Laurels to the Rowan County Board of Elections for encouraging voters to check their registration before Oct. 14, the deadline to register to vote in this year’s presidential election. Voters who have not cast ballots since 2006 may have been placed on inactive status or removed from the voter rolls altogether. Other factors that can affect registration include a felony conviction or being registered somewhere else. Also, voters who have moved since the last time they voted should correct their addresses with the Board of Elections and find out where to vote.

Early voting begins Oct. 20 and relieves some of the crush of Election Day. Whenever a person tries to vote, though, it would be frustrating to learn he or she can only cast a provisional ballot — or can’t vote at all. Of Rowan’s 92,000-plus voters, inactive status has been put on nearly 1 in 5. Don’t let hiccups like this discourage you from exercising your right to vote.

Darts to the aggressive lobbying effort by makers of high-powered prescription painkillers to avoid action that might curb the drugs’ use. Prescription opioids have cost 165,000 Americans their lives and sent thousands more into the downward spiral of addiction, taking their families with them. As medical professionals and legislators talk about imposing limits on the drugs’ use, the opioid industry is sending lobbyists and campaign contributions into all 50 states to protect the status quo. This problem has been building for years. In 2007, executives at the company that makes OxyContin pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drug’s addictive nature and agreed to pay $600 million in fines. Yet addiction continues to spread.

Laurels to the Rowan County Agricultural and Industrial Fair, which opens Friday at the fairgrounds on Julian Road. While taking in the ferris wheel, elephant ears and other attractions, don’t skip the agricultural aspect of the fair. The farmers of tomorrow may be participating in the youth livestock shows, which include goats, lambs, breeding ewes and dairy cattle. It all starts Friday with the dairy goat dress-up at 6 p.m. and dairy goat showmanship at 6:30 p.m. For more information about livestock shows and more, go to rowancountyfair.net. The fair runs Sept. 23-Oct. 1, ending with fireworks at 11 p.m. on the last night.