Hal Stewart Selected for NC High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame

Former Garner football coach Hal Stewart said he was glad that he was sitting down when he learned that he had been selected to enter the N.C. High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame.

“If I had been standing, I would have fallen out on the floor,” said Stewart, who built one of the state’s most dominating programs at Garner Senior High in the 1980s and ‘90s. The Trojans were the undefeated state 4-A champions in 1987 and reached the finals in ’99.

The Trojans’ Class of 1990 did not lose a regular-season game during their three-year varsity careers.

“After I got over the shock of the call, the most dominate feeling with humility,” Stewart said. “It hit me very strongly that Hal Stewart has been a very lucky and very blessed man.

“There is no successful coach that has not been surrounded by exceptional players, coaches, and administrators. I have been supported by great people, including my wife Linda and my daughter Lauren, and my mother and father, and my brothers, Eddie and Jimmy, and my uncle Dave. If you surround yourself with great people, great things can happen.”

Consistent Success

Stewart had a 159-47-1 record in 17 seasons at Garner and his teams won at least 10 games 12 times. The Trojans won 11 conference titles, posted a 15-0 state championship season in 1987 and returned to the state finals in 1998.

“Talk about surrounding yourself with great people, I got to coach Anthony Barbour (the star of the 1987 team,)” Stewart said. “He was the greatest high school running back that I ever saw and he was a better person than he was football player.”

Stewart said one of his biggest thrills was seeing Barbour at N.C. State and ’90 Garner graduate John Leach of Wake Forest lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing in back-to-back seasons.

Leach was among the many athletes that Stewart persuaded to play football.

“The thing about Hal is that he could go into the poorest kid’s house and be perfectly at home or go to a reception with the Governor and be comfortable. He can relate to anyone,” said former Garner athletics director Brinkley Wagstaff. “He has a knack for developing relationships.”

Eddie Gray, a long-time assistant football coach and the former Trojans’ basketball coach,  said Stewart had an unusual way of game planning.

“I think it goes back to his basketball background,” Gray said. “Hal always looked for match ups. He would move players around to try to create a matchup that we could exploit. Not many football coaches would do that.

“And he really knew how to push the motivational buttons. Plus, he always kept it fun. Players knew he cared more about them as people than he did as players.”

Where It Began

Stewart began his head coaching career at Durham High in 1975 (12-9 in two years) before leaving to return to Richmond County, where he had been an assistant football and baseball coach for three years before going to Durham.

He posted a 20-6 record in two seasons with the Raiders, including a 12-2 state championship run in 1978. Perry Williams, a future 12-year player with the NFL’s New York Giants was the star of that team, which rallied from a 1-2 start.

He resigned following the title season and sold cars for a year before becoming the head coach at St. Pauls High in 1980. His three clubs were 9-2, 8-3 and 5-5 and were led by Lee Vernon McNeill, a future Olympic sprinter who died last year from Covid complications.

Garner had interviewed Stewart in 1980 and Principal Shirley Paige called him in 1983 when Garner’s head coaching job opened again. He took the job, and a dynasty was planted.

He left Garner to become the head coach at Erwin Triton, fulfilling a wish made by his father Harold. Alton Stewart, Harold Stewart’s father, was from Coats, which is close to Triton. Alton Stewart received the first civilian pilot’s license in North Carolina and died in a plane crash on Dec. 25, 1929. Hal’s father, then a boy, was taken off the doomed flight right before takeoff.

“My father had ties to Harnett County, and he always wanted me to go back and coach there,” Stewart said. “That’s why I went. My father asked me to do it and I did.”

He coached at Triton three years and had 6-4, 5-5, and 7-4 records.

He remained a driver’s education teacher in the county, but his coaching career was over.

“It was time,” he said. “I had loved sports for a long time and still do, but it was time to stop playing and coaching.”

The Journey From Player to Coach

Stewart played football, basketball, and baseball at Goldsboro High School. He played in the first game played at Durham County Stadium, scoring the first touchdown in the park after catching a pass from long-time friend Dave Odom, eventually the head basketball coach at Wake Forest University. Goldsboro finished 1-8-1 that year, beating Garner for its only win. His senior year Goldsboro was 0-10.

