Shelby, NC — From the past meetings, along with the details in the minutes, it’s evident that this particular board needs some oversight. For instance, the public would not have known that Dr. Thornburg was fined, and the fine was allowed to become a donation that would be tax deductible. If not for the letter that former BoT Chairman Ellis Monroe submitted to the board, and others, the public would possibly have no idea about this problem. If the James G. Martin Center had not done their exposé, much of the information that brought this scandal to the public, would have gone without mention, simply because, the BoT would not mention it, and the local media will not print anything other than favorable coverage, unless the absolutely have to.

The Board of Trustees, as a whole, doesn’t seem to be aware of what their duties actually entail, as evidenced by the settlement that was given to former President Thornburg. Either they weren’t aware, or simply didn’t care, that they did not have the authority to spend money, that did not belong to the college. There is a manual for NC Community College Trustees. Whether Cleveland Community College has their own manual or not, is not known at this time. Listed below, is the Foreward, from the NC Trustees Manual, 3rd Edition:

[gview file=”http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Foreward-3rdEditionTrusteesManual.pdf”]

With all the scandals at Cleveland Community College that are also School Board related, you would have thought the School Board would be doing some investigation of their own. And some reporting on their investigation. Not a peep about that at the July 24, 2017 School Board meeting. Silence is the ultimate cover-up and the School Board is wrapped tight in silence regarding their problems.

Before we go into what was on the agenda at the School Board meeting, let’s make a list of what was not on the agenda, but should have been:

1. Dumbed Down College Courses:
Dumbed down community college classes for school system students in the dual enrollment program as well as the Early College that generates so much money for the Schools and the College. Not a peep about the need for such programs to start with. Not a peep about high schools teaching high school classes and colleges teaching college classes. Not a peep about why almost half of students attending Cleveland County Schools graduate without being able to read or write proficiently or even be able to count to 100, yet the schools are enrolling these students into so called college courses at the high schools where they can only pass by having the college courses dumbed down. Not a peep ever at a school board meeting. Not much more than a peep at the Community College Board of Trustees either. Not a peep about all the money State and Cleveland County taxpayers throw at this so called dual enrollment program without any measure of success and no accountability. Lots of money pouring in and no accountability is a sure formula for disaster for the students and a real big fraud being pulled over on taxpayers.

But that is not the half of it.

CCS Board Member Danny Blanton, a longtime advocate for more vocational training at the high school level asked a very simple question that had a blockbuster of truth regarding Cleveland County Schools as well as the Cleveland Community College. Mr. Blanton’s question to Jennifer Walker was this, “what are the percentage of high school graduates that go on to college and what are the percentage that go to work straight out of high school?” Jennifer Walker had no answer to that question. Blanton went on to say his estimates are 80% of high school graduates go to work after graduation and only 20% go to college.

Then CCS Superintendent Stephan Fisher chimes in with excuses, saying it is hard for schools to keep track of students once they leave the school system and on and on with some fast talking chatter that had not a whit of proof or justification.

But the facts are this: United States schools 50 years ago were Number 1 in the world, now we are not even in the top 10 and maybe not in the top 30. North Carolina Schools have always been close to the bottom in the US and Cleveland County Schools have always been close to the bottom in North Carolina. Now, we find out that CCS is not keeping track on how many students go on to college, to work or even to prison. There are no measures that tell us where we stand or how well our many many school programs and non school programs are actually doing. From Head Start, Smart Start, More at Four to the Communities-In-Schools to the Math Academy, Early College, dual enrollment programs to about everything, all that is certain is we are spending more tax dollars for education than anywhere else in the world and our schools are still failing. And the school board minus, Danny Blanton, refuses to ask why or even to task the top heavy CCS administration to find out why. Or care as long as the money keeps on rolling in. That cash flow is what CCS and CCC are interested in, students be damned. The public be damned too. The School Board, by law, is required to conduct their business in public meetings. But at public meetings very little to nothing is discussed, everything is illegally decided behind closed doors and the DA won’t do anything either.

