“This is the Morehead-Cain [überscholarship]. Accept it, and create an extraordinary life.”

With hubristic words such as these, is it any wonder that a UNC Morehead Scholar was arrested for “disrupting” a scheduled discussion about illegal immigration on the UNC campus by former Representative Tancredo last week?

On Wednesday 23 April 2009, UNC campus police filed disorderly conduct charges against Ms. Helen Elizabeth Koch. She is charged with being one of the “Banner girls” holding a banner in front of Mr. Tancreado and singing loudly to drown him out. Also known by the upscale moniker “Haley”, she was arrested on campus at about 10:35 a.m., apparently in the middle of another day of classes. (See Daily Tar Heel Koch Arrest Story.)

Profile of Privilege
What are the circumstances of upbringing that lead a Morehead Scholar to hold a banner in front of a scheduled speaker and to drown out that speaker by singing loudly? Who is Ms. Koch?

She’s a child of extreme privilege. She grew up in the impeccably chic Washington D.C. suburb of Cabin John, Maryland. Having too much talent for public school, she attended the Sidwell Friends School, where both President Clinton sent his daughter, and President Obama now sends his two daughters.

Ms. Koch’s parents are both involved in independent film production.

Her father has produced a number of programs of note for “ABC, NBC, HBO, PBS, National Public Radio, The Discovery Channel, Turner Broadcasting, National Geographic Television, American Movie Classics, The Learning Channel, The Travel Channel, and the Hallmark Channel. His productions have been broadcast throughout the world and distributed on home video. He has received six national Emmy awards including the first President’s Award for Superior, Socially Responsible Programming and the George Foster Peabody Award, a Cable ACE, the Environmental Media Award, the Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow Award, a Dupont-Columbia University Award, and a George Polk. He was producer and executive producer on Public Television’s series on journalism, Inside Story, hosted by Hodding Carter.”

Ms. Koch’s mother is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She made “City at Peace”, a 1998 documentary about a musical-theater group for disadvantaged area kids that appeared on HBO. One of her latest projects was to travel for six months to Ireland, Spain, Russia, Afghanistan, Kenya, and North Carolina, following seven homeless players seeking to participate in an international soccer event for the homeless, the 2006 Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.

(Pulpsters can be forgiven for asking why someone of Ms. Koch’s extremely privileged background needs the financial benefits of a Morehead Scholarship. If you dare to ask the question, then you'll never understand.)

Upon receiving the beneficence of a Morehead Scholarship in Spring 2005, Ms. Koch demonstrated her extraordinary life by taking a year off BEFORE beginning college. She took a “gap year” in 2005-2006. She apparently volunteered in an orphanage in South Africa, and traveled the African continent. (Pulpsters will note that this service and leisure coincides with her mother attending the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town.)

However, Ms. Koch didn’t stop there. She also spent time traveling to Palestine. According to a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli group on the UNC campus, Ms. Koch spent “ four months in Palestine, where she became involved in human rights and political activism.” Apparently, she absorbed the current intellectual thinking on free speech for which Palestine is known.

Progressive Achievements
After stopping to grace the UNC campus with her presence, Ms. Koch proceeded to build a solid progressive curriculum vitae.

She joined the Carolina Sweat-Free Coalition.

She joined Solidarity with Palestine through Education and Action at Carolina (SPEAC) and participated in the free-from-hate-speech Palestine Week on the UNC campus. According to Ms. Koch, she wants to “broaden people's understandings of the conflict.”, presumably by speaking without someone placing a banner in front of her face and singing loudly to drown her out.

Ms. Koch also finds the time to be a student leader of UNC-NOW (United With Northside Community Now), a grassroots organization working to preserve the cultural heritage of a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Chapel Hill. Vehemently against the Greenbridge development, she says, “We think Greenbridge should be willing to do anything that it takes. If it takes reopening the [permitting process], then we think that they should be willing to do that.” (See Chapel Hill News Greenbridge Story.) Apparently, Ms. Koch’s hometown of Cabin John lacks a lower socio-economic class to gentrify.

Ms. Koch is an undergraduate Performance Studies major and Sexuality Studies minor, a facilitator of life performance workshops for area youth, a member of Interactive Theatre Carolina (a group that uses performance to promote social justice), She has performed in “Trojan Barbie” and “Gender/Sex/Performance”, part of The Gender Project.

The Gender Project “is a year-long, cross-campus conversation that uses the arts as the foundation to explore questions of gender as identity, in society, and in our daily lives. Though collaborations and events from all parts of campus, the community will explore the issues surrounding gender and identity in our lives through the arts, humanities, politics, law, religion, the media and more.”

Ms. Koch is a member of the Unity Conference Steering Committee, “a team of dedicated, passionate undergraduate and graduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” For the Unity Conference, “The gender binary acts on our bodies even before we are born - “Is it a boy or a girl?” are likely the first words that follow “congratulations” to an expecting family.

The gender binary is one of the most pervasive and insidious forms of oppression in our society. It affects us in the most intimate elements of our lives. In our bedrooms, in our kitchens, in the workplace, on the streets, in bathrooms, and in the places where we need support most - even our schools or in the hospital - the gender binary forces us into individuated static identities.

Our gender identities influence how we feel about our bodies, who we form relationships with and how, and what kinds of expectations people have for our behavior. This is true for folks who identify as straight women or men as well as for folks who identify as queer.”

In keeping with Unity Conference efforts, she has conducted ethnographic research with “queer people in Europe and the Balkans”.

