"We found that Muslim Americans are taking those steps. They're self-policing those communities [and] they're preventing people with radical views from speaking in mosques," said David Schanzer, who is an Associate Professor at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. "When they identify individuals who seem to be heading in the wrong direction they confront them. They take action against them. Sometimes, they inform law enforcement. Sometimes they expel them from their communities."

The study "Anti-Terror Lessons Of Muslim-Americans" concluded the vast majority of Muslim-Americans reject radical extremist ideology and violence; that a "small number" of Muslim-Americans have radicalized since September 11, 2001. The project counted 139 Muslim-Americans who had committed acts of violent terrorism or were prosecuted for terrorism-related offenses that involve some element of violence.

"This level of approximately 17 individuals per years is small compared to other violent crime in America, but not insignificant," the report said. "Homegrown terrorism is a serious, but limited, problem."

 MUSLIM-AMERICAN THOUGHTS

Some Muslim-Americans believe valuable research time should be spent elsewhere.

"There was nothing in the study to really focus on how to be proactive or how to change the thinking of someone who might turn radical," said Khalilah Sabra, who is director of the Muslim American Society in Raleigh. "It would help if they gave grants that would allow Muslim youth to have leadership training, to feel empowered as far as being good Muslims [or] contributing to the American community ... but we're not getting that."

The study included interviews with 120 Muslims located in four Buffalo, Houston, Seattle and the Triangle. Sabra said she felt the sample was too small and that the study did not delve deep enough into sectors of the community that share different beliefs. She said some youth are fragile.

"The youth that's in pain from seeing his relatives in other countries in a situation of war ... where their houses are being torn-down or they're in societies where there's occupation," she said. "We haven't addressed that kind of pain and sometimes that pain is internalized for a very, very long time and maybe the parent didn't even see it coming."

"Grants would be better to help that youth assimilate into these two cultures where they are an advantage to the Muslims community and to the American community."

Leadership programs for youth are becoming more visible, but Sabra said Muslim communities need more.

In 2008, for instance, 20 Muslim high school and college students took part in a summer course for young Muslims in the Triangle Leadership Program. The course focused on engaging those young people in political and civic activism.

THE YOUTH

Several youth told NBC 17 internal and external factors need to come together to prevent extremism and homegrown terrorism. But that there's also no 100 percent fix.

"The Islamic community can provide activities or lectures or sports events that would include their interests that would include that group of people," said Rakan Diarbakerli, who is a 20 year-old studying zoology at NC State. "That can only go so far though because you can't really compel people or force them to learn something they really don't want to."

Diarbakerli said he thinks there's a polarization taking place in some youth; that the gap between fundamentalist and extremists is growing.

"The radical ideology goes even further in its own direction because they're in denial," he said. "They say - Islam really doesn't teach that. Islam really teaches this. So that polarizing ends up happening."

"We're not living in a Utopia. This is real-world. This is real-life. And humans are humans and you know how humans are."

Diarbakerli said he has met people with views more extreme than him, but he believes it comes down to knowing the Muslim religion and living peacefully.

"They tell me their stories - and to be honest - it's really horrible. It's horrifying. They've had family members killed. They've known friends who've been killed and tortured and it's just horrible. Unimaginable," he said. "At the same time remember these people ... unfortunately every single one of them ... did not know their religion well enough. There are a lot of people in this world who, unfortunately, use Islamic ideals ... they twist the words, they take the words out of context. It's really unfortunate."

And many of these youth who are involved in group-building activists fear the problem starts with those not involved at all. They believe influence around the world, including those on the Internet, can sway some youth in their developmental stages.

"People first have to understand how people become extremists. Most typical Muslim kids don't have those views. They're not extremists. They don't have those problems," said Sarah Baddour, who is a recent graduate of NC State and is studying now to become a paralegal. "I think it's the ones who are not that religious who are actually out there and then when they suddenly realize that ‘I'm not doing all the stuff I'm not supposed to be doing' ... they don't have that basic foundation of their religion ...they get swept up by people who do have more extreme views ... to change yourself ... to become a better Muslim ... you have to go to this other level that they don't have to go to."

Muhammad Baddour, Sarah's younger brother, agreed.

