DA 13 on Line

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, America!

I do not know about you, but I love birthday parties. It is by definition a celebration of life. It is in practice a time when everyone seems happy. The good times of the year passed are remembered with smiles and laughter. The year ahead is talked about with optimism and anticipated joy. Even when times are as tough as they are now, birthdays seem to offer respite.

This week is our nation's birthday. Despite our wars, the depressing economy, our political difference, and social turmoil, I think we should take time to celebrate. Let's spend a week being AMERICANS! Let's not worry about being Rush Republicans or Kennedy Democrats. Let those from the far right and the far left journey to that place where most of us are so we can walk side by side for the birthday party. Is it too much to ask for just a day or two of less divisive rhetoric and have in its place dialogue?

Let's take time for us to join to celebrate the birth of the greatest nation on earth. Let's celebrate our diversity as we pledge our allegiance. Let's sing songs celebrating that great social experiment that is our Republic. Let's drop our labels - Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Libertarians, Repocrats "and just be Americans during this party celebrating the birth of the United States of America.

I have triplet granddaughters who just celebrated their birthdays. They were nearly eleven weeks premature and stayed in the hospital for six weeks. They came home from the hospital on the Fourth of July, 1999. Because of them this holiday has even more meaning to me. I hope you will take time to value your children and grandchildren this week. Here is a video that I think will help you do that. The Price of Children

NOTE - Janice and I attended a birthday part of sorts earlier this week. It was Founders Day at St. James. What a great time. There was a parade that mostly celebrated the neighborhoods in the town. Many of the entries were of the rock and roll era, with slick backed hair, bobby socks, and those new fangled electric guitars. I was amazed to learn that the average age of the members of the fire department was 64. The best thing about this event was the feeling of community that was evident from start to finish of the day. That is what we need nationwide on this Birthday of our nation.

It is 9:50 on Thursday night. For the third evening in a row it was after 9 before Janice and I were in the same room at our home. It has been a hectic week, probably more that 600 miles on my car, and I am tired. I thought I would, but have not found the extra time needed to create a new post. So I am going to republish one of my earlier ones. There is about to be some serious debate on issues affecting capital punishment in this state. Some folks are trying to add an extra layer of protection for future defendants, and for probably nearly 100 men sitting on death row. Of course that will mean more delays for the families of victims. But, I'll discuss that later.

Here is a Summer Rerun: My Odessy to Death, published in on September 13, 2007.

September 13, 1977.

On that day, Stephen C. Silhan raped and murdered Mary Jo "Nancy" Coates, age 14, near Spring Lake in Cumberland County. Two years later a Columbus County jury sentenced him to death. Two years after that verdict, the North Carolina Supreme Court gave Silhan a new trial and a second jury in Columbus County heard the case. I was a young assistant district attorney and I would slip in every opportunity I got and listen to the testimony. Even though I was a prosecutor, I did not believe in capital punishment. Silhan changed my mind.

It was thirty years ago today (Sept. 13) when Silhan accosted two young girls, ages 14 and 16, and took them into the woods for torture and terror. Stephen Silhan was a 34-year-old Army Sergeant stationed at Ft. Bragg and he used his Army-issued bowie-type knife to butcher Ms. Coates during his rape of her. Her friend Barbara lay close by, hearing the assault, and knowing she would be next. Stephen Silhan stabbed her twice in the back, nearly decapitated her, and left her for dead. She crawled through the woods to a nearby highway and lived.

According to an account I have read of the first trial, Barbara testified against him as an 85-pound teen kept alive by blended food forced down a tube through her scarred throat. When I saw her at the next trial, her emotional scars were still there as well as the physical ones.

When Silhan raped and butchered Nancy Coates and left Barbara to die, he was free on bond, awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping and first-degree sex offense in Chatham County. Silhan had kidnapped a couple fishing on the Cape Fear River, bound and gagged the husband and forced the wife to perform oral sex on him. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for those crimes less than 45 days after the murder of Coates.

Stephen Silhan was an evil man. The pattern of his crimes showed a person self absorbed and without empathy or pity. His murder of Nancy Coates was cold and cruel. He showed no remorse at the trial I attended. Stephen Silhan was a cancer on the collective psyche of a society that values decency, human life, and the dignity of God's creations. Hearing about him, watching him, and knowing his choices, I became convinced that society needs the option of cutting that kind of cancer out. I knew I could sentence Stephen Silhan to death.

