Rail Trail-Thread Trail Driving up Prices-Purging Blacks from Shelby!!! Corruption, Fraud, A Scam using Taxpayer Dollars or a good thing???—–YOU Decide!!!— Facts, figures, gossip and arguendo by Robert A. Williams

“Oh! what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” —Walter Scott, -Marmion (Canto VI. Stanza 17)

This Article is the Second installment of the following article Published October 18, 2019 “Racial Cleansing” Scheme Unfolding in Shelby!!! The REAL Reason for the $13.2 million “Rail-Trail” The REAL Reasons Willie Green’s Sports Complex got canned by County and the City of Shelby!! Follow the Tracks!! Report, evaluation, gossip, lies and arguendo by Robert A. Williams—Published October 18, 2019”

Editor’s Note: There is a saying in the investigative reporting business that says, “pull all the threads to see where they go.” Another saying is to “put all the pieces of the puzzle together” for the whole story. In this case, the Puzzle for just about everybody was why would the City of Shelby want to spend $13-$17 million on a bicycle and walking trail they called the “Rail-Trail” and the branch trail called the “Thread-Trail.” All under the guise (or deception) of “Alternate Transportation” so Shelby could scam money from the Department of Transportation and ultimately taxpayers. Probably to the detriment of the 74-bypass schedule. So, while I’ve been discovering things like the secret lawsuit that the School Board brought against the Sheriff, I’ve been keeping my eye on a few other things too. You will likely be surprised at what I have found out and describe in this article. And, especially who is involved.

Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn is presently the Senior Pastor at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Carolina Avenue. Carolina Avenue has been well known for years as a place of violence, drugs, alcohol and all kinds of bad behavior-smack dab in the middle of a black ghetto neighborhood. White citizens were well aware of Carolina Avenue as a place to stay away from. Rev. Littlejohn is also the present Chairman of the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees. He is also associated with the Cleveland County Schools “Diversity Team” and was widely criticized as an “Uncle Tom.” Note that I have been advised by members of the black community that the term “Uncle Tom” is not a term that is used anymore. The proper term for an “uncle Tom” is now a “Coon.” It is regrettable that such terms as “Uncle Tom” or a “Coon” has to be used at all in this article, or any article. But this article tells it like it as and my intention is for everybody to know what I am talking about. Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn is regarded as a “Coon” in many parts of the black community. By the time this article is finished, most would agree that the term “Coon” applies very well to Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn.

While trying to cipher out why Mr. Willie Green has had to file lawsuits against the City of Shelby and City Manager Rick Howell, as well as the surprise denial of Mr. Green’s application to have a zoning change applied to one of his properties on E. Dixon boulevard, I did some research on previous applications to the City of Shelby for recent and similar zoning changes by others whose application were approved. The very first similar application was from Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Carolina Avenue. Rev. Littlejohn’s Church. Except it was for much more than just the church property itself.

The Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, under Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn’s direction filed a zoning change request with the City of Shelby that was approved at the City Council meeting in February of 2019. What was strange about the Mt. Calvary Church zoning change application was the fact that Mt. Calvary had been accumulating various properties up and down the road around the church. The Zoning change request was for fourteen parcels up and down Carolina Avenue and two properties fronting Oakland Street on the back side of the church. The church property was the centerpiece and the largest parcel. The church had been accumulating former single-family housing properties but was not in the process of repairing the homes for the purpose of providing low cost housing for those in the surrounding black community.

The strangest thing about the combination of the 14 properties, including the church, was that all of them were included together in the zoning change request as being applied for was ALL the properties would become zoned for multifamily housing. Including the church. A search of the City of Shelby’s Property cards for these accumulated parcels shows a diverse previous ownership of the individual properties. Former Shelby Mayor Mike Philbeck, Dr. Forrest Toms, Tropsy McCluney, Coleman Hunt and Gardner-Webb University, among others. All probably thinking they were doing good for Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.

So, what was Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn trying to do? It absolutely did not make any sense. Unless Littlejohn’s ultimately intended to bulldoze everything and put up an apartment or townhome complex on the property and move the church elsewhere. A closer look at the property zoning change request, including the flood plain map, told the tale. The flood plain map clearly shows the combined Mt. Calvary Baptist property adjoins the route of the proposed “Thread Trail” the City of Shelby is pushing as part of the overall multi-million-dollar Rail Trail Project as described in my first article about the REAL purpose of the Rail Trail-Thread Trail Project. That being to provide a city maintained parklike project all across Shelby, all the way to the South Carolina line to raise the adjoining property values and also to develop high dollar housing developments. And “racially cleanse” the City of Shelby of significant black populations in the process.

And Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn appears right in the middle of that effort. A Black Baptist Minister selling out his black community and “earning” his “30 pieces of silver” in the process. Plantation Politics at it’s worst. Also, gossip says that Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn is secretly negotiating with the Cleveland County Schools folks to purchase the old North Shelby School, allegedly at a cheap price to move his church to. Thus, fulfilling his previous rhetoric of finding an “abandoned building” to begin a “Cooning” effort in the name of reducing violence in the City of Shelby.

