior to entry. According to Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble, between staffers, lawmakers, press and lobbyists, the state legislative building has approximately 1,000 people working there on an average day. Add to that crowd about 15 to 20 school groups taking daily tours, each with 30 kids or more.

“When you have that many kids in the

building at any given time, you have to be concerned about keeping them safe,” said Coble.

Administrators are careful to maintain access for the public to the seat of state government and the legislative process at what has historically been considered the “People’s Building.”

“Our goal is to make the building safe for all who have business with the General Assembly, as well as for the members, staff, press and citizens of the state of North Carolina,” read the press release from Legislative Services.

The new security equipment will be operational sometime in the next few weeks as lawmakers plan to convene in Raleigh on May 16 for short session.

Most challenging?

The danger aspect of it is always in the back of your head—being safe and not getting complacent is one of the most challenging things to do, especially after you’ve been doing it for a while.

Even though they may look the same, there’s always something different about every pole.

Do you see value in public power?

If I was a customer, I’d rather have public power.

Most of our linemen live nearby. Our outage restoration time is way better than any of the other local utilities, IOUs or co-ops.

Ask anyone who has ever been to or been involved in a rodeo, and they’ll tell you without hesitation: Attend! And bring your utility crews—whether they compete or not, along with utility directors, city and town employees and leaders, and public power customers. The impact of the rodeo is far-reaching.

“You fall in love with it.”

Around the Grid

What led you to line work?

When I was a senior at Nash Central High School in Rocky Mount, two linemen came in for Career Day. It sounded cool, so I signed up for their program. I’ve been doing it since I graduated about 10 years ago.

Why Everyone Should Attend the Rodeo

Safety is the Ultimate Prize By participating in the rodeo, lineworkers learn techniques that enable them to perform their jobs safer, faster and more efficiently.

Bob Rumbaugh, manager of technical training at AMP and this year’s Apprentice Master Judge, explains, “This whole thing is based around safety—safe work practices and safe procedures.

We want to make sure everybody works safe.” That sentiment is echoed throughout public power, with ElectriCities Manager of Safety & Training David Young adding, “It’s a great opportunity to develop well-rounded, safer workers.”

jonesandblount.com @JonesandBlount

Meet Hugo Mier, line crew supervisor for Wake Forest Power. He was the third-place journeyman in the 2017 NCAMES rodeo and will represent NC Public Power on the NCAMES team at the national rodeo in April.

National Lineworkers Rodeo 101 New to the rodeo concept? Here’s a short primer. At the national rodeo, apprentices (lineworkers who have less than four years of experience) and teams of journeymen (lineworkers with more than four years of experience) compete in events that mimic tasks they might do on the job. There’s no live electricity involved in the events, but the competitors must use procedures as if there is.

There are 10 events in all. Apprentices compete in four rodeo events and take a written test on the day before the rodeo. Teams of three or four journeymen compete in five rodeo events.

Competitors are judged on safety, work practices, neatness, ability and equipment handling.

The goal of each competitor, whether solo or team, is completing each event perfectly, with no deductions for mistakes, also called infractions or gigs. Competitors who score the highest—which usually means no infractions—in the fastest times win! Winners are declared for each event and for overall apprentice and overall journeyman team.

Each event has a Chief Judge who is in charge of that event. There are usually 10 stations per event, so multiple linemen can compete at once.

An event judge mans each event station. Overseeing all the events are a Master Apprentice Judge and a Master Journeyman Judge.

Jones & Blount

Manteo

Get Ready for the First-Ever National Public Power Lineworkers Rodeo in Wake Forest, North Carolina!

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What would you tell a high school student about a career in line work?

If you want something challenging and fun that keeps you on your toes and won’t get boring, go for it. It’s dangerous, but you have a lot of safety procedures to follow that help you. If you like helping other people, you would love this job.

Congratulations on your promotion to line crew supervisor. What was the path you took to get there?

Hard work and being dedicated to the job. Taking ElectriCities classes helped as well. I completed the lineman career development program and got my journeyman card through the town and ElectriCities.

NSJ STAFF

Newly-installed metal detectors and x-ray machines are seen in the lobby of the N.C. Legislative Building. An average of approximately 1,000 people and fifteen school groups enter the state building in Raleigh every day.

Greensboro man’s impassioned plea on gun rights goes viral

By NSJ Staff

being able to use other people’s equipment even though you’re competing against each other.

We’ve always done that—shared equipment, shared tools, shared ideas. It’s really neat.”

Relationships developed during rodeo competition also help facilitate mutual aid during storms.

As crews arrived in response to Haderle’s mutual aid call during Hurricane Irma, “A lot of the guys I knew from rodeos and conferences,” he explains. It was like having long-lost brothers roll into his shop to help.

Mike Willets, director of training & safety at Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA), says the rodeo is also about preserving the craft of line work—

climbing poles and doing work off poles. With the prevalence of bucket trucks and underground systems, “We don’t do that as much as we used to,” he explains. During storm repair, climbing skills are key, since bucket trucks often can’t get to where damaged lines are.

The rodeo helps lineworkers keep those climbing skills sharp.

Community Enlightenment Willets has been in public power for going on 40 years and was event organizer when MMUA hosted the national rodeo in 2016.

He says, “The rodeo is public power at its best.” It’s also an excellent educational opportunity for people outside the utility industry.

Wake Forest Mayor Vivian

Jones says the rodeo informs the community that public power is bigger than one municipality. “In North Carolina, we have about 9 million people; 1.2 million get their energy from a public power utility,” says Mayor Jones. “It’s not a small thing.”

Even more than that, Mayor Jones says the rodeo highlights the importance of the lineworker’s job. It gives people a chance to appreciate the pride that linemen take in what they do. “They want to be the best they can be and serve the community the best that they can,” she says. “It’s my job as a leader of the community to support their desire to be the best, and we can do that just by showing up.”

GREENSBORO — A man’s speech on gun rights before a Greensboro City Council meeting last week has gone viral with a video of it getting more than 4 million views. Greensboro resident Mark Robinson spoke during the public comment period of a meeting regarding a gun and knife show planned for the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in August.

One of the city council members suggested that the show be canceled in light of the February high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. “What I want to know is when are all of you going to start standing up for the majority?” Robinson asked. “Here’s who the majority is. I’m the majority.

I’m a law-abiding citizen who never shot anybody. Never committed a serious crime and never committed a felony. I’ve never done anything like that.”

A native of Greensboro, Robinson is reportedly a student at UNC Greensboro studying to become a history teacher. He works at a

furniture manufacturing plant, and said he attended the meeting with no intention of going to the microphone. After sitting in the audience and listening to the city council discuss the upcoming gun show, he felt that he had to speak up.

“It seems like every time we have one of these shootings, nobody wants to put the blame where it goes, which is at the shooter’s feet. You want to put it at my feet,” Robinson told the council.

Since then, Robinson has become an “everyman” for gun rights, reaching millions of people who may not have felt heard. He was interviewed on the “Fox & Friends” morning program and other national and local news outlets.

The city council’s attorney said that the body did not have the authority to cancel the show but could allocate its proceeds. At the end of the meeting, the Greensboro City Council voted to put all proceeds from the show toward the city’s Gun Stoppers program, up to $40,000, which gives money for information leading to an arrest or confiscation of illegally owned guns in Guilford County.

The Energy Behind Public Power

Bring your family to the 2018 APPA Lineworkers Rodeo and see public power lineworkers from across the nation demonstrate the skills and knowledge needed to keep your lights on. Enjoy multiple food trucks and a kids’ zone, too!

Free to the public | April 28 | 7:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. | South Franklin Street off Rogers Road | Wake Forest, N.C. | Visit wakeforestnc.gov

NSJ 2018 APPA Lineworkers Rodeo Ad.indd 1

4/9/2018 11:24:21 AM

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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

VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

How many regulations are too many?

They estimate it would take a person 3 years to read the 112 million words in the US Code of Federal Regulations

DOES ANYONE in North Carolina know how many regulations exist in the North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC)?

More importantly, is there anyone in the state of North Carolina who has read all of them and understands all of them and what their collective impact is on North Carolina business both good and bad?

If you guessed 109,350 restrictions in the form of regulations consisting of approximately 8.7 million words, you win.

Mark Twain estimated he wrote between 1,400 and 1,800 words per day on his way to becoming the most famous author in American history. At that rate, he would have had to write for 15 years straight to match the number of regulations now on the books in North Carolina.

According to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, it would take 483 hours, or 12 weeks straight at 40 hours per week reading at a rate of 300 words per minute, to read all existing North Carolina state regulations.

That is not too bad. They estimate it would take a person three years to read the 112 million words in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), all of which affect businesses in North Carolina as much or more than state regulations do.

If you ever want to understand why so many business executives complain about the heavy hand of government bureaucracy, look no further than the 120 million-plus words in

federal and state regulations.

What does it mean in practical terms for any business ranging from small businesses to the very large corporation?

It means that people must be hired to make sure the business complies with the state and federal regulations. It means time and effort must be diverted to complying with every regulation instead of selling more product.

Any law or regulation opens the door for litigation which further depletes money and human capital from the primary objectives of the company which is to sell more product and produce a profit for the shareholders.

It means money from sales revenue or investment capital has to be diverted to pay for people who do not do anything more than read regulations and make sure the company complies with them which adds costs to the final product bought by the consumer.

Are all regulations “bad”?

Certainly not. Labor safety laws and environmental protection certainly have their place in the modern world of commerce and manufacturing.

But when is the number and scope of regulations “too much” and in dire need of repeal or revision?

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) published a report in 2014, “The Cost of Federal Regulation to the U.S. Economy, Manufacturing and Small Business,” that estimated federal regulation compliance alone costs businesses roughly $2 trillion per year,

or about 12 percent of GDP annually. Federal regulations cost about $10,000 per employee with small businesses being more adversely affected than large corporations because of fewer employees over which to amortize the cost of compliance.

Added together with the costs of state regulatory compliance, the cost of complying with regulations to any business are enormous every year.