Finally, Ms. Koch has squeezed in time to practice her free speech disruption techniques by being a singer with Voices of Joy, part of the the St. Joseph C.M.E. gospel choir.

Arrest & Award
While UNC was busy handing out an arrest warrant to Ms. Koch with one hand, with the other hand it was presenting her with a prestigious APPLES award. She gained the Undergraduate Excellence Award, having taken five APPLES service learning courses.

In receiving the award, Ms. Koch said, “I realized that it was possible to learn through my service and in my service and with my service. It's not about learning in the classroom and serving in the community. The classroom is everywhere.” (See Daily Tar Heel Koch APPLES Story.).)

“It's An Extraordinary Life”
Ms. Koch has taken to heart the richly imbued Morehead Scholarship creed. “What lies ahead is a lifelong challenge to do more for the world around you than you do for yourself.” Disrupting free speech of others with which you disagree apparently falls within a self-congratulatory mantle of elite privilege.

No word when the upcoming documentary “It’s An Extraordinary Life”, a Koch production, of a Koch film, starring Ms. Koch, will enter a “theatre near you”.

It’s another miracle at the dump!

In January 2009, Orange County Solid Waste (OCSW) trashologists miraculously uncovered another year of life in the old county landfill. Instead of closing in mid-2010, it would remain open until mid-2011. OCSW claims that the additional year came from better landfill management, such as asking UNC-Chapel Hill to redirect garbage, using a daily cover that takes up less volume, buying a better waste compactor, and banning residential cardboard as of November 2008. (The begged-for question, unasked by local media, is, why weren’t better management practices employed ten years ago? How much more life would be available?)

Well, lightning has struck twice amidst the detritus of southern Orange. Again, just when more time is needed by County Commishes, the landfill can now stay open yet another year, until mid-2012. Acccording to solid waste planner Blair Pollock, ”It looks, barring some disaster, like we have space for another year.” (See N&O Solid Waste Story.)

Local political commentators remain mute. No explanation is needed as to the convenient stretching of the landfill timeline.

Almost two years ago in early 2008 Orange County Commishes were told by Mr. Gayle Wilson (Orange County Solid Waste or OCSW) that the county landfill was running out of space by 2010. (See the Carrboro Citizen Trash Transfer Series.) Time had run out. A decision had to be made “RIGHT NOW”, said Commishes Moses Carey and Mike Nelson. With much public hand-wringing they voted unanimously to place a county trash transfer station on Eubanks Road, next to the same working class African-American community that hosted the smell of the landfill for thirty years.

Fast forward two years and consider the new found distaste of local commish pals for employing what two years ago was proclaimed to be state-of-the-art, clean, attractive technology, a distaste that wasn't expressed for over two years so long as the transfer station wouldn’t be placed in the backyard of a pal. Once alternative trash transfer station sites were considered, alternatives that aren’t not located near an African-American working class community, the shine came off the trash transfer station ”shinola”.

No word on what new tools will be employed by OCSW trashologists to uncover a third extra year at the dump.

How the mighty have fallen.

The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), owner of the Raleigh-based News & Observer, reported that on 14 April 2009 it received a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). MNI was, for the second time since February 2009, not in compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standard for total market capitalization and shareholders' equity - capitalization of no less than $75,000,000 over a 30 trading-day period and stockholders' equity of no less than $75,000,000.

As little as three years ago, MNI has traded as high as about $74.00. As of this writing, it trades at $0.55. The 8 April 2009 market capitalization is about $52,400,000, substantially under the $75,000,000 threshold.

MNI has 45 days from the receipt of the notice to submit a plan to the NYSE demonstrating how it intends to comply with the NYSE's continued listing standards within 18 months from the receipt of the notice.

MNI is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, with 30 daily newspapers, approximately 50 non-dailies, and direct marketing and direct mail operations. MNI newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer, and N&O.

But you would never know about the extent of the fall into the abyss from the N&O publisher, Mr. Orage Quarles III.

Mr. Quarles has an impressive background. He has been president and publisher of the N&O since January 2000, the third MNI newspaper he has led. Mr. Quarles has been named the nation's outstanding publisher by Editor and Publisher magazine in 2002 for his leadership of the N&O. For nine years, he's been a member of the Associated Press board of directors and a board member of the Newspaper Association of America, serving as chair in 2001-2002. He's a member of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute board, the Freedom Forum Board of Trustees, the Poynter Institute National Advisory Board, the American Press Institute general management advisory board and the National Association of Minority Media Executives. Locally, he serves on boards of Rex Healthcare, N.C. Museum of Art, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Foundation, Wake Education Partnership Board of Trustees, High Five: Regional Partnershp for High School Excellence board of directors, the Pope House Museum Foundation, and the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

So how come someone so prestigious in the journalism business can’t level with you?

On Sunday, 29 March 2009, less than two weeks before the delisting notice for becoming a “penny stock”, the N&O published a full page letter to readers from Mr. Quarles. He wanted to reassure readers about the solvency of the N&O. “First and foremost, The N&O is a profitable enterprise that is not about to go out of business. In fact, more people depend on us now than ever in our history. Our print and online readership grew last year, and our combined audience keeps setting records.”

Let's look at the facts.

According to a publication chart posted at McClatchy Watch, N&O print circulation in 1998 was about 208,000 (Sunday) and 164,000 (daily).

Fast forward ten years. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, for the six-month period of April to September 2008, the N&O had a Sunday circulation of 206,000 and a daily circulation of 159,000. Ten years, no growth in readership while the metro area added hundreds of thousands of households. Ten years, internet explosion. Ten years, advertising implosion.

