Opinion Roundup: Aiding students after Florence, ballot amendments get pushback, vehicle emission tests and more

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Education officials start fund to aid students affected by Florence, twice-flooded Fayetteville neighborhood wants city to buy them out, how one group of utility workers held the line against the flood, vehicle emissions tests no longer required in 26 counties, Duke Energy VP on N.C.'s clean energy future, how the worst times makes us see best in each other and more.

LAURA LESLIE & MATTHEW BURNS: NC education officials start fund to aid students, teachers affected by Florence (WRAL-TV reports) -- State education officials on Tuesday launched a fundraising campaign to help schools, students and teachers affected by Hurricane Florence.

STEVE DEVANE: Do I qualify for Hurricane Florence aid? You might (Fayetteville Observer reports) — Thousands of people in NC suffered damage during Hurricane Florence and the flooding that followed. Many qualify for help but aren’t sure where to go, or what to do. Eligibility depends on where you live, the type of damage and the results of the destruction. We put these questions to federal agencies to help you better understand the process.

Twice-flooded Fayetteville neighborhood wants city to buy them out (WRAL reports) — Residents of the Cedar Falls neighborhood in Fayetteville have been flooded out of their homes twice in the last two years, and they are demanding that city officials do something about it. "I want to relocate. I don't want to live here anymore," said Maria Gonzalez, who is organizing the group. "They should have fixed whatever is causing us to flood the way that it is, and they didn't. Well, now it's too late, and we want out. We want to be condemned. None of us want to experience this ever again."

Storm wears on our spirits, but we go forward (Wilmington Star News reports) — We believe that Coastal NC will bounce back. But it would be dishonest not to admit we’re finding the needed optimism a bit harder to muster this time. And we get the sense we’re not alone.

VAUGHN HAGERTY: How one group of utility workers held the line against the flood (Carolina Public Press reports) — A 48-inch pipe crosses under the highway there from west to east before turning south to convey Cape Fear River water to treatment plants serving more than 100,000 people in New Hanover and Pender counties. Now, with flood waters from Hurricane Florence rising, coursing over the four-lane highway, the pipeline was in peril. Losing it would deliver a gut punch of water rationing and other emergency measures to residents already pummeled by days of water and winds and the ensuing damage.

FRED CLASEN-KELLY: After Florence, the Red Cross provided shelters, meals. Here’s why one town is upset (Charlotte Observer reports) — In a press briefing Tuesday, national leaders said they had received 14 complaints of “unmet needs.” “We have seen very few reports,” said Brad Kieserman, vice president of operations and logistics. “We have addressed each and every one of those.” But Kieserman acknowledged the agency made an error when it failed to get 2,000 meals to Garland, a tiny town 80 miles south of Raleigh.

Officials Assess Damage to Parks, Beaches (Coastal Review Online reports) — Within the first week after the storm, 29 of the 41 state parks and recreation areas were opened and as of Tuesday, all but these four are open: Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, Raven Rock State Park, Carolina Beach State Park and Hammocks Beach State Park.

MARK PRICE: Tryon Palace complex among NC historic sites damaged by Hurricane Florence (Charlotte Observer reports) — Add Tryon Palace in New Bern to the growing list of NC historic sites damaged by Hurricane Florence. The complex, which sits in one of the most heavily flooded parts of the the state, was NC’s first permanent capitol and includes a restored “palace” that served as home to the royal governor in the late 1770s.

Disaster aid problems need repairs fast (Fayetteville Observer) — When the gavel falls and legislative business begins next week, the first order of business should be appropriating whatever funding is needed to oversee and coordinate the response to Florence’s flooding — and to wrap up the Matthew response in rapid fashion as well.

ROSE HOBAN: Telephone Becomes Lifeline for Mental Health Clients During Florence (NC Health News Reports) — For the duration of Hurricane Florence in eastern NC, people experiencing stress, anxiety and other mental health issues had phones as their link to help.

CELIA RIVENBARK: How worst times makes us see best in each other (Wilmington Star News column) — People are uncommonly kind. And people are uncommonly mean. And sometimes those are the same people. If politics makes strange bedfellows, let me assure you hurricanes make even stranger ones.