The North Carolina Administrative Code should be thoroughly examined and reviewed with the goal to remove as much administrative burden as possible from North Carolina business operators and entrepreneurs. Surely there are regulations that no longer apply to the current modern economy.

The Texas legislature, for example, has a one-year session but dedicates the off-year to a thorough review of one agency to determine whether it is efficient and achieving its stated intended mission. If they find antiquated regulations and laws on the books, they repeal them the next session.

It would be a surprise to find less than 25 percent of current NCAC regulations that could not be repealed with bipartisan support.

It is worth the effort to find out.

EDITORIAL | TROY KICKLER

Many solutions can be found closer to home

There are many historical examples of community creativity and engagement to solve bigger problems.

THE IDEA of finding community solutions to big problems is gaining more and more traction. Although there are many similarities among Americans, we live in a vast land that contains diverse communities. America’s educational, health care and social problems, for instance, may have general themes, but each locality is different. One solution does not fit all.

I have attended conferences marketed as championing limited government and proclaiming how states and communities are different. But while there, I’ve often heard various panelists encourage, in a top-down fashion, their solution as applicable to all states and communities. There seemed to be a disconnect between identifying problems and offering solutions.

I wanted to remind one panelist, for instance, that educational laws are not uniform across all 50 states. It is possible to take the best, applicable components from the proven solution in said state, to be sure, and use them for our respective state solutions.

That approach was not mentioned, however.

The following never seemed to occur to the panelist: One policy size does not fit all states.

Even within a state, one community solution does not fit all. If you have not been hearing about this budding trend, stay tuned. There will be more and more discussions regarding local solutions and community engagement.

Such an approach can find supporters across party lines or ideological lines.

One key component, as I see it, is to encourage creativity among private associations and communities — the real thing and not virtual ones — to solve community problems. Community creativity and engagement will help move away from what Alexis de Tocqueville referred to as the potential dangers of a “soft despotism.”

A “soft despotism” has aspects of freedom and some individual choices. Yet the people have limited control. To Tocqueville, this mild form of tyranny “covers the society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules, which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot break through to go beyond the crowd.”

In “Democracy in America (Vol. 4),” Tocqueville writes further: “It does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them, and directs them; it rarely forces actions, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”

What Tocqueville describes can cause creativity to languish. It can also foster an individual’s disengagement from various problems in his or her community.

There are many historical examples of community creativity and engagement to solve bigger problems. This idea is not new.

In North Carolina’s early to mid-1800s, communities had lotteries, essentially raffles, to obtain money for particular local needs.

There were raffles for churches, fraternal societies and for building local roads or schools. In some communities, churches started schools to increase the literacy rate in their communities. Christian denominations started orphanages to provide shelter, food and education for parentless children.

Quakers formed manumission societies to provide freedom or at least a de facto freedom for slaves (many times state law prevented outright manumission.)

Two fraternal organizations, the Freemasons and the Odd Fellows, have created or supported many community service projects and local charitable causes such as orphanages, Little League Baseball and needed senior programs.

Let’s encourage more creative community solutions to big problems. Let’s also be aware of needs and problems in our communities and encourage community engagement.

A lot of times the answer is not in Washington, D.C. Many times, the answer is not in the state capital. The answers to many of life’s big problems are much closer to home.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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SOCIAL SPIN

GUEST OPINION | BOB EDMUNDS

In re judicial elections

It struck me that no matter what method a state used— gubernatorial selection, panel merit selection, legislative selection, partisan and nonpartisan election, etc.—all were ultimately political.

THOUGH I UNDERSTAND that the policy of the American Bar Association has long been to favor some form of merit selection, I would like to speak in favor of elections. While the faults of such elections have been cataloged, I have seen their strengths.

A word of background. Years ago, I was privileged to serve as a presidentially appointed U.S. attorney. Many of my colleagues hoped, as did I, to move on to a judicial career at some point in the future. Though a lifetime appointment to the federal bench was usually the hopedfor goal, we all knew that particular lightning struck infrequently and haphazardly. So we often spoke of the path to the bench in our different states. It struck me that no matter what method a state used — gubernatorial selection, panel merit selection, legislative selection, partisan and nonpartisan election, etc. — all were ultimately political. The supplicant had to be carefully positioned and had to have the right connections. Merely being competent and hoping for the best seldom got anyone anywhere.

After leaving federal service and practicing privately for several years, I ran for a seat on my state’s intermediate appellate court. Counting that race, I have been a candidate for judicial office in four statewide elections.

The first two were partisan and privately financed, the third was nonpartisan and publicly financed, and the fourth was nonpartisan and privately financed. I won the first three and lost the last.

I will admit that leaving the bench as the result of losing an election is no fun. But the fact remains that were it not for judicial elections, I never would have had a chance to successfully pursue my ambition to be a judge.

When I started, I didn’t know the right people. As a U.S. attorney, I knew some federal officials, but I did not have significant connections within state politics. I wasn’t in the majority party. I had no guardian angel or mentor to push me along. No one was going to appoint me to the bench. Instead, I was given the opportunity, like every other lawyer in the state, to take my candidacy to the public. I had to enter the arena and run on the basis of my record.

In addition to giving me a chance I otherwise would not have had, elections require judges to meet the voters.

I don’t know how many times lawyers whispered in my ear while I was a judge that I was the best writer, the smartest, the best looking, and who knows what else.

A judge can be seduced by these whispers. Elections are an antidote to black robe fever. A judicial candidate has to get out and meet people, not remain holed up in chambers writing carefully crafted and logically dazzling opinions.

A judicial candidate who is meeting voters one-on-one will often get a painful but nevertheless valuable earful from ordinary citizens.

Elections also give the judicial candidate numerous opportunities to discuss the rule of law and the role of the judiciary. Those who run know that, while many voters are unexpectedly well-informed about legal matters, many others have little sense of importance of judicial independence. Judicial forums, candidate rallies, newspaper interviews, all give the candidate the opportunity to explain what used to be taught in high school civics classes.

I recognize that judicial elections are hardly perfect.

For an incumbent, seeking re-election is a second fulltime job. If the elections are not publicly funded, raising money is a painful necessity. Outside funds can swamp anything that the candidate is able to raise, though that particular vulnerability exists under other systems. A tide of voter unrest can sweep out saints and sinners alike. Perhaps most pertinently, judicial elections tend to exclude qualified introverts who are uncomfortable in the rough-and-tumble of a campaign, as well as successful lawyers who are unwilling to sacrifice part of their practice and income during the months (and sometimes years) that a campaign requires.

Acknowledging the imperfections of judicial elections does not mean that they should be discarded in favor of other systems that have different weaknesses. Americans have always relied on voters. So far, that reliance has served us well. For that reason, I see a place for elections as one the valid methods of assuring that qualified men and women serve on the bench.

Robert (Bob) Edmunds served as a justice on the Supreme Court of North Carolina from 2001 through 2016, after service as a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He has also been a state and federal prosecutor and a private practitioner. He is board-certified in both appellate and criminal law and now practices with Smith Moore Leatherwood in Greensboro.

This article was previously published in the ABA Journal.

The North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh

The Social Spin is a new element of the North State Journal opinion page that recognizes the impact of social media channels on our collective conversation. If you have a favorite tweet or post, let us know using #SocialSpin and we may include it in a future issue.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London @MayorofLondon April 8, 2018

“No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife.

Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.”

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States @realDonaldTrump April 10, 2018

“Attorney–client privilege is dead!”

Facebook, Social media company @facebook April 6, 2018

“Soon anyone that sees a political ad on Facebook will see it labeled as such.

This label will also include information on who paid for it. People in the US will start to see these labels later this spring, with more countries on the way.”

Roy Cooper, Governor of North Carolina @NC_Governor April 3, 2018

“Lights, camera, North Carolina! Two projects have been awarded by North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants to support productions in Wilmington and the High Point area. Time to get rolling.”

COURTESY OF NSJ STAFF

Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator of Florida

COLUMN | WALTER E. WILLIAMS

@marcorubio April 10, 2018

Black political power means zilch

Between 1940 and 1950, black poverty rates fell by as much as 40 percent.

Between 1940 and 1970, the number of blacks in middle-class professions quadrupled.

IT’S OFTEN THOUGHT to be beyond question that black political power is necessary for economic power and enhanced socio-economic welfare. That’s an idea that lends itself to testing and analysis.

Between 1970 and 2012, the number of black elected officials rose from fewer than 1,500 to more than 10,000.

Plus, a black man was elected to the presidency twice. Jason Riley, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, tells how this surge in political power has had little beneficial impact on the black community.

In a PragerU video, “Blacks in Power Don’t Empower Blacks,” Riley says the conventional wisdom was based on the notion that only black politicians could understand and address the challenges facing blacks. Therefore, electing more black city councilors, mayors, representatives and senators was deemed critical. Even some liberal social scientists now disagree. Gary Orfield says, “There may be little relationship between the success of ... black leaders and the opportunities of typical black families.” Riley says that while many black politicians achieved considerable personal success, many of their constituents did not.

After the 2014 Ferguson, Mo., riots, which followed the killing of Michael Brown after he charged a policeman, much was made of the small number of blacks on the city’s police force. Riley asks: If the racial composition of the police force is so important, how does one explain the Baltimore riots the following year after Freddie Gray died in police custody? Baltimore’s police force is 40 percent black.

Its police commissioner is black. Its mayor is black, as is the majority of the city council. What can be said of black political power in Baltimore can also be said of Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta and New Orleans. In these cities, blacks have been mayors, police chiefs, city councilors and superintendents of schools for decades.

By contrast, when blacks had little political power, they made significant economic progress. During the 1940s and ’50s, black labor force participation rates exceeded those of whites; black incomes grew much faster than white incomes. Between 1940 and 1950, black poverty rates fell by

as much as 40 percent. Between 1940 and 1970, the number of blacks in middle-class professions quadrupled. Keep in mind that was before affirmative action programs. Riley says that racial gaps were narrowing without any special treatment for blacks. After the 1960s, the government began pouring trillions of dollars into various social programs. These programs discouraged marriage and also undermined the work ethic through open-ended welfare programs, helping keep poor people poor.