Despite these facts, Mr. Quarles says, “We’re not letting up on our public service mission, either. Newspapers play a fundamental role in maintaining and strengthening our democracy, and at The N&O, we take our watchdog role seriously…

We’re maintaining our commitment to our readers, our advertisers and our community …We have had to make some very difficult decisions. The changes to the paper’s sections and layout have been painful, but they pale in comparison to eliminating the jobs of our employees…

Meanwhile, you can count on The N&O to be in your driveway tomorrow morning, and every morning for a long time to come. We didn’t get our Old Reliable nickname by accident, you know..”

The Pulp would love to reference the letter in its entirety, but curiously, it’s nowhere to be found by a search of the N&O website.

Voters in Orange County handily defeated the idea of a 0.4% local land transfer tax in a May 2008 referendum by a supermajority.

But what do they know? So the County Commishes are trying for a tax reach-around on the voting public. They have asked local state legislators indirectly for the authority for the Commishes to impose local transfer taxes without a voter referendum.

Local progressivism doesn't like voter referenda. That dogma is based on a governing principle that the majority of voters doesn’t know what’s best for them. That knowledge is reserved for the anointed true believers rallied under the banner of “Progressive”. True believers are those who support the incumbent, self-described “progressive politicians”. (Circular argument is a hallmark of local progressivism.)

In early April 2009, the Orange Commishes passed a resolution noting county [better known as Commish] ”support for the ability of all local governments to apply impact fees and/or taxes and to implement real estate transfer fees and/or taxes.” Directly, this statement doesn’t ask for a change in state law allowing Commishes to vote to implement a local transfer tax. But progressivism isn’t about openness and transparency in government. Doing what's right is too important to require democratic consensus building.

Consider the past. In the mid-1980s, the General Assembly (GA) allowed four counties (Dare, Currituck, Chowan and Camden) to implement a 1% local transfer tax by consensus of the local county commishes. No voter referendum was required. In 1989, the GA added three more counties (Pasquotank, Perquimans and Washington), but added the requirement of a voter referendum.

Now return to the Commish statement. It asks for support from local Orange state legislators for the authority of local county government to implement a transfer tax. Commish voting implemented a local transfer tax in the four counties in the mid-1980s without a voter referendum. Indirectly, they've asked for a local transfer tax reach-around on county voters.

All but one of the local commishes want to be able to override the will of the supermajority that voted barely a year ago. It’s simply a matter of keeping “all funding options open”. The predominant will of the people is of secondary importance.

Fortunately, the change to district-based commishes in the last election has added a new voice, one not slavishly committed to local progessivism. Commish Steve Yuhasz understands that the May 2008 vote was a clear vote, one that didn’t even occur in the context of a severe economic recession and high unemployment. ”I have a problem asking our local legislators [for] permission to do what our voters unequivocally told us not to do.” (See Chapel Hill Herald Transfer Tax Story.)

Illustrating the great divide between the “unwashed” Orange County in the north and the “anointed” southern Orange County, Rep. Bill Faison (D-Caswell, Orange) backed Mr. Yuhasz's opposition. (Both live in northern Orange, and thus, are “unwashed”.) According to Mr. Faison, “I would love to be able to vote on a bill that says we take transfer taxes off the table.”

No word on when the school merger/equity reach-around will grope its way to the surface.

The recent socialist thuggery on the UNC campus, using free speech to “disrupt” (aka oppress) another's free speech is heralded as a shining moment by the UNC chapter of the Students for a “Democratic Society” (SDS). At least the title of this organization suggests a sense of humor and irony, attributes sadly missing up close and personal. (Pulpsters shouldn’t mistake this founded-circa-2006 organization with the 1960s organization of the same name. It’s just brand usufructing by those unwilling to make their own name.)

Campus Safety Made Them Get Violent
Children often blame their parents for their temper tantrums. Part of growing up is learning how to deal with not getting what you want, with accepting true diversity. Part of growing up is accepting responsibility for one’s actions.

UNC SDS leaders apparently haven’t achieved that state of enlightenment yet. According to them, the UNC Chapel Hill Police are responsible for the violence and thuggery of the Tancredo protest. If only the campus police hadn't used ”violence and extreme force” against protesters, then the protest wouldn't have escalated into a confrontation during Tancredo's speech at Bingham Hall. ”All organizations involved in the protest were nonviolent. Rather, it was the violence employed by the Campus Police that created a climate of fear and chaos.”

Mahatma Gandhi would have been proud of such logical legerdemain.

According to the SDS, police dragged two women out of the room where Mr. Tancredo was speaking and threw them to the floor in the lobby. ”Five minutes later and without verbal warning, police started pepper-spraying. Contrary to police reports, the pepper spray was not 'broadcast' into the air; it was sprayed directly at people's faces. We are proud to see that so many people came out to participate in the demonstrations. At the same time, it is regrettable that police violence led to an escalation which prevented many individuals and organizations from expressing their dissent towards Tancredo through speaking at the event.”

On a campus overflowing with videocams and cell phones, the SDS has failed to produce any video backing up their claims.

The campus police beg to differ with the SDS account.

Pepper spray was broadcast towards the sky in order to get students to leave an overcrowded hallway. A taser was triggered over one officer's head and not in anyone's direction as a visual warning. According to the official police report, ”There were no direct exposure of pepper spray by any individuals within the crowd. Orange County EMS was called to the scene to assist with decontamination efforts. Upon arrival no one was in need of assistance.” (See N&O Protest Story.)