2. New North Shelby School Project Updates:
Updates on the construction of the new North Shelby School Project? Not a peep at any of the School Board meeting for over a year. This project started out as a $10 million project and quickly went $3,5 million over budget because of bad dirt that couldn’t bear the weight of the building construction and a school board that was too stupid to not go to another location. So, the School Board bought 14 acres next door at inflated prices to “borrow” dirt from. Lots of that dirt was bad too. So, they initiated some sort of fancy and very expensive crushed rock “pier” system to save the bad dirt, but all that did was make more money for the architect. Now, it is reported they need even more dirt for this project and the costs are escalating another $3 million or so. A 65% cost overrun from $10 million to $16,5 million. And, the new construction, as it turns out, wasn’t even needed in the first place. You see the new Shelby Middle School was built for 800+ students and there are only 400 students attending Shelby Middle. With only 82 students now attending North Shelby, they all could fit into Shelby Middle and that $16.5 million in borrowed money could have been saved. And should have been saved. No wonder the School Board doesn’t want to talk about this foolish, costly and unnecessary project.

3. Graham Elementary School–Big and multiple cover-ups:
Remember just this week a little kid going to Graham Elementary School got off the school bus at the wrong location. The Shelby Star had a big front page story about this that included lots of details that may have been wrong. We will let the Star straighten out their own wrong reporting. The Star completely missed the point here and The School Board wants to keep some highly controversial information a deep dark secret from the public. But we are going to tell what we know. Right now.

Graham Elementary School is a low performing school that has “Failed” several years in a row according to State testing and ranking. The Graham School bus issue is much more deep that a child getting off at the wrong location. Graham School Buses are having to make double runs every day. They run their routes, deliver the kids at school and head out again to pick up another load of kids. School Board member Danny Blanton brought this up at the School Board meeting and suggested that the schools not sell an older activity bus, but paint it school bus yellow and have that bus help the Graham Bus problem. Totally a good idea.

But, I smelt a “Rat.” I check in with some reliable sources and I was told (confidentially of course) that the Graham School bus routes overlap with other school routes to pick up pre selected children that go to Graham while other buses pick up children that go to other schools. The purpose of this is to take “problem” students to Graham and “non-problem” children to the other schools. By concentrating the problem students at Graham, Graham student scores go down and the other schools student scores go up. It is a planned scheme by CCS administration to make some schools look good academically while failing Graham School students are just overlooked and left out. The cover-up story was that Graham had initiated a phony “Year-Round Schedule” that threw off the Graham School Schedule just enough from the other schools, hoping no one would discover what they were really doing. Segregating our problem students and concentrating them at Graham. Remember the Court ordered “busing” back in the 1970s. Same thing here, only in reverse.

4. Where did all the sex scandals go?
Nowhere. CCS is just getting a little bit better at covering them up and the BIG sex scandal at Cleveland Community College is putting out enough smoke for CCS to hide behind. We are working on a big scandal that includes CCS criminally prosecuting an employee to cover-up a sexual affair between a CCS principal and another CCS employee at the same school where two teachers were forced to resign while the Principal and his mistress got to keep on getting it on. This report will be coming out soon as a series or articles regarding criminal misdeeds where the real criminals, CCS administration, gets off and the “little people” pay the price. And the School Board goes along by not asking any questions and keeping Danny Blanton from asking any questions.

5. Hiring Practices, Promotion Practices and Personnel Reports:
Abuses in CCS Hiring practices, promotion practices and Personnel Reports are too numerous to mention. So the School Board does just that, they don’t and won’t mention them. They even got their attorney to tell them that they had to vote for the Personnel Reports before they could read them just to keep Danny Blanton from asking questions. Danny Blanton had the perfect response to that. Every time a Personnel Report comes up for a vote without him reading it or being allowed to ask questions, Blanton votes NO.

But the rest of the Board over-rides Blanton’s vote. (We need more like Danny Blanton on the School Board. Perhaps there will be more after the November Elections. I recommend Danny Blanton, Robert Queen, Kevin Whisnant and Rodney Fitch for the School Board in this 2017 General Election.) There are lots of information in the Personnel Reports, like resignations that indicate a very high turnover rate. Not one time has any other school board member asked about the high turnover rates and what CCS is doing about it. The results are predictable. Friends and family of school board members or high level administration folks get their kinfolks and buddies hired and promoted at CCS while us “little people” have to find our jobs somewhere else. Most often outside of Cleveland County. But for people like Jennifer Wampler, whose father is a Minister at Kings Mountain Baptist Church where CCS Superintendent Stephan Fisher and several other CCS Board members go to Church, whose total experience and training is teaching school and being a principal, gets promoted to Director of Human Resources at CCS with no experience and training at all in Human Resources. Such examples go on and on.