Stewart almost didn’t become a coach. He was offered a baseball scholarship to East Carolina after graduating from Goldsboro High but signed with Portsmouth (Va.) Frederick College where he could play basketball and baseball.

He stole some empty soft drink bottles and sold them his junior year, netting $5.29. He and a friend bought six hot dogs for a quarter each and got tickets to a basketball game. He was suspended from school.

He was at home in Goldsboro and working for his father in a metal fabricating facility when he decided to join the Air Force. As planes from Seymour Johnson Air Force base flew overhead, he decided he was signing up on Monday.

But that Saturday he agreed to ride to Edwards Military Institute in Salemburg, N.C . with a friend. An Edwards coach recognized him and offered him a spot on the basketball team. He played one semester and returned to the Portsmouth school.

“People ask me why I believe in second chances,” Stewart said.   “That’s why. I made a stupid mistake. I stole those bottles. That’s the truth. It was a stupid thing to do, but I did it. But somebody gave me a second chance.”

He made his coaching debut helping Odom and legendary baseball coach George Whitfield with the Goldsboro American Legion baseball team in 1963 and ’64 while still in college.

“The thing with Hal is that he loves the kids,” Whitfield said. “Kids will do a lot for you if they know that you really care.”

He got a $500 supplement to coach football, basketball, and basketball at Goldsboro’s Greenwood Junior High after graduating from college. He left to go to Jacksonville High and assisted Coach George Thompson for two years before being reunited with Whitfield at Hamlet.

He was hired as the head of the Industrial Cooperative Program at the school but moved to special education after two days when another teacher resigned. Eventually, he received certification in special ed.

“It was just one of those things,” he said. “I love working in special ed. I think it was a factor in the success we had in football. It helped me relate to all of the players better.”

He took a head basketball coaching job in Havelock but left to join Whitfield and head football coach Ron Kroll at the newly opened Richmond County High as an assistant. Three years later, Odom called and asked Stewart to replace him as head football coach.

“When I look back on it, I see all of these people playing huge roles in my life,” he said. “You just have to believe that God had a plan that I knew nothing about.”

Stewart was in the inaugural class of the Garner Magnet High School Hall of Fame.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association banquet will be held on Aug 20, 2022, at the Embassy Suites in Cary. Ticket information will be available in March for the festivities.

WakeMed Medical Assistant Morgan Wilder of Garner gets "Odd Request" at State Fair

What started as an "odd request" led to an exciting day at The North Carolina State Fair for WakeMed Medical Assistant Morgan Wilder of Garner.

Earlier this year WakeMed physician, Dr. Michael Soboeiro emailed what he called an "odd request" to N.C. State Fair officials asking them to honor Wilder, who assists Soboeiro at WakeMed's Garner Healthplex.

As Soboeiro's lead Medical Assistant, Wilder spent "months of long hours on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic," Soboeiro wrote. A life-long lover of The State Fair, Wilder was also "crushed" by the cancellation of the 2020 N.C. State Fair, Soboeiro added.

“I want you to know that there is no one in our organization who is more loyal and passionate than Morgan," Soboeiro wrote. "She has worked incredibly hard during the COVID epidemic, spending the majority of her weekends testing and then vaccinating people for the virus.

“When it comes to the State Fair, she is constantly urging everyone in the office to go. I suspect she knows the names, locations and menus of the long-time food vendors as well as many of your staff.”

Soboeiro's email led Fair officials to give Wilder "a special opportunity" to work as a judge of this year's Fair "fare" in the new foods and drinks category.

A State Fair press release stated: "For months, the State Fair team had been brainstorming ways to recognize the struggle we have all faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to honor those who have been on the front lines," and Soboeiro's email solved the problem.

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In July, N.C. State Fair Manager Kent Yelverton, Fair mascot Casey Cardinal and members of the Fair's "Deep Fried Crew" went to the WakeMed Garner Healthplex to surprise Morgan with the news, and give her a pass to the pre-Fair food judging event.

