RFP Staff

♦ Video: William Peoples Speaks Out At City Council about Crime Getting Out-of-Hand in Salisbury, N.C.:

RFP Staff

♦ Abdul A. Leonard, of Spencer, was barred from the Catawba College Campus Thursday for allegedly carrying a concealed .22-caliber rifle and for harassing a female student.

Leonard, said to be carrying the .22 caliber rifle wrapped in a sweater, approached a female and allegedly made harassing and strangely lewd remarks to her. The approach took place on the North Park Drive and West Innes Street side of the campus.

Alerted to Leonard’s presence on campus, a Catawba College security officer confronted the intruder and questioned him about the rifle. Leonard told security he “found” the rifle down near Grant’s Creek and planned to hand the weapon over to a Sheriff’s Office deputy. Campus security took the rifle from Leonard, cited him for carrying a concealed weapon, and told him he was forever barred from the campus.

The College reported the Salisbury Police Department would further investigate the incident and additional charges might be forthcoming.

Abdul A. Leonard’s previous record:

http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0990278&searchLastName=leonard&searchFirstName=abdul&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1

RFP Staff

♦ Video: Public comments on unfair housing at Salisbury N.C.’s City Council on Tuesday September 15th.  Whitney Peckman, Nan Lund, and Kenneth Lydell Muhammad El speak out on unfair housing practices taking place in Salisbury, a city where 25% of its citizens are poor:

Valuable PDF. on the Impediments to Fair Housing Choice:

http://www.salisburync.gov/Departments/CommunityPlanning/Planning/Documents/2014_AnalysisOfImpedimentsToFairHousingChoice.pdf

RFP Staff

♦ Friday night, at around 10:20 p.m. short bursts of rapid gunfire could be heard in the vicinity of Salisbury High School’s Fulton Street parking lot. Persons living several blocks from the campus could hear multiple gunshots echoing across the area.

Within 15 minutes of the gunfire, Salisbury Police cars started showing at the High School along with backup deputies from the Rowan County Sheriff’s office. It was alleged only 10 policeman were on duty last night throughout the city. It appeared all were drawn to the shooting area.

Only an hour or so before the shots were heard, the Salisbury High School Hornets varsity football team returned home from an out of town defeat and went home safely.

Due to the shooting at Salisbury High, further down Wilson Road, Livingstone College went on lockdown as a precautionary measure. Students returned to their dorms. There was NO DANGER at Livingstone College. No shootings occurred there.

Throughout the rest of the evening investigators remained on the scene at Salisbury High.

As yet there are no reports of injuries or fatalities. While its been said last night’s gunfire was gang related, we have yet to substantiate that claim.

If you have any information about the gunfire at Salisbury High, please call the Salisbury Police at 704-638-5333 or Rowan-Salisbury Crime Stoppers 1-866-639-5245.

**This article will be updated as more information arrives**

RFP Staff

♦ Crime along Bendix Drive in Salisbury is out of control. Thursday September 10th at around 8 p.m. the Days Inn Motel on 321 Bendix Drive suffered an armed robbery for an undisclosed amount of cash. The robber was decked out in an oversized brown wig and baseball cap. He showed a pistol to the motel’s desk clerk. The robber wore a blue jump suit and allegedly barked at the clerk: “Give it up or I’ll blow your M******** head off”.

Below are posted 3 security camera stills from the Days Inn armed robbery on September 10th:

If you know about this stickup call the Salisbury Police at 704-638-5333 or call Salisbury-Rowan Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245.

The RFP article on the September 10th Days Inn armed robbery:

http://rowanfreepress.com/2015/09/12/days-inn-robbed-thursday-in-salisbury-n-c-where-da-po-po-on-bendix-drive-crime-a-go-go/

RFP Staff

♦ Rowan County Commission Meet at 6 P.M. Monday September 21st at County Administration Building on 130 West Innes Street in Salisbury, N.C.

