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Unaffiliated voters welcome

North Carolina Republicans are keeping their welcome mat out for unaffiliated voters. By a wide margin, the party's executive committee recently rejected a motion to close their primary elections to anyone who isn't a registered Republican.

Some party leaders thought the participation of independents was preventing Republicans from nominating candidates who were conservative enough. That fear seems to be unfounded. It would be a greater problem for the GOP to tell the state's nearly 1.4 million unaffiliated voters to go elsewhere on primary day -- namely, to the Democratic Party primary.

Republicans opened their primaries to unaffiliated voters in 1988. Democrats followed in 1996. Inclusiveness is good for both parties, and it suits those voters who want to visit now and then but not stay. Both parties should leave the welcome mats out.

Lost hat, lost job

If you follow the state Highway Patrol's logic or illogic, a trooper losing his hat during a traffic stop is a more serious offense than having sex while on duty in a parked cruiser.

Thomas C. Wetherington, 22, and a trooper since 2007, was fired because his bosses claim he lied about losing the fancy $45 hat.

He says that it blew away while he was seizing guns and alcohol from a vehicle he had pulled over in Craven County.

His assumption was that traffic on the busy highway ran over it, and that's what he told superiors. But the hat later turned up in the possession of the same driver he had stopped.

It was more than a misunderstanding, according to the brass, and Wetherington lost his job. Yet that hasn't been the fate of some of the 27 patrolmen guilty of sexual misconduct over the last decade.

A review committee has called for his reinstatement; however, that's yet to happen. It should.

Big man, big heart

Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers and doesn't have any connection to North Carolina, but the murder of a 5-year-old Fayetteville girl touched his heart and opened his wallet. He stepped up last week to pay for Shaniya Davis' funeral.

O'Neal has completed police reserve officer's training and has a special concern about crimes against children. No doubt, his act of kindness and generosity helped relieve the pain experienced by Shaniya's loved ones.

State leaders aren't trusted

Most North Carolinians believe corruption in state government is worse now than it was 25 years ago, a survey released last week by Public Policy Polling found.

Democrats get worse marks from the public than do Republicans, probably because Democrats run state government, but people are largely distrustful of them all.

Given so many recent scandals involving elected officials, it's unlikely that public perception is wrong. The question is how to change the reality. With an election year just around the corner, it's certainly time for fresh candidates to step forward with promises to clean up Raleigh. Voters should demand no less.

Wild blue yonder

Here's an angle PTI Airport officials may use as leverage against passengers who defect to Raleigh in search of cheaper fares: It's wilder over there.

RDU International Airport officials report a rise in coyote sightings in recent months -- on runways.

In September, an American Eagle jet struck a coyote while taxiing. No one was injured.

Airport workers and federal wildlife personnel have tried bottle rockets and cap guns to scare off the animals. RDU has other wildlife problems, too: birds, foxes, deer and beavers.

We knew airports could be veritable zoos this time of year, but ... .