The long arm of government has reached all the way down to middle school now. A recently posted video making the rounds on Facebook shows a security guard abruptly stopping Waynesville (N.C.) Middle School Chorus’ singing of the national anthem at the 9/11 memorial in New York City. Barney Fife’s partner already had given the students permission to sing, but Barney said the law was that a permit was required. To. Sing. The. National. Anthem. There. The school’s principal said the kids “immediately complied and apologized.” How do you like that? An attempt at patriotism unnecessarily dashed and an apology offered by these piteous scofflaws for doing it without a permit. That’s a memory that they’ll have forever. Wow.

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Today’s edition of Current has voting information for the May 3 primary election. If you’re registered to vote, please do so. Please? The voter turnout in these parts has been anemic at best, and we don’t understand the unplugged nature of the majority of citizens. We’re providing snapshots of information about the candidates, as well as polling locations. By Tuesday, you would have had plenty of time to get up to speed if necessary. As we’ve written in this space, voting is a right and a responsibility. It’s important to exercise both.

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We’ve been asked, as voting day draws closer, whether we would endorse any number of candidates. The short answer is no. We got out of that business quite some time ago as the number of Current editions began to rise. It is practically impossible for us to adequately interview each person running for office in order to form an educated conclusion on candidacies.