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Landis' departure could hint at RBC-Centura move
Mike Walden, agricultural and resource economicsNC State College of Natural Resources Celebrates 75th Anniversary
College of Natural Resources
Traffic
study receives support
Institute for Transportation Research and Education
Officials
look at plans for facility needs
Institute for Transportation Research and Education
Scientists
And DOE Partner With Private Company To Develop Artificial Retina
Gianluca Lazzi, electrical and computer engineering
SPOTTING
TROUBLE
Campylobacter in poultry processing
Officials look at plans for facility needs
Oct. 20, 2004
Asheboro Courier Tribune
By Kathi Keyst
© Copyright 2004
ASHEBORO - A combination of additions and renovations, along with elementary school redistricting, could satisfy Asheboro City Schools' facility needs for the next several years.
This was the message conveyed Tuesday night at a public information session on the city school district's long-range facility plan released last week.
Attending the session were 23 Asheboro City and Randolph County officials, citizens and city school representatives.
Extra space is needed at the elementary and high school levels to alleviate out-of-capacity situations at three schools, while preplanning for future construction is necessary at the middle school level where one facility is over capacity.
These points were made by John Sinnett of Smith Sinnett Associates which developed the plan with the aid of the Operations Research/Education (OR/Ed) Laboratory at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at N.C. State University.
The architectural firm compared each city school with N.C. Department of Public Instruction standards and presented several approaches for providing more space for students in the plan.
OR/Ed provided demographic data related to the area's growth patterns and student enrollment forecasting.
Sinnett noted that OR/Ed made a 2004-05 school year enrollment projection based on its study of local, state and federal statistical data and other information and came within 18 students of being on target with the actual 20th-day enrollment. The high school projection, he said, "was dead on 1,313" while the total elementary and middle school enrollment was off by 18 students.
OR/ED projects that Asheboro schools will continue a gradual enrollment increase of 500 students or 10 percent over the next 10 years. Current enrollment is 4,552.
The plan shows that Balfour and Charles W. McCrary elementary schools are out of capacity, as are North Asheboro Middle School and Asheboro High School.
An addition at Guy B. Teachey Elementary, the only elementary with space on its campus, along with redistricting, would relieve this situation until the 2009-10 school year.
Sinnett also said that the high school's space needs must be addressed to handle present enrollment.
"Thank goodness for the county commissioners and the Sir Robert," he said, referring to the purchase of the former Sir Robert Motel property which has given the high school 10 additional classrooms for the second school year.
He said five to six additional classrooms could be provided in the former motel and another four classrooms built into what is now a two-story shop area in the main building.
The architect also noted that the middle school situation could be addressed with planning an addition at NAMS where expansion is possible on that campus.
The 137-page document contains several components. Categories include curriculum and instruction, demographics, pupil population projections, capacity calculations and facility appraisals.
The plan was originally presented to the school board at its regular meeting last Thursday night.
Board members are reviewing the document for discussion at a work session planned for Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m.
City schools have a Dec. 1 deadline to determine what projects should be included in the 2005 school bond referendum which has been tentatively set for May 3. The Randolph County commissioners have decided that voters should determine the funding of future school construction needs for Asheboro, along with Randolph County Schools and Randolph Community College, through a bond issue.
All three school systems are to have their preliminary architect studies completed and project descriptions provided to the county by Dec. 1.
The proposed referendum would include $7.76 million for Asheboro schools. The projects previously identified, prior to completion of the long-range facility plan, were additions at Teachey and NAMS.
Oct. 20, 2004
Rocky Mount Telegram
By Tom Murphy
© Copyright 2004
Kel Landis' decision to retire as RBC Centura Banks Inc.'s chief executive officer will impact the Rocky Mount area, said Tom Betts.
"Nobody has any more passion for what he does than Kel Landis," said Betts, a senior development officer for RBC Centura for the last four years and chairman of the Carolinas Gateway Partnership. "If he believes in it, he is going to do it, and you better not get in his way. We have lost a strong advocate for our area, and I hope that Kel will remain involved in important civic projects. He was the best."
Betts, who also is a member of the N.C. Board of Transportation, said his comments were based on his personal assessment of Landis' retirement and not as a bank employee. He also serves as chairman of the Carolinas Gateway Partnership.