6. Miscellaneous secrets the CCS Board never wants to talk about.
a. Real or Perceived Conflicts of Interest where a Board member or a member of their family makes money off doing business with the schools or a school program. Some examples: Bully Glover and his new driver education business. Shearra Miller’s husband owning and operating Bridges Hardware in Kings Mountain. Donnie Thurman, Jr.’s employment at Communities-In -Schools
b. Conflicts of Interest where a CCS Board member is also a member of a board of a business that does business with CCS. For example, CCS Board member Roger Harris is also Chairman of the Board for Communities-in -Schools. Recent scandals at Communities-In-Schools were never reported to the CCS Board and may also be linked to Donnie Thurman, Jr.’s abrupt departure from that organization.
c. Complaints from members of the public made to the CCS Board during “Public Participation.” These complaints or issues were made in a public meeting and during the public participation part of the meeting. Therefore, the Board’s answer to the complaint or issue is also public. For the four years or so that I have been attending school board meetings there have been probably 100+ complaints or issues. To date there have been ZERO instances of anybody getting an answer from the school board. What can you figure about such a record of ignoring the public? You just have to figure the school board doesn’t care about the public and what they are concerned about. School Board member Shearra Miller once said ” I get tired of hearing all these complaints.”

Editor’s Note: I am sure the Board members, minus Danny Blanton, will say that this is not true. Therefore I am, by copy of this article to the school board making a Freedom of Information Act as well as under the NC Public Records laws a request for all documents and public records the CCS Board has generated in regard to complaints and issues brought before the school board during the public participation part of their agenda. I expect what I get is a big ZERO. The school board forgets a complaint just as quickly as they hear one. In one ear and out the other.

OK folks. Now that you know some of the important things that were not discussed at the July 24, 2017 School Board meeting, let’s talk about the meeting itself. Please remain seated as you read the rest of this article as you are going to get mad. And your blood pressure is liable to go up. That is what usually happens when good people finally get to hear the truth about what is going on in Cleveland County. And we have some selected video clips of the meeting.

When the meeting is called to order, you notice Board Member Kathy Falls is MIA. That is probably a good thing as she was probably out gathering signatures on her petition to run for re-election to the school board and she usually doesn’t add much to the meetings anyway.

First, the meeting began without a Christian Prayer. But that was probably appropriate too as there was not anything Christian about this meeting.

Then, after the Pledge of Allegiance which means nothing but a bunch of empty words when a crowd like the School Board recites the words.

The action heats up (like the fires in Hell) when Board Chairman Bully Glover starts recognizing people in attendance and presents some awards. There were several State Champion athletes that were recognized separately. Each time they were recognized, they were brought up front with the whole school board gathered behind them. All except Bully and Superintendent Fisher. Each time they jumped up from their seats, ran around to the front and got cozied-up close with the athletes to have their pictures taken with the big, fancy and expensive CCS cameras. This was an obvious Photo-Op made for political purposes to be used for Bully’s re-election campaign. These pictures will surely be put on the CCS Website and other places. Just like School Board candidate Guy Suttle’s picture and articles on the Cover, Pages 4, 6 and 7 of the 2017 Fall Cleveland Community College Magazine that was mailed out to every household in Cleveland County at taxpayer expense. Thousands of dollars of free political advertising, probably highly illegal, from the crowd that can’t shoot straight over at CCC at taxpayer expense. Stay tuned as there will be more bout this in other articles to come.