MELANIE SILL: Florence shows why people trust local news (Charlotte Observer column) — Amid early Florence relief efforts, Gov. Cooper tweeted, “Local news is more vital than ever,” and he was right: Our state benefited from a tremendous local news effort over the past two weeks. The question now becomes: What news and information do we need moving forward and how can we support the service we’ll depend on?

SELIM BINGOL: Duke Energy VP on N.C.’s clean energy future (Fayetteville Observer column) -- As N.C. begins to emerge from the historic devastation caused by Hurricane Florence, most of us are asking “how can we help our friends and neighbors?” Jim Warren of NC WARN, however, instead seems to have wondered how he can take advantage of this tragedy to suit his own agenda. He is back at it again, with thinly sourced claims, wild insinuations and plain old fear-mongering. It’s an insult to the men and women who have been working around the clock to restore power — and some sense of normalcy — to the Carolinas. But out of respect to the work they are doing, I would like to provide some facts in response to the rhetoric. We are proud of our results in generating cleaner energy.

SELIM BINGOL: Duke Energy says we want to keep people safe after Florence (Charlotte Observer column) -- Activists wrong about coal ash criticisms after hurricane

CAMPAIGN 2018

JIM MORRILL: Ex-Gov. Pat McCrory calls anti-amendments ad ‘deceptive’ (Charlotte Observer reports) — A TV ad for a group called “Stop Deceptive Amendments” is itself deceptive, former NC Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday. “The ad gives the clear false impression that myself and others who spoke against the two amendments are also against the other four amendments,” McCrory told the Observer. “It’s a deceptive ad to try to trick the voters and it’s shameful.”

Amendments get pushback they deserve (Fayetteville Observer) — -- A coalition of N.C. advocacy groups has fired up a campaign to defeat all six of the referendum questions on the November ballot. The opposition group includes the state NAACP, the ACLU of N.C., N.C. Voters for Clean Elections and Democracy N.C. Another group, “Stop Deceptive Amendments,” has also begun running anti-amendment advertising. That coalition includes Common Cause, the N.C. League of Conservation Voters and the N.C. Association of Educators. The amendments deserve robust opposition because of the route they took to the ballot — the darkened back rooms of the General Assembly’s leadership. There was little or no debate, no public hearings or other input. They were conceived in secrecy and pushed onto the ballot by the legislative fiat of a veto-proof General Assembly majority.

CLAUDIA RUPCICH: 'We want good people' - NC Highway Patrol facing historical shortage of troopers (WRAL-TV reports) -- The State Highway Patrol is experiencing the worst shortage of troopers in recent history. The State Highway Patrol currently has more than 200 openings for troopers, and leaders said it's part of a nationwide shortage. In times of emergencies--like after Hurricane Florence--it's critical to have as many people as possible.

DANIELLE BATTAGILIA: Abused and neglected children left voiceless from lack of volunteers (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- Guardian ad Litem volunteers advocate on behalf of the state's abused and neglected children and serve as an objective third-party to tell a judge what is in the child's best interest for his or her future.

JAY PRICE: In Jim Crow Era, 'After-The-Fact Lynchings' Spread Racial Terror In Durham, Elsewhere (WUNC-FM reports) -- Most racially-motivated killings during what's called "the Lynching Era" actually weren't lynchings. In Durham, one of these nearly-forgotten cases in 1946 foreshadowed the coming drama over the "Jim Crow" laws that forced black passengers to ride in the back of buses. "A big sign when you got on there said, 'Colored seat from rear to front, white from front to rear,'" said N.C. State Rep. Mickey Michaux, who was a teenager in Durham in 1946. "As long as you were riding Fayetteville Street and Pettigrew Street, there wasn't a problem, but when you crossed the tracks, if you had a bus full of black folks, they got up and gave their seats to white folks when they got downtown." "They accepted it, they accepted it," he said.

MARK BARRETT: Colton was a pioneering legislator and a force to be reckoned with in Raleigh (Asheville Citizen-Times obit) -- Former state legislator Marie Colton, who broke barriers to women in the state General Assembly, died Tuesday at 95. The N.C. House elected her as speaker pro tempore -- the formal title for its second-ranking official -- in 1991. She was first elected to a House seat in 1978 and represented Buncombe County there until 1994. And, she did not go to Raleigh to be seen but not heard.