ROWAN COUNTY COMMISSION AGENDA

Invocation
• Provided By: Chaplain Michael Taylor
Pledge of Allegiance
Consider Additions to the Agenda
Consider Deletions From the Agenda
Consider Approval of the Agenda
Board members are asked to voluntarily inform the Board if any matter on the agenda might present a conflict of interest or might require the member to be excused from voting.
• Consider Approval of the Minutes: September 1, 2015, September 8, 2015 and September 14, 2015
1 Consider Approval of Consent Agenda
A. Refunds for Approval
B. Rural Operating Assistance Program (ROAP) Grant
C. Request Public Hearing for October 5, 2015 for FY’17 Community Transportation Grant (CTP)
D. Update of Statewide Emergency Management Mutual Aid Agreement
E. Permission to Apply for Salisbury Community Foundation Grant
F. Purchase Fourteen Vehicles for Sheriff’s Office
G. Purchase a Landfill Compactor for Environmental Management
H. Professional Engineering and Planning Services for the Rowan County Landfill
I. Authorization for County Manager to Sign Housing Related Documents
J. Set Public Hearing for Z 08-15 for October 19, 2015
K. West End Plaza Phase I Design Development
L. Authorize County Manager To Solicit Request For Qualifications to Conduct a Master Plan for Parks and Recreation and a Feasibility Study For A Sports Complex For Youth Active Competitive Sports
M. Authorize Chairman to Send Letter of Opposition to New EPA Ozone Regulations
N. First Amendment to Mediated Settlement Agreement with Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education
2 Special Recognition: Rowan County Veterans Honor Guard
3 Public Comment Period
4 Public Hearing for Z 07-15
5 Quasi-judicial Hearing for CUP 03-15
6 Consider Approval of Budget Amendment
7 Presentation of Water/Sewer Study
8 Adjournment

Complete agenda and information packet:

http://agenda.rowancountync.gov/DisplayAgendaPDF.ashx?MeetingID=136

Citizens with disabilities requiring special needs to access the services or public meetings of Rowan County Government should contact the County Manager’s Office three days prior to the meeting by calling (704) 216-8180

Todd Paris, Attorney and Candidate for Salisbury City Council

♦ The following photo shows where a dry cleaning business operated from 1930 to 1960 in the rear of the property known as the “Empire Hotel”:

The above photo reminded me that old dry cleaners often used chemical solvents that leached into the ground or were discarded outside on the grounds, causing soil, groundwater, and indoor air to be laden with unhealthy residues harmful to humans.

A Chicago Tribune article on the toxic legacy of old dry cleaners may be found at this link:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-07-26/news/0907250254_1_dry-cleaners-perc-state-cleanup-list

Thanks to Steve Mensing’s public records fulfillment from the City of Salisbury, back when city hall still responded to such requests without a court order, I was able to review a Phase I ESA environmental report dated June 29, 2007 from ESC Carolinas (engineering firm) addressed to banker Brian Miller. On page 31 of the pdf file attached (labeled page 26 of the report), you will see that “a dry cleaning business was located on the northwestern corner of the site from at least 1910 until sometime prior to 1966. This dry cleaning business is a potential recognized environmental condition of the site.”

https://app.box.com/s/33uqwen5i96xp37lgav4kev0m6ruyg6y

The potential recognized environmental condition associated with the former dry cleaning business at the Empire Hotel resurfaced again in mid-2013, during the discussion of incentives for Integro. Part of the public records retrieved by the Rowan Free Press include an email from former city manager, Doug Paris, on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 11:45 AM, in which he revealed the following relevant information to the incumbent council members:

“After discovering during the Integro incentive discussion that the Empire property did not have a clean Phase I, I have been working with DSI President Mark Lewis on resolving this issue. Alan Griffith, our contract geologist who assisted us on getting the green light with DENR on both 300 Block projects, recommended that we proceed with a Phase II assessment.

This proposal was presented to the DSI Board this morning and was met with resistance from banker Bill Greene and banker Paul Fisher. The resistance was mainly centered on if the Phase II found anything, that it would require cleanup. DSI does not have the cash reserve to fund a cleanup and so the DSI board would then have to come to the city. There was concern about public support for this.

Obviously, if the city didn’t pick up the costs then the banks would be left with a mess – essentially a million dollar note on a building worth maybe half that with 500k worth of asbestos abatement and then a dry cleaning/petroleum cleanup on top of it all. The dynamic is the asset could rapidly deteriorate into a large liability.

The board decided to delay two months on the decision to proceed on the Phase II. I do want to share Mr. Lewis has been great to work with on this item and I couldn’t ask for better collaboration. This one is a tough issue, and one that will not go away without tackling it as a team with all partners on board.”

https://app.box.com/s/33uqwen5i96xp37lgav4kev0m6ruyg6y

When a Phase I ESA determines the presence of a potential hazardous condition on a property, the responsible thing to do is to order a Phase II ESA to be conducted, to assess the extent of such potential hazardous condition, and how to go about abating or mitigating the risks, in order to be able to proceed with renovation or sale of the property. As part of a Phase II ESA, soil borings and indoor air sampling would determine the nature of the conditions, and the methods required to achieve an environmental cleanup, so that future owners, tenants, workers and occupants do not suffer from exposure to hazardous conditions.