The action really heats up during the Public Participation part of the agenda. We have cut a clip from the meeting video so you can get the full effect of what happens here. Please watch as a number of people speak to the Board regarding the firing of Rick Canipe as the Girls Softball Coach at Shelby Middle School, how Canipe stool up for the team, some American Legion field dispute was involved, etc. After the last person finished, Danny Blanton asked to make a statement and Bully Glover refused to allow Blanton to speak. This prompted the contingent of speakers to make comments from the audience asking Bully to allow Danny Blanton to have his say. Danny Blanton is in fact a duly elected School Board Member and has a legal right to participate in school board meetings. But. Bully ruled Danny Blanton out of order. Then ruled the others out of order and had the Police remove the women in the audience who had spoken from the meeting. Bully Glover was showing his full colors during this exchange. Watch the clips for the full effect. Most will agree that Bully Glover has reached his level of incompetence and needs to be sent home on Election Day. Wishfully sooner than that.

http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/up/ccboepp.mp4

After a bit of administrative stuff, the next item of great public concern-the appointment of a Board of Trustee member for the Cleveland Community College, came up on the agenda. This amounts to a major influence to the beleaguered CCC Board of Trustees and their gridlock amidst all their scandals and high level administration problems. Bully Glover announced that the present CCS appointed CCC Board of Trustee June Yarboro had just sent him a letter indicating that she did not desire to be re-appointed. Sources indicate that letter was sent to Bully several months ago. Bully never seems to be able to tell the truth, even about the most simple of matters.

Danny Blanton nominated Willie Green. Willie Green has two Super-Bowl rings to his credit as well as several high level college degrees, major business consulting experience as well a major interest in doing what is right for the children and citizens of Cleveland County. And Mr. Green has an independent minded spirit that will make the right decisions without being unduly influenced by the corrupt politics of the good-ole-boy special interests in Cleveland County. Mr. Green had previously sent his highly respectable resume and vita (work experience) to the entire school board.

Roger Harris nominated Allen Langley. Allen Langley just served a four-year term on the CCC Board of Trustees and was not re-appointed by the Governor when that term expired June 30, 2017. (Note-Governor Roy Cooper appointed Betty Carrigan to a new four-year term to replace Mr. Langley.) Roger Harris read from a prepared statement regarding the qualifications of Allen Langley. Mr. Langley has a potential scandal (or two) of his own brewing to full strength if he goes back on the CCC Board of Trustees and maybe if he does not go back on that CCC Board. Mr. Langley has been accused of bias in regard to employee complaints-only talking to administration folks and not talking to those that have evidence in the matter. Mr. Langley was appointed by the CCC Board earlier in the year to investigate issues, some of which would include himself. Note that sources have indicated that Mr. Langley has apologized to the CCC Board of Trustees regarding certain of his actions. I am not in possession of confirmation of that indication and since I have attended all the recent CCC Board meetings (Open sessions only) all I have to say is if such an apology moment took place, it must have been made at an illegal meeting or stated in a closed session that illegally kept such an apology confidential. But that is entirely possible as the CCC Board of Trustees seems to have lots of problems following the law in such matters.

Then, the fireworks started. It was totally apparent that much behind closed door discussions and decisions as well had taken place. It was totally apparent to the most casual of observers that the School Board did not and would not support a person for this appointment to the CCC Board of Trustees who had an independent streak or a backbone. Members of the CCS Board had obviously thoroughly discussed this appointment totally outside the legal requirements of the NC Open Meetings Laws. During what little discussion as there was both Board Members Donnie Thurman, Jr. and Richard Hooker announced that they would not be seeking re-election, therefore they could let their hair down and say and do as they pleased. Neither Thurman or Hooker explained what that meant, but since both are big proponents of diversity it seems both of them were under intense pressure to do something. To say one thing and do another. What they did was vote to appoint Allen Langley to the CCC Board of Trustees. This is another case of the illegal silence to suppress the truth that this CCS Board is famous for as noted in the beginning of this article.

Then, the fireworks finale of secrets. Danny Blanton revealed to the school board that he had been threatened if he did not support Allen Langley for this appointment to the CCC Board of Trustees. Shearra Miller quickly asked Blanton if “anybody up here” had threatened him. Blanton said no and the matter was dropped. Such an act, or lack thereof, by the CCS Board was completely wrong and wrong-headed. Bully Glover should have immediately called for an investigation of Board Member Danny Blanton being threatened in carrying out his official duties on the CCS Board whether or not it was Danny Blanton being threatened or any other school board member. Again Bully Glover has shown his true colors. Bully should resign immediately for the incompetence he has clearly shown as the school board chairman and as a board member.

http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/up/ccsboard7242017.mp4

The vote was this. Danny Blanton voted to appoint Willie Green to the CCC Board of Trustees.
Bully Glover, Donnie Thurman, Jr. Richard Hooker, Jeff Jones, Jo Boggs, Roger Harris and Shearra Miller voted to appoint Allen Langley to the CCC Board of Trustees.

