As published in the Courier-Tribune on January 11, 2012
Hugh Martin
CANDOR — At the Candor Town Board meeting Monday, Southern Pines attorney Arthur Donadio offered commissioners the opportunity to avoid a lawsuit by the four officers who were fired in December.
Donadio, who is representing former Candor Police Chief Randy White and officers James Pierce, Grantland Jackson and Jeremy Blake, addressed the board for five minutes.
Pierce said on Dec. 19 that Donadio had offered his services to the four officers pro bono, which is without charge.
“What I’m here tonight to do is ask this board to reconsider,” Donadio said. “To go back into session, re-instate the officers. That’s all they want, with back pay and benefits.”
The firings took place at the Dec. 12 board meeting. Wayne Holyfield and Rob Martin who had defeated Leslie Thomas and Tim Smith in the November election were sworn in. Mayor Richard Britt then appointed Holyfield police commissioner and called for a closed session at which Holyfield, Martin and seated Commissioner Tim Privett agreed to fire the officers, effective immediately. The vote was taken in open session over adamant objections by commissioners Phillip Hearne and Layton Booker.
Hearne openly opposed Holyfield’s appointment as police commissioner as a conflict of interest since he is an N.C. Highway Patrol trooper stationed in Montgomery County. (The next day, the patrol transferred Holyfield to Richmond County on special assignment. Last week, he was placed on administrative duty.)
Donadio said that re-instatement would heal the divide that the firings had created in the town. He said that the investigation of the reasons for the action will continue “leaf by leaf.”
According to Donadio, “Government agencies will continue their investigations and it’s not going to stop.” He referred to the minutes of the Dec. 12 meeting during which the firings took place, reminding the board that it was clear that both Mayor Richard Britt and Town Management Adviser Ron Niland had tried to convince board members not to go through with the firings until the town attorney could be consulted.
“What was also clear was that Mr. (Wayne) Holyfield, who had just been seated that day, came into that meeting and knew some things that a layperson attending his first town commission meeting would not necessarily know.”
Donadio stated Holyfield knew that the town’s procedures and policies were not applicable under North Carolina law and, with North Carolina being an at-will state, he did not have to give a reason for firing the officers.
“The question becomes, who was counseling Mr. Holyfield before the meeting?” Donadio asked.
Donadio continued, saying that rumors were flying that Town Clerk Tammy Kellis and long-time town employee John Thompson were to be fired during a closed session scheduled for the Monday meeting. Thompson is retired, but works part time for the town.
“I hope that’s not true, but if it is true then I would like to point out that that would remove the last of the five witnesses to the incident between Ms. Lamonds and the officers at the town hall. Just think about how that’s going to look later if this doesn’t get resolved.”
Donadio was referring to Teresa Lamonds, a Candor business owner who was given a warning ticket for speeding in May 2009 by Officer Jackson. Her husband, John Lamonds, was also issued a warning ticket for following Jackson’s patrol car too closely in another vehicle.
Ms. Lamonds then went to the town hall where she made a verbal complaint against Jackson and allegedly threatened physical harm to him if he were ever to stop her again.
Following an incident that allegedly occurred at her business later that same day, Lamonds said that her civil rights were violated and that excessive force was used by Officer Pierce, who had stated that he came in on his day off to investigate her complaint. According to court documents, an altercation occurred and Ms. Lamonds was arrested and charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, resisting a public officer, two counts of communicating a threat and assault on a government official.
The case was tried in Montgomery County District Court in 2009. Both charges of disorderly conduct were dismissed. Lamonds was found not guilty of assault on a government official. She was found guilty of resisting a public officer and guilty of both counts of communicating a threat.
She appealed the guilty verdicts to Superior Court where she would be tried by a jury. That case is scheduled to be heard later this month.
Donadio continued, telling the board that some of the commissioners were “being used.”
“What happens to people who are used? They don’t benefit in the end. It wrecks everything that they’ve done, everything that they’ve achieved or not achieved.”
The Lamonds couple were the only contributors to both Holyfield’s and Martin’s campaigns during the recent election.
Donadio asked the board to go back into closed session, re-instate the officers and follow the town’s policies.
“Then, if there are issues with their performance, go through the policies and procedures manual and address those,” he said. Donadio stated that he understood that there was nothing in the fired officers’ files that warranted the action that the board had made against them.
“If you don’t do this, then besides the actions that are coming from state agencies, there will be civil litigation, which is not what any of us want. Please, consider carefully what you do here tonight.”
Donadio did not elaborate on what state and government agencies may be conducting investigations of the situation.
No action was taken on the officers’ behalf during the scheduled closed session.
Following the conclusion of the meeting, Donadio said, “It’s going to be hard to get these jobs back. We may have to settle for a different sort of justice.”
The meeting Monday was held at the Candor Town Hall where the meeting room will comfortably hold around 50 spectators.
At a special called meeting and public forum was held on Dec. 19 in the gymnasium at Candor Elementary School to allow sufficient room for a crowd of around 300 citizens to ask for answers on why the four were fired. Commissioners Layton Booker and Phillip Hearne, have also demanded to know why those three commissioners — Holyfield, Martin and Privett — made that motion without explanation and outvoted Booker and Hearne to fire the four officers.
Those answers have yet to be given.
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