If chemicals like carbon tetrachloride were found to pose an indoor air hazard or a groundwater contamination hazard, mitigation would be required as part of adaptive reuse/renovation of the project. That could include something as simple as a vapor barrier and a gas evacuation system similar to those used for removal of radon gas under a home; or it could include spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to pump neutralizing chemical agents like hydrogen peroxide into the soil containing hazardous chemicals, and retrieving the residual sludge from test wells, hauling the contaminated liquids and soil to a special facility that separates the chemicals and discards the mitigated waste into special landfills or to be disposed of in hazardous waste incinerators.

Even though the ESA Phase I report was used by ESC engineering to estimate a $550,000 to abate asbestos and lead-based paint from the Empire (in a February 2008 letter to Brian Miller). Yet, with the full knowledge of the potential hazardous condition of the former dry cleaning business, on 12-02-2013, DSI President Mark Lewis, sent out a draft contract proposal that he expected to be signed by Tartan Residential, Inc. of Charlotte, to purchase the Empire Hotel for $1.2 million.

In the draft contract provided by Mr. Lewis, paragraph 6.04(g) reads in relevant part, “To the best knowledge of Seller, no portion of the Property has been used for the storage or disposal of hazardous waste or other regulated materials.”

In the draft contract, 4.01(b) read, “Within five (5) days after the Effective Date of this Agreement, Seller shall, at its expense, deliver to Buyer true and accurate copies of the following, in Seller’s possession or reasonably available to Seller: All environmental reports (e.g., Phase I reports, Phase II reports, asbestos surveys, wetlands surveys, traffic studies, stormwater retention plans, etc.) with respect to the Property.”

https://app.box.com/s/8330pwhg0a9jj5wqw9dcsiyo9lqd57qd

The email of the draft contract from Mr. Lewis does not reveal whether that Phase I ESA was the ‘deal-breaker’, if and when Tartan had an opportunity to read it. But given the alarming reaction from two bankers in town to the former city manager’s recommendation that a Phase II ESA be conducted, it is not hard to imagine that any potential buyer would have come to the same conclusion about the potential liabilities of the property would vastly exceed the possible value of it. I think selling this property without a Phase II ESA and full disclosure of the site’s problems would just create a huge lawsuit from the buyer.

So, with the wonderful news of Governor Pat McCrory and Secretary of Cultural Resources Susan Kluttz’s success at reviving the NC Historic Preservation Tax Credits—all $8 million worth of tax credits statewide—wouldn’t it be a bit premature to celebrate that the Empire Hotel may now proceed with a purchaser who can restore it to its early 20th Century grandeur? It is my fear that DSI bought a pig in a poke in July 2007, despite Brian Miller’s knowledge of the potential hazardous condition proven over the long-term to render the property more a liability than an asset. It is further my fear that the City of Salisbury, already struggling with Fibrant’s hidden costs of safety code violations of part of its overhead fiber optic cables that could cost $4 million to fix, is not in a position to bail out the remaining banks who loaned the money for the Empire Hotel purchase.

DSI has one major asset, and that is the Empire Hotel. If it defaults on payments of that mortgage, the banks would have ownership of the property. Not good for the banks. If DSI declares bankruptcy and dissolves, another nonprofit corporation could arise from its ashes, unencumbered by the crushing debt payments on the Empire Hotel, and could be more effective at promoting the Downtown with the hard-earned Municipal Service District Tax that I and other small businesses are currently paying, in order to prop up a worthless asset. It is a huge payment we make, in order to protect big banks from writing off losses.

If the banks would ‘take one for the team,’ they could permit Downtown Salisbury Inc. to submit a “Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure”. It would peaceably relinquish the mountain of debt that DSI owes, without forcing the organization into bankruptcy or dissolution. That would seem to be a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone, and it is not without a local precedent: In December 2013, city council member Karen Alexander and her husband, Henry Alexander, were able to peaceably walk away from a mountain of debt by surrendering the deeds to Spencer’s Park Plaza and two large warehouse projects they formerly rented to Rowan-Salisbury Schools, in a ‘Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure’ deal, which spared the Alexanders from much more formidable financial situations, and enabled them to prosper once again.

That deed is public record, attached to this article, and is filed at the Rowan County Register of Deeds at Book 1228, Page 777, for the detractors who are always asking me for ‘proof’. I will not make assertions that I cannot back up with documentary evidence.

So a DSI “Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure” is my recommendation to ‘fix’ what can be fixed, and moving forward to rebuild our legacy as a vibrant downtown.