The next item on the agenda was the secret Personnel Report discussed earlier in this article. Danny Blanton voted No and all the rest voted Yea, once again as they always do. Who needs board members who vote “yea” for something they have not read or know anything about. The key to understanding this is if they don’t know about something, they can deny knowing anything about it. But why vote that way? It is stupid, wrong-headed and basically a bald faced lie to the public. I suspect the fact is they do know about it but don’t want to hear it in open session where it is recorded that they know what they are voting for. Is that weird or what?

Then came the Beginning Teacher Support Plan presented by Jennifer Walker. This was discussed earlier in this article.

More administrative stuff and then the sale of surplus equipment. Painting the Activity Bus yellow and using it to support the double route issue at Graham Elementary School was covered in more detail earlier in this article.

Then another closed session was held. After that the meeting was adjourned. Only to start back in the behind closed doors illegal communications between Board Members, the political rumor mongering and false stories about Danny Blanton to apparently pay him back for his vote for Willie Green instead of Allen Langley as he was “ordered” to do.

Folks, it is political season leading up to the elections for the four seats on the CCS School Board. Lies are being spread to muddy up the truth about what is really happening at Cleveland County School as well as the Cleveland Community College. If you want to know the truth, read my articles. If you don’t care for the truth, read the Shelby Star’s press releases.

Right now the School Board Race has four Republican Candidates,: Incumbent Danny Blanton, Kevin Whisnant, Rodney Fitch and Robert Queen against Democrats: Incumbent Bully Glover, Barbara Romich, Guy Suttle and Tommy Clatus Green. Who knows what will happen with Kathy Falls and her petition drive?

Selection in this race should be easy for all voters, The Republican candidates are not connected to CCS at the pocketbook and the Democrat Candidates are.

I recommend Danny Blanton, Kevin Whisnant, Rodney Fitch and Robert Queen for the Cleveland County School Board. See you at the polls on Election Day 2017.

–Published On: Fri, Jul 28th, 2017 Opinion | By Hal Trammell-Palmetto News-Opinion
–Forwarded by Robert A. Williams

Shelby, NC — After all the meetings, all the commentaries, all the comments and all the disagreements, the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees, along with the Cleveland Community College Administration, still doesn’t get it. Acting as if a wink and a nod, and it’s all good, makes everything go away, well, it just doesn’t work that way. The only thing this board did was to remove the President, who had become a liability to the college, and then rewarded him with the lottery. The BoT, by administering this gift to the lame duck leader, showed how truly inept they are. Thornburg was made to look like a genius. He didn’t have to sue. He realized he didn’t have to sue. He was aware that this band of fellow travelers would bend to his wants, and he proved himself to be correct. And then, the Cleveland County School Board decided to throw some gasoline on the fire. That should work out really well for future economic development.

If that’s not bad enough, there was another issue brought up in the Cleveland County Schools BOE meeting. Board member, Danny Blanton stated that he was told that if he did not fall in line with the selection of Allen Langley, that he would not receive any support, from whoever the party was. Shearra Miller asked if it was anyone sitting “up here” on the board. Ha Ha Ha…As if any of the people on the board had any support to withhold from Blanton. Talk about transparency. Indeed, one can see right through them. Blanton had just nominated Willie Green for the trustee vacancy. And then. Board of Education member, Donnie Thurman proceeded to throw Blanton under the bus, when he stated that Willie Green had talked to him and withdrew himself from nomination, and of course, neither Thurman nor Green had the time to inform Blanton. Funny that Thurman had time to let BOE Chairman Glover know about it before the meeting. What a wicked web he weaves. I look forward to him spending more time with the family so that he can , in his own words, let his hair down. Yes, please do. Thurman is a reverend, right? Then the part where Thurman claims loyalties between himself and Willie Green, and then in the next breath, states his support for Langley. Say what? I recall a quote that infers that one should be either hot or cold, and not lukewarm.

Of course, none of this is surprising. Looking back at over a year of videos I recorded, while attending these board meetings, from late 2013 through the end of 2014, I’ve seen these people in action. The Commissioners meetings were recorded from early 2013 through the end of 2014, producing well over 100 videos for the public to see. This school board has always been the same, self-serving board, that appears to not give a whit about what the people think. And they are too thick headed and too thin skinned for the good of anyone.