Betts said he thinks Landis' decision eventually could affect RBC Centura's Rocky Mount headquarters location.
"I hope the headquarters stays here for as long as it can," he said.
Dr. Mike Walden, an N.C. State University economist, said that without getting into personalities he thinks Landis' retirement is an indication of issues that RBC Centura is having with the American market.
"I think the bank is still adjusting its practices to the American market and, apparently, decided a change in leadership here in its U.S. operation was needed," Walden said. "Anytime you see a change in a chief executive officer, unless the individual is at retirement age, it is an indication that the organization wants a change in approach. I think that is a fair assessment."
Landis, a Rocky Mount native, is 47. His successor, Scott Custer, also is 47. Custer, whose appointment as RBC Centura's chief executive was immediate, has said that his office will be in Raleigh.
"We're going to stay the course," Custer said Friday. "Obviously, Rocky Mount is our home. We have a big presence in Raleigh as well. We will just continue with business as usual, going forward for right now. I like to say we have a great big foot in Rocky Mount and another foot in Raleigh, with things going on there. Our commitment is very strong to Rocky Mount, and it always will be."
RBC Centura's Raleigh employees are predominantly sales representatives at different levels, said Kristen Burnette, a bank spokeswoman. Raleigh employees also include branch personnel and commercial banks, she said.
"We have five people at the vice president level or higher in Raleigh," Burnette said. "We have seven people at that level in Rocky Mount, from senior managers and directors all the way up."
Walden said relocation of RBC Centura's headquarters has been a top in the rumor mill.
"My personal assessment, not based on anything, is that this change may increase the chances that the control operations of the bank would be moved to Raleigh," he said.
Asked about a worst-case scenario of Royal Bank of Canada divesting itself of under-performing RBC Centura Banks, Walden said he thinks it's a remote possibility.
"I don't think Royal Bank of Canada is there, yet," he said. "I don't see divestiture of RBC Centura in the near future, but that's a personal assessment and not based on any inside knowledge."
In the 1990s, BB&T moved its corporate headquarters and all its corporate officers from Wilson to Winston-Salem. It kept its operations, data and call centers – which would be the comparable to RBC Centura's call center on Centura Highway off Hunter Hill Road and RBC Centura's data center off Winstead Avenue across from Nash General Hospital. BB&T's highest percentage employees remained in Wilson, but the highest paid employees were transferred to Winston-Salem.
A second possibility would be for Royal Bank of Canada to acquire a bank larger than RBC Centura Banks, analysts said. Based on the size and location of the acquisition, it could further influence where the corporate headquarters of the bank might be, they said.
Walden said that with banks – not RBC in particular – often makes a decision to focus on segments of an operation when a slowdown is seen in an effort to boost profits.
"The bank may have channeled too much in energy into growth," Walden said. "It may reassess that and back off on growth, look at what it has consolidated and refocus."
NC State College of Natural Resources Celebrates 75th Anniversary
Oct. 20, 2004
Lincoln Tribune
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
The College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a series of events to be held Oct. 21 and 22.
Planned activities include a symposium titled “Natural Resources - Sustaining Success for a New Century”; an exhibition featuring student projects, research and programs; a campus tour; a paper science and engineering 50th anniversary recognition luncheon; and the annual meetings of the N.C. Forestry Foundation and the Pulp and Paper Foundation.
Additional activities feature some of the college’s programs and partnerships, including a visit to the college’s summer camp at the Hill Forest; the Partnership for Art and Ecology tour of the N.C. Museum of Art and Art Park; and a short-game golf clinic with the college’s professional golf management students.
Dale Bumpers, former governor and senator of Arkansas, will deliver the keynote address. Additional speakers include national leaders in a variety of natural resource-related disciplines. For a complete list of speakers visit the Web at http://cnr.ncsu.edu/75th/speakers.htm.
The college began with the creation of the forestry program in 1929 in response to the state’s need to support a growing forest land base. Through the years, the program expanded to include wood products; wildlife; paper science; tourism; and park, recreation and sport management. The diverse college is internationally recognized as a leader in natural resource education, research and extension. A testament to NC State’s land-grant mission, the college’s more than 7,000 graduates hold leadership positions in industry, government, non-government organizations and communities throughout the world.