"If you don't have that solid foundation ... some kids are caught up in all the other things that all the other kids that they shouldn't be doing. And then they just go from like 0 to 60 in two seconds," he said. "They don't have enough time to really comprehend and really learn things that they should be learning. They just started listening to other people who have extreme views or talk in a certain way or follow a certain way."

RADICALIZATION IN THE TRIANGLE

In 2009, federal agents arrested seven Triangle-area men and accused of plotting terrorism. The report said that, until this year, the Triangle has had only one incident of radicalization: Mohammad Reza Taheri-Azar.

http://johnston.mync.com/site/johnston/news/story/42283/terror-suspects-now-charged-with-conspiring-to-murder-u.s.-military-personn

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11660817/

In 2006, the recent University of North Carolina graduate was charged with nine counts of attempted murder, only a day after police said he drove through a popular campus gathering spot in an attempt to avenge Muslim deaths.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRIANGLE'S MUSLIM HERITAGE

The report said that the Triangle area is home to about 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims and that the community's roots date back 200 years. North Carolina was home to many African Muslims enslaved in the United States.

"Few of the slaves' Islamic traditions or identities survived, but the Triangle area later became a vibrant center for the Nation of Islam and the Sunni movement that emerged out it," the report said. "Another group of Muslims arrived in the 1960s, many of them international students at local universities."

The report also said the Islamic Association of Raleigh, which is the area's largest Muslim institution, was founded by NC State students and graduates. In 1985, they built a mosque with help of donations from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The center would later become independent of foreign donations once its members became successful professionals, according to the report.

Instead, 15-year-old Miles Addison and his 13-year-old pairs figure skating partner, Kay Bergdolt, are preparing for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Miles and Kay say going to Russia would be a dream come true, but the road to achieving that dream takes discipline and dedication beyond their years.

For Miles, his day begins at 4:47 a.m. before the sun comes up.

And with the 2014 Olympics in his sights, sleeping in isn't an option.

"I think that what gets me up is just the determination and, you know, thinkin' I could have a really good day and this could be, you know, one of the days I can land something, get a new element or something like that," said Miles.

At 5:15 a.m. Miles is off to the rink to get in some pre-dawn ice time.

5:30 a.m. - Miles and Kay arrive at Iceplex in Raleigh, where Coach Oleg Efimov warms up the figure skaters before they lace up.

The pairs team hits the ice at 6 a.m. for an hour and a half long practice.

The two have worked and grown up together as a pair for the last four years, pushing each other and themselves to keep getting up no matter how much it hurts.

Miles started skating when he was just 3-years-old.

Kay began skating at 5-years-old.

"Well you always have bad days and it's always hard to get back up and fight through those. But whenever you have a good day and you land a new jump, it's so exciting and you just want to do it again and again," said Kay.

7:30 a.m. - Kay's off to Cary Academy.

Twenty-five minutes later Miles arrives at Enloe for a full school day.

4 p.m. -- For another couple hours the pairs team is back on the ice.

Then they part ways to study and get some sleep so they can do it all over again the next day.

And Miles and Kay's hard work is paying off.

They took home gold medals in the 2010 East Sectional Championship and won bronze in this year's Junior National Championship.

"I was surprised to see they were doing this right down the street from our house," Dave said as he signed in at The Triangle Curling Club's "Learn to Curl" event. "Where have you ever seen curling anything besides the Olympics?"

The family that moved south from Massachusetts joined 40 other people at the event that has become a regular occurrence since curling joined the ranks of the Olympics games three games ago. But you have to go back to 1995 to find where this all started; back when a couple of Connecticut moved south to the Triangle.

"In our first years it was hard to get people to curl so we went through some lean years," said Dan Scheck, who is one of the original members of the club. "When people saw curling on the Olympics - they knew about it and wanted to try it."

The club now holds steady at 50 to 60 members and has several lessons scheduled in February and March. Click here to see the full schedule for the Triangle Curling Club.

According to the Triangle Curling Club, the sport started about 500 years ago in Scotland.

"They'd go out on the locks in the middle of winter when there's nothing else to do and slide big boulders across the ice," Scheck said.

