Folks, the answer to the first question; What ever happened to the old North Shelby School? is easy. NOTHING!! Despite all the fanfare with Mt. Calvary Baptist Church closing on the old North Shelby School-about a year late and under the threat of a lawsuit by a taxpayer (yours truly)-Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn and his Church paid up on their bid and closed the deal with CCS. With only School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen there at the photo-op closing. I suppose the rest of the School Board was absent due to their being ashamed that they had just lost at least $1,050,000 on the deal. Or, Luke just wanted all the discredit, all for himself”
Perhaps any credit, even if it is discredit, seems to be dear to the heart of ole Luke Queen. The fiasco with his Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees appointment shenanigans is proof enough about that. (Anybody want me to reprint Luke’s CCC BoT resignation letter to the Commissioners. I’ve already published it twice, but still folks like Wes Westmoreland, Dennis Bailey, Rev. Littlejohn and others are calling me a LIAR.)
But the undisputable facts are these:
The Cleveland County School Board sold the old North Shelby School, valued at $1.6 million, for $550,000 to Mt. Calvary Baptist Church,
Luke Queen sealed the deal.
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church has yet to do anything with the old North Shelby School.
It would appear that Mt. Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Littlejohn is laying low with Luke Queen while working on a secret deal with Luke, so that Cleveland County Schools will “partner” with Mt. Calvary in some shady deal such that CCS will pay Mt. Calvary for some kind of phantom services.
Another possibility that I have long predicted is that Mt. Calvary will sell their properties along the Hickory Creek part of the Shelby “Thread Trail” to an “out of town” developer for a huge profit and move the Church somewhere else. Perhaps to the old North Shelby School property.
Or, a combination of both. Partner with CCS (with CCS putting up the cash$$$) for part of the old North Shelby School and also move the Mt. Calvary congregation to the old North Shelby School after selling the Carolina Avenue property to that “out of town” developer. Along the “Self-Dealing Business Model” developed by former Commissioner Eddie Holbrook who certainly appears to have been making “insider” real estate private investments based on decisions that the commissioners (including Holbrook) were voting for. The Catawba Casino comes immediately to mind. And the American Legion World Series, Baseball, Inc. A North Carolina Corporation started and run by Holbrook while he was Commissioner. And Holbrook certainly intended to STAY on as Commissioner as shown by his re-election campaign spending $68,000 in his losing election run in 2018. Especially since Casino insiders and Holbrook’s investment partners contributing the majority of that $68,000. As well as Rev. Littlejohn and Mary Degree bringing in the “black” vote for Holbrook in that 2018 Democrat Primary election and in the November 2018 General Election. Which Holbrook would eventually lose.
Folks, the publication of this article didn’t just come in from “out of the wild blue yonder.” I am just using this particular situation (and others revisited later), as reminders of what just happened at the October 19, 2021 Commissioner’s Meeting that indicated to me that “land-flips” are still going on in Cleveland County and somebody is making a ton$ of money at taxpayer’s expense.
Stay Tuned!!! I will be telling you about the latest crimes (that I know of) coming out of our county government agencies. In the meantime, I will give you a hint. Economic Development!!!