Yelverton said Soboeiro’s email has inspired "a new program where each year we will invite an Honorary New Foods Judge to come out to our Deep Fried Media Day and be part of the fun that is selecting our Media’s Choice Best New Food at the Fair. We wouldn’t be where we are today without all the healthcare workers across the state who have worked tirelessly to see us through to the other side. Morgan embodies the selfless service of the entire healthcare community, and we are honored to have her join us in October as a representative of all her colleagues.”

Wilder, 30, said being honored with what Fair officials called "a delicious new role," was a blast. At the pre-Fair food tasting, Wilder got to sample 14 different new foods and drinks. "I got a tray of all the samples of all the foods," Wilder said. Items included everything from tater tots, chicken, banana pudding to smoothies. It was "the lobster pop," however, that won Wilder's heart. A deep fried lobster tail on a stick -- a $28 item at the Fair's Oak City Restaurant -- was the entry Wilder selected as her favorite food.

Wilder said she enjoyed all the foods and drinks she tasted, but "the lobster was absolutely the best," she said. "(But) I don't think I can quite afford to purchase that."

Wilder, who grew up in Wake County, is married to Brandon and is the mother of their 4-year-old son, Maddox. Her love of the State Fair was passed down to her by her parents, both of whom have birthdays during the Fair. Wilder said she has attended the Fair "absolutely every year of my life," and always comes several times each year.

Wilder said she's indebted to Soboeiro for suggesting her for the honor. "Without Dr. Soboeiro this dream of mine wouldn't have come true, and I'm forever grateful for his 'odd request!'"

In her work as a Medical Assistant, Wilder assists both doctors and nurses. Her training allows her to do many levels of patient care. "The only thing we can't do is give advice and start IVs," she said.

Health care work during the pandemic has brought challenges, Wilder said, including exhaustion and worry for her patients. "I think as anyone would tell you, it's been hard, but it's also very rewarding being able to help, and to know that you're making a difference," she said. "I think COVID's changed health care in the world a lot; it's changed everything we do. There are new protocols for everything; new ways of approaching all patient care."

Regarding her official role in this year's Fair, Wilder said: "It was fantastic; I wish I could do it every year."

Citizens Rally to Save Garner Christmas Parade

Not to be denied in the face of staff shortages in town, a group of citizens have rallied to the rescue.

In coordination with the Town of Garner, Garner Fire & Rescue, and the Garner Police Department, a community-led parade is in the making for December 18th in downtown Garner.

With some details still to be worked out, nearly 2 dozen groups have already confirmed their participation in the parade. All hoping to bring back this great Garner tradition, even if on a slightly smaller scale.

2021 The Garner Christmas Parade is a citizen-led community Christmas Parade.

It’s state goal is “to create and host a festive and family-friendly Christmas Parade that reflects Garner’s values and one that is local, inclusive, and bridges Garner’s past with Garner’s future.

The holiday season is about love, kindness, and giving. It is families and our community coming together to celebrate our town and making great memories for our kids and all of us that are kids at heart.”

If you are interested in volunteering click HERE

For more information visit garnerchristmasparade.com

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From the Garner Christmas Parade Facebook Page (HERE)

Garner folks will always find a way! The community has come together to host the Garner Christmas Parade on December 18th in Downtown Garner.

Working with the Town of Garner, Garner Fire & Rescue, The Garner Police Department, and interested residents, we are going to have a kid and community-focused Christmas parade.

More details to come so please visit garnerchristmasparade.com

Sign-up for updates and, if you want to help, sign-up to volunteer.

Many thanks to our planning committee:

Rachel Tourdot (Co-Chair) – Downtown Garner Association Vice Chair. Downtown Resident.

Demian Dellinger (Co-chair) – Downtown Garner Association President. Garner Town Council.