The odyssey that led me to support capital punishment in appropriate cases is not about its deterrent effect (and most recent scientific studies show it does actually have a deterrent effect). For me it is about the worst, most evil people, and the worst crimes. That is what our law says it is for, too. Less than 1 percent of murderers in North Carolina get sentenced to death. In every trial for first-degree murder in North Carolina, life in prison without parole is presumed to be the appropriate punishment. Only in aggravated situations can death be considered. That is how it should be. It should be difficult for the State to take a life.

In the intervening years since the Silhan trial, I have known and prosecuted other "Silhans." I have listened as juries returned death sentences for them. It is never easy for jurors or those of us who prosecute. When I hear a judge read the death warrant, there is never joy for me. I believe in the redemptive power of God. We should all pray for them. But we should never forget their evil. I know I will never forget Silhan's.

Reflections on this season of promise for our young people.

Week too hectic for a post, just a celebration.

A young person dies in a traffic crash an average of once an hour on weekends and around once every 2 hours during the week. That rate increases during prom and graduation weekends.

I am sick to my stomach. I've just been on the Internet looking at some of the pages on several social networking sites. Kids from this area are shown with liquor and beer; boys and girls partying. I hope parents will begin monitoring these sites, too.

We will soon be having high school graduations all through this district. During the typical prom or graduation weekend 120-140 students will die nationally in car crashes. What can we do? We must raise the awareness level of the dangers for our young people. We must talk to them and we must set an example. Here are some things you should know.

· The fatality rate (per 100,000 population) in motor vehicle crashes for 16- to 20-year-olds has historically been more than twice the rate for all ages. Drivers 16 to 24 cause almost a quarter of all traffic fatalities according to recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). WHY? Alcohol is a major factor.

· In a recent poll, half of high school seniors report drinking alcohol in the past month. Seven in 10 illegal underage drinkers report binge drinking (having more than five drinks on one occasion). The majority of high school seniors do not view binge drinking as risky. Alcohol is involved in the deaths of more young people than all other substances combined.

· Nine out of 10 high school seniors say alcohol is easy to obtain; two out of three say they can take alcohol from their homes without their parents' knowledge. One in 10 parents say alcohol is okay at prom and graduation parties as long as parents are present.

· Failure to wear seatbelts is another major factor. According to a NHTSA report, sixty-two percent of the 5,135 young people 16 to 20 killed when riding in passenger vehicles in 2004 were not wearing safety belts. Young drivers are less likely to use restraints if they have been drinking alcohol. In 2004, of the young drivers of passenger vehicles who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 74 percent were unrestrained.

· Nearly 50 percent of students report feeling pressure to ride with a friend who has been drinking, and more than half of seniors report feeling pressure to drive recklessly.

· According to a recent survey, when it comes to prom night, the majority of parents' greatest fear is for their teen's safety on the road.

· Fatal crashes involving teen drivers are often associated with nighttime driving, several teens in one car, risky driving and alcohol consumption - all factors that come into play around prom and graduation.

Car crashes remain the number one killer of teenagers. Every year, more than 5-6,000 teens die from alcohol-related injuries; approximately 40% of these deaths involve impaired driving. The peer pressure to drink or get in a car with someone who has been drinking can be intense. But we can help teens make smart choices. The majority of teens point to their parents as a main reason for saying "no" to alcohol.

Now is the time to say it. NO!

It is Mother's Day Week. I would like to share again this year the story of a mother's love.

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. - Irish Proverb

Early this morning as I was going through Wal-Mart picking up some stuff, I was trying to decide what to post about this week. Then I saw a pregnant young mother shopping with two young sons. A thought came to me. Then my mamma called to invite me to Sunday dinner and tell me she needs some ink for her printer. Well, God does not have to cause the potato chip display in the center aisle to burst into flame and start talking in order for me to listen. Seemed plain enough to me that I needed to talk about my Mother for this Mother's Day post.

My mother is a child of the depression. She grew up in rural North Carolina, the oldest of four children. She was smart, mischievous, and the darling of her Grandma Kit's eye. She married my father when she was 15 and became my mother at 17. Five years later my brother was born. During my early childhood, we were sharecroppers, which means we lived on someone else's farm and worked for a portion of the crops raised there. I guess we were poor. I never knew, I only felt loved and protected by both my parents, but especially my mother. I still feel that way and I am now old enough for senior discounts at a great many businesses.

My mother has worked hard all her life. She once had a job working at Roses Dime Store. I loved it when she worked there. She got to bring home comic books for me to read when they were out of date. You knew they were set to be thrown out because half the cover was torn off.