Perhaps the best example of the SDS sense of personal responsibility is demonstrated by UNC biochemistry graduate student Ms. Tamara Tal, a founding member of the new SDS. Her track record is interesting. In 2006 she illegally trespassed on the Carr Mill Mall lawn in support of the right of someone to dance with bricks, endangering innocent bystanders. Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton supported Ms. Tal’s illegality and joined in. She was not arrested. In 2007 she illegally trespassed and occupied U.S. Representative David Price’s office in Durham, North Carolina. Durham’s mayor did not support Ms. Tal. She was arrested.

Despite that track record, you are supposed to believe that Ms. Tal and fellow SDSers protested non-violently to disrupt Mr. Tancredo’s right to free speech. According to Ms. Tal, SDS students were sprayed with pepper in the face. (As a chemist, Ms. Tal should know that if this event unfolded as she describes, then the “victims” would have sought EMS aid for the burning pepper spray.) According to Ms. Tal, “Tancredo's security and the cops assaulted two women holding a banner and threw them to the ground outside the room. Shortly after, a window was broken and the Tancredo was escorted out.”

No word on when Ms. Tal will graduate and have to work for a living.

Terrorists As SDS Role Models
You can tell a lot about individuals and groups by whom they admire. The UNC SDS has picked a very distinct role model to get behind, an out-and-out courageous advocate for killing innocent women and children, Mr. Ahmed Sa’adat. He was born in the early 1950s, reportedly in al-Bira, on the West Bank about nine miles north of Jerusalem. In his early teens, he joined the student wing of the Palestine Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second largest component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). His ideology was a combination of Marxist-Leninist totalitarianism mixed with pan-Arab nationalism. He became a combination of a math teacher and a supporter of random terror against innocent women and children.

In 1994, he was elected West Bank PFLP leader.

In 2001 he was elected Secretary-General of the PFLP, following the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa. At his initial press conference, he declared ”our right of return, and our independence, with Jerusalem as the capital.” A committed believer in violence, he stands for the dismantling of the Israeli state. He opposes the Oslo Peace Process. Within months of Mr. Sa’adat attaining supreme leadership, the PFLP assassinated the Israeli Tourism minister, Mr. Rehavam Zeevi.

Not only has the US government declared the PFLP to be a terrorist organization, so has the European Union.

Here are some of the proud accomplishments of the PFLP:
1) Pioneered airplane hijacking in the late 1960s and 1970s.
2) Driven out of Jordan by King Hussein 1970 after blowing up three hijacked airplanes.
3) Teamed up with the Japanese Red Army to murder two dozen unarmed passengers at Lod airport in Israel.
4) Joined with the German Baader-Meinhof Gang in 1976 to hijack an Air France plane from Tel Aviv to Entebbe Kenya.
5) Assassinated the Israeli tourism minister.
6) Killed four and wounded 20 in a Christmas Day 2003 “Achmed-the-terrorist” style bombing.
7) Assisted in the car bombing of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2004.

UNC SDS is participating in an effort to free Mr. Sa’adat, their unique role model for creating a “democratic society”. The SDS wants Mr. Sa’adat released from an Israeli prison without conditions despite his conviction for running a known terrorist organization that has killed innocent people. To the SDS, it's a matter of “justice”, “freedom”, and “human rights”. That’s justice, freedom, and human rights for Mr. Sa’adat, not his victims.

No word when President Obama will open a dialogue with Mr. Sa’adat.

Courageous Parsing, “Disruption” Is Not “Shutting Down” Free Speech
Watching UNC SDS members wallow in privilege while declaring “solidarity” with those oppressed by “White racist supremacist imperialism” is reminiscent of Karl Marx playing the stock market while writing the “Communist Manifesto”.

Now that the heat has been turned up by Chancellor Holden Thorp, the UNC SDS is resorting to intellectual canards. The SDS didn’t want to “shut down” Mr. Tancredo’s speech. They merely wanted to “disrupt” it.

In their post-protest justification, the SDS says, “We would like to clarify that SDS did not participate in the event with the intent to shut it down, but we are not surprised that it happened. Tancredo is a national symbol of hate and racism. Thus, it is no surprise that his attempt to scapegoat immigrants garnered strong opposition. In this time of economic crisis, it is more important than ever to challenge bigoted and racist views. Standing up to his destructive rhetoric has given strength to groups around the country. Immigrants rights organizations [sic] nationwide are applauding the protest of Tancredo at UNC. Carlos Montes, with the Southern California Immigrants Coalition, said, 'I support the students right to protest racist Tom Tancredo. Tancredo has to be confronted and exposed wherever he speaks. The students should be commended for their action'.”

While claiming “disruption”, and not “shutting down” as their goal, the SDS proudly displays this message: “Sisters and Brothers, Every day on multiple occasions here in Southeastern Michigan and throughout this state, nothing less than terrorist raids by ICE and other government agencies end in the cruelest ripping apart of families. Of course these raids against immigrant workers are being carried out nationwide as you know. I am proud of you and your allies at UNC who shut down the racist Tancredo. There is no 'free speech' for racists. I'm in complete solidarity with your actions and if you need anything just let me know. No human being is illegal! Si Se Puede! In unity, solidarity and struggle, Bryan G. Pfeifer ”

Apparently, no SDS member was among the student and faculty mob shouting the mantra, “Shut it down - no racists in our town!”

UNC faculty SDS supporters believe them, why can't you?

Does a living wage require more taxes by the town of Chapel Hill or merely a redistribution of the current wages being paid municipal employees? That’s the one question not raised by a group trying to get the town of Chapel Hill to adopt a living wage policy.