In addition to being a leading resource for the state’s extensive forest landowners, the college’s research and extension programs support the state’s forest products manufacturing industry - an industry that contributes almost $30 billion annually to the state’s economy. Another industry that has benefited from the college’s programs is tourism, the state’s largest service industry employing more than 200,000 people.
Over 75 years, the college’s faculty has been recognized with the highest honors in the world of science, including the Wallenberg Prize and membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Outstanding teaching and extension are hallmarks of the college as evidenced by the numerous faculty members who have been inducted into the university’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers and the Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension.
A few of the college’s most influential alumni include Robert Jordan, owner of Jordan Lumber Company and former lieutenant governor of North Carolina; Dr. Charles Lee, president of Mississippi State University; Barry Tindall, director of public policy for the National Recreation and Park Association; Brenda Brickhouse, director of environmental services for Progress Energy; and General Dan McNeill, commanding officer of U.S. forces at Fort McPherson, Ga.
The college has approximately 1,200 undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students enrolled in its three departments: forestry; wood and paper science; and parks, recreation and tourism management. It is one of the most comprehensive natural resource schools in the nation.
For more information about the NC State College of Natural Resources 75th Anniversary, visit the Web at http://cnr.ncsu.edu/75th or call Tilla Fearn at 919/513-4644.
Traffic study receives support
Oct. 19, 2004
Outer Banks Sentinel, NC
By SANDY SEMANS
© Copyright 2004
The Dare County Board of Commissioners has authorized the application for grant funds to study transportation problems along the Outer Banks and to identify possible solutions.
Outer Banks Transportation Task Force, appointed last spring by the commissioners, will apply for the $73,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation Public Transportation Division which is anticipated to fund 90 percent of the request.
County attorney Norma Mills told the board that the cost of the 10 percent match will be shared by all the participating entities represented on the Task Force.
Formal award of the grant from DOT is expected to be decided in the near future.
The study, if funded, will be conducted by the North Carolina State University Institute of Transportation Research and Education (ITRE).
"The Task Force met for a few months as an ad hoc committee of the Dare County Transportation Advisory Board before being appointed by the commissioners as a formal committee in June," said Task Force Chairman Jody Crosswhite, Chamber of Commerce liaison to the Transportation Advisory Board. "One of the most rewarding things about it is that all the municipalities, the tourism industry, business, the general public, as well as both Currituck and Dare counties have been represented at the table since the beginning.
" There has always been consensus that we have a growing problem, and it
needs to be addressed now, not later."
The ITRE study proposal presented recently to the Task Force notes that "The primary area of focus for this study will be Dare and Currituck counties, particularly movement along the Currituck and Dare Outer Banks. This area's population grows by nearly tenfold on some peak weekends during the summer vacation season, when it can reach 300,000.
"The task force seeks short- and long-term solutions to the highway congestion problems through the reduction of vehicles on the road and alternative methods of moving the visiting and service industry population once they are on the Outer Banks..."
Possible solutions listed include:
public transportation services such as trolley buses;
improved traffic engineering;
alternatives for scheduling tourist visits, such as spreading out check-in days;
an education campaign aimed at reducing the number of tourist vehicles;
and changes to current land use/development regulations.
The proposed plan of action includes:
community meetings to build consensus and support of public and elected officials;
taking inventory of available transportation resources;
conducting case studies of similar tourist/resort destinations to see if similar problems have been met with solutions that can be applied here;
preliminary analysis of potential alternative solutions and the anticipated cost and benefits of various solutions that could be selected for implementation;
selecting preliminary alternative solutions that could be implemented for the 2005 tourist season;
and facilitating, with the Task Force, a final community symposium featuring recommendations for further action.
If the grant is received, the time period for the study would begin this month and conclude in November 2005 with a preliminary set of solutions ready in April 2005 for the 2005 tourist season.
"It's important to understand that this isn't just a study to tell us if we have a problem," said Crosswhite. "We already know that transportation problems exist. This is a proactive step toward finally implementing some solutions so that both residents and visitors can enjoy the beauty of the Outer Banks instead of fussing about the traffic."