At first, the curling stone was large chunks of rock that people bowled across ice. The sport has evolved into a game with specially-made shoes and brooms. The stones are intricate as well. They all weigh 42 pounds.

"It's made out of granite from one particular quarry in Scotland," said Ryan Lowden, who was speaking to the rookies on the ice this night. "They've stopped mining it. So now they either have to come up with another quarry or come up with some other synthetic materials."

Lowden said the specially-made stone has a small concave bottom on it. As it slides over the small specs of water that are prepared and frozen on the ice, the stone doesn't touch the ice in any more than three spots at a time.

"Basically you want to get [the stones] into the circles at the other end," Scheck said. "It's a little more complicated than that. The other team is trying to get them down to the center also. If you get one in the center - they'll try to knock yours out."

Some fall. Others, like Dave's 14 year-old son Josh, shock the crowd. Watch the NBC 17 News video to see Josh's amazing shot.

"It's a heck of a lot more complex than I ever thought it could possibly be," Dave said as he played.

Click here to find Curling 101 - All you need to know before you play or watch the game.

They're not just cute, they also store your contact information, social media links even your picture.

The electronic business cards offer an easy way to exchange contact info with a simple touch, and it's a trend some tech experts say is catching on.

"We're still using business cards that don't connect, and don't update and aren't dynamic and the Poken offers that," said Poken Retailer and advocate Martin Brossman.

Here's how it works:

Connect the dots, plug it into your computer and it brings up a website where you can see your connections.

If their info changes, your Poken reflects those changes and you don't have to do a thing.

"I don't have the sense that this is going to completely eradicate business cards... Something like this, whether it's Poken, or a competitor, or a smartphone app or something like this to me is going to be way more common in the coming times than it is right now," said Gary Alan Miller with UNC Career Services.

Still, he says the university is considering buying a bunch to give to students to encourage networking -- something Miller says is a must when trying to land a job.

There are competitors to the Poken, like the "mingle stick," but the two can't be used together.

Iphones offer a "bump" feature that sort of works the same way, but Martin Brossman says with that you need internet access and contact info doesn't update automatically should anything change.

Pokens cost $20 or $35, for the ones that come with a flash drive.

They're available online and are sold throughout the Triangle.

Learn More About Pokens:

Poken Raleigh

Mingle Stick


Facebook For Raleigh Poken

Leonard will be officially sworn in during the Board meeting on Monday, Feb. 15, at SAGE Academy. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the library media center.

• Understand how the alternative scenarios were developed;
• Recognize how performance measures guided scenario development;
• Confirm priority measures; and
• Reach consensus on key elements of a preferred scenario.
• There will also be a large group presentation as well as hands-on review exercises of scenario maps.

Following the second workshop, a preferred scenario will be developed with strong consideration of the public feedback gathered during the second workshop. Once this preferred scenario is approved, short-term and long-range integrated land-use and multimodal transportation strategies and implementation steps will be recommended.

The last public workshop, scheduled for May 11, 2010, will again call on the public to provide input on the preferred scenario and refinements of the strategy recommendations to create a Master Plan "blueprint" for the corridor. The recommendations will then be presented to each of the local policy boards beginning in July 2010 for their review, comment, and approval action.

Once the study is finished, the final master plan will be presented to the local and regional policy boards and used to inform transportation/traffic analysis, land use decisions, project planning, and funding priorities.

The total cost for the study is $257,432 with 80 percent of the funding coming from federal transportation planning funds and the remaining 20 percent funded jointly by the City of Durham, Durham County, and the Town of Chapel Hill.

Residents interested in joining a group of citizen contacts for this study should contact Leta Huntsinger with the DCHC MPO at (919) 560-4366 ext. 30423 or via e-mail at leta.huntsinger@durhamnc.gov. For more information about this study, visit www.nc54-I40corridorstudy.com.

The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission meets Tuesday in Raleigh to hear the case of Greg Taylor, The Cary man has spent more than 16 years in prison for the stabbing and beating death of 26-year-old Jacquetta Thomas, whose body was found on a Raleigh street in September 1991.

Another man, Craig Taylor, has confessed to the crime.

The commission found enough evidence to warrant a review of the case. But Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby has said that he's skeptical of Craig Taylor's confession, partly because he's confessed to almost 70 other crimes.

