A Federal Lawsuit was filed against Cleveland County, County Manager Brian Epley, Health Department Director Dorothea Wyant and former Health Department/Landfill/Shooting Range Honcho Sam Lockridge. The case is in Federal Court in Asheville. The Case Number is 18-cv-00292. This is the documented facts.
Back a year+ ago, the county was abuzz with a story that the Shooting Range Honcho Sam Lockridge, a well-known and longtime Tom Cat, had propositioned a woman working for him and gotten fired in the process. A Honcho getting fired in Cleveland County for such a thing is rare and usually covered up. But this time the woman allegedly had a recorder on her person and recorded the whole thing.
Then, as the story goes, County officials come out and fire Sam on the spot and take his County owned truck. So, again as the story goes, Sam calls his mistress Dorothea Wyant to pick him up and take him home. Wyant was also Sam’s boss. And about everybody in County government knew or believed Sam and Dorothea had something sexual going on.
And, as usual in Cleveland County, everything went quiet. Nobody would talk. But I knew sooner or later something would come out. And, as I found out today, something did come out. The Federal Lawsuit as note above. Filed sometime last year with the news finally filtering down to me this very afternoon. Tuesday, June 4, 2019. With a Commissioner’s Meeting this very evening.
Anyway, tonight I filed a Freedom of Information Act and North Carolina Public Records law request to the County for the Court documents to be made available to me for inspection. Court Records are Public Documents by law and the County as Defendants have these public documents in their possession. So, I asked for all of them regarding this particular case as well as any other case that the Commissioners are trying to keep quiet. Who knows what I will find out there?
So, folks, Stay tuned!!! Either the Commissioners will give me the records pronto, as the law requires, or I will Contact the Federal Court in Asheville and get the records from there. Records that will name names and tell the tale. One way or another this story and every other the Commissioners keep as hush-hush coverup secrets in Cleveland County will be coming out very soon. CCS and CCC too.
Like I said, Stay Tuned!!!
