Price blasts Bush on terror; GOP rival answers

Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price sharply questioned the Bush Administration's terrorism strategy this week, saying it had made matters worse.

But his GOP opponent in the 4th District race, Steve Acuff, said such statements give "aid and comfort and hope to the enemy."

In a House speech Wednesday night, Price said Bush "has simply failed to meet the standard of an intelligent anti-terrorist strategy."

"He diverted resources from the hunt for bin Laden to prepare for and initiate a war of choice in Iraq -- a war, incidentally, that has made the threat of terrorism worse, not better," Price said.

Price said administration-backed bills to circumvent judicial checks on wiretapping and to allow controversial interrogation practices are ineffective and "are having disastrous repercussions on our efforts to win the hearts and minds" of Middle East residents whom the terrorists are trying to recruit.

Acuff, a Raleigh businessman and retired Air Force colonel, said Bush's policies had helped prevent an attack on U.S. soil for the past five years.

He said the wiretapping was aimed at members of al-Qaeda making telephone calls into the U.S. And he said interrogation of suspects has provided U.S. intelligence with valuable leads.

"My overall thought is Mr. Price is taking cheap shots at the administration," Acuff said. "This is coming from someone who has opposed and obstructed all of the administration's efforts to protect U.S. citizens."

"What is most upsetting to me about this is the debate right now that is playing on C-SPAN can be played on Al-Jazeera tomorrow."

Innocence panelists picked

North Carolina court officials announced their appointees Thursday to the country's first state panel to evaluate innocence claims by felons.

N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker and Court of Appeals Chief Judge John Martin released the names of the panel's eight members. The N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission will be headed by Superior Court Judge Quentin T. Sumner of Rocky Mount.

The other appointees include Raleigh lawyer Wade M. Smith, Durham lawyer Charles L. Becton, Stanley Police Chief Heath Jenkins, Lincoln County Sheriff Barbara A. Pickens and Jacqueline Greenlee of Archdale, an administrator at Guilford Technical Community College.

Two appointees -- Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly and Mel Chilton, executive director of the N.C. Victim Assistance Network -- served on a committee that recommended creating such a state agency to evaluate innocence claims.

For a felon to get any potential redress, five of the eight members must agree that he or she deserves judicial review. Then a three-judge panel must unanimously agree that a defendant has presented "clear and convincing evidence" of innocence to be exonerated.

Group pushes energy issues

A North Carolina environmental organization asked legislative and congressional candidates Thursday to consider green alternatives.

At a news conference in front of a passive solar office building in downtown Raleigh, Environment North Carolina asked candidates to reduce dependence on oil, cut oil consumption, build more energy-efficient buildings and promote alternative energy sources such as wind, solar power and agriculture byproducts.

"We need leaders who support moving in a new direction that puts our security, our environment, our global climate and our children's future ahead of the oil companies and other powerful interests," said Elizabeth Ouzts, the state director for the environmental advocacy group.