Several times over the years, the Rev. W.W. Finlator called me after he had read something I had written. Suffice it to say I was always flattered when Bill Finlator took the time to offer kind words of praise and support. Usually, Finlator would end the call with a comment that made me feel 10 […]
Patrick O'Neill
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Dissent is still patriotic
When President Bush comes to town, people have to change plans, quickly. That’s what happened in Fayetteville on July 4 when W made his third trip as commander-in-chief to this Army town to promote his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Without much lead time, Triangle Code Pink member Allyson Caison of Selma e-mailed Fayetteville peace […]
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Inspiring grads
Raleigh psychiatrist and philanthropist Assad Meymandi may be the only commencement speaker in the Triangle this spring who learned English by memorizing all 285,000 words in his dictionary. It took him three months. An Iranian immigrant who came to the United States 51 years ago to attend college, Meymandi spoke to 60 eighth-graders graduating from […]
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Judge praises, convicts, execution protesters
A Wake County District Court judge expressed his admiration for 10 death penalty opponents last week before convicting them of trespass during a bench trial. “Having grown up in the ’60s, I admire your convictions,” Judge Don Overby told the defendants on June 19, some of whom had been arrested four times prior to the […]
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New evidence in Charles Walker murder trial
Charles “Tony” Walker, who came within hours of being executed by injection in December 2004, has a chance of being released from prison more than a decade after being sentenced to death for a 1992 murder. Walker was spared execution after his lawyers discovered new evidence while rummaging through a box of documents. The box […]
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New initiative for incarcerated mothers takes root
When a pregnant mother is imprisoned in North Carolina, her newborn is usually taken away within hours of birth and passed to a family member or foster parent for rearing. The cost of separating mothers from their newborn and young children through prison is high, experts say. In addition to the more than $20,000 annual […]
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OLF site isn’t just bad for the birds
Environmentalists have vociferously denounced the U.S. Navy’s effort to build an outlying landing field near one of the state’s most pristine wildlife preserves in Washington and Beaufort counties, forcing a court-ordered review of its impact. But at a May 16 rally at the state Capitol, North Carolina NAACP president the Rev. William J. Barber II […]
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High court stops execution for DNA test
Did an innocent man come within 36 hours of being executed? That’s the question raised by a May 10 N.C. Supreme Court decision that stopped last week’s scheduled execution of Jerry Wayne Conner. Defense attorney Mark Kleinschmidt called it “an extraordinary moment.” His co-counsel Ken Rose said, “It was just incredible.” The two death penalty […]
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DNA test is inmate’s last chance
When a Gates County jury concluded in 1995 that Jerry Wayne Conner should be executed for a double murder, one of the jurors who voted for death was Gates County Index news editor Helene Knight. Knight was the Index‘s reporter assigned to cover Conner’s murder trial in 1991. Her presence four year’s later as a […]
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Varied groups rally Tuesday against OLF
The battle lines are drawn, and a showdown is looming that pits a bunch of rural North Carolinians against the U.S. Navy. A win for the Navy could spell environmental disaster for one of the state’s most pristine wildlife preserves. The folks from Washington and Beaufort counties are coming Tuesday, May 16, to the state […]