North Carolina is the only state with a government agency dedicated to verifying claims of innocence.

On their way home from church, the Saultens had driven into what they thought was shallow water covering part of R. Jordan Road, which crosses the Deep River near the Chatham and Lee County line. Within seconds of driving into the high waters, their car was inundated.

But, with no phone and no way out of the flooded car, the couple decided to tough it out as the waters of the Deep River were surging over R. Jordan Road.

"It was something to have that water come up over beyond the windshield and radiator, and over the top of the car," said 77-year-old Maisie Saulten, who was diving her 90-year-old husband Harland.

Standing by the Camelback Truss Bridge at Deep River Park in Cumnock, N.C., area resident Scott Jackson pointed out just how much the river had crested.

"Out there is a picnic table, and normally you could walk to it," Jackson explained. "But, it's just flooded out right to the top of the table. This is the highest I've ever seen it."

And it was that high water that covered a portion of the road near the park that caused the problems for the Saultens.

"The water drowned out their car. The battery died, so they chose to ride it out and stayed in the car all night," T. Shane Seagroves, the director of emergency services for Lee County, explained.

For nearly 11 hours, the couple huddled in the water filled car.

"The circumstances dictated it," Harland said. "What are you going to do with water that's three and a half feet deep and you're in the middle of it?"

"I sat in that cold water in my seat all night long."

The Saultens fought sleep to ensure each other's safety while they awaited help.

"I felt in my heart it would be wise to stay awake to help each other in case something would happen," Maisie explained.

During the long, dark hours, they were comforted by a well-worn bible they had brought with them to church earlier that day.

"We talked to the Lord, and we prayed asking him to send in reinforcements," Maisie said.

At dawn, help arrived in the form of a pick-up truck that could negotiate the now-receding flood waters.

"I held the car door open and hung myself out as much as I could, waving for him to come on down," Harland said. "By then, the water was shallow enough to drive down there."

The truck's driver took Harland to a nearby house where the owner called for help.

"They seemed to be fine," Seagroves said. "They were cold, but Harland refused treatment; Maisie was taken to the hospital in Sanford to be checked."

Although there are signs and barriers in the middle of the road warning about the flooding conditions Monday afternoon, the couple insists there was nothing like that on the road when they drove down it Sunday evening.

Had the warnings been there, the Saultens said, there's no way they would have chanced going through flood conditions like that.

Laurie Paolicelli, Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau Director, told the council at Monday's meeting they are looking for new ways to advertise and market the area to bring in more tourists. Paolicelli said the economy and neighboring counties competiting for tourists is having a negative impact on Chapel Hill's efforts.

Paolicelli said the most popular request she gets from visitors is asking for a guided tour of Chapel Hill. She showed council members a map of a 10 mile loop around town that could be a possible route.

The loop would include such stops as University Mall, the Carolina Basketball Museum, NC Botanical Garden, Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Council members expressed interest in the idea and asked the town manager to look at how much it would cost and to consider putting into this spring's budget negotiations.  

Chapel Hill town council scheduled its first public hearing over the use of cell phones while driving at its meeting Monday night.

A couple weeks ago, council member Penny Rich suggested the town council consider banning drivers from using cell phone because she says it causes too many distractions. Rich said she also has concerns that pedestrians are facing an increasing danger as the town and UNC-Chapel Hill's populations continue to grown.

The public forum is set for February 22.

Some council members said there are other questions to answer as far how the measure would be implemented if they go the route of banning cell phones while driving.

The Durham Board of Commissioners passed a "Preliminary Resolution" Monday night. It is a step towards financing the new county courthouse and other projects that should cost no more than $130 million.

"We're going to do something unique this year," said George Quick, who is Durham County Finance Director. "We have a private placement with Wachovia that will allow us to borrow the money as it is needed and the process is to take about 30 months. By borrowing it as we need it we're able to cut the overall interest costs down."

Quick said it brings down the total price tag for interest from roughly $14 million if the County borrowed it all and paid interest over a 3 year period - to a little under $3 million. That's a savings of about $11 million.

At a public hearing Monday night Durham resident Matt Drew said he was concerned that financing this way was a risky move when it came to the interest rate.