According to the Orange County Organizing Committee (OCOC), a “living wage“ means earning at least $15.31 per hour. At that compensation, one can afford a fair market rent of $796 for a two-bedroom apartment in Orange County. (“Affordable” means that no more than 30% of one’s gross income is spent on housing, as recommended by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency.)

The lowest paid Chapel Hill municipal worker earns $11.79 per hour. The OCOC wants the Chapel Hill Councilors to commit to a minimum base wage of $13.00 per hour, or 15% less than a living wage. According to the OCOC, the town could meet this “less than living wage” by paying 49 employees (about 7% of the present employee base) about $88,108 more in total personnel expenditures. (See Chapel Hill Herald Living Wage Story.)

Let’s look at the facts.

First, there's no requirement in the OCOC proposal for those receiving a living wage increase actually to have to live in southern Orange County, much less the town of Chapel Hill, the area for which the living wage has been computed. Those employees choosing to live ten miles away in a county with a lower cost of housing are still eligible.

Second, the table below shows the personnel expenditures for the Town of Chapel Hill over the past three budget cycles. One can see that the average expenditure per person for compensation is presently at $46,230, or about $23.00 per hour. In the context of the total personnel expenditures, $100,000 is about 0.3% of the budgeted amount.

(FTE – Full Time Employees) See ( Chapel Hill Budget Details.)

So the big question is, should the town redistribute 0.3% of the existing compensation spent on the highest quartile of municipal employees to the less than the bottom 10% of municipal employees making less than a living wage? Or is the principle of income redistribution not meant for municipal employees, and thus, should the town simply raise property taxes yet again?

In most of North Carolina, if a group of students shut down a speech by an invited campus speaker through the threat of force, there would be little concern for the politics of the speaker and sure condemnation of the protesting provocateurs. But southern Orange is not like the rest of North Carolina.

Here, the Alice-in-Wonderland looking glass alters reality. The invited campus speaker doesn’t have the right to free speech. If the speaker doesn't agree with your view on controlling national borders, then they practice hate speech. The provocateurs aren’t criminals. Force is acceptable if stopping hate speech. The UNC administration is shocked to learn that campus progressives (students and teachers) are intolerant fascists engaged in their own “Kristalltag”. The UNC administration is shocked to learn that instead of promoting free speech, the ivory, ebony, and jade tower of UNC uniformity of thought promotes the rise of intolerant facists.

UNC provocateurs called the speaker (former Colorado Representative Mr. Tom Tancredo) a “racist!” and a “white supremacist piece of shit!” The cheer of “No dialogue with hate!” echoed throughout the classroom in which Mr. Tancredo attempted to deliver his speech. Pulpsters can check out live video of the event for themselves. In a particularly memorable tour de force of progressive logic, protest organizer Mr. Tyler Oakley, a UNC graduate student and Romance Language teaching assistant, said, ”You [Mr. Tancredo] have to respect the right of people [the free speech disrupters] to assemble and collectively speak [disrupt your speech].”

The local media digs deep into the news wastebin to drag out and feature the intolerance in 1963 against communist speech, conveniently downplaying in a sidebar the string of speakers (all tarred as “right wingers”) that have marked the ever-constricting grasp of political correctness that dominates UNC campus speech. (See N & O Tancredo story and UNC free speech sidebar report.) That's called balance, featuring a 40 year old event against the totalitarian left, thereby equating Mr. Tancredo with being from the totalitarian right.

The executive director of the North Carolina ACLU decries the student and teacher incited violence against the campus speaker, while simultaneously comparing the Mr. Tancredo's words to ”racist hate speech”. The thin line between “hate speech” and “hate crimes” is blurred a little more. In the words of Ms. Jennifer Rudinger, former head of the Alaska ACLU and an over $800 Obama presidential campaign contributor who has no idea what words Mr. Tancredo would have said at UNC, “Tancredo has the right to express his views against mass immigration, just as students at N.C. State had the right to paint racist remarks against President Barack Obama on the campus Free Expression Tunnel on Election Day last fall. Censorship is not the answer to hate speech. Hate speech is protected by the Constitution.”

(Query, if Mr. Tancredo is uttering hate speech, and that speech led to the protestors' criminal actions, then is Mr. Tancredo guilty of a “hate crime”?)

In a moment either of divine comedy or complete cluelessness, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp declared his disappointment that UNC the students didn't uphold ”the university's commitment to free speech and diverse viewpoints.”

Mr. Thorp has reacted in a predictably progressive fashion. He reacts to the embarrassment of the incident and not to how the incident came to be fostered on the UNC campus. ”We didn't get anything[any alumni calls] from anybody happy with the way things went. The fact that it got out of hand is embarrassing.”

What a difference a violent, high-profile murder of a local archetypal progressive can make. Orange County municipal officials were in denial as to the existence of gangs in Orange County prior to the Eve Carson murder. During 2005 municipal elections, incumbents ridiculed challengers mentioning the “G” word. Southern Orange “didn’t have a crime problem”, much less a “G” problem.

Four years later, with the help of the Pulp's incessant drumbeat of reality, local officials are kicking off a Bush administration initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program to reduce gun and gang violence. The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of North Carolina is partnering with Orange law enforcement agencies countywide to participate in this program.

As part of the local participation, a program has been developed called “Project SAFE Orange”. Repeat criminal offenders have been identified. Law enforcement agencies will notify such offenders with a strict no-tolerance message and the promise of swift and strong prosecution if they reoffend. Those notified will be closely monitored. The faith, resident, and agency community members of Project SAFE Orange will notify the offenders that they can take advantage of supportive opportunities to lead a crime-free life if they choose. (See NBC 17 News Story.)