The fact that political success is not a requirement for socio-economic success — and indeed may have an opposite effect — doesn’t apply only to blacks. American Jews, Italians, Germans, Japanese and Chinese attained economic power long before they had political power. By almost any measure of socio-economic success, Japanese and Chinese are at or near the top. Riley asks, “How many prominent Asian politicians can you name?” By contrast, Irish-Americans have long held significant political power yet were the slowest-rising of all immigrant groups.

Riley says that the black experience in the U.S. has been very different from that of other racial groups. Blacks were enslaved. After emancipation, they faced legal and extralegal discrimination and oppression. But none of those difficulties undermines the proposition that human capital, in the forms of skills and education, is far more important than political capital. Riley adds that the formula for prosperity is the same across the human spectrum. Traditional values — such as marriage, stable families, education and hard work — are immeasurably more important than the color of your mayor, police chief, representatives, senators and president.

As Riley argues in his new book — “False Black Power?”

— the major barrier to black progress today is not racial discrimination. The challenge for blacks is to better position themselves to take advantage of existing opportunities, and that involves addressing the anti-social, self-defeating behaviors and habits and attitudes endemic to the black underclass.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

“For over 20 yrs leaders in both parties have allowed #China to receive benefits of open trade without fulfilling responsibilities of it. We must either correct this imbalance in our relationship now or we will face devastating economic consequences in the decades to come.”

BE IN TOUCH Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline. com or 509 W. North St. Raleigh, N.C. 27603. 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.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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NATION & WORLD

Iran tells Trump he would regret dropping nuclear deal Tehran President Hassan Rouhani issued a threat on Monday, warning that President Donald Trump will regret it if he pulls out of the nuclear deal with Iran. Rouhani said that Tehran’s response would be stronger than the U.S. thinks.

U.S. sanctions that were lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015 will resume unless Trump waives them again on May 12. Trump has effectively set that as a deadline for European powers to “fix the terrible flaws” of the deal.

Election victory in Hungary signals stronger migration laws coming Budapest Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party signaled on Monday it could push on quickly with legislation to crack down on organizations promoting the European Union’s pro-migration policies as soon as parliament reconvenes after Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s sweeping election victory. Orban ran on a Christian conservative platform and in opposition to what he considers lax immigration rules across Europe. His Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority for the third straight time in Sunday’s election, meaning he again has the powers to change constitutional laws — potentially paving the way for further friction with the European Union.

Four military aircraft accidents in a week have officials digging deeper Washington, D.C. A U.S. Marine helicopter went down last week in southern California, killing all four crew members aboard. The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif., crashed in the desert 15 miles west of El Centro.

Among those killed was 1st Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, originally from Pinehurst, N.C. The wreck was the first of four military aircraft accidents last week. An Air Force pilot with the Thunderbirds was killed early Wednesday when his F-16 jet crashed at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada. Then on Friday, two pilots were killed when their AH64E Apache helicopter crashed during training at Fort Campbell, Kent. A Marine jet also went down in Djibouti on Tuesday, and the pilot was later reported in stable condition.

Russia vetoes U.S. bid to form new Syria chemical weapons inquiry President Trump pledges swift, forceful response after suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma

By Ellen Francis and Jack Stubbs Reuters BEIRUT/MOSCOW – Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.S.-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have created a new inquiry to ascertain blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Twelve council members voted in favor, while Bolivia joined Russia in voting no, and China abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass.

“This resolution is the bare minimum that the council can do to respond to the attack,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council before the vote, referring to reports of a deadly poison gas attack in Syria’s Douma.

Over the course of the week, the United States and other Western powers have considered taking military action over Saturday’s attack, spurring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to invite international inspectors to send a team to Syrian town of Douma.

President Donald Trump on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility was established. The White House said Trump will now not travel on Friday to the Summit of the Americas in Peru so that he can focus on the crisis.

At least 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Saturday’s suspected attack on Douma, then still occupied by rebel forces, according to a Syrian relief group.

The Syrian government and Russia said that there was no evidence that a gas attack had taken place and the claim was bogus.

But the incident has thrust Syria’s seven-year-old conflict back to the forefront of international concern.

Adding to the volatile situation, Iran, Assad’s main ally along with Russia, threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday that Tehran, Damascus and Moscow have blamed on Israel.

Meanwhile on the ground, thousands of militants and their families arrived in rebel-held northwestern Syria after surrendering Douma to government forces. The evacuation deal restores Assad’s control over the entire eastern Ghouta - formerly the biggest rebel bastion near

HANDOUT PHOTO VIA REUTERS

A child is treated in a hospital in Douma, eastern Ghouta in Syria, after what a Syria medical relief group claims was a suspected chemical attack April, 7.

Damascus.

The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is already at work trying to establish what exactly took place in Douma.

But whether a team would try to get there was unclear. OPCW inspectors have been attacked on two previous missions to the sites of chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

“Syria is keen on cooperating with the OPCW to uncover the truth behind the allegations that some Western sides have been advertising to justify their aggressive intentions,” state news agency SANA said, quoting an official Foreign Ministry source.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin would submit a resolution to the U.N. Security Council proposing that the OPCW investigate the alleged attack.

On Monday, Trump told a meeting of military leaders and national security advisers in Washington that he would take a decision that night or shortly after on a response, and that the United States had “a lot of options militarily” on Syria.

“But we can’t let atrocities like we all witnessed ... we can’t let that happen in our world ... especially when we’re able to because of the power of the United States, the power of our country, we’re able to stop it,” Trump said.

Before the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Washington would respond to the suspected attack whether the Security Council acted or not.

France said it would respond

if it was proven that Assad’s forces carried out the attack. Any riposte would most likely be in coordination with the United States, government aides said.

The British government is also discussing military intervention with its allies in Syria in response to the alleged attack. Prime Minister Theresa May will talk to Trump later on Tuesday.

“That kind of atrocity is not acceptable,” International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said. “My prime concern is that we do not have a repeat of those appalling atrocities, and that we are doing everything we can to protect men women and children who are targeted.”

U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington was weighing a multinational military response.

Washington bombed a Syrian government air base last year over a toxic gas attack.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States, France and Britain of stoking international tensions by engaging in a “confrontational policy against Russia and Syria.”

“Russia is being unpardonably threatened. The tone with which this is being done has gone beyond the threshold of what is acceptable, even during the Cold War.” Initial U.S. assessments have been unable to determine conclusively what materials were used in the attack and could not say with certainty that Assad’s forces were behind it.

Trump said, however, that Washington was “getting more clarity” on who was responsible.

A previous joint inquiry of the United Nations and the OPCW

had found the Syrian government used the nerve agent sarin in an attack in April 2017, and had also several times used chlorine as a weapon. Damascus blamed Islamic State militants for mustard gas use.

The suspected chemical attack came at the end of one of the deadliest Syrian government offensives of the war, with an estimated 1,700 civilians killed in eastern Ghouta in air and artillery bombardments.

Despite the international revulsion over the chemical weapons attacks, the death toll from such incidents is in the dozens, a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians killed since an uprising against Assad’s rule broke out in March 2011.

The deal over the rebel evacuation of Douma took effect on Sunday, hours after medical aid groups reported the suspected chemical attack RIA news agency quoted Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying 3,600 militants and their families had left Douma over the past 24 hours. About 40,000 militants and their families are expected to leave, the pro-government Watan newspaper said.

Sixty-seven buses carrying hundreds of fighters, along with family members and other civilians who did not wish to come back under Assad’s rule, reached opposition areas near Aleppo on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

As part of the surrender deal, the Jaish al-Islam group that controlled the town released scores of people it had been holding.

NOR T H C A R OL INA A ZA L E A F E S T IVA L W I L M I N G TO N , N C

//

APRIL 11-15, 2018

We are excited to celebrate the 71st annual North Carolina Azalea Festival with you! The Festival presents a variety of events that appeal to a large audience. We look forward to another great Azalea Festival and hope you will share your experiences with us through our social media! #NCAF #visitNC

2018 EVENTS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11

THURSDAY, APRIL 12

QUEEN’S CORONATION - FREE Riverfront Park | 3:00 PM Be a part of the tradition as the Queen is officially crowned the North Carolina Azalea Festival Queen!

FESTIVAL WEEKEND STREET FAIR PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO - FREE Downtown Wilmington Enjoy the sights, sounds, and mouth-watering smells of the 2018 Street Fair along the Cape Fear River in historic downtown Wilmington.

BILLY CURRINGTON WITH DRAKE WHITE AND THE BIG FIRE AND KENTON BRYANT The Main Stage| 7:00 PM Billy Currington’s latest album bears the breezy title Summer Forever, but the talented Georgia native has spent more than a decade in the spotlight proving he’s truly a man for all seasons.

TICKETS AT NCAZALEAFESTIVAL.ORG | BOX OFFICE 910-794-4650

FRIDAY, APRIL 13

38 SPECIAL The Main Stage | 7:00 PM After more than three decades together, 38 SPECIAL continue to bring their signature blast of Southern Rock to over 100 cities a year.

SEE ALL EVENTS AT NCAZALEAFESTIVAL.ORG!

SATURDAY, APRIL 14

LUDACRIS WITH CHILDISH MAJOR The Main Stage | 7:00 PM The multitalented CHRIS “LUDACRIS” BRIDGES can best be described as remarkable.

Ludacris has sold over 19.5 million units in the United States, and approximately 7 million overseas.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018

SPORTS

Hornets hire Kupchak as their next GM, page 4

Nearly two decades after he was fired as East Carolina’s basketball coach, Joe Dooley, left, has been hired away from Florida Gulf Coast to return to Greenville.