When a body of people, elected or selected, behaves as if anything goes, then anything does. You may not be able to change the will of these particular people, but you will have an opportunity to find people with a stronger will to do what is right. What we have seen, during these past months, is the true character of some who have been appointed, some who have been selected and some who have been elected. A wise person does not keep repeating the same action and expect different results. It will be a difficult task to redeem the unredeemable. Lipstick…pig!

All of this, now leads to the point of the money. The $150,000 money. It has already been stated publicly, that state money cannot be used to pay someone who is not working. Some have alleged that the money would come from Cleveland County (taxpayers) and it has also been alleged that the money would come from funds that has already been allocated for some roof repairs at the college. However, neither allegation has been confirmed. I’d like to throw another wrench into the mix. The trustees, along with the chairman, according to the statutes and stipulations, allocated money that they were not authorized to allocate, if it is not money that belongs to the college. Of course, there’s always the idea that the party of eight, 7 trustees who voted Yes and the chairman who was in charge of it all. They could each give $18,750, and that would take care of it. Or better yet, don’t give the man anything other than what’s legally accrued. Rewarding shame is not very popular these days, especially if the taxpayers are stuck with the tab.

Editor’s Note: A special “called” meeting of the CCC Board of Trustees is scheduled for SUNDAY July 30, 2017 for a closed session to discus either where the money will come from for Thornburg’s big payoff or to discuss the financial terms of hiring the Interim President. Or something else maybe. We will let you know for sure as soon as possible.

This is part of the message I received at 10:33 PM tonight from a reliable source. The message speaks for itself.

“Regarding the school board election I have information from a reliable source that Mr. Glover’s wife is utilizing her school email account to solicit support for her husband, including asking coworkers and others to place political signs in their yard. In most public positions, including where I work, this would absolutely not be allowed.”

I have requested, under the Freedom of Information Act as well as NC Public Records laws, all of Bully’s and Mrs. Glover’s emails sent and received through the CCS internet/email account for the past three months. I will let you know what response, if any, I get from Cleveland County Schools. CCS and Bully are well known for ignoring legal requests for documents that they are bound by law to provide.

Folks, the hottest set of scandals percolating up from the cesspool over at Cleveland Community College has yet to be seen-or smelled. Despite all the gridlock on the CCC Board of Trustees that has only resulted in a large taxpayer $200,000 paid off resignation for CCC President Steve Thornburg, the other scandal at CCC and the related scandals at Cleveland County Schools have yet to fully disclosed. I figure the School Board will not want those scandals exposed.

That is why the School Board meeting tonight (Monday, July 24, 2017 at 6:00 PM at the CCS Central Services Building) will show the true colors of the School Board. Tonight, the School Board will nominate a Board member to the CCC Board of Trustees to replace June Yarboro, whose term in office expired June 30, 2017.

The reason this particular appointment is so important is all four School Board appointments to the CCC Board of Trustees have voted as a solid block plus a couple of die-hard Trustees who, up to this point, have thrown the CCC Board of Trustees into a 6-6 tie vote, gridlock, in doing anything to right the wrongs at CCC. Mrs. June Yarboro has been a part of that School Board appointed block of four CCC Trustees (Lamont Littlejohn, Chris Turner, Larry Hamrick and June Yarboro) that the gridlock has minimized the investigation of the many allegations of wrong doing at CCC. Mrs. Yarboro’s vote, even after her term had expired threw the CCC Board of Trustees into gridlock in electing a new Board of Trustee Chairman as well as she voted to pay Thornburg the $200,000 if he would resign and leave CCC, despite Thornburg’s wrong doings and complete lack of judgement that warranted dismissal for cause.

Tonight at the School Board meeting the appointment of a CCC Board of Trustee member to replace Mrs. Yarboro is on the school board agenda. Sources indicate at least two candidates will be nominated. One is a status quo candidate who will likely be satisfied that the problems at CCC will all just go away when Thornburtg goes away from CCC (just like the School Board members whose position was everything at CCS was OK when Superintendent Bruce Boyles resigned) and one is a reform candidate who wants things at CCC to be done right and whatever is done is in the best interest of CCC and the students and not somebody’s pocketbook.