Social & environmental factors play important role in how people age, two studies find
Oct. 20, 2004
Onlypunjab.com, India
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Why do some older people experience a rapid decline in their physical and functional health while some of their peers remain healthy and active? While your genes and overall physical health play a role, new research shows how psychosocial factors can also play an important role. Two studies report on this in the September issue of Psychology and Aging, a journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
In the first study, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found a link between positive emotions and the onset of frailty in 1,558 initially non-frail older Mexican Americans living in five southwestern states – Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. This was the first study to examine frailty and the protective role of positive emotions in the largest minority population in the United States.
Study authors Glenn Ostir, Ph.D., Kenneth Ottenbacher, Ph.D., and Kyriakos Markides, Ph.D., followed the participants for seven years and assessed frailty by measuring the participants' weight loss, exhaustion, walking speed and grip strength. Positive affect (positive emotions) was measured during the study period by asking the participants how often in the last week "I felt that I was just as good as other people," "I felt hopeful about the future," "I was happy," and "I enjoyed life."
The overall incidence of frailty increased almost eight percent during the seven-year follow-up period, but those who scored high on positive affect were significantly less likely to become frail. Each unit increase in baseline positive affect score was associated with a three percent decreased risk of frailty after adjusting for relevant risk factors.
The precise reason for this happening was beyond the scope of the current study, but the researchers speculate that positive emotions may directly affect health via chemical and neural responses involved in maintaining homeostatic balance. Or a more indirect process may be at work, according to the authors, with positive emotions affecting health by increasing a person's intellectual, physical, psychological and social resources.
In the second study, researchers Thomas Hess, Ph.D., Joey Hinson, M.A., and Jill Statham, B.A., from North Carolina State University investigated how negative stereotypes about aging influences older adults' memory. Their study involved 193 participants and two experiments, each with a younger (17 – 35 years old) and older (57 – 82 years old) group of adults. Participants were exposed to stereotype-related words in the context of another task (scrambled sentence, word judgment) in order to prime positive and negative stereotypes of aging. This involved either words reflecting negative stereotypes about aging (brittle, complaining, confused, cranky, feeble, forgot, senile, etc.) or words reflecting positive views of aging (accomplished, active, alert, dignified, distinguished, knowledgeable, successful, etc.)
Results show memory performance in older adults was lower when they were primed with negative stereotypes than when they were primed with positive stereotypes. In addition, age differences in memory between young and older adults were significantly reduced following a positive stereotype prime, with young and older adults performing at almost identical levels in some situations.
The study also provides evidence that older adults can control the effect of negative stereotype activation but only when the primes are relatively subtle. In contrast, when the stereotype primes are relatively blatant, memory performance tends to be negatively affected.
The results of this study add to a growing list of findings that implicate the importance of the social environment in how it affects older peoples' memory performance, according to the authors. If older people are treated like they are competent, productive members of society, then they perform that way too.
Scientists And DOE Partner With Private Company To Develop Artificial Retina
Oct. 20, 2004
Space Daily
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
A Department of Energy consortium of national laboratories including Livermore and universities Monday signed an agreement with Second Sight Medical Products. to jointly develop technology that could restore sight to those who have lost vision later in life.
The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) allows Second Sight Medical Products of Sylmar, Calif. to obtain a limited exclusive license for inventions developed during the DOE Retinal Prosthesis Project.
"The Department of Energy has led the way to many scientific breakthroughs, especially when several scientific disciplines combined to make a whole greater than the sum of the parts," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said.
"This project is one such example where biology, physics and engineering have joined forces to deliver a capability that will enable blind people to see. This agreement between the DOE laboratories and the private sector will facilitate transfer of many aspects of DOE technology to a clinical device that has the potential of restoring sight to millions of blind individuals", Abraham said.
An artificial retina could restore vision to millions of people suffering from eye diseases such as macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness in people over 60), retinitis pigmentosa (the leading cause of blindness in people under 50), or those who are legally blind due to the loss of photoreceptor function.
Lawrence Livermore partnered with four other national laboratories, three universities and Second Sight on the project.
Engineers from LLNL's Center for Micro- and Nanotechnology specifically are developing a flexible silicone implant (microelectrode array) that sits on the surface of the retina. The electrode array can contact delicate retinal tissue without damaging it.
The implantable retinal prosthesis is based on a system that converts a video camera signal into a stimulation pattern that is applied directly to the intra-ocular retinal surface. This is referred to as an epiretinal implant - the device is in contact with the surface of the retina. Visual signals are captured by a small video camera in the eyeglasses of the blind person and processed through a microcomputer worn on a belt.
