North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

In last week’s paper, Lawyers Weekly covered a proposed constitutional amendment to be placed before the voters this fall that would strip the governor (currently a Democrat) of the power to fill vacancies in the state’s judiciary and transfer the ...

Tagged with: GOP

The Little Linguists Language Academy in Boone had a problem—neighbors were using the circular gravel driveway in front of the school as a cut-through road. The academy’s owners, Daniel and Carroll Olson, concerned about the safety of their students, remedied ...

Tagged with: Robert Frost

Back in April, Sidebar went on a bit of a Twitter rant after the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism heard a presentation during one of its quarterly meetings from a purported expert, on the topic of how millennials ...

Tagged with: Millennials

Like Sidebar and everyone else, you probably saw that survey released this week proclaiming Raleigh to be America’s best city to drive in. Yeah, look … about that. This Sidebar reporter is Lawyers Weekly’s Raleigh bureau chief and drives in ...

Tagged with: survey

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe the horse was lost. For the want of a horse the rider was lost. For the want of a rider the battle was lost. ...

Tagged with: Benjamin Franklin

Jimmy Lee Forte Jr. just would not be quiet. According to records, he interrupted his court-appointed lawyer and the trial judge so often that the court found that he involuntarily forfeited his right to counsel. Leading his own defense, and ...

Tagged with: silence

When pirates invade Beaufort in August, the town’s most prominent swashbuckler won’t be taking part in the festivities—because he’s refusing to walk the plank of bureaucracy.

Tagged with: Beaufort Pirates

When the North Carolina Supreme Court comes to town for a special session, you do what needs to be done to make sure the justices are comfortable. In Buncombe County, that meant expanding the bench inside the 90-year-old courthouse in Asheville ahead of the seven justices’ arrival on May 16. The bench in question has three seats for the judge, clerk and a testifying witness.

Tagged with: Asheville Buncombe County courthouse N.C. Supreme Court Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Alan Thornburg

A Sidebar item in the June 25 edition, “Eternal sunshine of the legislator’s mind,” incorrectly named Sen. Paul “Buck” Newton as the sponsor of the Judicial Vacancy Sunshine Amendment. Newton does not go by “Buck,” which is the nickname of ...

Tagged with: sunshine

Going to jail is bad. Going back to jail while the ink is still wet on your last fingerprint card is horrible. Just after midnight on Sept. 6, 2015, North Wilkesboro police officer Tyler Hall approached a familiar-looking car at ...

Tagged with: jail