David N. Bass

Published May/June, 2007, in Family North Carolina Magazine

Having a say in where their child attends school is a foreign concept to countless parents across North Carolina. Due to financial and regional limitations, many families have only one educational option—a public school system that at times fails to meet the needs of each individual student.

While the harmful social atmosphere, reduced academic standards, and plummeting graduation rates in some public schools may worry parents, many do not have the tools or resources to choose another option. But a new statewide organization is working to change that unfortunate fact. Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), a non-profit group incorporated in July 2005, is bridging political and racial lines to advocate policies that aim to bring the benefits of school choice to every family across the state. Read the rest of this entry »

Published April 3, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — At first glance, UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore Charissa Lloyd might seem like a typical college student. Her schedule is crammed with campus activities — everything from participating in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship to serving on the staff of Rival Magazine. She enjoys academics, too, and hopes to one day become a social worker involved in pro-life causes.

But at least one aspect makes Lloyd unique from most of her classmates: By the time she graduated from high school in 2005, she had already accumulated 60 credit hours and a 4.0 GPA from a local community college. What gave her the flexibility to pursue college-level courses while still in school? Another attribute differentiates her from most other students: She was homeschooled from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Read the rest of this entry »

Published March 6, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Preserve the habitat of an endangered woodpecker or protect private property rights — that’s the apparent quandary residents are facing in Brunswick County’s Boiling Spring Lakes region.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers, which were once plentiful across the Southeast, now are protected under the 1973 federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that only 6,000 groups and 15,000 individual birds remain. Read the rest of this entry »

Published March/April, 2007, in Family North Carolina Magazine

In January of this year, the medical community received the news that a new source for stem cells had been discovered—one that did not require the destruction of human embryos and that may have the capability to treat numerous diseases and conditions. In the center of this buzz was the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM) at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. directed by, Dr. Anthony Atala. He and his associates at IRM have already experienced a number of succeses.”

AFS Cells
In an article published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Atala and his team of researchers described how they extracted stem cells from the amniotic fluid that surrounds developing embryos in pregnant women. Researchers also discovered similar stem cells in the placenta and other membranes that are expelled after birth. The new stem cells, called “amniotic fluid-derived” stem (AFS) cells, have already been used to create “muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells in the laboratory,” according to an IRM press release. Amniotic fluid-derived cells can be grown in large quantities and do not produce tumors, a side effect commonly seen in other types of stem cells. A stem cell bank hosting 100,000 specimens could ostensibly provide 99 percent of the American population with transplantation options, Atala said. Read the rest of this entry »

Published February 26, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Faced with the threat of forced conversion to a year-round public school schedule in Wake County, Cary resident Linda Hayduk and her husband are taking matters into their own hands by leaving the county rather than allow the reassignment to split their family apart.

“We’re a family who has elected not to participate in too many extra-curricular activities because we want our family to eat dinner together more than once a month like some families do,” Hayduk said. “We are moving because we believe in public schools, but not Wake County public schools. Not anymore.” Read the rest of this entry »

Published February 14, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — With the N.C. lottery marking its one-year anniversary in March, the lottery’s executive director is already predicting that revenue devoted to education will be significantly less than state lawmakers appropriated in fiscal 2006-2007 budget.

Lottery proceeds are expected to fall short of General Assembly estimates by $75 million, according to Tom Shaheen, executive director for the N.C. Education Lottery. In the budget approved last session, lawmakers appropriated $425 million in lottery revenue to school funding, but Shaheen predicts that the lottery will garner $1 billion in total revenue by the close of fiscal 2007, providing $350 million for education beneficiary programs. Read the rest of this entry »

Published January 13, 2007, on WorldNetDaily.com

News earlier this week that researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard Medical School have uncovered a new non-controversial stem cell treatment did nothing to stem the tide of pro-embryonic stem cell madness that swept Congress on Thursday.

In a vote that still fell well short of the two-thirds majority required to overcome a presidential veto, the U.S. House passed H.R. 3 by a 253 to 174 margin Jan. 11. The bill would lift restrictions established by President Bush in 2001 that prevent federal dollars from being used for additional research involving the destruction of human embryos. Read the rest of this entry »

Published January/February, 2007, in Family North Carolina Magazine

In the moments before 18-year-old Holly Patterson died of septic shock resulting from a botched abortion, her parents gathered in the critical care unit at Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton, California, to watch helplessly as their daughter’s life ebbed away.

“[We] will never be able to forget those last moments of her life when she was too weak to talk and could barely squeeze our hands in acknowledgement of our words of encouragement,” wrote Monty and Helen Patterson in a letter released shortly after Holly passed away on September 17, 2003. The Pattersons recalled their daughter’s “brilliant blue eyes, engaging smile, laughter, unwavering determination and sheer gentle beauty,” but candidly described their feelings of “disbelief and desperation” as the young woman edged toward death.[1] Read the rest of this entry »

Published November 29, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Religious faiths, particularly Protestantism, Catholicism, Asian Ethnoreligion, and Hinduism, have a positive effect on a nation’s respect for the rule of law and level of corruption, according to a Baylor University research paper.

The paper, “Religion, Corruption, and the Rule of Law,” compares predominant world religions and discusses what role the faiths play in shaping a nation’s economic and social outcomes. It was originally published in July. Read the rest of this entry »

Published November 21, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Situated near the intersection of two country roads in Harnett County, Holly Gardner’s one-story ranch home and surrounding farmland could easily be described as the perfect rural setting.

The idyllic pastureland has been in the Gardner family for four generations, going back to parents who donated a one-room schoolhouse to the nearby town of Angier and grandparents who bought lights so the community could play baseball at night. Read the rest of this entry »