The Pulp has squeezed the juice until the “gang” word has broken free from political correctness. The “G” word is back in our vocabulary.

In January 2009, the U.S Department of Justice held Project Safe Neighborhoods “Anti-Gang Training” in Chapel Hill. More than 550 attendees addressed the criminal gang issue affectting communities throughout the nation. The executive session of such training focused on the development of a strategic plan to address their local criminal justice issues and challenges. In the words of Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig S. Morford, “This anti-gang training will play a critical role in assisting our state and local criminal justice partners in eradicating gangs and gang violence from our communities. It will allow them to more effectively combat the problem and provide for safer neighborhoods across the country.” (See DOJ Press Release.)

Last week the Daily Tar Heel ran an editorial saying what local progressives refused to acknowledge for years, “Gang violence has a definite presence in Orange County, whether we choose to see it or not.”

Noting that Orange County comes late to the party, the editorial also observes that, “In the participating counties of Durham, Forsyth, Rowan and Guilford, violent crime decreased significantly after the program was implemented. Our neighbor, Durham County, saw violent crime decrease by nearly 35 percent between 2000 and 2004.”

According to US District Attorney Jim Woodall, witness intimidation in gang-related prosecutions in Orange County is on the rise. He called Interstate 40 a “hotbed” of gang activity and violence. (See Daily Tar Heel Editorial.)

Sometimes the truth doesn’t feel good.

Facts presented without context isn’t news. (See N&O Lawsuit Story.)

The local media reports that the privately owned Orange County Rescue Squad is suing Orange County and Emergency Services Director Frank Montes de Oca, claiming discrimination, libel, breach of contract and violation of due process. OCRS is asking for $1,200,000 in damages plus compensation for legal fees and $550,000 of new equipment OCRS purchased in 2008. These damages allegedly have resulted from a July 2008 ban placed on their contracted services by Mr. Montes de Oca. That fact as to a lawsuit is very true, and is very much without context.

Pulpsters want to know the whole story, no matter where it leads. As is often the case in Orange County, the juice flows when the pulp of local life is squeezed. Let’s look deeper as to how the county got sued. After all, it’s your money being consumed by litigation.

Unexplained Termination
In January 2008, Mr. Frank Rojas Montes de Oca, Jr. resigned unexpectedly as the Osceola County, Florida fire chief. In the words of the local Osceola media, “no one has explained exactly why”. An Osceola County spokesperson would only say ”there was a difference of philosophy.”. (See News 13 Story.)

Unexplained Hiring
In April 2008, Orange County hires Mr. Montes de Oca as Director of Emergency Services. His responsibilities include 911 Communications, Emergency Medical Services and the office of the Fire Marshal. (SeeCounty Press Release.)

Explained Termination
In late June 2008, after two months on the job, Mr. Montes de Oca unilaterally terminates the services of the Orange County Rescue Squad (OCRS) with regards to participating in the county 911 emergency response system. He does so despite a contract between the county and OCRS.

On June 27th he cites a laundry list of safety concerns. He directs county emergency services supervisors to order OCRS members to leave if they showed up at accident scenes and to call the police to enforce their leaving if necessary.

On July 1st, Mr. Montes de Oca issues a “preliminary report" describing “an extensive history of unsafe and unprofessional practices, strange behavior” by OCRS members. (See Chapel Hill News OCRS Story.) OCRS Chief Brian Matthews says OCRS wasn’t afforded the opportunity to respond to Mr. Montes de Oca’s allegations before the order to “stand down”.

County Manager Laura Blackmon feels the need to stand by Mr. Montes de Oca’s decision. Writing for the local media, Ms. Blackmon says that “emergency medical services provided by the county have not changed… I support the decision of Frank Montes de Oca, the emergency services director, who is concerned about the service that was being provided by Orange County Rescue. He and his staff are currently working with Orange County Rescue to ensure they are properly certified and have the necessary operating procedures in place to guarantee the safety of our citizens.”

Unexplained “Last Responders”
In August 2008 disaster strikes Orange County EMS resources. Orange 911 receives 11 service calls on the 18th between 5PM and 7PM. Carrboro High School sophomore running back DeMarcus Powell dislocates his knee with a bulging bone. Capt. Kim Woodward, operations manager for Orange County EMS, says personnel couldn't respond faster than about one hour. Minus the ambulance capacity of the banned OCRS, county EMS personnel are occupied with a two-vehicle accident that injured four people in western Orange County and a subsequent response to the home of Atlas Fraley, where he had died of “unknown causes”.

(In FY 2007-2008 county officials had asked the Commishes to fund 57 medical services employees. Only 51 were funded.)

On August 18th the OCRS ambulance sits idle. According to OCRS Chief Matthews, ”All they would have had to do is request our assistance, and we would have been more than glad to respond. I don't know if it would have made any difference in this case, but there have been times in the past when the county runs out of ambulances that the Orange County Rescue Squad responds.”

Mr. Montes de Oca retorts saying that OCRS wouldn’t have made a difference. ”When the system gets taxed, then it does take a little longer time to get ambulances.” (See Chapel Hill News 911 Story.)

Emergency Bandaging
In September 2008, feeling the heat of public scrutiny on the failure of so many taxpayer supported emergency service groups during August 2008, seven of the county's 12 fire chiefs issue a rare and unusual joint statement in which they unanimously support the OCRS expulsion. The reason? Mutual aid agreements among the departments provided “sufficient back-up”. (That's an amazing statement in view of the events of August 18th).