So, folks, come on out to the School Board meeting tonight. This is election year for the school board and you should be getting to know what your school board is doing and who needs to stay and who needs to go when the votes are counted on Election Day.

As for me, I have attended school board meetings for the past four years and I have already decided that Danny Blanton needs to be elected for another term and Bully glover, Kathy Falls and Donnie Thurman, Jr. need to be replaced with Robert Queen, Kevin Whisnant and Rodney Fitch.

Come on out and you decide for yourself. You might want to bring a chair cushion with you. The auditorium seating pre architect Roger Holland’s design are uncomfortable. Noisy too when the AC kicks in as it will do during this hot weather. If you are a Burns or Crest person, you might want to check out this auditorium to see if you want the same problems at your school.

For those readers who, like me, like to see the proof of the matter, the Judge’s signed Order in the Kathy Falls lawsuit against the Cleveland County Board of Elections and entered into the Court Record down at the Courthouse has been obtained and is attached for your convenience.

Please note that I stand corrected that the last day of filing a petition by Kathy Falls or anybody else is September 27, 2017.

The critical dates in this matter are as follows:

1. Last day to file for elected office (other than by petition) is 12 noon August 1, 2017.

2. Last day to file by petition is September 27, 2017.

3. The Number of valid signatures on petition for county wide election is 4% of voters registered in Cleveland County (2,535).

The Cleveland County Board of Elections recommends those filing by petition turn in their petitions and signatures early so a quick verification can ensure the proper number of signatures can be verified, and if not, more signatures may be collected and turned in prior to September 27, 2017. Otherwise, if you turn in your petition at the last minute and enough signatures cannot be verified, your petition will be denied and you will not be eligible to run for office.

I predict the NC General Assembly will not lower the number of signatures required as previously contemplated as the Judges order has extended a candidates time to obtain enough signatures on their petition.

[gview file=”http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/signed-tro.pdf”]

Shelby — There was a hearing today in Cleveland County Superior Court today regarding School Board Member Kathy Falls’ lawsuit against the Cleveland County Board of Elections, Director Dayna Causby and Board Members Wayne King, Allen Langley and Doug Sharpe.

Judge Robert T. Sumner signed an order today upholding the Cleveland County Board of Elections position regarding the application of recently passed NC Law that would end up requiring Kathy Falls, as a registered “Unaffiliated” and anyone else not running in the Party Primary Process to obtain 2,535 valid signatures (4% of registered voters in Cleveland county) on a petition to have their name put on the General Election Ballot. Judge Sumner also extended the filing date to 12-noon sharp on August 1, 2017. The Court will again review this matter on July 31, 2017. The deadline for submitting the petition and signatures is still September 22, 2017.

I would recommend Kathy Falls and anyone else wanting to run for a partisan office using the Petition Process to get their behind in gear and start collecting signatures. I am also supposing the NC General Assembly, after all the heated words and a lawsuit from Kathy Falls, will not be inclined to reduce the 2,535 signatures to 500 in the August Session.

A Press Release has been issued by the Cleveland County Board of Elections and is noted below.

Board of Elections Press Release Regarding Kathy Falls Lawsuit

Press Release:
7/20/2017

For Immediate Release

Session Law 2017-78 established that the Cleveland County Board of Education Members would be elected on a partisan basis beginning in 2017. This session law was signed June 28. If a registered voter who wished to participate in this election had either: recently changed their party affiliation (within the past 90 days); are registered with the Cleveland County Board of Elections as a Unaffialted voter; and/or wishes to run without declaring their party affiliation would have until the last Friday in June to collect the required 4% of the county’s registered voters signatures to have their names be listed on the ballot. The Cleveland County Board of Elections met on July 11, 2017 to address this issue, and to meet their constitutional duties to rectify a solution for the voters of Cleveland County. The board voted unanimously to apply NC General Statute 163-296 to this election cycle. That statute allows for cities who conduct partisan elections a process to ensure unaffialted voters the opportunity to have their name included on the ballot. The Cleveland County Board of Elections extended the deadline for the required 4% of the county’s registered voters’ signatures to September 22, 2017 by applying this law to this election cycle.