I do not expect City Staff or Incumbent Council to comment. I do not expect main-street media to ask them about it or report. As Pete Kennedy recognized in his own email response to the City Manager’s email on July 23, 2013, “This obviously could become a campaign issue that could harm the incumbents seeking re-election. By all means delay a decision on this.” Salisbury tax-payers deserve a City Council as good at solving problems as the last one has been at covering them up.

WhereDaSecurityGuardPoPoChiefCollinsTonight.com

♦ STRAIGHT OUTTA SALISBURY, N.C! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Steve Mensing, Editor

♦ Saturday night and this morning the Rowan Free Press received several reports of gunfire in the vicinity of the 200 block of Brick Street (East Fisher Street).  According to the information we received a drive-by took place. Someone fired on a Black male(s) walking in the area.  Mercifully no one was hit.

I have inquiries out to several folks in the Salisbury Police Department to provide us more detail when available and we will post it on the Rowan Free Press.  But I repeat no one was hit and no arrests were made.

People wonder how we obtain our crime news and often speedily.  We have developed an open source network of folks living in various communities throughout the city and the county who inform us of criminal goings on.  We also have many sources within the Salisbury Police Department and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office who keep us updated.  We are in contact with retired officers who keep their thumb on the city’s and county’s pulse.  Often times we have to piece details together from various sources and we fact check everything that comes to us.

Unlike some news sources who gloss-over or don’t report some violent crimes occurring in certain parts of the city because of a dire need to sell a “positive” image, we are not beholden city hall or to advertisers.  Covering over or not reporting is not a good move because it puts people in harms way and fails to provide feedback that something needs repair.  Sad to say Salisbury is a very dangerous place and its been that way for years.

From our understanding the string of four recent shootings were all gang-related, most of the young men shot or shot at appear to be “Blood” affiliated.

We’ve learned from reliable sources there was recent crack-down on the command staff of the very understaffed Salisbury Police.  They must now show up for work in uniform instead of civilian garb and take to the streets when required due to shootings and armed robberies.

It is good to know our Rowan County Sheriff’s Office continues to back up our police during the city’s upsurge in violent crime and gang related activity.  For years now the Sheriff’s Office deputies frequently show up at crime scenes and where needed.  The solid connection between the two law enforcement agencies makes great sense because a large number of highly trained and experienced police officers wisely fled the Salisbury Police Department for the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office. Welcome back to your old beat for better morale and far better pay!

RFP Staff

♦ John Edward Reese, 33, transient N.C. absconder, registered sex offender, and felon, was arrested in Rowan County, N.C. by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office for 27 counts of sex offenses with 2 children allegedly victimized between 2008 to 2012 in Rowan County.

Reese, a transient registered sex offender living in recent years in Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach Florida, failed to register his address change and whereabouts, took up hiding in Rowan County.

Reese was charged Sunday with 1 count of first degree rape (felony), 9 counts of indecent liberties with children (felony), 18 counts of first degree sexual offense (victim under 13) (felony), and one count of probation violation (misdemeanor).

Under a $600,000 secured bond, Reese is locked up in the Rowan County Detention Center.

Florida Sex Offender Flyer:

http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personNbr=89970#

John Edward Reese’s record in North Carolina:

http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0653926&searchLastName=reese&searchFirstName=john&searchMiddleName=e&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1

RFP Staff/RowanCountyFair.Net

♦ Everything You Want to Know about the 2015 ROWAN COUNTY FAIR from September 25th to October 3rd:

http://www.rowancountyfair.net./

Kenny Hardin, Citizen, Salisbury, N.C.

♦ I’m not writing this for political reasons or as a candidate. I’m writing this as a fed up resident.

Back in mid-May, I sat before the City Council and said our City is at a tipping point and that over the next few months it was going to get worse. I felt like what I said fell on deaf ears at that May meeting, but look at where we are now. Previously, in an email exchange with the former City Manager that was sent to me, the Mayor accused me of grandstanding and playing to cameras when I’ve spoken out about crime and violence in our City. There is no joy in feeling like I told you so.

I received a message last night about 8:30 pm from a frightened female resident who lives in the North Fulton/Ellis Street area. She said she had just called 911 to report a series of 5-6 gunshots near her home. A couple of hours ago, I was awakened by a message from another resident who shared that an Officer had been shot at in the Clay Street area. We’ve had several back to back shootings this week near Salisbury High School and on West Thomas Street. The shootings in our City are at a critical level and EVERYONE needs to step up to address this before it spirals further out of control.

