Jul. 4--Brief opinions about events of the past week: Merit: For former State Auditor Les Merritt, who has opened a new nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning up government. The Foundation for Ethics in Public Service solicits anonymous tips from whistleblowers and will turn evidence over to journalists and prosecutors.

Want to drop a dime? Merritt's foundation is online at www.reportpubliccorruption.org.

Demerit: For lawmakers trying to ram through new sales tax policies for Internet businesses. The prospect of changes has prompted mega-retailers Amazon.com and Overstock.com to shut down their commission programs for North Carolina-based Web sites.

Any new attempts to impose sales taxes on Internet sales need to be carefully conceived, lest they cost more business revenue than they collect in taxes.

Merit: For Marsha Fogle, the longtime clerk for the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. Fogle retired Tuesday, after serving commissioners for 35 years.

"It's been a really good ride for me," she said. The unflappable Fogle was pretty good for the commissioners too. They'll miss her.

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