Recent editorials from North Carolina newspapers:

Aug. 13

The News & Observer of Raleigh on military-friendly legislation:

There's always been a certain amount of hype, and ambiguity, surrounding the slogan "North Carolina — the most military-friendly state in the nation." Recently, in a welcome development, Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a package of bills passed by the General Assembly that should assist military personnel based here in specific ways.

One is House Bill 614, intended to make it more convenient for service members to vote. The new law allows deploying personnel to apply just once to vote by absentee ballot for all the elections in a calendar year, instead of separately for each election — primary, general, etc.

It's long been excessively difficult for military men and women stationed far from their homes to vote and to have their votes counted in a timely way. Any move to streamline the process deserves a salute.

Other bills that are now law include measures to clarify when members of the National Guard are subject to civilian law, rather than the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and to protect service members from unfair foreclosures by lenders when they are on active duty. Another new law, prompted by grim necessity, makes it easier for military personnel to specify what they wish to be done with their remains if they die.

That last measure serves, as well, as a reminder of why the state, home to so many major military installations, should do all it can to improve conditions in concrete ways for those who serve.

One way to do that, and to boost the public university system at the same time, is to expand educational links between North Carolina-based military commands and the university system. The N.C. Military Foundation reports that is being done on a significant scale through partnerships it calls unique to North Carolina.

Also, according to the Military Foundation, Defense Department spending in the state now exceeds $23 billion annually and grew by 10 percent last year. Military bases here are expanding, and defense-related industries are moving in, most notably near Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, but also in the Triangle.

The economic benefits are obvious, and so, regarding daily life for the troops, is the obligation to make "military friendly" more than just words.

Online:

http://www.newsobserver.com

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Aug. 16

Winston-Salem Journal on state highway patrol reorganization:

During its first major World War II engagement against German and Italian troops, the U.S. Army did not start well in Tunisia. One of the many changes that turned the course of battle in early 1943 was Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's decision to move his generals closer to the front. Leaders too far back tend not to know what is going on.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol can take a lesson from Ike and move its leaders forward, too. The patrol has been wracked by numerous scandals this year, and the patrol commander is scheduled to leave office on Sept. 1. Gov. Beverly Perdue has appointed a special panel to study the patrol's organizational problems and, during their first meeting, panel members discussed moving more leaders to the front.

The patrol has a good many high-ranking officers serving in Raleigh offices. Anyone who walks around the state government complex will see that they are conspicuous for their uniforms, standing out in a sea of white-shirted bureaucrats. Their patrol cars are obvious in the parking lots.

The panel was interested in 18 of those officers. If the 18 were transferred back to the field, the ratio of officers to field supervisors would drop dramatically. Subsequently, each patrol supervisor would be responsible for only eight troopers.

Many of the embarrassing incidents involving in-the-field troopers look very much like the product of insufficient supervision. While the panel did not officially endorse the idea of moving the 18 officers out of Raleigh, their conversation appeared to be mostly positive on it.

Such a shake-up would almost certainly ruffle some feathers in the patrol's leadership. A move back to the field will mean uprooting families, and some officers would be likely to see it as a demotion. But the officers would not be demoted. That's an important distinction. They would be returned to jobs they were trained to do: Serve the public in the field and lead others. ...

This won't be the last idea from the special panel. But it's a good start.

Online:

http://www2.journalnow.com

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Aug. 13

The News & Record of Greensboro on the state Racial Justice Act:

Lesley Eugene Warren is a white serial killer whose victims were all young white women. The last was Katherine Johnson of High Point, whom he strangled in July 1990. He left her body in the trunk of a car in a downtown parking garage.

Warren is on North Carolina's death row for the murders of Johnson and Jayme Hurley of Asheville. He confessed to killing other women in New York and South Carolina.

The 42-year-old Warren returned to the news recently as one of 147 death row inmates filing motions for relief under North Carolina's 2009 Racial Justice Act, which was meant to protect defendants from discriminatory sentencing. As bizarre as it sounds, Warren probably has a valid claim under this poorly written law.

The RJA lets defendants present "statistical evidence" showing that death sentences were imposed "significantly more frequently" for capital crimes committed against persons of one race as opposed to another.

This statistical evidence exists. A recent study found that, when the victim is white, the offender is 2.6 times more likely to get the death penalty in North Carolina. Previous reviews have come up with similar findings. Under the law, that alone can count as sufficient proof that a murderer like Warren, whose victims were white, suffered a racial injustice and should be re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. ...

With 147 inmates seeking to take advantage of the law's leniency, state courts will be tied up in hearings where arguments will focus on statistics rather than the gruesome details of the crimes themselves. In the end, whether they really deserve a break or not, dozens of murderers will be removed from death row.

There's an easier way to get there. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who signed and strongly supported the Racial Justice Act, can commute the sentences of all 159 death row inmates to life in prison without parole. Then the Legislature can eliminate capital punishment, assuring that no one else will be sentenced to death. That will be a more honest approach to the same end. ...

Online:

http://www.news-record.com