The time of pointing fingers and assigning blame is not right now. Accountability is in order on all sides. We’ve got good people out doing work in the Community like Pastor Timothy Bates, but we need a heavier presence and involvement from the Faith Community and regular citizenry. We need people to stop shaking their heads in judgment and saying it’s “those people over there” because it can easily travel to different zip codes and neighborhoods. This is not a Black folk problem. I had a conversation recently with an angry young man who shared that they’re ready “to take our frustrations to Confederate Avenue and burn this motherf’n City down.”

I’ve shared these conversations with our City Manager, our Police Chief and our City HR Director, Zack Kyle. I’ve told them that there are strong people in the Community like Chris Sifford, Chris Sharpe, Marlon Hash, Angie Phifer, Talita McCain, Kenny Muhammad, Greg Vanzant, Alex Clark and others who are constantly talking with these young people to diffuse and suppress anger and redirect errant thoughts and actions. But, the onus for change can’t rest on a few and we can’t continue to be that singular driving force.

The entire Community does need to own the problem, but the City needs to step up and act like the Leaders they were elected to be. Where is your presence? Where is your voice? Where is your action? What is your plan? We don’t need statistics. People should not have to feel afraid in their homes and sit back and watch shootings occur over and over in the same areas. If our current Leaders can’t provide solutions and ameliorate this problem, then they don’t deserve to finish out this term let alone get the opportunity at another one.

Our reputation as a destination City is being tarnished, which impacts our growth and economic development. Good people are considering relocating because of this unabated scourge on our City.
My organization, Dedication to Community/Choose to Live is working on a Community event with some Leaders. We want to bring it to the collective Community and provide a dialogue on this issue early next month. I’m constantly out in the Community talking with our Youth and fighting as an advocate. What are you doing to help this critical issue? We need results not excuses or a whole lot of bitching, moaning, whining and complaining absent of action and involvement. I’m listening.

RFP Staff

♦ Video: Rowan County Commission Meeting at 6 P.M. Monday September 21st in Salisbury, N.C.:

http://rowancountync.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=553

Todd Paris, Attorney and Candidate for Salisbury City Council

♦ While many readers are familiar with Myra Heard’s methods of circumventing legally required public information requests, few of you, unless you work or have worked in Salisbury’s notorious city hall have known about Myra’s “dirty little secret”.  Shall we let the ole cat out of the bag?

When Salisbury City Clerk Myra Heard wanted new furniture for her office she spared no expense:

New guest chairs $4,759.30

A new desk $1,599

A new lateral file $959.90

A new bookcase $699.95

A new chair mat $459.60

For a total of $8,477.75.

This is how City Clerk Myra Heard spends your tax dollars, most lavishly on a $459.60 plastic mat to go under her office chair.

But that’s not all, the city’s purchasing policies were violated to make it happen.  Purchases that exceed $5,000 are required to be bid out, but that didn’t happen in this case.  It went to a single vendor without being bid.

But that’s not all.  Everything was ordered from her husband’s business with Indoff.  Indoff pays their sales staff a 75% commission on gross profit from each sale: http://join.indoff.com/workfromhome/

Getting a commission check direct deposited into your joint bank account on a no-bid $8,477 purchase while you comfortably glide your office chair on a new $459 plastic mat.  Now that’s running City Hall like a boss.

See the purchase orders and supporting documents below:

NC Bidding Statute:

https://app.box.com/s/zvimb3ttvlcmwt4ddgfp8x15fgetjtom

Salisbury, NC Purchasing Policy and Procedures :

https://app.box.com/s/5d3a5j39op08d3bzh85oph5we7x61qvl

1st Indoff Purchase Order (desk, bookcase, file cabinet):

https://app.box.com/s/qzx0oglvcxxhqbg1hhbtoqb7bfmiekg0

1st Indoff Packing Slip:

https://app.box.com/s/z8ukds367a9jwppuq3el569mqgf33j4t

2nd Indoff Purchase Order (fourteen guest chairs):

https://app.box.com/s/krw6ojbpu41z4tigw8dxy27t36bsd4pd

1st Indoff Invoice :

https://app.box.com/s/focrxkxow75bozj2fktho1qbj85avvs5

3rd Indoff Purchase Order (floor mat) :

https://app.box.com/s/gp2cd334zzoow8lwg64ztijub470wyrh

2nd Indoff Invoice:

https://app.box.com/s/j32b02p53bcjwfsnypixnxe2nc5ser50

Cover of Salisbury, NC Purchasing Manual:

https://app.box.com/s/bss7xynhzkvsfzmuiojn8jm4ap9tyzai

Myra and Jeff Heard in prosperous times:

Steve Mensing, Editor

♦ Last night I watched our video of Monday’s Rowan County Commission meeting and paid special attention to the segment entitled: “Presentation of the Water-Sewer Study”. It was heartening to see the commissioners approve a potentially major economic development machine when they started a county-owned water and sewer system.