"I think accepting this expenditure and this loan in this way is setting the same kind of example that the starry-eyed subprime borrower stepping forward and saying, I can borrow ... these are low rates; I can buy that McMansion that I want for $500,000 because it looks like you can afford it," Drew said. "When interest rates go up and change as we saw the year before - all of a sudden, things become very different. At the end of 3 years - we're still going to have to owe $130 million and at that point - we're going to have to pay that somehow."

The money will pay for the new Durham County Courthouse and parking deck and various other projects and the refinancing of a portion of the cost of the Durham County Jail.

"This rate is a variable rate that adjusts on a weekly basis and that's the way it operates," Quick said.

He added that the intent is to finance the construction and at the end of the 3 years or anytime before then, if they feel appropriate, they will go to market and put a 20 year mortgage on the property to get the best deal.

The Board of County Commissioners will vote on approval for the transaction on February 22. County staff hope to execute the loan and give the start order to the contractor on March 8.

State officials suspended the license to operate for Vagap Health, a group home for adults with mental illness in Holly Springs.

In a ruling, the state said the facility "neglected to provide services to assure the health, safety and welfare of the clients."

On Saturday, police said a resident of the home, Gregory McClain, 22, stabbed another resident, who was later treated and released from the hospital.

McClain remained in the Wake County Jail late Monday facing a charge of attempted murder.

Even before the stabbing, the state had been investigating the home after complaints.

The Holly Springs Police Department had been separately moving to file a court order to shut down the home.

Chief John Herring said the main issue was that it appeared residents weren't being properly supervised.

"We saw that early on and we, of course, contacted the state and made them aware of this," he said.

Police said in the six weeks since the home opened, officers have responded to almost 20 complaints there.

Neighbors said they also wanted to see the home shut down, and worried about the residents who were living there.

Police said one resident was a sex offender, and state records show McClain had recently been in prison for ten months after an assault conviction.

"It makes us all in the neighborhood very, very nervous," said neighbor Susan Giffune.

The home's administrator, Obi Achumba, has said the residents are always supervised and he looks into criminal backgrounds of residents before they move in.

After the state's ruling late Monday, Achumba said concerns about the home were not warranted.

"It's sad our system is broken where facilities taking on cases like this get penalized," he said.

Achumba said he will appeal the decision. "I'm going to fight," he said.

"Our target population is adults and we are shooting for those who have an income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty index," said M. Alec Parker, DMD, Executive Director, of the North Carolina Dental Society. "Our goal is to get the same standard of care that people would get in a private office."

The program Missions of Mercy will host a free dental care clinic for adults on March 12 and March 13. It will be at the National Guard Armory at 801 Stadium Drive in Durham.

There are no appointments; caretakers see patients on a first-come, first-serve basis. Patient registration begins at 6:00 a.m. and treatment starts at 8:00 a.m. But Parker said events like this in the past have meant people started lining up the night before.

"We've already made arrangements for the Durham Police Department to provide security," he told county commissioners Monday night.

Private donations from the NC Missions of Mercy are covering the cost of the clinic. Parker asked county commissioners Monday night for volunteers to help patients and for portable bathrooms while they wait.

Dentists provide extractions, fillings and cleanings. For more information, contact the North Carolina Dental Society at (919) 677-1396.

Democratic Governor Bev Perdue is standing by her cabinet appointees and chalked up the GOP's remarks as "partisan politics at its worst. "

Republican Chairman Tom Fetzer called for Young to resign for failing to investigate claims that former Governor Mike Easley ordered the deletion of emails to prevent them from becoming public.

At the time, Young was Easley's chief legal counsel.

Fetzer also charged that Young failed to question former Easley aide Ruffin Poole about his travel.

Poole has since been indicted on 51-counts of corruption. He is accused of accepting trips from Easley supporters and profiting from investments in coastal developments he helped expedite through regulatory hurdles.

Now Young serves as the current governor's Crime Control boss.

"She can't be a reformer and she can't be all about transparency and ethics if she continues to let business go as usual," Fetzer said.

Governor Perdue said Fetzer needs more than "empty words."

"If somebody can give me something to show he did something wrong in another administration -- all my secretaries know there is zero tolerance," Perdue said.