Police chief's rental units held drugs, firearms (AP reports) -- An investigation found that Red Springs Police Chief Ronnie Patterson had rental units holding images of nude women, narcotics and firearms. A Robeson County District Attorney's Office release says Patterson's units were auctioned off for nonpayment and found to also have a file detailing a sexual harassment allegation against him. Citing the release, news outlets report crime scene photos, investigative files and ammunition also were in the unit.

Scooters, sadly, will require regulations (Winston-Salem Journal) -- They appeared overnight and now appear every morning, in aesthetically pleasing groups of two or three, these Bird electric scooters. Their riders seem to zip playfully down the street or, more appealingly, up inclines. And, for now, an added bonus, they’re largely unregulated.

ADAM ORR: World Equestrian Games were a mixed bag for local businesses (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- For business owners near the 2018 World Equestrian Games, it’s all about perspective. Some reported big increases in business during the two weeks the Tryon International Equestrian Center became the focus of the horse sport world. Others said the games brought little or no impact to their bottom line.

Thom Tillis and Lindsey Graham tried to protect Robert Mueller. They need to try again (Charlotte Observer) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein thought he was fired Monday. As it turns out: Not yet. It could happen Thursday, when he and president Donald Trump meet at the White House. It could be soon after the midterm elections, if reports are true about the president cleaning house at the Justice Department. But the deputy attorney general is, by all appearances, a lame duck. Republicans need to be ready now for what may follow when his pink slip comes

Trump's cold cales really arent' warming the trails for justice (Greensboro News & Record) — In the summer of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten, shot, mutilated and thrown into Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River, his body tied with barbed wire to a cotton gin fan blade. His transgression: being “fresh” with a white woman, which some people considered a capital crime in that time and place.

EDUCATION

MOLLY OSBORNE: Why do students miss school? Results from a statewide survey on chronic absenteeism (EdNC reports) — Over the past 10 to 15 years, research has shown that chronically absent students are less likely to be reading proficiently in third grade and less likely to graduate from high school, grabbing the attention of policymakers and educators.

LIZ BELL: Legislature-backed Schools That Lead launches three-year school improvement cohort (EdNC News) — Principals, teachers, and administrators from 36 schools across the state gathered in Raleigh Tuesday to start a three-year pilot program. With funds from the legislature, Schools That Lead, a nonprofit education organization that focuses on improvement science, will work with up to 60 NC schools to raise graduation rates and better student outcomes.

Sex assaults reported at Wake Forest frat under scrutiny (AP reports) — Two reports of a sexual assault have been filed in connection with a fraternity under interim suspension at Wake Forest University. News outlets report the university announced last week Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity's Psi Delta chapter had been moved from deferred suspension to interim suspension following a report of an unregistered party at the chapter house Sept. 1. Since that report, the university has received additional information about unregistered parties, and received two separate reports about sexual assaults on Sept. 14 at the house.

DREW WILSON: Iconic educator Sallie B. Howard dies at 102 (Wilson Times reports) -- Sallie Baldwin Townsend Howard, the lifelong educator who inspired the creation of the Sallie B. Howard School for the Arts and Education, has died. Howard traveled to more than 40 countries around the world and spent more than two decades teaching in the New York City public schools before returning to North Carolina to educate children in Wilson.

Vehicle emissions tests no longer required in 26 NC counties (AP reports) — Annual vehicle inspections in 26 NC counties will no longer include emissions tests, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "A combination of federal and state regulations has improved air quality in NC such that emissions testing is no longer required in certain counties," EPA Region 4 Administrator Trey Glenn said in a statement. "This ... is anticipated to save consumers in these areas money on annual emissions inspections."

STEPHANIE CARSON: New Documentary Features Impact of Climate Change on NC (Public News Service reports) — In the wake of the storm, efforts continue across the state to advance solar power, adapt to sea level rise and for some, to fight the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

DEBRA MORGAN: Pam Kohl works with Komen, provides 'courage and determination' for her cancer fight (WRAL-TV reports) -- Pam Kohl, executive director of Komen N.C. Triangle to the Coast, endured 20 rounds of radiation, her latest treatment as she faces metastatic breast cancer.