ROB GOLDBERG JR. | COURTESY OF ECU

the Wednesday SIDELINE REPORT NFL

Panthers’ Davis tests positive for banned substance Charlotte Carolina Panthers veteran linebacker Thomas Davis announced Friday that he violated the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Davis will miss the first four games of the 2018 season due to the transgression.

“I was completely caught off guard by this,” Davis said while announcing his suspension in a video on Twitter. “I’ve never in any way done anything to try to intentionally cheat the game.

Davis has career totals of 1,015 tackles, 28 sacks, 18 forced fumbles and 13 interceptions since breaking into the NFL in 2005.

Dooley is the man again at ECU Florida Gulf Coast coach comes back to Pirates after nearly two decades

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal GREENVILLE — East Carolina’s search for a new basketball coach was a little like a road trip without a GPS or map to guide the way.

There were a few extra turns and at least one unexpected roadblock that made the journey a bit longer than it should have been.

But in the end, the Pirates eventually made it to the destination for which they appeared headed all along.

At a press conference announcing the hiring of Joe Dooley.

“It’s good to be home,” said the

52-year-old New Jersey native, who has led Florida Gulf Coast to 21 or more wins in each of the five seasons he coached there. “It’s been a long journey, but an exciting one.”

Dooley was formally introduced as ECU’s next coach last Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he signed a five-year contract with an annual compensation package of around $900,000.

In reality, though, the press conference was more of a homecoming than an introduction. It marked the triumphant return of a man who led the Pirates from 1995-99, compiling what is still the school’s best winning percentage of its Division I era by going 57-52 before being fired in a move that was as unpopular then as it is head-scratching now.

Adding to the symmetry is

Chris Paul buys stake in Winston-Salem Dash

FOOTBALL

Carolina Cobras drop inaugural game Greensboro Quarterback Charles McCullum threw five touchdown passes, four of which went to Phillip Bennett, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Carolina Cobras from a 41-38 loss to the Jacksonville Sharks in their inaugural National Arena League football game Saturday at Greensboro Coliseum. The expansion Cobras played the defending league champion Sharks close throughout, controlling the ball for the game’s first 13½ minutes before McCullum hit Bennett for the first score in franchise history and trailing by just three, 17-14, at halftime.

The Cobras still trailed by just three with 58.8 seconds remaining after another TD pass from McCullum to Bennett, but were unable to get any closer after a penalty nullified their recovery of an onside kick and allowed Jacksonville to run out the clock.

turn was the right thing at the right time for his family, since his parents already live in Greenville, he emphasized that his return to ECU is not about unfinished business.

Rather, it’s about looking toward the future and using the lessons he’s learned over the past two decades to tackle the tall task of building a consistent winner at a place with no previous tradition of that.

“The thing we need to do is make basketball important here at ECU,” he said. “There have been some periods where we have been good, but we need to be consistently good. We need to find a way to do that and we will.”

In order give the Pirates a chance of becoming relevant in See ECU, page B4

Hurricanes’ Dundon signals changes in end-of-season talk

BASEBALL

Winston-Salem Nine-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul became a minority owner of the Carolina League’s Winston-Salem Dash, the minor league baseball team announced Tuesday. Paul, who plays for the Houston Rockets, was born in Winston-Salem and played college basketball at Wake Forest.

the fact that the man who hired Dooley this time, Dave Hart, is the same one that promoted him to the job the first time around.

Hart was athletic director in 1995 when he made the then 29-year-old Dooley the youngest coach in Division I after Eddie Payne left for Oregon State.

He is now a special assistant to chancellor Cecil P. Staton, hired to run ECU’s athletic department following the abrupt departure of former AD Jeff Compher.

“I see a lot of familiar faces,” Dooley said. “I think it’s a challenge, and it’s a neat deal when you get to come back to some place where you knew a whole bunch of people, where you had great relationships.”

While Dooley waxed nostalgic about his previous experience with the Pirates and how his re-

New Carolina owner didn’t give many specifics, but it’s clear he plans to reshape the team PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS

NC State coach Dave Doeren looks on as the Wolfpack participates in the annual Kay Yow Spring Game.

NC State ends spring practice with some answers Quarterback Ryan Finley still guides the offense, and leaders are emerging on defense

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal RALEIGH — A lot has been made this offseason about the number of key players the NC State football team has lost because of graduation and early entry into the NFL Draft.

It’s a legitimate concern, considering that coach Dave Doeren and his staff will have to replace their entire starting defensive line, their top rusher, all-time leading receiver, two-thirds of their linebacking corps and the right side of

their offensive line.

And yet, despite all the holes that need to be filled before the start of the 2018 season, the Wolfpack is hardly devoid of veteran talent around which to build.

A reminder of that was provided by several of those players Saturday with their performances in a soggy Kay Yow Spring Game at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“We’re in a whole different place than we were five years ago,” said Doeren, who is preparing to enter his sixth season at State. “There’s a lot of depth and competition.”

That’s especially true on offense, which still boasts plenty of playmakers despite the departures of running back Nyheim Hines, all-purpose back Jaylen See NC STATE, page B3

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal RALEIGH — For just about any other organization, Monday’s end-of-season availability for the Carolina Hurricanes would have been a coronation of Sebastian Aho as the face of the franchise. When owner Tom Dundon met with the media after the press’ time with the players was over, he said as much.

“I can tell you, we’re not finding better players than Sebastian Aho,” Dundon said. “We’re just

not. We’re not finding hard workers and we’re not finding more committed hockey players.”

Dundon’s praise of Aho, however, was a postscript to his larger message: No one is safe, and everyone — management, players, coaches, and maybe even concession workers and parking attendants — should be on full alert.

“It’s our job to find players better than you, and it’s your job to make that hard,” was the message Dundon said he delivered to players during exit interviews — meetings he held without a figure from the front office or coach Bill Peters. “But there’s none of them I’m not trying to replace.

See DUNDON, page B4

JAMES GUILLORY | USA TODAY SPORTS

Hurricanes forward Justin Williams called the team’s season “a failure” during end-of-season interviews on Monday.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

B2 WEDNESDAY

4.11.18

TRENDING

Webb Simpson The Raleigh native joined some elite company on Sunday, hitting back-to-back eagles in the final round of the Masters at Augusta National.

At No. 7, a par 4, he holed out his second shot from 166 yards for eagle. He followed that up by chipping in on the par-5 eighth hole. Only three other players — Phil Mickelson (2010), Dustin Johnson (2009) and Dan Pohl (1982) — have accomplished the feat. Theirs all came on the 13th and 14th holes.

Simpson, the 2012 US Open winner, had only two eagles ever at the Masters coming into Sunday’s round.

Steve Spurrier: The former college and NFL coach announced on Saturday he’s joining the Alliance of American Football, an eight-team league founded by Charlie Ebersol that is slated to begin play shortly after the 2019 Super Bowl.

Spurrier, who hasn’t coached since resigning at South Carolina in 2015, called it “a unique opportunity to get back into coaching.” The former Florida Gators legend will coach a team based in Orlando.

Andrew McCutchen: The Giants outfielder had his career-best sixth hit of the game, a three-run home run in the bottom of the 14th inning, in rallying San Francisco from a 5-4 deficit and into a 7-5, walk-off home win Saturday over the rival Dodgers. McCutchen, who had four singles and a double, belted the 12th pitch of his at-bat, a 2-2 fastball, over the left field fence for his first homer as a Giant and seventh career walk-off home run. McCutchen finished 6-for-7 after having totaled just two hits in the Giants’ first six games.

beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

NFL

NC State’s Kentavius Street, expected to be a mid-round pick in this month’s NFL Draft, tore his ACL during a workout with the New York Giants last Wednesday.

The 6-foot-2, 280-pound defensive end from Greenville had 19.5 sacks in his four years with the Wolfpack, including 3.5 last season playing on the opposite side of Nagurski Award winner Bradley Chubb. Street was the top recruit in NC State’s 2014 recruiting class.

LUCY NICHOLSON | REUTERS

“I missed playing out here. I missed competing against these guys. Such a great event. Best run event in all of our sport.”

Tiger Woods after he tied for 32nd at the Masters, finishing the tournament with his best round of the week, a three-under 69.

ROB KINNAN | USA TODAY SPORTS

NASCAR

UFC

JONATHAN HAYWARD | REUTERS

“I’m sure that Humboldt is devastated, and I don’t know if it will ever come back from a situation like this.”

Hall of Fame goaltender Glenn Hall, a native Humboldt, Saskatchewan, after the Canadian town’s junior hockey team’s bus accident killed 15.

MARY ALTAFFER | REUTERS

JEROME MIRON | USA TODAY SPORTS

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch held off Kevin Harvick over the closing laps of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, earning his 44th series win. Busch had finished second or third in the previous four Cup races even as Harvick had already won three times this season.

MMA fighter Conor McGregor was freed by a New York judge on $50,000 bail on Friday after being charged with assault for his part in a melee at a media event to publicize a series of UFC fights. McGregor, 29, had surrendered to police on Thursday evening, soon after a video of the fracas at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center went viral.

MLB

NHL

9 Consecutive seasons the Carolina Hurricanes have missed the playoffs, the longest active streak in the NHL. Carolina’s record was 36-35-11, finishing sixth in the Metropolitan Division.

KIRBY LEE | USA TODAY SPORTS

Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani continued to display Babe Ruth-like brilliance in the early stages of his Major League career as he flirted with a perfect game while pitching six-plus innings in a Los Angeles Angels victory on Sunday. The 23-yearold rookie allowed just one hit and struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings after hitting home runs in three consecutive games last week.

Always Dry. Always Comfortable.

introducing the NEW 29 Express

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

B3

NC STATE from page B1

STEVEN BRANSCOMBE | USA TODAY SPORTS

Duke freshmen Gary Trent Jr. (2) and Trevon Duval (1) have already declared for the NBA Draft, but Wendell Carter Jr. (34), considered a lottery pick, has not yet announced he will leave Duke after one year.

