Easley gets 'Education Governor's Award'

Gov. Mike Easley is going to Washington today to get some love from the nation's teachers.

Easley will receive the inaugural "America's Greatest Education Governor's Award" from the National Education Association "for his achievements in transforming North Carolina's public school system." He will get the award while receiving the cheers of 10,000 delegates at the NEA's 86th annual Representative Assembly.

It beats being in Raleigh to answer questions about the budget and the costs of his wife's overseas travel.

In the NEA's news release, the group notes "Easley's commitment to education extends from his highly successful More at Four program, the state's first academic preK program for at-risk four-year-olds, to his Learn and Earn project, which allows high school students to earn an associate's degree or two years of college credit."

Though the NEA doesn't mention it, Easley also has been active in pushing to raise teachers' pay in North Carolina to the national average. His latest plan to raise teachers' pay by an average of 7 percent hasn't gotten far with legislators, who are looking at a 3 percent increase.

School forum leader

Phil Kirk, a former state school board chairman, has been named chairman of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, a nonprofit policy think tank.

Kirk was chief of staff under former Republican Govs. Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser and state school board chairman under Democratic Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley. Kirk is now a vice president for external relations at Catawba College in Salisbury.

The forum was founded in 1985. It focuses on public policy research and oversees community programs, such as a network of elementary and middle school programs, according to a news release.

Boring words

Democrats say "offshore drilling." Republicans say "deep-sea drilling."

Who's right? Kevin Stewart, a geology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, says both terms are correct, though both also overstate their case a little.

Any oil drilling that takes place in the water is "offshore," while "deep-sea" -- or "deep-water" in the geologist's preferred lingo -- typically refers to drilling that takes place off the continental shelf.

The area under consideration in North Carolina is about 45 miles off Cape Hatteras in a zone known as the continental slope, which is between 2,000 feet and 4,000 feet deep. That is just past the shelf, which is 460 feet deep, but before the deepest ocean bottom, which can be 7,000 feet deep or more.

"Offshore drilling is a much broader term, while deep water is a very specific area," Stewart said.

The connotations work in each side's favor. By calling to mind the coastline, "offshore drilling" makes it sound as if it's happening closer to the beach, while "deep-sea drilling" sounds like something that happens far out in the ocean.

Sheriffs line up for McCain

Nineteen North Carolina sheriffs are backing John McCain.

The sheriffs of some of the largest counties -- including Wake, Forsyth, Guilford and Johnston counties -- are co-chairmen and vice chairmen of the N.C. Sheriffs for McCain group.

Retired Randolph County Sheriff Litchard Hurley, who heard McCain speak at the National Sheriffs Association meeting in Indianapolis recently, said he was impressed by McCain's stance on crime and illegal immigration.

"He pledged that he would do everything he could to keep people from coming to the United States to break the law," Hurley said.

Hurley and B.J. Barnes of Guilford County and Steve Bizzell of Johnston are co-chairmen of the group. Vice chairmen include Donnie Harrison of Wake and Bill Schatzman of Forsyth.