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■ ■ ■ A4 I MAY 3,2017 Opinion Today in N.C. Losing a colleague My heart isn’t in this. A month ago, I walked away from this col umn, leaving it in the most capable hands of Mark Binker, a 43-year-old veteran old- school journalist who was as smart and dedicated as they come. Then Mark died Saturday morning. A great husband, a great dad, a terrific journalist. Gone. My words are inadequate to comfort his wife, Marla, and Mark’s two boys, and they also won’t explain to read ers what North Carolina journalism has lost. Mark was the ideal reporter for the best job remaining in state political news. ' Mark "Please ‘ keep Mark's family in your ^ prayers." BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 -PAUL O’CONNOR! a column for today on last week’s legis lative ^c r o s s - over deadline. His boss, Clifton Dowell, and 1 are too stunned to know what is right; Run his last column or have me write one. Ethi cally, we didn’t see how we could run the quotes Mark got from lawmakers without his being here. So, I’m compromising, us ing some of Mark’s info, but not his quotes, and adding my thoughts. Some background on the deadline: Leg islators instituted it about 20 years ago hoping to modernize their operations. Over the previous three decades or so, the state’s population and budget had grown enormously and the role of state govern ment had expanded similarly. But the leg islature didn’t change. The results were predictable. Nothing got done early in the session, the session dragged, then, when legislators got tired enough to go home, hundreds of bills hit the fan all at once. So, legislative leaders set earlier dead lines, one to file bills, another for bills to pass their houses of origin and cross over to the other chamber. It spread the stress out better. The deadline came and went last week, and Mark wrote this lead for his final column: “North Carolina’s legislative sausage fac tory ground more than its typical output last week as lawmakers played their own version of beat the clock.” A paragraph later he wrote, “More than 220 separate measures made it halfway to the governor’s desk by passing either the House or Senate during the last week of April. That’s a remarkable clip given the legislature only sent eight bills to the gov ernor during the first three months of its session.” Over the years, the deadline evolved to serve another purpose. As Mark noted, it gave legislative leaders an opportunity “to sort the plausible from the preposter ous.” Legislative leaders can orchestrate the demise of some tenuous bills simply by arranging for their failure to pass, with out an up or down vote, by the crossover deadline. That is, bills with some support but maybe not enough to risk the possible ramifications of their becoming law. Mark noted two such bills: “the bien nial effort to allow motorcyclists to zoom around the state without a helmet... (and) a bill that would let police pull over some one merely driving the speed limit in the left lane of a highway when lead foots might be want to use that space to exceed the speed limit.” , Mark cited “a bill lawmakers hope will make it easier for arenas like the Charlotte Motor Speedway to serve beer and wine at special events.” The bill passed the House despite unresolved questions about its im pact on state revenues. Come July, August or whenever this leg islature decides to adjourn, there will be another crush of legislation and some bills will be slipped onto the docket. We will wake some morning to learn that bills we knew little about had become law just be fore adjournment. Please keep Mark’s family in your prayers. Paul T. O’Connor has covered state gov ernment for 39 years. cotn A Hmtm> days' m I STILL CANT err THIS OUT/. W Prtiiden/ S 'IN'- ii*, Out here in left field Allegiance is a strange thing ■ ■ Allegiance is a strange thing. Those of us who root for sports teams have all kinds of reasons for doing so - be they heritage or geography or simply a favorite player. For example 1 am - and have been all my life - a fan of the Ber tie Falcons. That’s a little geogra phy and a little heritage. That’s the only one of my loyal ties that came easily. My earliest and longest fidel ity is to the Duke Blue Devils. I’d love to tell you there’s some great reason for it, but it actually came about simply. My buddy Kirk was a Duke fan and he explained how awesome it was that a college stu dent could get into Duke and still play basketball. He talked about a guy named Mike Gminski and the new Duke coach, a young guy by the name of Mike Krzyzewski. 1 began watching and 1 was quickly hooked - choosing my loyalty for the upstart Blue Devils over the multi-time national cham pion Tar Heels and Wolfpack. It wasn’t long after 1 read a book about a guy named Bear Bryant and quickly took a liking to ali things Alabama football. 1 loved the tradition and 1 loved the no- nonsense way Bryant did things. When asked why he left Texas A&M to go to Alabama, Bry- One-on-one ^^How did I become a fan of the Blues?" -THADD WHITE ant’s answer was simple. “Mama called.” I loved the history and was hooked. Another allegiance that took some time was my love for the Boston Red Sox. That developed out of an early dual love of the Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodg ers. As a child, I only knew one thing: I hated the New York Yan kees. Their two biggest rivals at the time were the Sox and the Dodgers, so 1 rooted for both. As time went on, 1 was more drawn to the American League and the Red Sox greats, particu larly Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk. I was also a big fan of a guy named Butch Hobson. I’ve followed the Red Sox ever since, including watching the 1986 World Series that just about killed every Boston fan. Those days seem long behind us now as we have enjoyed some wonderful wins. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came about almost by happen stance. 