Go here to find the last night’s video and click on “Presentation of the Water-Sewer Study”:

http://rowanfreepress.com/2015/09/21/video-rowan-county-commission-meeting-at-6-p-m-monday-september-21st-in-salisbury-n-c/

This county government video covers what happened last night and shows the process by which the Commissioner unanimously agreed to start a county-owned water and sewer system.

The commissioners appointed county commissioner Craig Pierce, an outspoken supporter of a county-owned water and sewer system and Commission Chairman Greg Edds to oversee the much needed water and sewer economic development tool.

$60 million dollars is the estimated cost of the complete water and sewer system. However, the commissioners plan on taking much smaller strides at the outset by building out a smaller $3 million dollar system of water lines, targeting primarily economic development in Dukeville and Bostian Heights instead of residential customers. Sewer lines would only be constructed after the County contracted an industrial prospect to construct a facility along Long Ferry Road where Duke Energy owns “Carlton Property”.

Last night an engineering company McGill Associates presented a detailed water and sewer study begun almost 12 months ago.  Pierce and Edds mentioned that Salisbury-Rowan Utilities might partner for certain services like water treatment, but the money generated from customers would stay with the Rowan Government.  More specific details can be found in the video.

Rabbi Will McCubbins, China Grove, N.C.

♦ It’s plenty clear the criminal element in Salisbury, N.C. rules the roost. Hardly a day goes by in the Bury without break-ins, armed robberies, wolfpacks beating people down on the streets for laughs, or they flat-out shoot you. The body count in Salisbury is mounting. In 2014 the murders and shootings doubled over the previous year. Most of 2015 gone–the shootings and killings show no sign of letup and will surely top the old records. 11 unsolved murders. The criminal element knows full well they dominate the city. Word on the street says the Salisbury Police lack any real manpower to meet their 24-7 patrol obligations.

The latest is our Sheriff’s deputies are joining forces with what remains of the Salisbury Police Department. The Sheriff’s Office has always had the Salisbury Police Department’s back. Go to any major crime scene in the Bury and the Sheriff’s Office is there. Anybody who knows about crime in the Bury and who listens to present and former police knows they pray for the day the “security guard” is given his walking papers. Collins has hamstrung Salisbury’s undermanned and now inexperienced police department. Fibrant and city mismanagement has turned Salisbury “broke-ass”. Excuse my language.

If you truly desire any security in Salisbury you need to supply your own. You are begging to become a statistic and wind up coldly deposited in some blood-soaked weeds if you don’t come packing.

You don’t want to be staring up through a confusing red haze of half-dead consciousness with chopper blades thrashing as they airlift you out for emergency surgery. The trauma unit at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is no place to spend your last hours on Earth. Friend you don’t need to go there. Use your God-given sense–-put survival first. If you go to Salisbury at all, go armed. Better yet get a concealed carry permit and get trained in concealed carry.

Salisbury is filled with a lot of bad news types who crave heroin, crack, or meth money. They are laying for you now.

My advice if you come to Salisbury at all, is to come with heat and be prepared to use it if someone wants test your personal perimeter.

“Two to the core-–one to the head.” Simple math everyone should understand.

The major world powers don’t go unarmed and neither should you.

N.C. Law for Defending Your Home, Vehicles, and Work Place. The Castle Doctrine Simplified:

http://rowanfreepress.com/2014/03/30/n-c-law-for-defending-your-home-vehicles-and-work-place-castle-doctrine/

Best Methods for Stopping Home Invasions and Break-ins:

http://rowanfreepress.com/2014/03/29/best-methods-for-stopping-home-invasions-and-break

Chuck Hughes, Salisbury, N.C.

♦ As seen on the recent State Board of Education Performance Grades (SPG), Rowan-Salisbury School System (RSSS) did even worse than it did in 2013-2014. Only one school made improvement in its SPG while 11 schools dropped a grade or more, Twenty-one remained unchanged. Net score loss between 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 was about 120 points. Although it was expected RSSS would encounter a “dip” because of its initiation of the 1:1 iPad/Apple Laptop  implementation and new software programs, the “dip” was far greater than I anticipated. Many “reasons” ranging from district poverty to poor testing procedures employed at the state level, were suggested as causes for this drop. However, I do not believe we can continue to blame systemic failure on uncontrollable elements such as poverty, a wavering state legislature, lack of funding or presumed unfair testing apparatuses. We must find a way to educate our children despite these adversities.

