In the Star reports on the looming departure of long time Cleveland Community College President Dr. L. Steve Thornburg and other articles you hear very little about the overall scope of the problems at CCC. If you saw the recent edition of Political Smackdown you hear CCC Board of Trustee member Wes Westmoreland more or less repeating the CCC Executive Vice President Dr. Shannon Kennedy “party line” that the “dual enrollment program” (now called Career and College Promise Program-CCP for short- a phony but politically correct term for what is apparently a scam) is actually a good thing. The whole Board of Trustees, by a majority vote, say things are well at CCC and if there is anything wrong, Thornburg’s exit will miraculously cure everything.
If you peel back the scandals at Cleveland Community College you find CCC (as well as Cleveland County Schools and the Commissioners) are rotten to the core and many heads need to roll. This article will drill deep into the CCC Board of Trustees. The other Boards will be the subject of additional articles in the near future.
The Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees:
Greg Melton-Appointed by the Cleveland County Commissioners-Term in Office ends in 2017.
Vice Chairman Greg Melton is presently running the CCC Board of Trustee meetings now that Chairman Ellis Monroe has resigned in disgust because the Board will not take the necessary action to clean up the mess at CCC. We will start our review of the Board of Trustees with Greg Melton because our findings and investigations indicate Mr. Melton apparently has the most unethical and conflict of interest issues of all the other Trustees put together.
Let’s start this off by defining “Conflict of Interest,” a major component of being unethical, in a way most people will understand.
Mark Twain is probably the most read American writer in history, known for his homespun wit and wisdom. In Mark Twain’s Corn-Pone Opinions Twain said “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.”
In Greg Melton’s case, Melton gets his corn pone (bread, money or paycheck) from working at his daddy-in-law’s place, Holland & Hamrick Architects. For years now, Holland & Hamrick Architects has been involved in well over $100 Million in Cleveland County business, which includes almost all of the building construction and remodeling at Cleveland Community College, Cleveland County Schools and County Government Buildings. (Gardner Webb too, but that is another story.) A partial listing of the County Government connected building construction Greg Melton and Holland & Hamrick Architects have been awarded includes: The LeGrand Center, The Bailey Building, Shelby Middle School, CCS Central Offices, The New North Shelby School Project, Kings Mountain Intermediate School, The Old Courthouse-Earl Scruggs Center Renovation, The new Health Department, The Burns and Crest High School Auditorium projects and other work. Recently the Cleveland Community College awarded Holland & Hamrick Architects the contract for the Advanced Manufacturing Center which drew a letter of complaint filed with the CCC Board of Trustees from another local firm which is well known, well awarded and much more experienced with this type of construction. This letter was provided by sources, is a public document and is presented at the end of this article.