Shannon Mitchell - Christy’s DancExplosion and Spiritual Twist

Don Penny – Community Member

Kentrell Perry – Downtown Business Owner

Joyce Steven - Downtown Garner Association board member

Kim Woodard – Garner Fire & Rescue

Garner Blue Ribbon Winner Cross Stitch

By PATRICK O'NEILL

When Christin Danchi started a store-bought cross stitch pattern of a European streetscape she was a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now 35 years old, Danchi managed to cash in on her effort many years later when she won two awards for her finished work at The North Carolina State Fair.

"This one took me like 12 years to complete," Danchi said. After finishing the cross stitch project in January, Danchi decided to enter the piece in the Fair's "First-Time Entry" category.

She ended up with the Blue Ribbon in the "Threaded Needlecraft" category, and she also won The Cardinal Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America Award for first-time entries by “Judges Choice," earning $50 in prize money.

Danchi said she probably paid less than $50 for the winning pattern, so she broke better-than even on her initial investment. "I had my eye on it for many years before I bought it," she said of the pattern.

Danchi said she usually worked on her winning piece during the holidays in November and December, and she would take it with her when she was traveling.

"It tends to be something I do when I have some down time, to keep my hands busy when life slows down a little bit," she said. "I can distinctly remember when I started it, on a trip I took to Michigan in 2009. It's a bittersweet memory because it was for my grandmother's funeral."

Danchi said it was her grandmother, Barbara Carroll, who helped her learn how to cross stitch during Carroll's visit to North Carolina when Danchi was 11 years old.

"She worked with me on the first cross stitch I ever did," Danchi said.

Danchi is a multi-dimensional person to say the least. She earned her undergraduate degree in music from UNC and her masters in music from Carnegie Mellon University, both in "violin performance." She is associate director of development at Durham's Emily Krzyzewski Center, a nonprofit educational organization that implements programs designed to build on the academic, career and leadership potential of students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education, Danchi said.

Danchi has three siblings, Andrea, Michael and Elizabeth, all of whom are violinists. Danchi refers to herself as a "classically trained, freelance violinist who also enjoys a good fiddle tune. Music is an incredibly important part of my life and who I am."

Two years ago, Danchi, who is single, and her sister Andrea bought and renovated a house together in Garner, spending 15 months on the project. "We moved into the place in August of 2020," she said. "We have the absolute best neighbors and have loved living in Garner."

Growing up in Wake County, Danchi said she has been "coming to the state fair every year for almost my entire life.

"My siblings and I used to enter the youth arts and craft competitions as children. As we got older and life got busier, we stopped participating in the competitions, but every year we would still enjoy looking at all of the entries and winners. I don't do all the arts and crafts that I did when I was a kid, but I realized that my cross-stitch project was something I could enter as an adult.

"I've been slowly working on it for the past several years with the goal of entering it in the fair. I completed it this year and it was finally ready to enter in the 2021 fair."

Borrowing from this year's State Fair theme, Danchi said of her Blue Ribbon effort: "You might say it was 'worth the wait' to finally be able to enter it after 12 years of work!

"One of my favorite aspects of the N.C. State Fair is that we still recognize and celebrate the incredible skill and time that goes into creating a unique piece of art, whether that's culinary art, visual art, needlepoint, or another medium. Every piece is a labor of love and one-of-a-kind, whether it wins a ribbon or not. And I love being a small part of that celebration.

Danchi already has her next cross stitch project underway. It's a Route 66 scene that includes an old pickup truck, a general store and a motorcycle. Danchi said she plans to add a few "animals" to "add some life" to the scene. It will be her first cross stitch effort where she deviates from the pattern. She says she's excited to see how the experiment works out.

Be sure to look for Danchi's next blue ribbon winner at the 2034 N.C. State Fair!

Editor's Note: If you would like to see Danchi perform, she and some friends will be doing a Halloween show at Revival 1869 in Clayton, October 29.

North Carolina State Fair Returns and Senior Citizens Will Pay

BY PATRICK O’NEILL

A year after the Covid pandemic shut the gates of the North Carolina State Fair the 2021 edition of the Fair is ready to open on Thursday, Oct. 14 with hopes that fairgoers can be safe from infection despite the Department of Agriculture's decision to not require anyone to wear masks at this largely outdoor event.