It is no secret that Poverty is a major hindrance to education, one the school system has no direct control over. This is confirmed by The Education Consumers Foundation. The Foundation reported the following:

•There is a strong relationship between economic disadvantage and 3rd grade reading proficiency. Disadvantaged children are typically entering school two or three grade levels behind their peers.

• When schools substantially exceed the performance of their demographic peers, the results often represent major differences in the effectiveness of the school’s reading instruction program.

•The early use of intensive, skill-focused reading instruction could enable the vast majority of at-risk children to reach grade level by 3rd grade. In support of Superintendent Moody’s aggressive approach to teaching software to complement our new technology, I suggest this priority is where we need to spend our limited dollars.

Despite the evidence tying poverty with poor early school performance, we must not let it be a deterrent to our children’s education or an excuse for our failures. Only a sound education will loosen Poverty’s grasp on a child’s future. Our new software program, Achieve3000, may well be the tool that addresses the literacy issue from both student and teacher perspectives.

Although poverty cannot be resolved by the school system, there are other pieces of the puzzle that impede our success in education that can be addressed:

• State legislators must be persuaded to follow words of support with financial support.

• Perceived unfair testing procedures must be reviewed at the State level and modified if necessary.

• Drug trafficking and gang related incidents are also problematic in some of our schools. Until this issue is seriously addressed and resolved, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for even the most talented teachers with the most promising educational programs and teaching skills, to teach.

• Poor performing schools escalate their negativity by driving families away from the county. Others with the resources take advantage of private schools. This results in further concentration of poverty.

•Since sound evidence exists that 3rd grade reading proficiency ability is the most critical indicator of a student’s educational success, literacy must be our first area of focus. To my knowledge, no one in RSSS administration or on the Board of Education disagrees with this.

We best give our new programs time to work. Perhaps not three or four more years as suggested, but let’s at least see what “a difference a day makes.”

RFP Staff/Steve Mensing, Editor

♦ Tuesday evening’s “Time to Talk” Salisbury City Council candidates forum at East Square Artworks was well organized and attended by somewhere in the vicinity of about 40 folks.

Before we go much further the RFP hopes to put up a video of the “Time to Talk” Forum as soon as possible. Videos of candidates forums tell a much fuller story of what was actually said, including not only the words, but capturing such important nuances of facial expression, intonation, body language, emotion, presence, and sincerity. Candidate forum videos, unless highly edited, rinse out “slant” and words purposely left out often present in some “media” reports.

The 2015 Salisbury City Council race shapes up as the first time in over a decade that non-incumbents have a very high likelihood of being elected. Throughout Salisbury a strong disaffection exists with City Hall and its lack of connection with the city’s many communities outside of the Historic District and the Country Club. Crime, the current city council’s cover-up of its broadband Fibrant’s failure ($12.6 million dollars negative in the 2014 budget audit) and the mutual termination of its former city manager.  Add to this City Hall’s lack of any transparency, the very loud call for the removal of Chief Rory Collins, 11 unsolved murders, and the fact that working class people both black and white are unloading their homes and moving elsewhere for safety and a better life. The young have scattered to a new life far from their hometown and parents seek alternative forms of education for their children in the light of Salisbury’s public schools D and F report cards, behavioral problems, campus drug abuse, and gangs.

Last night at the candidates forum, challengers Kenny Hardin, Todd Paris, and William Peoples stepped up and stole the show. Incumbents Maggie Blackwell and Brian Miller were flat except when Miller took a swipe at former city “employee”.  Karen Alexander was a no show, being out of town. Former city councilmen Mark Lewis (the major driving force behind Fibrant and Empire Hotel fiascos whose financial repercussions have done enormous harm to the city’s finances, city services, and the Downtown area) and Scott Maddox who many voters don’t recall from his lackluster days on council appear to be the status quo’s heir apparents for council seats. Mark Lewis, voted off city council several years ago, drags a pile of very loud tin cans behind him making his candidacy an easy target for non-incumbent candidates.

The “Time to Talk” candidates forum focused on two important question areas:

• A demographic comparison of Salisbury with Ferguson, Mo where violence reigned throughout the city after the fatal shooting of a Black teenager by a white police officer.

• Multi-issue questions centering on creative ideas to handle city problems and how to bridge the divide between Salisbury’s current city council and the city’s minority communities.

The candidates were provided time enough to make opening and closing statements as well as answer the “2 questions”.