A Temporary Restraining Order was filed this afternoon. Judge Sumner signed the order, and the order is now effective. The order affirms the Board of Elections actions, and extends the filing period until August 1, 2017 at 12 noon. The court will review this matter via a hearing on July 31, 2017.

Any questions should be addressed our attorney Brian King at King Law Offices 828-286-3332.

Judge Robert T. Sumner, appointed by the failed liberal one term NC Governor Beverly Perdue, is presiding over a hearing this morning at 9:30 AM in Superior Court in Shelby regarding the Kathy Falls lawsuit. (Scroll back for a copy of that lawsuit.)

It is expected the Board of Elections lawyer Brian King will argue that Falls’ complaint is with the NC General Assembly and not the CC Board of Elections. Also that a NC state law requires lawsuits against the NC General Assembly are required to be heard in Wake County (Raleigh).

However, knowing that liberal judge make their own laws from the bench, and it appears Kathy Falls lawyer Paul Ditz has been “judge shopping.” there is no telling what kind of crazy rulings will be made at the Shelby Courthouse today. Nothing new there either.

On another note, Kathy Falls has reportedly gone to the CC Board of Elections and picked up her papers to file for office using the petition process. Insurance in case the ruling in her case goes against her. That is probably the smart thing for her to do. Probably a first.

Stay tuned and we will give you an update as soon as there is one.

Folks, Internet Fraud is real and Cleveland County is a target just as much as anywhere else.

I just received an email that stated: Notice: You are Eligible for up to $4,250. Action Required. It is the action required part that spells trouble. They want you to “click” on certain boxes on the email and then enter your bank account information so they can, so they say, deposit money into your bank account. They can just as easily withdraw all your money if you give them such information.

I recommend deleting such emails immediately. Do not “Click” on anything in that email. If you don’t believe me, call the Sheriff’s Office and get their opinion.

Folks, We have obtained an advance text copy of a lawsuit by Kathy Falls against the Cleveland County Board of Elections, their Director and Board alleging the new law passed by the General Assembly in Raleigh is unconstitutional under the Constitution of North Carolina. The lawsuit was prepared by Shelby Attorney Paul Ditz and dated July 17, 2017. The Board of Elections has confirmed that Attorney Ditz has contacted the Board of Elections regarding filing the lawsuit, but the lawsuit has not officially been served on them. That text copy is attached at the end of this article for your convenience. It is hot off the press.

Outside the Courthouse legal arena, Kathy Falls has refused to accept the fact that most of the school districts in North Carolina run partisan elections in even numbered years. Cleveland County just happens to be an exception. Also, it is typical in every year this century and last century too that citizens who are registered as unaffiliated with any political party have to go through a “Petition Process” to be able to run for a partisan elected office. Also any voter, no matter how they are registered are able to run in partisan elections without going through a party primary election by using the petition process.

Therefore this change in law regarding school board elections affects all 60,000+ registered voters in Cleveland County, not just Kathy Falls. Kathy Falls just happens to be the one whining about it.

Let’s look at the merits of the case:
1. Kathy Falls complaint is with the General Assembly, so why is she filing her complaint in Cleveland County and against the CC Board of Elections. Falls is likely to have her case dismissed in Cleveland County because of that.
2. Kathy Falls has not exhausted all her remedies. Falls has until September 22, 2017 to file her petition and signatures, but has apparently refused any attempt to run her re-election campaign in accordance with laws that have been in effect for the past two centuries.
3. Kathy Falls has falsely maintained in news media accounts that she was unaware of the change in the elections law until the day it passed when I notified her. In fact, the NC Association of School Boards advised all Cleveland County School Board members many months ago that such a change was coming. School Board Member Danny Blanton took advantage of this and other advanced notices way back in late 2016.
4. Kathy Falls falsely maintains in her lawsuit that she has been disqualified from running for office because of the change in election law, when she has been notified by the Board of Elections and me regarding what she has to do to run for this now partisan office-the petition process.

Kathy Falls seems to think the election system in Cleveland County and North Carolina revolves around her and how she wants it done. I suspect Kathy Falls will be disappointed at the end of the day on September 22, 2017 when she finally is disqualified from running for the school board if she maintains her present course of action.

Read the lawsuit and form your own opinion.

[gview file=”http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/complaint-Kathy-Falls-Lawsuit.doc”]