Other Opportunities or Military-Bashing? Depends on Your Point of View

A local peace activist has renewed her request to start recruiting on high school campuses in Wilkes County. Sally Ferrell is a member of North Carolina Peace Action, a nonprofit organization said to have members across the state. Ferrell tells the Journal-Patriot she wants to distribute literature to students that professes to offer alternatives to military careers but has so far been denied permission to do so. Wilkes County Schools Superintendent Steve Laws told the paper Ferrell has been denied permission to distribute material on high school campuses the school board has deemed objectionable in the past. "She is welcome to recruit for post-secondary opportunities for children," said Laws. “We endorse the right for anyone with legitimate post-secondary opportunities to come in and talk to our students.” However, Ms. Ferrell instead has tried to issue literature critical of the military, Laws said. “She has just tried to disparage the military,” he said. “That does not present an opportunity to a young person.”­ Ferrell tells the paper she is trying to negotiate with the schools, but may end up filing an ACLU-backed lawsuit if that doesn't produce the results she seeks.