As this was my first crack at actually proving my “informed” theory that the Rail-Trail and Thread Trail Projects were just covers for a large scale land speculation scheme to drive up property “prices” for inside investors using taxpayer funds to enable the scheme, I decided to look for other pockets of property accumulations along the Rail-Trail and Thread Trail for a pattern to prove my land scam theory. So, I looked across town from Littlejohn’s church for any other such activity.

And, there it was!!! South of the Rail Trail crossing of Highway 74 where the trail turns toward Shelby High School. The old Ella Mill area. No church this time. Just a block of seventeen slum area properties that had been bought up by Guilford Financial Services, LLC, out of Greensboro, NC. Bought up at prices significantly higher than previous sales prices for the properties.

So, who the heck is Guilford Financial Services, LLC and what are they doing in Shelby or Cleveland County for that matter??? And Close to the Rail Trail proposed routing too.

Guilford Financial Services LLC, according to State and Federal records available on the internet is a one person, female owned (Maida Renson) business operating out of a small office at 309
Country Club Drive in Greensboro.

Further checking on “BuzzFile,” a business profiling website on the internet, I found this:

Business Description
Guilford Financial Services is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. This organization primarily operates in the Real Estate Consultant business / industry within the Engineering, Accounting, Research, and Management Services sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 21 years. Guilford Financial Services is estimated to generate $158,044 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 1 people at this single location. This is a woman owned and operated business.

Contact Information
Guilford Financial Services, LLC
309 Country Club Dr
Greensboro, NC 27408
Contact: Maida Renson
Title: Principal
Phone: (336) 373-0600
Website: www.guilfordfp.com

There are 5Companies located at 309 Country Club Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408

I immediately recognized a pattern. The same pattern Eddie Holbrook, Charlie Carrigan and others used in their “Shelby Land Partners” investor organization to acquire the land for the new Fairfield Motel right off Highway 74 and close to the Willie Green property that the City of Shelby refused to rezone.

The Shelby Land Partners soon morphed into another group operating out of Charlotte, obviously in an attempt to hide what they were doing. Now, you folks used to taking that longtime shortcut off Kings Road to 74 will find that small shortcut road will be closed in the next several days. The road bed will be torn up and the resulting property allowing a bigger parcel that is estimated to be worth over $1,000,000. A state road, convenient for many, will become a big bundle of cash for the insider wheelers and dealers. But, stay tuned. You ain’t heard nothing yet

Back to the Guilford Financial Services, LLC question. How is this one-woman operation with an annual cash flow of $158,044 buying up all this property in Shelby? I smelled a rat. There had to be more. And there was.

Did you notice the last line in the Buzzfile listing for Guilford Financial Services that said “There are 5Companies located at 309 Country Club Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408?” What were those 5 companies at that same address? I looked it up and should not have been surprised at what I found.

Business Description
Shelby MMR Limited Partnership is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. This organization primarily operates in the Apartment Building Operators business / industry within the Real Estate sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 9 years. Shelby MMR Limited Partnership is estimated to generate $321,289 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 2 people at this single location.

Contact Information
Shelby MMR Limited Partnership
309 Country Club Dr
Greensboro, NC 27408
Contact: Maida M Renson
Title: Partner
Phone: (336) 373-0600
Website:
There are 5 Companies located at 309 Country Club Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408

Business Description
Cleveland County MMR Limited Partnership is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. This organization primarily operates in the Business Activities at Non-commercial Site business / industry within the Business Services sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 4 years. Cleveland County MMR Limited Partnership is estimated to generate $54,157 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 2 people at this single location.

Contact Information
Cleveland County MMR Limited Partnership
309 Country Club Dr
Greensboro, NC 27408
Contact: Maida Renson
Title: Principal
Phone: (336) 373-0600
Website:
There are 5 Companies located at 309 Country Club Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408

Business Description
Ella Mill Properties is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. This organization primarily operates in the Nonresidential Building Operators business / industry within the Real Estate sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 3 years. Ella Mill Properties is estimated to generate $96,259 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 2 people at this single location.

Contact Information
Ella Mill Properties LLC
309 Country Club Dr
Greensboro, NC 27408
Contact: Maida M Renson
Title: Principal
Phone: (336) 272-6521
Website:
There are 5 Companies located at 309 Country Club Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408

The fifth business was involved with “eating places” and I was not interested in that part of the scheme.

So, this one-woman operation has now turned into FOUR businesses, with this one person as a front, all apparently interested in buying up property in Shelby AND Cleveland County, along the Rail Trail. Obviously for the purpose of “flipping” these properties to developers for large profits for themselves. Just like I predicted in my original article noted at the beginning of this article. Just like Eddie Holbrook has done with his road closing shenanigan.

Now, I suppose everybody wants to know just who these Shelby partners, Cleveland County Partners and Ella Mills Partners are? You want names. You want the whole story. And, so do I. But guess what, we ALL will have to come back to that later. What I found next makes this crowd a bunch of gamblers playing the Nickle Slot machines in Las Vegas.