The Fair will be open 11 days with the last day being on Sunday, Oct. 24.

This year's Fair theme is "Worth the Wait," and will include the usual fare of rides, games, exhibits and food. The cost of entry is $13 for an adult, $7 for children ages 5 through 12 (under 5 are free) and -- very sadly -- $5 for seniors.

Seniors No Longer Allowed Free Admission

For more than 35 years I have been going to the Fair knowing that when I turn 65 my trips to the extravaganza would be free. I turned 65 this year, and senior citizens are no longer free!

This decision, by Fair officials, is a huge mistake that probably has long-time N.C. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham spinning in his grave. Not only is this a greedy move, it will most certainly make life far more difficult for seniors, who will now have to wait in long lines (in all kinds of weather) to purchase tickets instead of being able to walk directly into the Fair with no waiting.

Some seniors have ambulatory and balance problems that will be exasperated by this new policy. One can only hope the Department of Agriculture will see the error of its ways and revert to the "Seniors get in Free" policy of year's past.

Fair officials are going to throw seniors a bone: Tuesday Oct. 19 is Senior Citizen's Day so us old folks get in free on that day only.

Other Theme Days

Canned Food Day

Other special days include the ever-popular "Canned Food Day" on Thursday Oct. 21. Known this year as "Hunger Relief Day," anyone with six cans of food gets in free. All the cans are donated to the Food Bank of North Carolina. On Military Appreciation Day, Wednesday Oct. 20 active military get into the Fair for $8.

accessABILITY Day

On a positive note, this year's Fair will include accessABILITY Day on Sunday, Oct. 17.

"For years, our team has been brainstorming ways to make the fair more inclusive and more welcoming to all North Carolinians, regardless of ability," stated a Fair press release.

On accessABITY Day, from 8 a.m. till noon, the Fair will quiet down:

• Rides and games will open at 9 a.m. and operate with no lights or music playing.

• Vendors will operate with no lights or music at their booths.

• Music stages will only play acoustic sets with light amplification.

• The public address system will only be used for lost visitor announcements.
  

All-day activities on accessABILITY Day include:

• A “Bandwidth Chill Out Zone” in the Graham Building with tables/chairs, low lighting and soft music playing for anyone needing a break from the busy atmosphere outside and noise cancelling headphones will be available to check out

• Specially designed inclusive and/or adaptive “on the spot” competitions.

• Adult changing stations in existing family restrooms as space allows, now available year-round.

• Guidebooks available to download or pick up at guest services which highlight all the inclusive activities and amenities the Fair is offering.

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Garner Grows Returns to the State Fair

As is the case every year, the Garner Grows Community Garden will have a lot going on at the Fair.

Despite her fears of the virus, Garner gardening stalwart, Tammy Kennedy, has already brought a lot of her competitive entries of plants, flowers and vegetables to the Fair hoping to win both ribbons and cash. While Kennedy always takes home a boatload of ribbons, any monetary winnings will be donated to Garner Grows, which is still looking for a new patch of land to set down its roots more than a year after the garden lost its home on Vandora Springs Rd. The second time Garner Grows has had to relocate in its 11-plus-year history

"We really want this to be the last time we move; it's heartbreaking, expensive and incredibly difficult in many ways," Kennedy told The Garner News.

Kennedy said Garner Grows presence at the Fair has "grown each year and the last fair in 2019 we did a ton, even having a market stall in horticulture (which we got second place for).

"We had to scale back some this year. We're hoping next year will be back to normal."

Now that Garner Grows has a lead on a new permanent location, Kennedy is ready to settle down again.

"We are so excited at the thought of being in one place again," she said. "It's still months to go before that happens but at least there's a sliver of hope now."

Be sure to check out the Fair garden and look for Garner Grows' entries, and have a good time.

