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EDITORIAL: Veterans cemetery will expand; give Silent Sam a new home

Fayetteville Observer - 8/4/2018

Aug. 04--Merit: For the nearly $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that will help expand and improve the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery, which sits between Spring Lake and Fort Bragg along N.C. 210.

Although the land area of the cemetery won't change, the grant will allow the addition of 2,240 pre-placed crypts, 362 in-ground cremated remains sites and 880 columbarium niches. The funding will also add roadways and landscaping to the cemetery, which was created from 50 acres that Fort Bragg gave to the state in the late 1980s. The cemetery already has more than 6,000 graves. There are 3,000 veterans and their family members buried there.

The cemetery was nearing capacity and might have run out of room in the next few years. The nearby Main Post Cemetery on Fort Bragg was filled to its capacity several years ago.

The state also received a VA grant of about $3 million to expand the Western Carolina State Veterans Cemetery in Black Mountain. That cemetery had faced similar capacity problems.

Demerit: For the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, which decided last week to do nothing about the controversy over the Confederate soldier statue on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus known as "Silent Sam." The statue has been the scene of numerous protests in the past two years, and some vandalism attempts as well.

But board Chairman Harry Smith said last week that the university doesn't have the authority to move the monument. That's because of a 2015 state law that bars moving historical monuments, with only a few exceptions. Many of the people who advocate moving Silent Sam say repeated vandalism is a legitimate and legal reason for moving the statue under that law.

Smith initially said he expected to have conversations about the statue, but then did an about-face, saying his board will wait until it hears from the N.C. Historical Commission on the matter.

While there's been little commotion over many of the Confederate memorial statues in many places across the state (including Fayetteville, where there are two), Silent Sam has been the occasion of frequent protests and vandalism attacks. The university has spent thousands of dollars on security for the statue. It's clear that Sam really belongs on a Civil War historic site or museum, not on a campus. We hope the UNC board and the Historical Commission will find the fortitude to deal with the issue soon.

Merit: For Gov. Roy Cooper's letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, urging the feds to maintain protection for the endangered red wolves in eastern North Carolina. "The wild red wolf is part of the cultural and economic fabric of our state and is the only wolf unique to the United States," Cooper wrote. "There is a viable path forward for North Carolina's red wolves living in the wild."

But not if federal wildlife officials can help it. The federal agency that successfully reintroduced the wolves into the wild has now turned its back on the project, standing by while hunters have pared a population of about 120 down to only 35 or so. And now Fish and Wildlife wants to further decrease the protected habitat, limiting it to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and -- this is what it's come to -- a nearby military bombing range.

In truth, it appears the federal agency would like to eliminate the wolf program altogether, which is a repudiation of both the letter and spirit of the Endangered Species Act, bipartisan legislation that committed this country to preserving the astonishing plant and animal diversity that makes up our natural world. This wolf population could be saved, were it not for a federal bureaucracy caving in to a small but vocal opposition group that owns property in the red wolves' range.

Merit: For Emerald Isle, which has begun issuing fines to swimmers who ignore red warning flags and plunge into the surf despite serious danger from the rip currents that have proven deadly this summer. The town, which has 12 miles of ocean beaches, fined one swimmer $100 last week for not cooperating with the warning flags. A post on the town's Facebook page explained: "These irresponsible individuals are putting themselves, other beach visitors who may be inclined to enter the water to assist them, and our emergency personnel at risk unnecessarily."

So far this year, at least 10 people have drowned after they were swept away by the unusually intense currents. It's been a summer for heavy surf, which in turn generates stronger currents. Even strong swimmers can get caught up in them and become exhausted as they try to break free and return to the beach. Many of the state's coastal beaches post warning flags when the rip currents appear and we're pleased to see some communities get serious about keeping people out of the water. Several of the drownings this year have been people who jumped into the surf to save others who were being dragged away by the currents. Safety has to come before vacation fun.

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(c)2018 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.)

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