In any event, guess who was the winner of this mess in Catawba County? David Learner. Learner used the Nikkie Shaffer lawsuit against DA Jay Gaither to beat Gaither in the District 25 District Attorney Primary Run-Off Election in 2014. Learner, from Morganton, had once been involved with a “pyramid scheme” that the Federal Trade Commission shut down. The news medial got a bigger kick out of the sex scandal than the pyramid scheme so all the bad news, probably inflated, caused Gaither to lose the runoff election to Learner.
Now, DA David Learner has fired or demoted two assistant district attorneys for allegedly being Word of Faith Church members who also allegedly gave free legal advice to the Church, which is outside the 25th Judicial District. It may be very well that DA David Learner may soon find himself involved with a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit as well.
As far as the Nikkie Shaffer v. Jay Gaither lawsuit, it appears to still be going on but not necessarily to Nikkie Shaffer’s liking. From the start, Nikkie Shaffer seemed to have the advantage as the press came down on Gaither and caused him to lose the election. Now the facts of the matter have come out that Nikkie Shaffer was indeed having a sexual fling with a defense attorney just like Jay Gaither said she was. Nikkie Shaffer has hired some high dollar Charlotte attorneys to apparently help her get out from under a lawsuit that she started but now is hiding from. Stay tuned on this story as things appear to be happening.
Cleveland County DSS Civil Rights lawsuit:
Former Cleveland County NAACP President Rev. Dante Murphy has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against the Cleveland County DSS as well as DSS Director Karen Ellis. Murphy alleges the CCDSS, under Ellis’s direction, withheld promotions, withheld Family Medical Leave approval as well as told Rev. Murphy he could not preach at his Church while on leave. Rev. Murphy as well as Rev. Melvin Clark spoke to the County Commissioners asking that the Commissioners investigate the corruption at the CCDSS but the commissioners have refused to do so. An EEOC complaint has been issued against the commissioners, but I do not know where that stands right at this minute. Rev. Murphy resigned from the CCDSS as he believed he was being retaliated against and feared being setup in some sort of scheme. I can believe that. That is how Cleveland County DSS operates.
Now, a Word of Faith Church member who also worked for the CCDSS. Lori Cornelius, has resigned from DSS while under pressure. Doesn’t Cleveland County ever learn that cow horns will hook??? I expect Cleveland County will soon have another lawsuit that taxpayers will have to bail them out of.
As far as the Rutherford County DSS, who has the lead authority to investigate the apparently false allegations against the Word of Faith Church, they have closed the case. Apparently the RCDSS has been involved with previous dirty tricks against the Word of Faith Church and got themselves sued. And lost. And apparently learned their lesson.
It is to bad that the Cleveland County Commissioners, the CCDSS, the Nikkie Shaffer and the Karen Ellis’s of this world don’t learn their lessons. I will add the School Board and Cleveland Community College to that list. But stay tuned. Sources say scandals equal to atomic bombs are getting ready to go off in Cleveland County very, very soon. Since the Star won’t print anything about the corruption going on right at their door steps, you will probably only get a true story from me. And I ain’t paid off or too scared to tell.