Fetzer also wants Secretary of Correction Alvin Keller to resign citing poor performance in his hiring of probation officers. 

As of Feb. 8, 2010, the DOC reports there are 117 vacancies.

The problem is not with hiring officers, but retaining the workers, DOC spokesman Keith Acree said.

The salary for a trainee is $31,246 but applicants must have a four-year degree.

Those with a college degree as well as two years experience in social work, law enforcement or probation receive a salary of $35,337.

The governor vouched for her appointee: "Secretary Keller, in my mind, has taken an agency that was very, very troubled and turned it around. It is on the right direction," Perdue said. 

With weather like the Triangle saw last week, moisture seeps into asphalt, and then expands -- cracking the pavement.

Snow plows and car tires can take small problems and make them a lot bigger in a hurry.

"If there were no other cars on the road at the time, you could probably avoid it," Cary resident Mike Violette said. "But if you're going with the flow of traffic, you're going to hit the potholes."

A 50-foot long one on Maynard Road in Cary isn't deep enough to do much damage, but people who run into some of the worse ones could get in trouble.

"When they strike that pothole, it doesn't take much," TJ Pittman, manager of Discount Tire in Cary, said. "The tire will blow, it may separate, creating a huge bubble inside of the tire, and sometimes the wheels may even bend or crack themselves."

"I hit one today that I'm just about sure knocked my car out of alignment, it was so deep," Pittsboro resident Debbie Litsey said.

In Cary, they've tried to fix potholes as they find them, but crews have had a tough time keeping up.

"We hit a bunch one day, and seem to hear about a bunch more the following," said Public Works Director Scott Hecht. "It's hard to tell how many are out there."

And unfortunately, they won't have any sort of permanent fix until the weather warms up.

"It's more of a patch," Hecht said. "We're having a tough time getting hot asphalt right now, so we're using what's called a cold patch, and it's clearly a temporary fix."

So for the time being, drivers will have to try to avoid them, which is easier said than done.

If you see any in Cary that need to be addressed, you can report them through email at potholes@townofcary.org.

_______
Keep up with the stories Chris Cowperthwaite is working on every day: http://twitter.com/ChrisC_NBC17.

Contact him at ccowperthwaite@wncn.com.

If students don't want to attend their assigned base school, they must fill out the online application.

The Wake County Board of Education has passed a resolution to make every effort to honor a family's calendar choice. That came after a failed attempt to eliminate mandatory year round schools.

If a student applies for both a calendar and magnet assignment, the magnet application will be considered first.

On March 18, families will be able to check their school assignment online.

Click here for more information and the application.

The award-winning Super Bowl commercial depicts a stingy dog owner who won't share his Doritos with his pet. The result, producer Joshua Svoboda said, is inspired by childhood experience.

"We were just hanging out and remember back in the day when we used to take our dogs training collar and run through the invisible fence seeing who could endure the most pain," Svoboda said.

That idea turned into a commercial that aired for millions of people during the big game, earning Five Point Productions more than $600,000 and second place in the USA Today's Ad Meter.

But they didn't know if they won or even if their commercial would air until they actually saw it on TV.

Brian Oliver, who portrayed the Doritos hoarder, watched the video with his family in Raleigh.

"When the ad first came on ... the place just erupted. We didn't actually get a chance to watch it," Oliver said.

Svobada saw it at the Super Bowl with other Doritos commercial contestants.

"I see our ad and 10 seconds of my life is gone. I totally blacked out." Svoboda said.

Oliver said the dog, Rosie, was the starlet of the commercial; but he admits he does have a rare talent that may have coaxed a win.

"My scream -- I was trying to channel Marv from ‘Home Alone,'" Oliver explained. "That's my favorite film ... Marv was my inspiration."

Oliver's wife Hannah said she is proud of her husband and the entire production company. She said now it's time to plan how to spend the money.

"I think new tires, a new TV, maybe put some away for a new house," Hannah Oliver said.

The group hopes with the exposure and the cash, they can complete some of the film projects they have in the works including other commercials and independent films.

Five Point Productions also entered another commercial that came in sixth place, which earned the company anther $50,000 from Frito-Lay.