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Editorial
Going slow
There’s an obvious explanation as to why a Pembroke Town Council seat remains vacant six months after the death of the person who held it: The council members in charge of making the appointment to that seat are in no hurry to fill it, although they might be a bit more motivated after getting an earful from some residents on Monday night. The longer the seat remains unfilled, the bigger the stick that each council member carries. Currently ...
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A matter of discretion
The best testimony to how obscenely high the discretionary funds that our county commissioners allot themselves is that some can’t find the time in a single year to spend it all. Don’t laugh. To exhaust the $40,000 fund, a county commissioner would have to give away your money at a rate of $110 a day for all 365 days in a single year. That requires determination and stamina. That some county commissioners can’t rise to that challenge sh...
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Gold standard
There’s so much to admire about the Olympics, it’s difficult to know where to begin, but we will put this at the top of what would be a very long list: Every two years, the Games — rotating between the Winter and Summer — return to remind this planet’s nearly 7 billion residents that people of all color, poor or rich and in between, culture and religion can come together for a couple of weeks and get along just dandy. In London now, where t...
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Taser not without risk
There are two polarized camps when it comes to judging the actions of lawmen, those who think they can do no wrong, eagerly willing to dismiss condemning evidence, and those who think they can do no right, always believing the worst. We pledge allegiance to neither camp, preferring to make a judgment based on the facts — and while it’s early, what evidence there is weighs heavily in favor of two sheriff’s deputies who tried on Friday to sub...
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Sinking feeling
The motion to put a multibillion-dollar megaport at Southport that could boost an ailing economy in Southeastern North Carolina, including Robeson County’s, appears to have died because of a lack of a second. No one beyond local officials in the counties and municipalities that stood to benefit economically from the proposed North Carolina International Port Terminal believe it is feasible — not the two candidates running for governor, this...
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Kissell’s climb
Redistricting made Larry Kissell’s road to a third term as the U.S. representative of the 8th District uphill, but the steps have gotten even steeper because of infighting among black leaders that could cost the Biscoe Democrat votes he can’t afford to lose in a district of voters that favored John McCain in the 2008 election. Those black leaders say Kissell made several mistakes, but the two most egregious seem to be: When asked if he woul...
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Finest hour
It’s coincidence that today’s editorial cartoon, seen immediately to your right, was on the menu for publication, but that we selected it was not coincidental at all. It is a fitting complement to the point we will humbly try to underline with the words that follow. The cartoon, crafted with the tragedy in Colorado still fresh, is a reminder of who are the true heroes in today’s society — those who run toward danger, and not from it. In L...
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Symbolic gestures
When The Robesonian began calling county commissioners for their comments on a Page 1A story in today’s edition about how they are compensated, more than one asked why we were doing the story. So we will share our thinking with not only these elected officials, but you. This newspaper has been asked more than once to spotlight how our county commissioners are paid, with the requests usually coming in mid-April during even-numbered years. We...
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More mayhem
Since the N.C. Department of Justice released its annual report last week that shows Robeson County remains No. 1 in the state in violent crime, the carnage has continued. There have been two murders in this county since Saturday, the victims being a Fairmont man who was gunned down in his yard, and a Lumberton police officer who was shot and killed while trying to take a suspect into custody. When will it end? We always caution against...
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Clock winds on ag center
If the Southeastern Agricultural Center and Farmers Market were a horse, long ago it would have been pronounced lame — and put out of its misery with a single shot. Instead the center is like a cat, blessed with more than a single life, and remains open, even as it is a drain on taxpayers. But if state legislators are true to their word, the center must demonstrate by early next year that it can survive a substantial funding cut or it could...
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Tragic reminder
The deaths of two young men this week who played football at Fairmont High School illustrate just how fragile life is — and how treacherous this county’s vast network of asphalt can be. Tyreke Addison and Nokolma Hunt, each 18 years old and recent high school graduates, had promising futures. We haven’t heard a bad word uttered about either, and their deaths have resulted in a dark cloud that hangs not only over Fairmont, but all of Robeson...
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Bigger, better
We wish business was as good across Robeson County as it is at Southeastern Regional Medical Center. The hospital, which is faced with meeting the medical needs of this county and the surrounding area’s aging population, is taking a large step down that road with the trustees’ recent approval of a 60,000-square-foot ambulatory center on Dawn Drive, just west of Interstate 95. The center, which is expected to cost $19.5 million, will be the ...
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The big stall
All that is required to understand the county Board of Commissioners’ year-plus delay in the hiring of a new county manager is to be minimally conscious. Several commissioners, when forcing Ken Windley out of the position in late 2010, already had in mind a replacement, Ricky Harris, then the assistant county manager. But 16 months later, Harris continues to work as the interim county manager — and it’s anyone’s guess when the interim will ...
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Good
bet
When the Republicans took control of the General Assembly on the eve of the hour to draw new district lines, congressional Democrats in this state, even those who were deeply entrenched, immediately became vulnerable. But who would have predicted Lumberton native Mike McIntyre, arguably the most conservative of the state’s seven Democratic members of the U.S. House, would have become a target of Republicans? That’s exactly what happened whe...
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Hard call for county?
The county Board of Commissioners must make a difficult decision on Monday night, and the only certainty is someone will leave the meeting unhappy. The commissioners for the second time are fielding a request for a conditional-use permit that Eric T. Locklear, president of Bio-Solutions LLC, needs to operate a biodiesel manufacturing facility on a fraction of a 10-acre tract on Kessie Drive that his family owns. The commissioners originally...
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