Ramblewood!!! Remember Ramblewood??? The sprawling high crime “slum” area in Shelby, almost totally maybe just totally inhabited by poor blacks, where there were shooting and all kinds of violence almost every day AND especially at night. Remember the Ramblewood that was sold in 2015 to a “group” out of New Jersey for around $665,000? The name was changed (and little else) and the news in the Star about the violence “seemed” to go away?

Ramblewood has been sold again. Back in August, 2019 (just a few months ago) the Kituwah, LLC group paid $5,025,000 for the old “Ramblewood” property. That is a $4,360,000 increase in price for the sale of Ramblewood since 2015. A 665.5% increase in the property value. Can’t you just imagine how many low-income residents who can afford a 665.5% increase in their rent payments. I can. Exactly ZERO!!! It is totally obvious that the Kituwah LLC folks don’t intend to make any money continuing to rent to a low-income, black population. The present residents will soon have to go. If you consider the Littlejohn-Mt, Calvary Project, the Ella Mill Project, the Ramblewood Project and no telling how many other projects are involved here, lots of blacks will have to leave Shelby. A “racial cleansing” is already well under way.

A racial cleansing probably well ahead of my predictions. But that is predictable too. To hide the Rail-Trail, Thread-Trail taxpayer funded land-flipping scheme long enough to pull it off requires lots of investors investing lots of money-not for the trails, but the land flipping of the adjoining land, things have to go fast.

By now, I am sure every reader wants to know just who is this Kituwah, LLC folks with all those millions of dollars to invest?? Well folks, that was the easiest part of this whole article. The Kituwah, LLC company is wholly owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The Kituwah’s own website says that. They ain’t hiding anything. Their mission statement is clear too. They are in the business of investing in properties and improving them for the purpose of maximizing profits off the Cherokee Casino. To the benefit of the Cherokee tribe and certainly not necessarily to the benefit of the average citizens of Cleveland County.

From the big money folks like the Cherokee Indian tribe (Eastern Band) getting wind of the Rail-Trail and Thread Trail land flipping opportunities, you have to realize that big profits are expected by the money people off the taxpayer paid enabling “Trail” projects. Believe my predictions or not something big and expensive is happening in Cleveland County. Cleveland County is called by official state agencies a dying county and the big money vultures see us citizens easy pickings for profits. Property value will go up because of their big investments and we will all have to pay more. Whether or not WE can afford to live adjacent to the Rail and Thread Trail. The greed of the Shelby folks will bring economic hardship on all the rest of us.

Another example of that is the recent sale of the old K-Mart property, also adjoining the Thread Trail, for $2.7 million to the Ingalls grocery store folks. Of course, the price of groceries will have to reflect the price of the land the store is located on. It goes on and on.

But this is the beginning, not the end. The entry of the Cherokee tribe into Cleveland County spells trouble for the Catawba Indians and their long-awaited Casino in Kings Mountain. Does the entry of the Cherokees, with their $5,025,000 investment-much more than anything the Catawba’s have put up, indicate more battles over the Catawba Casino or another Cherokee Casino into Cleveland County? Who knows for sure about that?

What we do know is this:

Our political leadership in Cleveland County is ineffective, wasteful and too easily manipulated. Where are the Commissioners? They will surely think land price increases are good because they can gouge more tax-money out of our pockets. All the while proudly and deceptively claiming they have not raised taxes.

Where is the School Board? They have allowed so many to go through Kindergarten through the 12th grade without being able to read, write and do math proficiently. They are wasteful and against the public knowing anything on top of that.

Where is the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees? They are still trying to hide from the last batch of scandals and lawsuits while new scandals are developing too fast for them to comprehend.

Folks, we are now in the 2020 Election year. Candidates have filed and campaigns are set to begin. Incumbents will lie about their records and we will expose their records. Majorities are up for election on both the Commissioners and the School Board. We can take them both over with good candidates in the upcoming November elections. There sill be a big turnout. Likely a record turnout. We can put a stop to all the secrecy and insider wheeling and dealing. Stay tuned for that.

Also, be prepared for the protests, demonstrations, boycotts that are coming. Join in on our increased citizens participation protests at 2020 governmental meetings. Join in. Say what is on your mind. Don’t allow incumbents, like School Board member Roger Harris, to claim that the didn’t realize there are problems that need fixing. If they don’t know about the problems by now, they deserve to lose the election. Come to candidate forums. Ask questions. Demand answers. I will be in the middle of all of that.

And, in the process, I will be going back to investigate what Rev. Dr. Littlejohn is doing based on all the questions I didn’t know to ask at the beginning of this article. Also, I will do what is necessary to find out about the “gossip” I have been told that Littlejohn is secretly plotting with the School Board to purchase the old North Shelby School. Again, Stay tuned.

Editor’s Note:
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year. Stay tunes as you will likely get this news nowhere else. Perhaps I will activate our Facebook page too, but be sure to come here too on a regular basis as Facebook and other social media have been accused of censorship. I will also try to keep my articles as short as possible.