For several years she worked at the Blue Jeans - a local sewing plant. That is where she was working when she developed TB (tuberculosis). It started as a cough she could not get rid of. When the doctor diagnosed it, our lives changed. In less than a week she was in a sanatorium at McCain, NC. That sanatorium is a prison hospital now and that is what it seemed like then for me and my brother. He was in the first grade, I in the sixth. For nine months we were not able to feel our mother's touch. We did get to wave at her as we waited outside her third-floor window. But, while we could not feel her hand, we always felt her love though her letters and the news from her. (In retrospect I still feel that the only good thing about McCain was that it had tons of four-leaf clovers. I found 59 one visit as we waited for a glimpse of mamma. How ironic - it never seemed like a lucky place.)

When my mother got better and was allowed to leave McCain, she was determined never to leave us again. She took a cosmetology course through vocational rehab services and opened a beauty shop at our home, smack dab in the middle of the country. She sent me and my brother to N.C. State curling hair. She still has three customers - no make that two, one passed recently, and another is very sick. My mother has been away from us only one other time, and that was by choice.

In May 1999 my only child gave birth to triplets. They were nearly three months premature. My daughter lives in Raleigh. When the girls finally came home (after breaking an HMO with their hospital stay) and my wife had to go back to school, my mother went to Raleigh to help give a new generation a hand. She stayed with our girls longer than she stayed in the sanatorium. It was a wonderful gift of love for the girls, my daughter, and me.

But that is what my mother's life has been about - love, giving, and being understanding if we are not as timely or as frequent with our expressions of love and gratitude as we should be.

My mother's story is unique. But I hope that each of you know from your own life experiences that her "mother's love" is not. Happy Mother's Day, mom.

During the Great Depression unemployment reached 25%.

It ain't that bad now.

My parents were children of the Great Depression. They grew up in rural North Carolina. It is said that we were so far in the backwoods that they had to pipe in sunshine. My dad quit school when he was 10 or eleven to help on the farm. He often told the story of his cousin Clyde standing at the kitchen door and crying because he was hungry and couldn't get the "biscuit" off; it was a porcelain door knob. It ain't that bad now.

However, it is serious. It is worrisome. People are afraid. Employers across the state have been cutting back. A member of my family chose a cut in pay and moving to a commission system rather than being laid off. Small businesses have been closing. Unemployment figures for March stood at 10.9 per cent for North Carolina; nearly a half-million people without work. It was 11.4 % in Brunswick (5846 people), 12.3% (1912) in Bladen, and 13.3 % (3285) in Columbus. It is not the Great Depression, but it getting downright depressing.

Now the state of North Carolina faces a projected deficit of $3.2 billion (yes, that is with a B) in a $21 billion budget for 2008-09. That is over a 12% shortfall. I am concerned about what the budget may look like next year. I do not know if our local judges will be forced to cut court time, or if the SBI will have fewer assets with which to help us get lab reports, DNA results, or help for our local departments.

Governor Perdue has just ordered unpaid furloughs for all state workers, teachers and higher education employees. Those state workers will see their paychecks reduced by a total of one-half of one percent over the May and June pay periods. (For an employee making $30,000 that is $75 each month.) I have 14 support staff members. All but one of them is female; none are working just to get out of the house. Instead of money to buy groceries, pay mortgages, or make car payments, they are going to get ten hours of flex time off to use before the end of the year. That means they will have ten fewer hours to accomplish their work tasks.

Because I am an elected official, I do not fall under the furlough pay provisions. However, I notified the Administrative Office of the Courts the morning after the Governor's announcement that I wanted to be included along with my folks. I cannot ask them to do something I am not also willing to do. That brings me to the point of this post: the blame game.

I am not so sophisticated or knowledgeable in finance enough to know how we got into this mess. I just do not know who to blame. I've heard some blame "Happy Perdue" for all this because she helped write previous state budgets. I heard cries against the current president. It seems easy to lambast bankers and financial advisors who got rich off the money of others over the last decade. I am tired of the talking heads on radio and TV talking constantly about blame. I want to think about HOPE. Worrying, criticizing others, placing blame, takes days, no years, from our lives.

They tell us that during the Great Depression movie going increased, as did attendance at sporting events and other diversionary activities. People wanted to have hope. They wanted to expect better things ahead. The Great Depression was a unique time in the life of America. . It ain't that bad now.

However, I am glad that it is time for the summer blockbuster to arrive in our theaters: Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator, etc. I just have the urge to go to the movies soon.

We should be ashamed in North Carolina. According to statistics gathered from around the state, 120,535 children were reported as being abused or neglected in state fiscal year (SFY) 2007-2008.

A look at two new proposed laws that will make it safer for us all.