Corruption in Durham, NC, or "I'm active on this blog. What's wrong with me?"

As I read the comments on this post the Durham in Wonderland blog, I was reminded of a very different story in a local newspaper in today's edition. As you know, I'm a bit of a frequent troller for news, and I found this article online about a former Alabama governor by the name of John M. Patterson. It covers his entry into politics as a result of his father's assassination by organized crime in Phenix City. I have absolutely no clue where Phenix City is, but I think I've passed by it on the interstate or some highway, probably on the way to Atlanta. The long and short of it is that his father, then a candidate for the office of Attorney General, was assassinated while he was campaigning to rid Phenix City of the organized crime that had been controlling the city for decades. What I found particularly moving is that then-Governor Persons, mere weeks after the assassination of Albert Patterson, sent in the National Guard and declared martial law in Phenix City, ordered the arrest of the bulk of that town's government, and cleared out the organized crime that had brought so much ruin for so long. If that was possible in 1954, before more current anti-corruption laws were passed, why hasn't Governor Mike Easley taken that extreme measure in Durham, NC? The necessity of such a move is painfully obvious to anyone who kept up with the Duke lacrosse case and has watched closely what's happened in Durham since. It's time for justice to once again (or should I say finally) rule in Durham, because it has been sorely lacking under Nifong's tenure.