Blue Devils freshmen lead group of area players declaring for NBA Draft A look at ACC and N.C. players who have entered the process

By Shawn Krest North State Journal So far, the biggest surprise of the NBA Draft early-entry decision is that we haven’t heard from Wendell Carter Jr. The freshman big man was a key player for Duke this year and a virtual certainty to be a one-and-done with the Blue Devils, but, more than two weeks after the team’s season ended, Carter has yet to make an announcement.

The other three Duke freshmen have all announced that they will be leaving school, hiring agents, and moving on to the NBA. Marvin Bagley III was the first to declare, mere days after the Duke season ended. The 6-foot-10 power forward was the ACC Freshman and Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American.

“No freshman has done more in his freshman year than Marvin,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

“He’s broken every record and he’s really represented us at the highest level. I’m proud of him because he came in late and he adapted at the highest level. We wish him well. He and his family have prepared him well for this move. He’s ready. I can only see great things happening for him.”

A week later, point guard Trevon Duval announced he was also leaving. Duval had 207 assists this year, third in the ACC and fourth-most in Duke freshman history.

“We wish Trevon the very best,” Krzyzewski said. “He showed unbelievable improvement, especially at the end of the year. His athleticism and his ability to guard at the next level will help him. We know

that great things will happen for Trevon as he embarks on his pro career and will be watching and supporting him every step of the way.”

Duval averaged 9.8 points and 7.2 assists in the postseason.

On Saturday, Gary Trent Jr. became the third Duke one-and-done of the year and 15th in school history. The shooting guard led the ACC in 3-point shooting and set a Duke freshman record with 97 made threes.

“Gary was the best 3-point shooter in the ACC,” Krzyzewski said. “At the NBA level, that’s what they’re looking for. He has the size of a two-guard who will be able to fit in the NBA. We appreciate everything Gary brought to Duke basketball and wish him the best as he begins his journey in professional basketball.”

It’s the second straight year that Duke has had three one-and-done freshmen and the third time in the last four years. Frank Jackson, Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum all entered last season’s draft. Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow all went pro after the 2015 national championship season.

Assuming Carter declares for the draft before the April 22 deadline, it will be the most one-and-done freshmen in Duke history.

Of the 12 Duke freshmen to enter the draft after one year of college basketball before this season, 11 were taken in the first round, and nine were selected in the lottery.

Every mock draft has Bagley going in the top five, and all except CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish had Carter going in the top 10 — Parrish had him at 15.

NBADraft.net, Tankathon, Hoops Hype and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram all have both Trent and Duval going in the first round.

CBSSports.com’s Parrish has Duval as a first-rounder as well.

USA Today and Sports Illustrat-

3

Times in four years the Blue Devils have had at least three one-and-done freshmen declare for the draft ed both have Trent and Duval going in round two.

So far, the rest of the ACC has just four players who will definitely be leaving school early. Louisville’s Deng Adel and Ray Spalding both declared for the draft and will hire agents, as will Miami’s Lonnie Walker and Bruce Brown.

In addition, a handful of ACC players have declared for the draft without hiring an agent, leaving the door open for a return to school after receiving feedback from NBA teams. Boston College guards and North Carolina natives Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson are both testing the waters, as are Miami’s Dewan Huell, Clemson’s Shelton Mitchell and Marcquise Reed, and Georgia Tech’s Josh Okogie.

In addition, Omer Yurtseven has made himself available for the NBA Draft. He isn’t hiring an agent, but he won’t be returning to NC State.

He plans to transfer if he doesn’t remain in the draft. Junior teammate Torin Dorn also entered the draft process but has not hired an agent.

Three other players at North Carolina schools have entered the draft without hiring agents. Campbell’s Chris Clemons will test the waters — the second straight year he’s done so. Clemons declared without an agent last year, then chose to return to the Fighting Camels.

Charlotte guards Jon Davis and Andrien White have also put their names into the draft.

and willing to shoulder a much heavier load as part of their talSamuels, right tackle Will Rich- ented, though inexperienced ardson and right guard Tony Ad- unit.

Linebacker Germaine Pratt ams.

Quarterback Ryan Finley was especially active Saturday. could have joined that group out Although his stats were solid, the door after leading the Wolf- with four tackles, including two pack to a nine-win season in for losses, and a quarterback 2017. Instead, the former gradu- hurry, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound ate transfer decided to wait one senior’s biggest contribution this more year before entering the spring has been the influence draft by returning for his third he’s had on his younger teammates battling for starting jobs. season as the starter.

Redshirt freshman Isaiah The importance of that move was vividly illustrated Satur- Moore had a game-high 10 tackday when Finley hooked up with les Saturday while sophomores Kelvin Harmon on a 73-yard Louis Acceus and Raven Sandtouchdown pass in a driving ers had six each.

“Defense feeds off of energy, rainstorm on the game’s opening possession. Finley complet- so we need a leader,” said Pratt, ed eight of his 15 passes for 165 who finished fourth on the team yards before turning things over in tackles last season and scored a pair of touchdowns to his backups for a despite not starting a second half played in game. “So I’m going to near-monsoon condibe the leader.” tions.

“Defense It’s a similar role “He is competifeeds off of to the one that has tive,” Doeren said of been thrust on defenFinley. “Every day he energy, so sive end Darian Rosecomes in here and is we need a boro, a former fourvery methodical with leader. So star recruit. Roseboro the process of getting is the last man standbetter.”

I’m going ing on a defensive It doesn’t hurt the to be the line that could see all process that Finley leader.” four starters from last has a trio of proven season taken in this receivers with which year’s NFL Draft. to work.

Germaine Roseboro, who had Between them, Pratt, NC six tackles and two Harmon, Jakobi MeyState senior quarterback presers and Stephen Loulinebacker sures Saturday, figis combined to catch ures to get some help 169 passes and score in the fall once expe11 touchdowns last season. Their reliability and rienced former backups Eurnchemistry with their quarter- draus Bryant and Shug Frazier back was on full display during return to action.

Both were among several key their spring game in which Harmon and Meyers had three re- players — including top returnceptions each — for 92 and 61 ing rusher Reggie Gallaspy II yards respectively — and Louis — that were sidelined during spring practice with minor injuhad one grab for eight yards.

“I think it’s no doubt that we ries. Their absence and the mishave the best receiving corps in erable weather, combined with the ACC,” Finley said. “They all the arrival of top recruits in the have their different strengths. fall, make it difficult to formuIt’s such a blessing to me to be late any decisive conclusions able to throw the ball to those based on Saturday’s game.

“Spring is always the hardest guys. How they work is so, so respectable. I really look up to all time because you lost your seniors and yeah, you signed playthree of those guys.”

Finley said he has just as ers to replace them, but they’re much of an affinity for return- not here,” Doeren said. “So your ing center Garrett Bradbury, left depth charts are decimated in guard Terrone Prescod and left some spots.

“At the same time, you look tackle Tyler Jones, who have taken up a leadership role on the of- up and you see all these guys are coming back soon. The blessing fensive line.

There aren’t as many leaders in it is that these other kids get to go around on the defensive reps and get better. Then when side of the ball. But those that everyone returns you’ve got a litdo remain showed during the tle bit more experienced roster spring game that they’re ready to play with.”

PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS

Matt McCay, a redshirt freshman quarterback from Raleigh, and the rest of the Wolfpack had to play through bad weather during last weekend’s Kay Yow Spring Game.

Rosen: ‘I’m the best QB in the draft’ UCLA quarterback hoping to be first signal-caller picked in this month’s NFL Draft

By Field Level Media FORMER UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen said he’s the best quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft and spoke to some past criticisms in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN published on Tuesday.

Rosen was clear when asked who he thinks the draft’s top signal-caller is.

“I’m the best QB in the draft,” he said. “A lot of guys are flashier, but I think I’m the most efficient, monotonously consistent QB in this draft. Rodgers has some flair, but if you watch Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, there’s nothing that’s explosive or Johnny Manziel-like.

It’s just quarterbacking.”

Likewise, Rosen wasn’t shy when asked about his NFL goals.

“I want to be the winningest QB in NFL history,” he said. “I want to win the most games and most championships. I’d say six titles, but if Tom Brady gets six, I’ll say seven.”

The 21-year-old has been called the best pure passer in the 2018 draft but has also drawn criticism for his personality and attitude. Former Bruins head coach Jim Mora Jr. made waves last week when expanding on comments that he believes USC’s Sam Darnold would be a better fit for the Cleveland Browns, saying Rosen “needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn’t get bored” and “wants to know why.”

Rosen also caught flak during his college career for having a hot tub in his dorm room, taking shots at the NCAA and wearing a profane hat at Trump National Golf Club. When asked by ESPN about his own influence upon his reputation, he acknowledged that he’s made some mis-

CASEY SIPIO | USA TODAY SPORTS

UCLA’s Josh Rosen says he should be the first quarterback picked in this month’s NFL Draft. steps during the rise from being a starry high school recruit to a top NFL draft prospect.

“Starting off, I was pretty arrogant,” Rosen said. “They handed an 18-year-old the keys to a

D1 FBS-contending university.

I blew up a little bit, said some things I didn’t mean, and that follows you. You get one chance to make a first impression. I made the wrong one. … Maybe a little bit of me was a jerk in the past.

I’m trying to wipe it away.”

As to his perceived cockiness, Rosen is less inclined to shy away from that criticism.

“You have to be,” he said when challenged if he’s egotistical. “But you have to know where it plays and where it doesn’t. If you’re talking to reporters, pull your foot off the pedal. In a game, if the window’s closing on your receiver, sometimes you need to dial it up and say, ‘I’m going to get the ball in there.’ I’m supremely confident in my abilities as a quarterback.”

Rosen isn’t expected to go first overall in the draft, with the Browns widely believed to be keying on Darnold and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.

He has been connected with both the New York Giants and New York Jets — who pick at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively — though recent reports have suggested the Giants will not draft a quarterback if Darnold is not available.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

B4

Reed wins first major at the Masters Texan holds off Rickie Fowler, Jordan Speith to earn the Green Jacket

By Steve Keating Reuters AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrick Reed fought off furious backnine challenges from Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler to record a one-shot victory at the Masters on Sunday.