70 Percent of North Carolina Adults Have Received Their First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Raleigh

Oct 7, 2021

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19. Seventy percent of North Carolinians age 18 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

"COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be our best tool for preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19," said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. “Seventy percent of North Carolinians have sought out reliable information and decided to protect themselves and others with tested, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. If you’re not vaccinated, it’s not too late. Just don’t wait."

COVID-19 vaccines offer significant protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death. People who are not fully vaccinated are more than 18 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who are fully vaccinated.

This protection will be strengthened and extended through booster shots for people who are 65 and over, have a high-risk medical condition, work in higher risk settings or live or work in a place where many people work together. Boosters are currently available for people who received their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months ago.

Ongoing research on the safety of COVID-19 has made the vaccines available to more people, including teens ages 12-17. In addition, clinical trials are being completed and analyzed for children 5-11.

Research has also shown the vaccines are safe for those who are pregnant, wanting to get pregnant or are nursing. Last week, the CDC issued a health advisory urgently recommending people who are pregnant, recently pregnant or trying to become pregnant get vaccinated. The action came as August was the highest number of COVID-19 related deaths in pregnant women in a single month. There are significant risks for complications associated with COVID-19 in pregnant women.

"We still have a way to go to get everyone fully vaccinated, but we should all celebrate this moment," Secretary Cohen said. "Credit for reaching this important milestone goes to the thousands of tireless providers, community and faith-based groups, advocates and public servants who worked to provide education and, most importantly, access to COVID-19 vaccines throughout the state. You have saved millions of lives. Let’s keep up the good work."

Visit MySpot.nc.gov for more COVID-19 information and updates and to find a vaccine location near you.

Vandora Pines Community Stands Against Dangerous Dog Permit

Watch the petition to council above.

Patrice Johnson, Vandora Pines HOA board member, speaking on behalf of the Vandora Pines community.

BY MARGARET DAMGHANI

Tuesday night, several members of the Vandora Pines neighborhood in Garner attended the Town Council meeting to voice their concerns about dangerous dog permits for two pit bulls, stemming from the April 17 attack on a local mother and her child. The widely publicized attack resulted in the death of eight-year-old Jayden Henderson, and serious injuries to her mother Heather Trevaskis.

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“Ultimately the decision on the permit will rest with the Garner Police Department and the Garner Police Chief. The review process for these permits has not been completed at this time,” said Town Attorney Terri Jones. There is no deadline for reviewing it, and the Garner Police are gathering information and verifying the information that has been provided.  

Should the permit be approved, the dogs would return to the owners if they fulfill several requirements. Aggrieved parties, either for approval or denial, may submit an administrative appeal to the town’s appeal board, or a judge could file a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, Jones said. 

 “The neighborhood is very, very concerned. There are a few things they want to make sure you as a board are aware of. The dog has killed one of our jewels, Jayden. Jayden played with many of the children that currently reside in the neighborhood. This will forever be something that is stapled in their minds. It will cause undue stress to them to have these dogs brought back into the neighborhood, which is the current request of the owners,” said HOA Board Member Patrice Johnson. “At this time, we are asking you to reject this permit request given the nature of the incident and the fact that we have lost one of our children…” 

Johnson echoed the worries of residents, saying that even under the best circumstances dogs can escape, and that the requirements of the permit are not enough to ease the anxiety surrounding these particular dogs. 

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Neighbor and Raleigh Police Officer Blake Dicello was first on the scene of the attack.

Blake Dicello, a longtime Raleigh Police Officer who lives across the street from the home the dogs resided at, intervened in the attack that day. 

“That day will change me forever. I did not see two dogs defending their property. That’s not what I saw. I saw two dogs viciously attacking and mauling two unconscious people,” Dicello said. “I stand unequivocally with this community… I see children playing at that intersection daily...In fifteen years, I have never seen anything like what I saw on that afternoon, and I have seen some serious stuff.”

Mayor Ken Marshburn said that the Council has heard the concerns of the community and “will be diligent in pursuing this matter”, and reiterated that the final decision on if the dogs would be allowed to return rests with the Police Chief.

 There is currently a “For Sale By Owner” sign outside of the residence. 

