Candor citizens still wants answers on police firings ♥

As published in the Courier-Tribune on March 22, 2012

By Hugh Martin

CANDOR — All five Candor commissioners were present at the regular meeting March 12 and the meeting room was full of citizens with questions still being asked about the mass firing of the majority of the police department at the Dec. 12 meeting.

When a motion for approval of the minutes of the February meeting was requested by Mayor Richard Britt, Commissioner Rob Martin interjected a request that the minutes be amended.

“At the last town board meeting there were some wordly (sic) items that were spoken. As a veteran of the U.S. Army, and as an American citizen, I would like for the minutes to reflect what was said. I think it was insulting to be compared to terrorist acts by someone in the open forum, and I’d like for those minutes to reflect what was said, and (to get) a copy or a copy of the recording for possible litigation,” Martin said.

Martin was referring to Candor citizen George Myers, who compared the police firings in Candor to the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, during the public forum at the February regular meeting.

“On Sept. 11, 2001, a bunch of thugs, financed by Osama bin Laden, attacked the World Trade Center. On Dec. 12, 2011, a bunch of thugs, financed by Teresa Lamonds, attacked the Town of Candor,” Myers had said.

Many residents have expressed the belief that the police firings on Dec. 12 were the result of a warning ticket that escalated to Lamonds’ arrest in 2009. Records at the Montgomery County Board of Elections show that Lamonds and her husband were the only contributors to the 2011 campaigns of commissioners Martin and Wayne Holyfield.

Commissioners voted to table the approval of the February minutes until the April meeting.

Commissioner Phillip Hearne again addressed the status of the hiring of former Highway Patrol Trooper Erik Jackson as a Candor police officer by the majority of the board at the Dec. 12 meeting. Hearne motioned that the vote to hire Jackson be rescinded. “To resolve this issue once and for all, that’s the motion I want to make tonight,” he said.

Commissioner Layton Booker seconded and the vote was unanimous.

Jackson has since been charged with felony voter fraud for his alleged actions during the 2011 town commissioner race in Candor.

Hearne pointed out that newly-hired Police Chief Johnny Fulp would be responsible for hiring and firing officers, but Fulp is actually required to bring the names of potential hires to the board for approval.

(NOTE: The following line was added after submission and was not a part of the original text) The public forum took up the rest of the meeting.

Candor resident Bill Maher referred to the released transcript of the Dec. 12 closed session when the discussion of the firing of the police officers took place.

“The town attorney or legal advisor kept saying over and over again, you’re making a mistake, you ought to postpone this, you ought to listen to this, and no one did,” Maher said. “So, why the hell do you have a town attorney?”

Mayor Richard Britt stated that Maher was referring to Ron Niland, who serves as a management adviser to the town board and is not the town’s attorney.

Beth Maher directed her comments to Britt:

“You had two other commissioners telling you this was a bad idea and you needed to consult with the attorney. You said, ‘I am not for this,’ yet you did not take the advisement of two of your town commissioners and Mr. Niland. You completely ignored them and went ahead with what you wanted to do. Why did you not listen to counsel?”

“Anything else?” Britt replied.

“And, of course, you’re not going to answer the question, are you?” Maher said. “A question needs to be answered.”

“Anything else?” Britt repeated.

Maher told the editor of The Montgomery Herald, the local newspaper, “to stay on him until he answers the questions, along with a few others.”

Former mayor Becky Williams had some advice to the board about the ongoing controversy.

“This is a public forum. You can speak. You can have some rapport with the citizens. It’s not written in stone that you have to sit up there cold-faced and not respond to any concern that anybody may have. I think it would be in the best interest of the town to work together and move forward. Have a conversation. They (citizens) wouldn’t come out if they weren’t concerned about what is going on. You cannot sit there and continue to stare at each other and not be a willing part of the conversation. You have to have a conversation and I think that today would be a good time to do it.”

Williams waved her arm toward the full chairs in the meeting room and continued, “These are the taxpayers. They pay your expenses. They pay your salary. They have a vested interest in this town. You are there to look after the fiduciary interest for them. These folks want answers.”

Britt responded that he has answered questions since Dec. 12 the best he could and has been called names he doesn’t like.

“I’ve been up here most of that time when I’m not at work,” he said. “I’ve answered questions from every person in the country, it seems like. The people in Candor deserve answers. This is a big basketball country town. Everybody’s Duke fans, Carolina fans, that’s how we get along here, we pick at each other. But this is not a picking thing. This is a very serious thing.

“I have not run from nobody in this town. I can’t make these commissioners speak. That’s what they’re up here for. If they want to speak they can speak,” Britt said.

At the close of the meeting, Martin said, “I appreciate everybody coming and when we get past the hurdles we’re in and everybody working together, we need to work together. We need to get the town back.”

Candor resident Judy Brewer spoke from the audience. “Give us some answers and we will.”

She received no response.