The final round began with Reed holding a three-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy, but while the Northern Irishman’s challenge faded Reed had to hold off his hard-charging U.S. Ryder Cup teammates to claim his first major championship.

Needing a two-putt par from 26 feet at the 18th to clinch the title, Reed ran his first putt four feet past the hole, took a deep breath and held his nerve rolling a knee-knocker into the cup for a one-under 71 that ended Fowler’s hopes of a playoff.

The fiery leader of recent U.S. Ryder and Presidents Cup efforts, Reed displayed plenty of the same brash spirit that earned him the “Captain America” moniker while adding his name to the list of Masters champions.

“Today was definitely probably the hardest mentally a round of golf could possibly be,” said Reed, who posted a 15-under 273 total. “It was going to be tough, anytime trying to close off a golf tournament is really tough.”

Fowler, who remains without a major title, had put the pressure on with a back nine charge that featured six birdies over his final 11 holes, including one at the last, but his 67 and 14-under total would not be enough.

Before Fowler took up the challenge of overhauling Reed,

MIKE SEGAR | REUTERS

Patrick Reed celebrates winning the 2018 Masters after final round play Sunday at the Augusta National Golf Club.

4 Straight Masters winners who earned their first major with the victory. Reed was preceded by Sergio Garcia (2017), Danny Willett (2016) and Jordan Speith (2015). it was Spieth leading the chase with a sizzling eight-under 64 that matched the lowest final

round at a Masters to finish two shots back.

Sitting nine shots off the pace at the start of the day, Spieth was an afterthought as spectators filed into Augusta National but was once again in the Masters spotlight when the Green Jacket was up for grabs.

In four Masters appearances, Spieth also has two runner-up finishes and a tie for 11th last year.

While establishing his championship credentials with five PGA Tour wins and runner-up finish at the 2017 PGA Championships at Quail Hollow, Reed, who had never had round under 70 at Augusta National, was

Mitch Kupchak brings long history to Hornets job New GM won seven rings as Lakers’ decision maker

By Shawn Krest North State Journal After six weeks, the Charlotte Hornets have a general manager.

The team announced that Mitch Kupchak will be the team’s general manager.

The Hornets parted ways with Rich Cho, who had been GM since 2011, on Feb. 20. Kupchak emerged almost immediately as one of the leading candidates to replace him.

A former North Carolina Tar Heels standout under Dean Smith, Kupchak played 11 seasons in the NBA before moving into the executive suite.

After serving a prolonged period as the GM in training under legendary Lakers executive Jerry West, Kupchak eventually became Lakers general manager and took over the full decision-making duties for the franchise in 2000, after West’s retirement.

The Lakers won seven NBA titles under Kupchak, including the year in which he took over for West midseason.

“In every role and in every stop during his tenure in the NBA, Mitch Kupchak has brought the highest levels of success to his teams,” said Michael Jordan, the Hornets’ owner.

Despite drafting near the end of the first round most years,

SAM SHARPE | USA TODAY SPORTS

New Charlotte Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak will need to decide the futures of the team’s star guard, Kemba Walker, and center Dwight Howard.

Kupchak excelled at finding diamonds in the rough, including second-round picks Marc Gasol and Patrick Beverley.

Kupchak’s success with trades was more of a mixed bag. Under his watch, the Lakers dealt future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal for Caron Butler, Brian Grant and Lamar Odom. He also included a first-round draft pick in a trade with Boston that the Celtics eventually used to select Rajon Rondo. The Lakers also went four straight drafts, from 2010 to 2013, without a first-round pick, due to Kupchak trades.

ECU from page B1 the competitive American Athletic Conference, Dooley is going to need to recruit and retain better players than those brought in by his predecessor Jeff Lebo.

But even before that, the once and current ECU coach has already begun working on a culture change he hopes will translate into motivation for the players already in the program. He did it by telling those current team members to bring their ring sizes when they came to meet him for the first time.

The implication, far-fetched as it might be, is that the Pirates will be playing for a championship sooner than later.

“One of the big things is if you are not in it to win it, don’t play,” Dooley said. “With our guys, it’s a

“There have been some periods where we have been good, but we need to be consistently good.”

Joe Dooley, new ECU basketball coach challenge. If you challenge them to do things, they’ll raise their level of expectations, and we need to raise that.”

Dooley is no stranger to high expectations. Or to living up to them.

He was an assistant to Bill Self at Kansas for 10 years, where he earned a reputation as one of the nation’s best recruiters — along

“In every role and in every stop during his tenure in the NBA, Mitch Kupchak has brought the highest levels of success to his teams.”

Michael Jordan, Hornets owner Kupchak was also criticized by star player Kobe Bryant, after he held onto Andrew By-

with a national championship ring. He then took over the head coaching job at FGCU, where he continued the success started by his predecessor, Andy Enfield, by getting his team to the NCAA tournament twice and the postseason in all five of his seasons at “Dunk City.”

It’s that success, combined with his familiarity with ECU, that made him the frontrunner for the Pirates job almost from the day Lebo resigned on Nov. 29.

“He certainly understands the game of basketball and the grassroots nature of our alumni and fan base,” Staton said. “He’s a great basketball coach, but more importantly, he is a good person. We know that Coach Dooley is the coach who will be able to build a great program at ECU

not rated among the hot favorites when the year’s first major got underway.

But after opening the tournament with three straight rounds in the 60s Reed had everyone’s attention.

Only is final round 71 kept Reed from writing his name in the Masters record books as the first golfer to post four sub-70 rounds.

“You know, just kind of one of those things that you expect that trying to go win your first major that people are going to make runs and it’s not going to be easy,” said Reed. “You’re going to have to go out and play a good round of golf and shoot under par.”

num, the only lottery pick in his first 14 drafts as Lakers’ GM, for too long, passing up the chance to deal the young center for star players, including, reportedly, point guard Jason Kidd.

However, Kupchak also picked up key contributors Trevor Ariza and Pau Gasol in trades, helping to keep the Lakers competitive long after their core group of players from the early championship team aged past their primes.

Kupchak was also criticized for picking up several aging veterans such as Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Steve Nash, although, with a team that was a perennial contender, the strategy of adding former stars as a final piece made more sense than it would with the current Hornets roster. Some of the veteran pickups, including Ron Artest, paid off for Kupchak and the Lakers.

In recent years, as Bryant headed to retirement and the Lakers faced rebuilding, Kupchak showed off many of the skills that will benefit the Hornets in the near future. Since 2014, Kupchak has drafted Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubak.

One of Kupchak’s first tasks as Hornets GM will be to determine the fate of head coach Steve Clifford, who has missed the playoffs the last two years. Kupchak’s level of patience with head coaches doesn’t bode well for Clifford’s future. Since Phil Jackson’s retirement in 2011, Kupchak has fired Mike D’Antoni and Byron Scott less than two years after hiring them.

“I am confident that we can build the Hornets into a successful team that our great fans can be proud of,” Kupchak said.

which will compete at the highest levels within the American Athletic Conference and beyond — making Pirate Nation proud and excited about the future of our program.”

As much of a slam dunk as Dooley might have been, it still took three agonizing weeks from the end of the season until he was hired, a process that was complicated when Compher negotiated a contract buyout just as the search was reaching a critical juncture.

Although several other names were mentioned for the job — including NC Central coach LaVelle Moton and ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg — Hart knew he had his man as soon as he talked to Dooley in person.

“Joe Dooley.” Hart said, “checked all the boxes.”

DUNDON from page B1 Every one of them I want a better player than every one of them. That’s our job.”

It was clear that Dundon sees the entire organization in such a light, saying several times “everything that we did was wrong” since the end result wasn’t more wins and an end to the team’s playoff drought, now at nine seasons.

“Utter disappointment is what my thoughts are,” said forward Justin Williams, added in the offseason to infuse a winning attitude to a losing franchise. “[I] came into this season assuming we were going to take the next step and make the playoffs. We didn’t.

It’s a failure. Enough said.”

Williams, barring an unforeseen trade, will be back to try again next season. That may not be the case for several players, including goaltender Cam Ward, the one true holdover from the Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup team.

With Dundon promising a “major shakeup” and underperforming goaltending a major reason for Carolina’s prolonged playoff absence, Ward — who was actually the more successful netminder of the tandem that included big-ticket acquisition Scott Darling — may have played his final game with the Hurricanes.

“Yeah, it crossed my mind that this could potentially be my last game as a Hurricane,” Ward said of his emotions in the season finale at home against Tampa Bay. “I was nervous before playing that game, to be honest, just knowing that. I’m emotionally invested in this organization, I have been for the last 13 years.

And I want to continue that, but there’s a lot of uncertainty throughout the organization.”

“Clearly it was wrong because we lost.

Everything we did was wrong. We can’t be comfortable with anything we did.”

Tom Dundon, Hurricanes owner Part of that uncertainty is the future of Peters, who has coached the team to four of those nine years outside the playoffs. Dundon confirmed that Peters has “options” — a previously reported clause that would allow him out of the final year of his contract — and that he and the coach would meet to discuss the future soon.

“Right now, it’s just one of the many things we need to do as we consider our future,” Dundon said, alluding to the ongoing GM search.

When further pressed, Dundon simply reiterated that, as of now, Peters is the team’s coach. While his answers were seemingly evasive, it was clear Dundon wasn’t going to play his hand while Peters holds the option to walk away. If Peters were to leave on his own, Dundon and the Hurricanes are off the hook for his salary. If Dundon fires Peters, the coach would be owed his reported $1.6 million payout.

Or Peters could be back for a fifth season, something sources from the team have said is a possibility.

“I wish I could give an answer that it’s the goalie or the coach or the toughness or goal scoring, but it’s like everything — there’s no silver bullet here,” Dundon said. “There are a number of things. I think there are lot of positive things about Bill, and there are things that Bill needs to work on.”