Patrick O'Neill: Solitary Confinement

The following column by Ted Vaden originally appeared in lastgaffe.com, an online blog for people in their retirement years.

I wrote to you recently about Patrick O’Neill, the Garner, NC, Catholic pacifist who is serving 14 months in federal prison for following his conscience. That is, he broke into a Naval base in Georgia and defaced a monument to nuclear warfare. The official sentence was conspiracy, trespassing and damage to government property.

Patrick since has written to me – a pencil-scrawled letter on yellow legal paper – to express gratitude for the people who have sent him letters of support after reading of his ordeal on this blog.  He recounted a harrowing tale of his recent hospitalization after experiencing a heart flutter in his cellblock. I’ll let Patrick tell the story from here:

“I have been in solitary confinement for two weeks, following a 4-day stay in the hospital about 45 minutes away. While in the hospital, I was under armed guard (2 corrections officers at all times) who kept me in leg irons and chained to the bed 24-7. I was only out of the bed (always in leg irons) for brief tests. I was expected to use a handheld urinal instead of the toilet….

“The guards worked 8-12 hour shifts over the four days. (They basically ignored me, but one of them I became friends with.) I listened to their conversations and realized some of them were working overtime at close to $50 an hour, so the cost of guarding me for those 4 days was likely in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. Your tax dollars at work.

“I spent my birthday (March 27) in the so-called ‘Special Housing Unit,’ AKA ‘The Hole,’ and I may be in here for Easter as well. So this Lenten season is unlike any other I’ve ever experienced (harder than the year I did a juice-fast all 40 days for Peace in Iraq and lost 30 pounds.) I really do thank God daily for my suffering, but I do have my moments when I try not to think about the fact that I’ve now been in a 9x5-foot room for 13 days and counting without the door opening once. I did feel a little stir-crazy one night and paced and recited the Rosary and felt better. I’m not as tough as I used to be, that’s for sure.”

Patrick’s wife Mary told me that she finally had received a phone call from him on April 7 and that he had been released from solitary confinement. He had been placed there because of COVID. He still has not been vaccinated but was returned to his cellblock of more than 100 inmates. The disease reportedly has infected hundreds of inmates and staff at the Ohio federal prison complex where he is incarcerated.

In a recent letter to supporters, Patrick wrote, “Some of the men in this room have been here for more than 10 years, many have 10 years to go! And almost all for charges that warranted placement in a ‘low security’ prison that has cubicles instead of cells. That means the Bureau of Prisons finds all the men in Elkton are low risk for any kind of violence, which begs the question – Why are they here? Why didn’t they get compassionate home confinement due to Covid? Why didn’t they get some alternative sentence to years in prison? Answer: because the U.S. Prison-Industrial Complex is a self-perpetuating institution that employs thousands of people doing unnecessary jobs, such as watching TV in Patrick’s hospital room.”

Patrick O’Neill is age 65. He and his wife Mary are the parents of eight children and are grandparents. He will complete his prison term in March of 2022 – maybe by Christmas, if gets out on good behavior.

Patrick O'Neill: A Birthday Behind Bars

The following column by Ted Vaden originally appeared in lastgaffe.com, an online blog for people in their retirement years.

I would like to tell you about my friend Patrick O’Neill.

Patrick and his wife Mary live in Garner, where they operate a Catholic relief shelter for women and children in crisis. The couple raised 8 children of their own there, and they now are proud grandparents.

Next Saturday, March 27, Patrick turns 65. He will observe his birthday living in a prison cellblock at the Oakton Federal Correction Institute in Lisbon, Ohio, where he is serving a 14-month sentence for breaking into a U.S. Navy base to protest nuclear weapons.

Patrick is a man of unimaginable faith and adherence to his convictions. A longtime pacifist, he is one of the so-called Kings Bay Plowshares 7, a group of peace activists who on April 4, 2018, cut through a security fence and slipped into the King’s Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Ga. King’s Bay is the world’s largest nuclear sub facility, where six Trident submarines bearing nuclear-tipped missiles are berthed.