Unexplained Recusitation
In November 2008, Mr. Montes de Oca reinstated the OCRS into the county's emergency response system for special events, overflow medical calls and search-and-rescue operations on land, but not for vehicle extractions. The county used the unilateral reduction in services to start a “renegotiation of the OCRS $50,000 annual contract with the squad.

In a memorandum to the Commishes Mr. Montes de Oca said the squad is a ”community asset” with narrowly defined functions that However, in 26 pages, not a single reason was given either by Mr. Montes de Ora or by county contractor attorney, Mr. Geoff Gledhill, backing up the “stand down” order. Not a single explanation was given as to what occurred between June 2008 and November 2008 to enable the order to disappear.

Quite a different picture was painted in the memo from the “all’s well” rosy scenario painted during the beginning of summer. “Rather than attempting to find fault, both entities have agreed to move forward. Failure existed at both ends of the responsibility spectrum. However these recent efforts to bring a community asset back in service has illustrated the need for [Orange County Emergency Services] to do a better job of maintaining the fidelity of a system the resembles a quilt of first responder, career and non-career people dedicated to protecting the community.”

Code Blue Contractor Attorney
After three decades of serving as a contractor attorney (i.e., not an county employee, but a fee-for-service independent contractor), Mr. Geoff Gledhill unexpectedly announces in December 2008 that he's no longer going to work for the county, leaving the mystery of the "missing millions" unsolved.

911 Call For Litigation
Apparently moving forward means moving forward on litigation. In Apil 2009, OCRS filed suit against the county and Mr. Montes de Oca, claiming discrimination, libel, breach of contract and violation of due process. The lawsuit filed in Greensboro federal district court demands at least $1,200,000 in damages, plus compensation for legal fees, plus $550,000 for new equipment OCRS purchased in 2008.

No word if the “philosophical differences” regarding Mr. Montes de Oca had to do with his running an emergency management consulting firm on the side while employed by Osceola County.

No word on who will be hired next from the “let go”/retired local municipal employee pile following the tradition of hiring the county EMS director (let go from Ocseola County), the Chapel Hill town manager (let go from Fayetteville), the Chapel Hill finance director (let go from Durham), the Chapel Hill Police Chief (retired from Fayetteville), or the Chapel Hill eonomic development director (let go from Fayetteville).

No word on whether or not retired contractor municipal attorney Gledhill will spend more time at the beach with fellow local contractor town attorney Mr. Michael Brough at their beachside upscale vacation home paid for by “services rendered” for local taxpayers.

Talk of “carbon loading” and “global warming” may be the rage on campus, but UNC Chapel Hill trustees and Chancellor Holden Thorp are warming to creating UNC as a “global brand”.

As budgets at UNC Chapel Hill are being slashed, former investment banker Mr. Thorp announces the desire to create a new tax exempt think tank to be headquartered at Carolina North – the UNC Global Research Institute (GRI). Mr. William Harrison, a 1966 UNC graduate and retired former chairman of $25,000,000,000 (yes, billion) TARP bailout recipient, credit default swap derivative packager JPMorgan Chase has kicked in $1,000,000 to fire up the branding iron.

The GRI plan calls for a core endowment of $5,000,000, $1,000,000 of which would be raised by UNC. Another $8,000,000 is needed to fund four distinguished visiting scholar programs. Another $3,200,000 is needed to fund eight faculty fellowships at $400,000 each. About another $4,000,000 is needed to fund graduate fellowships, undergraduate research assistants and, of course travel and entertainment faculty and student opportunities abroad. Grand total for the startup capital for the GRI is $20,000,000.

In the words of Chancellor Thorp, ”Can we pay for it right this minute? No. It's really an aspirational document and one for us to really support.” Apparently, without a “global brand”, UNC is unable to attract great minds (who will never teach undergraduate students and may not have to teach graduate students) to Chapel Hill. (See Chapel Hill News GRI Story.) Buying prestige for the vanity of administrators costs money.

The inaugural theme of the GRI remains the subject of global research, “Globalization, the economic crisis and the future of North Carolina's economy.”

No word on who will determine success, when UNC has become a “global brand”.

No word on how much TARP bailout bonus money will be used to fund the GRI?

No word on what UNC being a “global brand” has to do with providing a solid collegiate education to North Carolina students at an affordable cost.

Cynical Pulpsters have never forgotten the immortal words of former Orange County Commish, Moses Carey, “All roads lead to Eubanks.” These words can be likened to those of Admiral Farragut entering Mobile Bay, ”Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”. An immutable decision has been made for better or worse. To Mr. Carey, a county solid waste transfer station must be built near the county landfill on Eubanks Road. Environmental racism charges can be damned. All the handwringing by the Commishes on moving the site of the future solid waste transfer station from the initial target of Eubanks Road is an expensive charade. ”All roads lead to Eubanks”.

Pulpster cynicism has been fed by the fact that the new home for Orange County Solid Waste has been completed. You guessed it, the facility has been built next to the Eubanks landfill. ”All roads lead to Eubanks”.

Pulpsters can be forgiven for not being surprised by the latest pronouncement by the Orange County Solid Waste official. According to the Daily Tar Heel, A “temporary” solid waste transfer station may have to be built on Eubanks Road. In the words of Ms. Gwen Harvey, assistant county manager, “It may be necessary, but that’s not the direction we would prefer to have to go.” Translation - ”All roads lead to Eubanks”.