Although the device will not restore full vision, it is expected to provide enough optical resolution for patients to read and recognize fine shapes.
LLNL's pioneering use of polydimethlsiloxane, or PDMS, allowed the microelectrode array to conform to the curved shape of the retina.
"PDMS has the look and feel of thin plastic food wrap," said Livermore's principal investigator, Courtney Davidson. "Yet it's biocompatible, making it a good candidate material for long-term implants."
Partners in the project include Oak Ridge, Argonne, Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Southern California Doheny Eye Institute and North Carolina State University.
Project leader Dr. Mark Humayun of USC has shown that electrical stimulation of the viable retinal cells can result in visual perception. These findings helped spark the worldwide effort to develop a retinal prosthesis device.
The first patient to receive a prototype implant in 2002 was able to see large letters and to differentiate between a cup, a plate and a knife after being blind for more than 50 years. To date, six volunteers have received implants of a micro-electronic device that rests on the surface of the retina to perform the function of normal photoreceptive cells.
The artificial retina technology was featured today at the department's "What's Next Expo," an event designed to showcase the newest, most innovative, cutting-edge scientific and technological advances to interest young people in pursuing careers in math and science.
Second Sight was founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations.
Oct. 19, 2004
Meat News
By Domenick Castaldo, Ph.D.
© Copyright 2004
Researchers at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service developed An agar gel that may help quality assurance technicians in meat processing company laboratories isolate and count microscopic organisms, specifically Campylobacter that cause food-borne illnesses. For researchers in the laboratory, counting the number of colonies of Campylobacter bacteria growing in round Petri dishes can be like trying to count the number of raindrops on a car's windshield after a rain, an ARS article said.
Historically, agar--the gel material used to grow Campylobacter in tissue culture--has blood components, or charcoal, as ingredients. These components give the agar a dark color. Unfortunately, Campylobacter colonies are clear, often appearing as water droplets on the agar. Now ARS food technologist J. Eric Line of the Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit in Athens, Ga., has found a way to make the task a whole lot easier.
Line has found that exposing Campylobacter to low levels of a chemical called triphenyltetrazolium chloride was not detrimental to bacterial growth, yet imparted a deep-red to magenta color to the Campylobacter colonies. The new agars used for Campylobacter growth are translucent, resulting in a contrast of dark colonies on a translucent background. This contrast makes it easier for researchers to isolate and count Campylobacter. The new technology also allows researchers to count the bacteria on light boxes or electronically.
The new testing technique, available for licensing, can be used in laboratories to conduct diagnostic testing. A comprehensive review of Campylobacter in poultry processing, published earlier this year by scientists from North Carolina State University, suggested that avian species are the most common host, probably because of their higher body temperature.
Liberal Bias Against Campus Conservatives Confronted: Freedom and the American Campus
Oct. 19, 2004
American Daily, OH
By John T. Plecnik
© Copyright 2004
The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy hosted its annual policy conference at North Carolina State University last Saturday on October 16, 2004. The topic: “Freedom and the American Campus.” All-star panels articulated the reality of liberal bias on college campuses, and debated possible solutions. Notables included David Horowitz of FrontPageMag.com, former U.S. House Historian Dr. Christina Jeffrey, and David French of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
During the conference, it was reported that a memo was circulating among the faculty and administration of N.C. State warning against the nefarious nature of Horowitz and the Pope Center. Consequently, no one could be found to debate Horowitz on his nationally acclaimed Academic Bill of Rights. The former leftist became famous by arguing against ‘reparations’ for slavery. More recently, Horowitz has attracted national attention from his work with state Sen. John Andrews (R-C.O.) in persuading the University of Colorado system to adopt the Academic Bill of Rights. Ever controversial, Horowitz referred to Professor Noam Chomsky of MIT as “the academic Michael Moore,” and called the American Association of University Professors, “a Stalinist organization.” He advocated breaking the Left’s “monopoly control” over academia by forcing them to accept his anti-discrimination policies and suing violators. Horowitz jokingly added that we ought to “include Christian white males in the Endangered Species Act.”