Dundon made it clear there was plenty of improvements needed throughout the organization, something both Williams and Ward echoed.

“We have a bunch of good guys in the room — they’re almost too good of guys,” Ward said. “There’s got to be that snarl, that competitive drive.

You’ve got to hate to lose.”

It was why Williams — with his three Stanley Cups and reputation as “Mr. Game 7” for his clutch playoff performances — was brought in last offseason. His addition alone wasn’t enough.

“Mediocrity is a very, very slippery slope,” Williams said.

“You need to be going one way or the other. This team is just kind of mired in mediocrity right now. That’s not acceptable for anybody.”

the good life

WEDNESDAY

4.11.18

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL

play list

IN A NORTH STATE OF MIND

April 13-April 14 Outdoor Elements Festival Nantahala Outdoor Center, Bryson City Support the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and their commitment to Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at the Outdoor Elements Festival. Participate in the Flint Ridge 5K or enjoy activities like Riverside Yoga, outdoor film screenings, live entertainment and raffles. Visit the NOC online for a schedule.

Wine and Swine BBQ Cook-Off Silver Coast Winery, Ocean Isle Beach

PHOTOS COURTESY NC STATE CHEERLEADING

NC State Coach Harold Trammel, center, has coached the Wolfpack to three cheerleading national championships.

game day

Barry’s Bike Rally & Navy Seal Tribute Ride Barry’s on Walnut Island, Grandy

Cheering for champions

Honor our nation’s Navy SEALs with a tribute motorcycle ride stretching from Virginia Beach to Barry’s on Walnut Island.

Donations are $25 per rider and all proceeds benefit the Trident House. Visit Barry’s Bike Rally online for more information.

By Neal Robbins North State Journal R ALEIGH — N.C. State’s cheerleading team is one of the Wolfpack’s most decorated teams measured by championships.

However, 2018 marked a first as the Wolfpack captured two national titles in the same year with wins last week at the Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship in Daytona Beach. With wins in both the Small Coed Division 1A division and the new Game Day Division, N.C. State claimed its sixth and seventh titles adding two new trophies beside previous titles in 1986, 1990, 1991, 2001 and 2016.

The Wolfpack's win in the Game Day Division marked the debut of a new category that the National Cheerleading Association says provide an opportunity for school Spirit Programs to work together to showcase their ability to promote school spirit.

This division not only allows the use of traditional sideline cheerleaders, but also members of a school’s dance team, band and mascots.

Wolfpack head coach Harold Trammel, who has coached the Wolfpack for 15 years and for a championship in 2016, said his team saw the new category as both a challenge and an opportunity. “We were excited when they named the division,” said Trammel. “There were some general guidelines. We wanted to create a standard by which this division would be judged going forward.

We had an idea of what fans and judges wanted and fortunately we were correct,” he said.

Trammel is a steady hand for the State team having served as an assistant coach from 2000 to 2002 before becoming head coach. He was also a member of the team from 1995 to 2000.

“Our responsibilities to the university are to support our sports teams and to give them a home field advantage,” said Trammel, adding, “we take that responsibility seriously. This routine allowed us to show the passion we have for cheering on our teams from the sideline.”

The overall Game Day competition consisted of three one-minute elements, crowd leading, band chant, and fight song. For the Wolfpack, Trammel selected a familiar song — Red & White — for his team’s band cheer along with a traditional chant spelling out N-C-S-U. The fight song incorporated the school’s traditional fight song which is sung to the

Enjoy a delicious spread of BBQ at the Wine and Swine BBQ CookOff. The cook-off features a wing competition and entertainment Friday evening and a BBQ tasting and craft vendors on Saturday.

Visit Silver Coast Winery online for event times and ticket information.

Pirate Fest Uptown, Greenville Calling all pirate lovers to the 12th annual Pirate Fest in uptown Greenville featuring a Pirate Parade and exhibits and performances by the International Ports O’Call.

Attendees can enjoy a variety of food trucks, kayak and carnival rides and live entertainment, including the Plain White T’s. sped-up tune of the U.S. Army’s fight song — “The Army Goes Rolling Along.”

“I think it is neat. It’s three minutes of time, uninterrupted,” said Trammel. “Even in the college game, it’s so commercialized. This brings it back to what games used to be like. Hopefully we can show off some of these skills more during games.”

The Game Day competition team for N.C. State included six members from the dance team — which also placed fourth in its division at the competition — three band members, one featured twirler, mascot Ms. Wuf and 19 cheerleaders. “We wanted to have each group represented to get the full volume of what we incorporate into the gameday experience,” said Trammel.

Trammel says that he wants to continue the championship culture that exists at N.C. State. “We have fantastic assistant coaches that dedicate their time that allow us to do what is needed to prepare our athletes for games and competition,” he said. “We have strong captains and leaders that reinforce our goals. Success breeds success. We have great kids that have won championships and they want to continue winning championships.”

Trammel also credits the university for fostering a culture that has allowed his team to thrive.

“This university is an easy sell to kids who want to cheer,” he said.

“Our kids are not only successful in cheerleading, they are successful in the classroom. We know that most kids don’t make a career out of cheerleading … almost all of them are going to have a career in college doing something they learned at NC State.” Tram-

April 14 5th Annual Beach Fest The Farm, Selma See one of the best beach music line-ups at the 5th Annual Beach Fest in Selma. Guests won’t be disappointed with performances

by The Embers, Band of Oz, Jim Quick & Coastline and Chairman of the Board. A variety of food trucks will be on site and parking is free.

Beach, Bacon & Beer Festival Carolina Beach Lake, Carolina Beach

Top, NC State Cheerleaders compete in the co-ed division of the NCA national cheerleading competition at Daytona Beach.

Bottom, Delaney Gage (left) and Taylor Rochelle (right) celebrate after NC State won the co-ed cheerleading national championship. mel practices what he preaches as he also works as a project manager for a medical device company in addition to his coaching duties. Neither he, nor his staff, are fulltime employees of the University.

“The University’s leadership is very appreciative of what we do.

Not every school has this level of support for their cheerleading program,” said Trammel. “Coach Keatts came to the back of the plane when we were traveling to

the NCAA tournament to thank us for what we do. Coach Doeren has attended our showcase and has made time to support us at our events.”

Now that the cheerleading season has culminated, Trammel’s team will now turn its attention to the Fall, when Carter-Finley Stadium will be brought to life by a Sun Bowl-winning Wolfpack football team and a national championship cheerleading team.

Experience the ultimate three-B event at the Beach, Bacon and Beer Festival. Attendees can enjoy unique bacon-inspired offerings prepared by local chefs and paired with savory beers and wines. The festival begins at 11:30 a.m.

April 14-April 15 13th Annual Herb Festival Painters Greenhouse, Old Fort Celebrate springtime at the annual Herb Festival at Painters Greenhouse where a variety of herbs and herb combos will be available for purchase. Explore local craft vendors, sample homemade pesto and enjoy live entertainment. Visit Painters Greenhouse online for a schedule.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

B6

NeCessities! history marked April 11, 1967

The North Carolina Arts Council: Advancing the Arts Across the State The North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Arts Council as a statutory agency. Established in 1964 by executive order of Governor Terry Sanford, the Arts Council began its work by documenting architecture, design, visual arts, crafts, theatre, music, dance, opera, creative writing, communications, film, concert series, school programs, statewide organizations, local arts councils and support throughout the state.

Phillip Hanes, Jr. chaired the state’s effort to advance the arts, in conjunction with the National Arts and Cultural Development Act that led to the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts. The state Arts Council quickly built on the 17 local arts councils and more than 200 arts organizations already working in North Carolina, organizing poetry readings throughout the state, beginning an artists-in-schools program and supporting nonprofit arts organizations and exemplary artists through grants. Today a strong arts infrastructure provides opportunities for citizens to experience the arts in their own communities, reflecting and sharing the state’s diversity. New initiatives include literary, Blue Ridge Music and African American Music cultural tourism guides, the addition to the model arts education program, A+ Schools, and the creation of an arts-based economic development, the SmART Initiative.

PHOTOS COURTESY N.C. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

2018 Youth Legislative Assembly at the N.C. General Assembly in Raleigh

N.C. Youth Legislative Assembly held in Raleigh

By NSJ Staff

April 13, 1909

William Briggs and His Cigarette Machine William Briggs patented the first automatic cigarette vending machine. Born in Maine, Briggs came to North Carolina by way of New York and New Jersey. Settling first in Fayetteville and then in Winston, he worked in a machine shop there before perfecting a machine that could produce 300,000 cigarettes a day in 1898. Briggs formed his own company and began to market his machines to the R.J. Reynolds Company, which used them to compete with its much larger rival, the American Tobacco Company. Briggs quickly sold his machines and the related intellectual property to a Japanese company and was soon thereafter sued by United Cigarette, a larger manufacturer of tobacco machinery in Virginia, for patent infringement. After successfully defending the suit in an Asheville court, Briggs was hired by United Cigarette. He would go to invent a more efficient machine for them. The new company moved Briggs to Virginia where he lived the rest of his life. He died in 1918, and his other inventions include the first return carriage for a typewriter and a stamp vending machine. The original patent is available online via Google Patents.

COURTESY OF NC STATE ARCHIVES

RALEIGH — The N.C. Youth Legislative Assembly was held last weekend in Raleigh bringing students from across the state to a mock legislative session. During the event, high school students voice their opinions and vote on issues concerning local, state and national government. The three-day session is patterned after the N.C. General Assembly. A final report is drafted and distributed to the governor and legislators.

Youth legislators met with elected officials, attended mock committee hearings and passed legislation. This year, students passed 10 bills and a resolution to honor the late Rev. Billy Graham. Almost 200 students attended the threeday event representing 40 counties.

About three-quarters of the students came from traditional public schools with almost 15 percent coming from public charter schools and the remaining 10 percent from private high schools and home schools.

“North Carolina’s Youth Legislative Assembly offers students a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about the legislative process and to develop leadership skills that will help them succeed in life,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore in a joint statement. “We are proud to continue this long tradition of helping prepare our state’s future leaders.”