Word of the permanent “temporary” Eubanks location comes on top of the “surprise” announcement from county officials that OWASA, a governmental corporation owned in part by Orange County, won’t swap land for a permanent solid waste transfer station site not near Eubanks Road with its part owner, Orange County. (See Chapel Hill News OWASA Land Swap Story.) Even the Orange County appointed OWASA corporate directors conveniently won’t vote to assist Orange County. ”All roads lead to Eubanks”.

Both Ms. Harvey and solid waste director Mr. Gayle Wilson have declined to discuss how a temporary station would be designed and how much it would cost to build a temporary station at Eubanks and then later build a permanent station at a different site. Pulpsters await with anticipation the pronouncement that once the temporary station has been designed and built, it makes financial sense to make the “temporary” site the permanent site. “All roads lead to Eubanks”.

The Commishes will meet on April 21st to decide if, truly, “All roads lead to Eubanks”.

No word from Orange County Solid Waste or the Commishes on how much taxpayer money will be spent in total on the ruse of moving a solid waste transfer station from Eubanks Road to Eubanks Road.

Greenwashing Resource-Demanding Development
“Greenwash” refers to the application of a socially acceptable veneer of “feels good” eco-justification to manmade creations that demand ever more resources from the planet. (Notice Carrboro planners never talk about reducing the population growth and the ultimate number of houses, just change the nature of the houses.)

Want to drive a second Lexus without guilt? Talk about the grass roof on the assembly plant.

Under the rubric of creating “green jobs” and “sustainability” the Carrboro planning gurus have a new concept of “community living” to double residential density without considering affordable housing. The side benefit is that “community living” will be designed to filter and select new Carrboro residents that are in agreement with the mindset of those in power in Carrboro. (In Carrboro “diversity” is all about cosmetics, not thoughts.)

The “little engines of green jobs and smart growth” greenwash is bubbling up from the Carrboro planning board based on a concept from a local developer, Mr. Trip Overholt.

Here’s the deal. The real estate developer gets twice the normal residential density without having to build “affordable housing”. A greenwash development is designed around the “coal camp” cohousing vision of Pacifica. Houses front on a common area with a community garden. Houses will be limited in size to 1500 square feet. Prices are estimated to be about $350,000 each or about $230.00 per square foot. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification will be sought for the design.

In return, Carrboro grants the developer expedited approval.

Here’s the greenwash. The development will have a community photovoltaic panel array that generates 3kw per house and will have roofs that capture rainwater to cut OWASA water consumption by 50%. (Of course, there’s no requirement to keep the array working and generating power for any period of time.)

Ignore Reality
Whatever you do, ignore the fact that the average American home uses more than 29 kWh per day. Even at half the average home consumption of electrical power, 3kWh is far less than 14 kWh. So the electrical power grid will still provide power to the greenwash development. The electrical power deficit will come from MORE coal fired power generation. So long as SOME power comes from the sun, it’s a “solar-powered community” even though it increases the carbon loading of Orange County.

Also, ignore the gaming that goes on with LEED certification issued by yet another tax exempt business, the U.S. Green Building Council. For example, a $400 bike rack scores a builder just as many points as a $1,300,000 environmentally sensitive heating system. Or a casino with a 3200 car garage receives points for being located within a quarter-mile of a subway stop. (See LEED Certification Story.)

Don’t worry. It’s safe to accept greenwash, because in the words of Mr. Overholt, it’s “exactly what the Obama administration wants”. (Genuflection optional.)

Familiar Ring
Sound familiar? It should. It’s Mr. Overholt’s Appalachian coal camp vernacular Veridia development on steroids. The only change is the estimated housing pricing. It's moved up in the last year by about 15%, contrary to all other real estate in southern Orange.

Why all the concern for revamping the Carrboro Developer Service Department? Turns out Mr. Overholt has a second Veridia in the works. He wants to build it in Carrboro at Merritt Mill Road. Could it be that the non-Boa pal student apartment project by the cement plant chased out of town last year by the Boa has made way for a Boa pal development?

In the nation, the incidence of teen pregnancies/births and births to single mothers of all ages is on the rise. But that’s not true in Orange County.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) issued a report recently detailing the birth trends nationally. According to the NCHS, the birth rate for US teens increased again in 2007, rising by about 1% to 42.5 births per 1000 females. Between 2005 and 2007 the teen birth rate rose about 5%. By ethnicity or race, the birth rate for Hispanic teenagers increased in 2007 to 17.3 per 1000, up 2% from 2006, while the rate for non-Hispanic whites and for black teens increased, respectively from 26.6 per 1000 to 27.2 and from 63.7 per 1000 to 64.3.

Moreover, the birth rate to unmarried females increased to “historic levels” nationally in 2007. The proportion of births to unmarried women rose about 4% in 2007, up 26% since 2002. About 39.7% of all births in 2007 were to single mothers. Teens actually declined as a percentage of single mother births. (See NCHS report.)

Locally, Orange County is following the single mother rise to historic levels, but bucking the national trend on teen pregnancies.

Teen pregnancies per 1000 females in OC have decreased from 20.6 per 1000 (2006) to 19.8 (2007). Moreover, they have dramatically decreased from 1997 (31.6 per 1000). Kudos are in order for public health officials and public schools, as well as to many parents, churches, and other civic organizations.

Unfortunately, the good news on lowering rates for teen pregnancies is not mirrored by the birth rate to single mothers. For single mother pregnancies the overall proportion of the total births for 2007 is 40%, 34% for “whites” and 56% for “minorities”, the subclassifications used by state officials.

(See NCHS Data.)