Birdie: By Aberdeen native David Funderburk, a former congressman and former ambassador to Romania, for agreeing to teach the Great Decisions course at Sandhills Community College. Classes begin in January. Funderburk’s political and diplomatic experience will provide his students with fascinating insights.
Birdie: By Chief Glenn O’Ferrell and the Pinehurst Fire Department, for establishing a permanent fitting station to help parents select and install appropriate car safety seats for their children. This initiative could save lives.
Bogey: By U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., for remarking that the country would have been better off if Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948, when Thurmond was running as a segregationist Dixiecrat. Lott bragged that Thurmond carried the majority leader’s home state of Mississippi that year in the presidential race. Even if Lott believes that tripe, it’s telling that he was stupid enough to say it in public.
Birdie: By Thurmond. Old Strom, on the verge of retirement at the age of 100, joined the Senate in 1952 as an out-and-out racist. But the South Carolina Republican changed over the years, becoming the first Southern senator to appoint a black to his staff and championing the nominations of some minority nominees to the federal bench. Better late than never.
Birdie: By Deborah Barrett and Lydia Craven, who were named Moore County Employees of the Year. Barrett works for the Health Department, and Craven is on the Sheriff’s Department staff.
Birdie: By Pilot pressman Ray Barber and his wife, Connie, a school teacher. The couple celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Birdie: By Traffic Engineer Will Garner and the N.C. Department of Transportation, for the planned installation of new traffic signals at the busy intersection of Morganton Road and Pinecrest School Road. The new signals will make the intersection safer.
Birdie: By Mart Dickerson and all the other Southern Pines Business Association members who sponsored Saturday’s Christmas parade downtown. The parade was a festive success.
Birdie: By U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Moore County’s congressman helped do the honors at the Christmas tree lighting that followed the parade. Coble is a jolly old elf.
Birdie: By the Moore County Chapter of the American Red Cross, for setting up a shelter at Southern Middle School that housed 51 people who were without power as a result of last week’s ice storm.
Birdie: By Steve Smith, for his spectacular, record-setting, scoreboard-lighting performance in the Carolina Panthers’ Sunday victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, if Smith, a wide receiver and return specialist, can just accomplish an attitude adjustment (he recently punched out a teammate in the film room), he might just have a bright future with the Panthers.
Birdie: By former President Jimmy Carter, who finally received the Nobel Peace Prize Tuesday. Carter’s humanitarian and peacemaking efforts make him America’s greatest former president.
Bogey: By President Bush, for failing to nominate Erskine Bowles for the chairmanship of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Maybe Bowles didn’t want the job, but he would have given the SEC, and by extension the president, instant credibility with the business community and with Democrats in Congress.
Birdie: By Kim Byrd, for making a success of Sunday’s Episcopal Day School Candlelight Tour of Homes despite power outages. It’s events like this that make the Sandhills the place to be during the holidays.