Like Horowitz, Dr. Christina Jeffrey argued that the “stewardship and oversight of the state legislature is not inconsistent with academic freedom.” She also gave a ‘shout out’ to her friend in the crowd, Rachel Lea Hunter, Republican candidate for North Carolina Supreme Court. An experienced appellate attorney, Hunter has promised to defend any college student in North Carolina who is discriminated against for airing their political views on campus. Another famous Republican woman, state Sen. Fern Shubert (R-N.C.), was also in attendance. Earlier in the year, Shubert lost a six-way gubernatorial primary for the Republican nomination.
David French moderated a panel discussion between Carol Sobel, a First Amendment attorney, and Dr. Norman Hurley of the University of North Carolina. Sobel retold the story of how she came to represent Steve Hinkle, a young Cal Poly student that was disciplined for posting a flyer on campus that advertised a conservative speaker. According to Sobel, “Steve went through a kangaroo court” at the university level. Ironically, Sobel has handled high level cases for both the ACLU and FIRE, representing everyone from Jesse Jackson to Sean Hannity. Calling herself “a member of the hard Left,” Sobel explained how a devout belief in the freedom of speech can override partisan leanings.
Hurley referred to academia’s chronic liberal bias as the “politics of scholarship.” He explained how professors are evaluated based on publication rates, and how most prestigious journals will only accept Left-leaning articles. Thus, conservative professors, effectively edited out of the top journals, appear less qualified than their liberal counterparts. Furthermore, graduate students are educated from the same liberal journals. According to Hurley, this also serves to bias the future of his profession. The UNC professor tried to emphasize the heated conflict between the liberal establishment and conservative scholars. “This is a war,” exclaimed Hurley. “[Liberals] see it as a war.” To further dramatize his point, Hurley continued, “I was actually physically assaulted at a cocktail party for my political views.”
Dr. Michael Gillespie of Duke University joined Dr. James Miller of Smith College for a discussion on liberal bias. Gillespie provided a more moderate perspective, arguing that liberal bias on campus is less dangerous than what he perceives as a “creeping paternalism.” He posited that most university restrictions on debate and free speech are imposed by our own misguided desire to “spare our children the pains of growing up.” Asserting that responsibility must be learned, not legislated, the Duke professor cautioned against the creation of a “soft America.”
Miller told the story of how Smith College denied him tenure for his conservative views. Despite publishing 6 scholarly articles and a book, the young professor also contributed to National Review Online and the Weekly Standard…mortal sins in academia. The discrimination was so blatant, however, that Smith little choice but to reverse its decision and grant tenure. One liberal colleague actually wrote a letter explaining how she voted against Miller’s tenure because she was disturbed by his views.
I asked Miller and Gillespie how society could encourage more conservatives to pursue doctorates and become professors, and what they might say to young conservatives who were considering a career in academia. Both replied that they could not recommend such a decision. Miller said wannabe conservative professors need a backup career plan. Gillespie argued that even though the odds of good employment are against you, six or so years of doctoral study are a wonderful experience anyway. By my estimation, their responses were discouraging, yet accurate.
Campus conservatives clearly have much to overcome, but in the words of yet another speaker, Dr. Jerry L. Martin, Chairman of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, “Don’t ever think we can’t win!”
John T. Plecnik is a twenty-year-old law student at Duke University and Executive Editor of The Devil’s Advocate. As Policy Advisor for the Duke Chapter, John authored the first-ever statewide platform for the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans.
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John T. Plecnik is a twenty-year-old law student at Duke University and Executive Editor of The Devil’s Advocate. As Policy Advisor for the Duke chapter, John authored the first-ever statewide platform for the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans. Nationally recognized, his work has appeared on NewsMax.com, Townhall.com, JD2B.com, SueMyrick.com, Washington Dispatch, Carolina Journal, NCRumors.com, NCGOP Newsletter, PachyDurham, Gaston Gazette, Raging Lady, ChronWatch, TheRant.us, New Sense, Abbey Crusader, IntellectualConservative.com, Young Conservatives, LibFibs, VoteRepublican.net, American Daily, Canada Free Press, Out2.com, Men’s News Daily, Opinion Editorials, Students for Academic Freedom, American Conservative Union, and countless other publications. Visit JohnPlecnik.com, home of ‘The Duke Law Conservative.’