The group of activists chose the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to protest the nuclear weapons stored at King’s Bay. Patrick was apprehended banging on a monument to nuclear warfare with a hammer made of melted-down guns.

The seven protestors, all Catholic pacifists, were convicted in 2019 in federal court in Georgia, on charges of conspiracy, trespassing and damage to government property. They pleaded not guilty, saying they had entered the base not to commit a crime but to prevent one - “omnicide,” from nuclear warfare. They were sentenced last fall to terms ranging up to 33 months. Patrick was sentenced to 14 months and entered the Ohio prison on Jan. 14. With time served and good behavior, he could be released in 10 months.

Even though Patrick is in a low-security facility, his incarceration has been anything but easy. First, there is the threat of COVID-19 infection. Hundreds of inmates and staff in the Elkton facility have been infected, and nine inmates have died of COVID. A federal judge denied Patrick’s request to delay the start of his sentence until vaccines would be available for inmates.

Because of the infection, the prison is in lockdown, which means prisoners cannot receive visitors and are confined to their cellblock. “My block includes a range of 110-120 men living in a room with bodies always in constant motion as men move about looking to pass time in meaningful ways,” he wrote in a recent letter to supporters. “Many guys speak too loudly and there’s a public address system where guards make shrieking, sometimes shocking announcements throughout the day. The sensory overload is relentless, something akin to low-level torture.”

Patrick reports that many of the inmates are in prison for sex offenses – not for touching children or for manufacturing porn, but for viewing or sharing it on computers. They receive little or no rehabilitation and are treated by guards and other inmates as the lowest caste in prison society.

It is also a race-reversal society.
“Here, in an ironic reversal of fortune, whites are second-class citizens, so I have to learn and follow the rules, rules which are made by the inmates,” he writes. “I see it as my required affirmative action.”

Patrick is an indefatigable spirit. I first came to know him 28 years ago, when he was a reporter at The Chapel Hill News, where I was editor.  He covered UNC like a bloodhound, producing such scoops as the story that 50 coaches and Ram’s Club officials were receiving free loaner cars from 45 auto dealers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Among the beneficiaries were basketball coach Dean Smith (a Cadillac Sedan de Ville) and former star Phil Ford. The dealers were made members of the Rams Club and given free season’s tickets to football and basketball games.

Within a month after Patrick’s stories appeared, UNC cancelled the program.

Another Patrick story was about cars with Rams Club stickers being allowed to park in fire lanes outside Kenan Stadium on football Saturdays. Shortly after, then-Athletics Director John Swofford (now ACC Commissioner) encountered me on campus to ask why the newspaper was so negative about the athletics program. I told Swofford we were just covering the news and told Patrick to keep doing his job – which was not necessary to tell him.

Over the years, Patrick has continued as a freelance journalist, but he has devoted himself foremost to his Catholic activism protesting nuclear arms, the death penalty, racial injustice and mistreatment of immigrants. In his peace work, all in the form of nonviolent protest, he has served more than two years in jail and prison, even before this current term.

After Patrick was sentenced last October, he emerged from the courthouse with an upbeat attitude. The judge, moved by testimony from Patrick’s children and others, gave him a lesser sentence than the 26 months allowed by law.

He said then: “I’m pleased with the outcome. I’m sad that I’m going to be away from my family for quite a while, but I think that the purpose of the Kings Bay Plowshares was to be willing to face the possibility of redemptive suffering, and so it is. It’s not the most severe thing. It’s certainly something that I can tolerate.”

In prison, not surprisingly, he has been an advocate for his fellow inmates, seeking better treatment and more opportunity for pastoral care. He says he sees his sacrifice as a blessing:

“I pray in gratitude each morning for redemptive suffering and humility. The unpleasantness of solitary is also a gift, as I experience a small taste of the suffering that most human beings face every day all over the world. I hope to feel a little more empathy for my sisters and brothers who barely survive in the world.”

Only Patrick O’Neill would see forced isolation in a COVID-invested prison as a gift.

Happy Birthday, Patrick. Happy Easter.