1 had long been a fan of the Washington Redskins, but could no longer root for the team when they hired Steve Spurrier. 1 decided 1 was going to root for Tampa Bay because rumors had my favorite coach - Bill Parcels - heading there. When he didn’t end up taking the job, 1 started rooting for them anyway because 1 liked Jon Gruden and their quar terback - a journeyman named Brad Johnson. In that time. I’ve enjoyed a sin gle Super Bowl victory. The Bucs are my most heart-breaking loy alty year-in and year-out. My newest loyalty is across the pond...the Chelsea Blues in the English Premier League. How did 1 become a fan of the Blues? 1 asked my friend Lewis Hoggard to tell me a team that didn’t like his and Randy Whi taker’s favorite (Liverpool) nor Todd Lane’s favorite (Manchester United). He said Chelsea or Man chester City. 1 didn’t want to root for a Manchester club, so 1 chose Chelsea. How did you come about your loyalties? I’d love to hear. Thadd White is Editor of the Bertie Ledger-Advance, and a devout fan of all the teams above. He can be reached via email at twhite® ncweeklies.com. Food, fantasy, fiction and politics ■ ■ ■ Food, fantasy, fiction, and poli tics are my favorite topics. If you read my column regularly, you know these preferences and will not be surprised that the books 1 recommend for reading in May deal with these themes. First of all, “The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food” edited by Randall Kenan, collects some of the best writing by North Carolina authors about their favor ite foods and eating experiences. Lee Smith, Daniel Wallace, Mari anne Gingher, Jill McCorkle, Jaki Shelton Green, Wayne Caldwell, Marcie Cohen Ferris, Michael Mc- Fee, and Zelda Lockhart are some of the contributors. My favorite is Kenan himself. He opens his essay with a memory of food Duplin County neighbors brought to his family’s house when his great uncle died. “People showing up heavy-lad en with food to the homes of the recently deceased. Hams, fried chicken, oven-baked barbecue chicken, pork chops smothered in gravy, dirty rice, Spanish rice, pota;to salad galore, slaw, sweet potato casseroles, candled yams, hushpuppies, cornbread, soup, chopped pork barbecue, collard greens, pound cake, chocolate cake, coconut cake, pineapple cake, red velvet cake, sweet pota to pie, and lemon meringue pie.” Jaki Shelton Green writes about a meal she fixed for a man "Food,Fanta sy, fiction, and politics are my favorite topics." -D.G. MARTIN • \ she was “kicking to the curb. It seemed best to leave a taste of me on his lips. Fillet of beef in puff pastry and Madeira cream sauce. Caramelized shallots, carrots, and mushrooms. Roasted lemon garlic artichokes. Grand Marnier cheesecake.” The fiction theme is represent ed by “The Education of Dixie Dupree,” the debut novel of Ben son’s Donna Everhart. The main character, 11-year-old Dixie, is an accomplished liar. The reasons for her lying, her mother’s abuse of Dixie, her father’s abuse of her mother, and her uncle’s sex ual abuse of Dixie, explain why she tells lies. Dixie’s determined struggle to overcome these chal lenges anchors her coming of age story. Hillsborough’s John Claude Bemis, a musician and former el ementary school teacher, writes for young readers. He engages them with imagi native magical fantasy. His lat est, “Out of Abaton: The Wooden Prince,” takes the classic puppet- turning-into-real-boy story of Pi- nocchio into a wild adventure. Master Geppetto is a brilliant in ventor, on the run, being hunted down as a traitor to the emperor. Pinocchio is more than a mari onette. He is ah “automa,” which is a wooden mechanical servant that obeys, without question, the commands of its owner. Like the classical Pinocchio, this automa may be turning into a human. This book is wonderfully com plicated and so very stimulating, even for this adult reader. Now for the politics. Some North Carolinians still talk about the 1972 election when Jesse Helms won the U.S. Senate seat he was to keep for 30 years and thereby transform North Carolina politics. Others remember how that election interrupted the upward trajectory of one of North Caro lina’s most promising and most interesting political figures, Nick Galifianakis. Semonche’s book, “Pick Nick: The Political Odyssey of Nick Gal ifianakis from Immigrant Son to Congressman” introduces mod ern North Carolinians to one of our state’s most interesting politi cal figures. These books will be featured during May on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch. D.G. Martin hosts “North Caro lina Bookwatch. ” Bertie Ledger-Advance The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 The Bertie Lemer-Aovanoe was established in 1928 through the HERITAGE OF ThE WINDSOR LEDGER AND ThE AuUNDER ADVANCE. The newsparer traces its history to 1832 when it was first published AS THE Windsor Herald and Berte County Register Kyle Stephens Deborah Grifiin Grmp Publisher Writer kstephens@ncweeklks.com d.griffin@ncweekUes.com Angela Harne Leslie Beachboard Group Editor Staf Writer aharne@ncweekiies.com lbeachboard@ncweeMies.com Thadd White Jim Green Editor Spores Editor twhite@ncweeldks.com jgreen@ncweeklies.com Michelle Leicester Creative Sertnees mleicester@ncweeklies.com Jessica Mobley Advertising Manager jmobley@ncweeklies.com Lanny Hiday Copy Editor bertienews@ncweeklies.com The Bertie Li (ISSN 051-700) IS PUBLISHED EACH Wednesday for $26.69 (plus tax) per year (n Bertie, Hertford, Martin, Northamp ton, Chowan and Washington counties) by Cooke Communica tions North Carolina, LLC, 109 S. King St., Windsor, NC 27983. Periodicals postage paid AT Windsor, NC and entered at additional mailing offices. P.O. ) the nce, Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Contact Us: Bertie LeoqerAdvance P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Phone; (252) 794-3185 Fax: (252) 794-2835
Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.)
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May 3, 2017, edition 1
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