Taft Stevens, Morrow Reitmier, Ross Stevens, a page, Jonathon Lotz, Jenny Lotz and Sharon Stevens, a chaperone, pose for a photo.

The youth event has had success in moving the needle in the real legislature. In 2016, the Youth Legislative Assembly passed a bill to raise the age at which a youth could be tried as an adult.

In 2017, the N.C. General Assembly voted to raise the age.

Students passed a bill to help tackle the opioid crisis through additional electronic reporting, and a business-related bill sought to ban noncompete agreements for workers who make less

than $15 per hour or less than $31,000 per year. They also sought to abolish high school class rankings and to require more reporting on steps to protect the environment.

“This event brings students together from across North Carolina to help prepare them to be leaders for our future,” said Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln). “I hope the program continues to grow and that students use this experience to better their communities and our state.”

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

entertainment

Underwood to perform at ACM Awards in first appearance after accident

By Variety LOS ANGELES — Carrie Underwood teased her next single with an Instagram post Sunday night that features her left eye with glitter in the shape of tears and a caption that says simply, “This Wednesday, April 11, 6am ET.” Then on Monday morning, the Academy of Country Music Awards announced Underwood will be performing her new single at the show on Sunday, although it did not reveal the song’s title.

The performance will likely be Underwood’s first since she suffered a fall in November that broke her wrist and required 40 to 50 stitches in her face, and led her to caution fans that she may look “a bit different” when they see her again. Underwood posted a photo last week that showed only the left side of her face.

“There is also another part of the story that I haven’t been ready to talk about since I have still been living it and there has

FILE PHOTO

Carrie Underwood in the press room at the 41st Academy of Country Music Awards in 2006. been much uncertainty as to how things will end up,” she wrote in a January post on her fan club’s site (the post is behind a paywall, but a rep provided its text to Variety, which appears in full be-

low). “In addition to breaking my wrist, I somehow managed to injure my face as well. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [Un-

derwood’s husband] Mike that he had put between 40 and 50 stitches in.

“Now, here we are 7 weeks later and, even though I’ve had the best people helping me, I’m still healing and not quite looking the same. I honestly don’t know how things are going to end up but I do know this: I am grateful. I am grateful that it wasn’t much, much worse.”

The singer also said she’ll be entering the studio next week to begin work on new songs. “And when I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different,” she wrote. “I’m hoping that, by then, the differences are minimal, but, again, I just don’t know how it’s all going to end up.”

While Underwood has posted only photos showing part of her face, on Dec. 12 actress Adrienne Gang posted a photo of herself with Underwood (who was wearing a wrist brace), adding the following day, “I had no clue she was injured ... she looked amazing!”

John Curran defends facts ‘Stranger Things’ creators accused in ‘Chappaquiddick’

By Ted Johnson Variety WASHINGTON, D.C. — John Curran’s “Chappaquiddick,” which opens in theaters this weekend, is a dramatization of what happened late one night in 1969 when Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) drove his car off a narrow bridge on Martha’s Vineyard, killing the passenger he was riding with, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Kennedy survived, but waited nine hours to report it to authorities, while the story of Kopechne, who had been a campaign worker on Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, were often in the backdrop in the scandal that lingered for decades later.

Curran says that his movie is a “very nuanced and very compelling and very balanced” look at what happened, with key details based largely on the inquest that followed.

He defends the movie against criticism from some of Kennedy’s friends and from literary agent Esther Newberg, who complained to People that when she read the screenplay, she saw “one thing made up after another.” Newberg was among the group of RFK campaign workers, known as the “boiler room girls,” who had gathered for a house party reunion earlier that evening along with Kopechne and Kennedy.

“Really, Ted and Mary Jo are the only people who really know what happened on the bridge that night,” Curran tells Variety’s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM. “The people like Esther, they have stuck to the inquest testimony, and we drew all of our information from the inquest, from their words.

He said that there are liberties with the dialog, like in any historical movie, but “in terms of the facts of the case and the decisions that were made by the boiler room girls, the brain trust around Ted, they are inarguable.”

Kennedy is played by Jason Clarke and Kopechne by Kate Mara, and the movie was shot in part at the actual location, Curran says.

He said that they “probably stretched the truth the most” regarding the relationship between Kennedy and his father, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (Bruce Dern), who was then incapacitated by a stroke. In the movie, Kennedy Sr. communicates his displeasure with the way his son has handled the tragedy and urges him to pursue an “alibi.”

“He probably could say one word, and I believe it was ‘No,’” Curran said. But the movie reflects the expectations that the Kennedy patriarch placed on his sons even later in his life, Curran said. Kennedy Sr. died in 1969.

“I am a fan of Ted’s,” Curran said. “My generation, in terms of political titans, I believe he was on the right side of history, and I agree with a lot of the legislation he championed. But I realized I had a blind spot about this episode of his life.”

He said that it was a good time to tell the story because “history repeats itself. We are reaching that divisive point where people will support their party’s representatives and be completely blind to the deficiencies of those people.”

He added, “I think it is very relevant. I think it is another example of the corruption of power and using it to sort of BandAid over character flaws of a presidential candidate

B7 Court approves procedures for Weinstein Co. auction A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved on Friday procedures to auction the film studio co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, who was fired by the company last year in the wake of allegations of sexual assault. The Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy last month with an initial bid from an affiliate of private equity firm Lantern Capital Partners, estimated to be worth around $310 million.

‘Solo: A Star Wars Movie’ to get world premiere at Cannes festival The latest “Star Wars” movie spinoff, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” will get its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers announced on Friday.

A glitzy red-carpet premiere in the French coastal city is scheduled for May 15, 10 days before the film opens in theaters around the world, they said in a statement.

Pop, country singers reimagine Elton John hits on two new albums More than two dozen Elton John songs have been reinterpreted by Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga and Willie Nelson on two albums of past hits released on Friday. The pop-focused “Revamp” and country-inspired “Restoration” highlight the British singer’s long collaboration with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, which includes enduring hits such as “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man.”

of plagiarism

By Gene Maddaus Variety LOS ANGELES — The director of “Montauk,” a six-minute film about an incident on a Long Island beach, filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the creators of “Stranger Things” of ripping off the idea.

Charlie Kessler says he made the short film in 2012 as a teaser for a feature film to be called “The Montauk Project.” He alleges that he pitched the idea to Matt and Ross Duffer, the co-creators of the Netflix sci-fi hit, when they met at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014. Kessler says the idea went nowhere at the time, but the Duffer brothers used it as the germ for “Stranger Things,” which debuted in 2016.

The short film uses found footage to tell a story about paranormal phenomena in the vicinity of a government facility. “Stranger Things,” which was originally sold to Netflix under the title “Montauk,” also involves supernatural phenomena surrounding a government lab. The setting for the show was later shifted to Indiana.

Neither project originated the idea of mysterious happenings surrounding a government facility on Long Island. A book, “The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time,” was published in 1992, and tells of repressed memories of secret government experiments at Montauk’s Camp Hero. Versions of the story have circulated on conspiracy sites for many years.

Some of the “Stranger Things” cast have alluded to the connection, saying in a Wired interview that the show was based on stories about Camp Hero.

The Duffer brothers’ attorney, Alex Kohner, issued a statement: “Mr. Kessler’s claim is completely meritless. He had no connection to the creation or development of ‘Stranger Things.’ The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kessler’s short film nor discussed any project with him. This is just an attempt to profit from other people’s creativity and hard work.”

Goldman CEO’s deputy can’t stop, won’t stop spinning records David Solomon, soon to be No. 2 to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, finds time to pursue a his hobby: spinning records at bigcity nightclubs under the handle DJ D-Sol. On Saturday, Solomon performed house-style electronic music at a lounge in Lower Manhattan hosted by graduates from his alma mater, Hamilton College. The charity event was held in support of families of people with drug addiction.

Box Office: ‘A Quiet Place’ sounds off with huge $50 million debut “A Quiet Place” was looking to make noise at the weekend box office, and it delivered. Paramount Pictures’ thriller directed by John Krasinski soared past estimates to a massive $50.3 million opening in 3,508 theaters. That’s enough to land it the second-highest domestic opening of the year to date behind “Black Panther,” which opened in February with $202 million.

Since its debut, “A Quiet Place” has garnered rave reviews. It currently holds a solid 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with a B+ CinemaScore.

TAKE NOTICE RANDOLPH AMENDED NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 17 SP 60 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Christopher L. Smith and Chasity M. Smith to Arthur S. Long III, PA, Trustee(s), dated the 24th day of August, 2013, and recorded in Book RE 2352, Page 1495, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on April 17, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: LYING and being in Randolph County, North Carolina, and more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 6 on plat for ETHAN DOWNS as shown on plat recorded in Plat Book 117, Page 66 in the Randolph County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 4664 Beau Court, Trinity, North Carolina.

BEING the same property conveyed to Christopher L. Smith and wife, Chasity M. Smith dated December 12, 2008 and recorded December 23, 2008 in Book 2109 page 832 Randolph County, North Carolina Registry.

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

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the

court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a) (1).

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

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

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

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

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

Any person who occupies the property pursuant

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

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1203031 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: April 4, 2018 and April 11, 2018

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 18 SP 41 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Donald E. Craig and Jennifer J. Craig, (Donald E. Craig, deceased) to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated the 11th day of March, 2009, and recorded in Book RE 2121, Page 385, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for

sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on April 24, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Tract 9A of STEEPLECHASE SUBDIVISION, a map or plat of which is duly recorded in Plat Book 67, page 94 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Randolph County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 540 Chase Road, Thomasville, North Carolina.

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

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

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

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

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

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of

a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

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

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

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1232943 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: April 11, 2018 and April 18, 2018

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 11, 2018

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SOLUTIONS FROM 04.04.18

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

dncr.nc.gov/AllinOnePlace

Happy New Year!

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

Secretary Susi H. Hamilton

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES