Here's a statement from numerous pastors across the state in the N.C. Council of Churches on the shootings in Connecticut:

A week into July already! How summer flies.

The season's summer sports camps are flying by, too, but a few spots remain in camps offered by colleges, professional teams, pro athletes, high schools, grade schools, churches, parks and recreation departments, nonprofit organizations and for-profit enterprises around the area.

The camps cover a variety of sports, including baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, jump rope, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball and wrestling. Multi-sport camps give participants a chance to try a variety of sports without having to pay for several camps.

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in the Cleveland community is collecting donations of supplies for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The church is accepting:

Basic Needs

• Blankets

• Sheets

• Towels

• Wash cloths

• Health kits (see description below)

• Food

• Tarps

A health kit contains specific items:

• 1 hand towel (15” x 25” up to 17” x 27”)

• 1 wash cloth

• 1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)

• 1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)

• 1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)

• 1 toothbrush (single brush only in original wrapper; no child-sized brushes)

• 1 large tube of toothpaste

• 6 adhesive bandages 

The church is at 15772 N.C. 50 North, about a quarter-mile south of N.C. 42.

Barack Obama has been remarkably disciplined in his campaign rhetoric. He has stressed the importance of fixing the fouled-up economy and of purging poisons from our political system. Yet in his famous colloquy with Joe the Plumber, Obama sprang a rhetorical leak.