Rare counterfeiting trial gets little notice

Just up Interstate-77 the first trial involving counterfeit coins in more than 50 years took place earlier this month in a brick courthouse in Statesville, N.C.

Few seemed to care, however.

The Statesville Record & Landmark newspaper didn’t send anyone to cover the trial, nor did the Charlotte Observer, the Associated Press, any web news outlets, radio or television stations.

The only media on hand was the magazine Coin World. And just two spectators showed up to watch the federal trial of Bernard Von NotHaus, 67, during the first two weeks of March.

USC conference ponders Sierra Leone’s future

The rebuilding of the African nation of Sierra Leone will be the subject of an all-day conference Friday at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Located on Africa’s west coast, Sierra Leone has spent the past decade trying to recover from a devastating civil war that left approximately 50,000 dead, almost half its population displaced and most of the country’s infrastructure destroyed.

The conference, free and open to the public, is thought to be the first of its kind in the United States, according to The State newspaper.

It will attempt to examine the issues that have hindered redevelopment of the nation of 5.7 million people and look at ways Sierra Leone can move forward.