Here are some sound bytes and reflections from the forum candidates.

Kenny Hardin: The community advocate connected easily with the audience and drew applause for his insightfulness about the city’s diversity and that diversity’s lack of inclusion.  When he said:  “If everyone wasn’t a part of the process, then we needed to destroy it then fix it.  We need to start over.”

Hardin recognized the disproportionate representation existed among Salisbury’s residents and its leaders. “We possess five seats so we can have more than one black person on city council.”  The clapping grew loud in East Square Artworks. Hardin stole the show when he went hardball, talking about unkept promises, the city council’s failure to meet on problem communities turf. He promised to keep talking about problems even if it pisses people off.  Amens mixed in the clapping.

Todd Paris: Attorney and on a mission to “out” a missing-in-action city council and get rid of the security guard police chief Collins who can’t name or count the Salisbury’s unsolved murders. The fireball attorney from hell is the quintessential reform candidate who loves combat and who will gleefully sledgehammer the incumbents at every turn.

Todd publically scoffs at city council’s claim that negative campaigns don’t fly in Salisbury. Apparently city council suffers from an impaired memory about Jake Alexander’s Rowan Alliance and Todd’s last flame throwing group that terminated Jim Sides return to the county commission. Todd’s got a scull and cross bones decal on his F-80 Super Sabre and he plans on adding Maggie Blackwell, Karen Alexander, Brian Miller, and the other pretender Mark Lewis “scalps” to his trophy case. “These four people have destroyed Salisbury and they are standing in the road to a Salisbury Turnaround.” It’s easy to imagine Todd slamming the accelerator to the floor and sending meat and blood spatter flying.

Paris spoke about Salisbury’s government by the “right people” for the “right people”. Paris brought up Salisbury subsidizing Fibrant and cutting back on the Salisbury Police budget. He noted Salisbury has fewer officers than had in 2008. He mentioned, as he’s done throughout the early stages of the campaign, that Fibrant is absorbing too much of the city’s budget.

Todd Paris told the audience that police Chief Rory Collins needed to be fired.

Paris scored high last night on the attendees’ clap-o-meter.

William Peoples: His deep base voice resonated with the audience when said Salisbury is not very inclusive and spoke at length about the city’s crime situation which has graduated to the top rung in the last year as the major issue in Salisbury. Shootings are all over the news on an almost daily basis for the last 7 days. Salisbury is under siege from its gangs and break-in artists.

William said we don’t talk about unfairness in hiring city employees and unfairness in education. He mentioned the breakdown in parents talking with their children and the effect it had on youngsters turning to crime. He underlined the fact that felony conviction follow someone for their entire life. He closed by telling the audience that Salisbury residents needed demand more from their leaders.

William called for the firing of Chief Rory Collins which brought applause.

Jeff Watkins: Jeff acknowledged that Salisbury didn’t need a situation similar to Ferguson to occur.  The City simply would not have the manpower to deal with it.

Touching on police relations, Jeff said when he was a youngster it was common for children to aspire to be police.  Today children are scared.

Watkins was among those who called for Chief Rory Collins to be canned.

Rip Kersey: Answering the Ferguson demographic question, he said the only statistic that mattered was the probability that someone might make a mistake that could trigger violence in the streets of Salisbury. “We have to address the problem immediately and with force. It’s been done in other cities and with other people.”

Stephen Arthur: Noting the demographics in Salisbury and Ferguson are similar, Stephen said Salisbury is on the verge of an explosion. He believes that leaders should care about everybody and should not care about special interests. He saw the importance of opening dialogue and listening to each other.

Constance Johnson: Constance saw that Ferguson and Salisbury’s demographics are almost identical. She believed we are just one step–one snap away of being the same town with the same problems and the same violence. People in the audience nodded in agreement. She believes Salisbury’s diverse cultures distrust each other. Salisbury focuses on one culture alone and excludes others.

Roy Bentley: Bentley said it was incumbent for government to have a positive relationship with the communities and blamed the lack of trust for what happened in Ferguson. Bentley suggested that increasing trust could prevent a violent backlash under similar circumstances.

David Post: Because of Yom Kippur obligations, David could only give an opening statement. He urged people to choose the five best candidates. He mentioned that he was committed to remaining in Salisbury. He noted that Salisbury won’t regain its lost Textile industry. 

David believes Fibrant was one of the best things Salisbury has ever done which brought eye-rolls from members of the audience and panel. Then he followed it up with making Fibrant free to all the businesses and residents Downtown. (Some candidates and audience members shook their head in disbelief. Post in one swoop proposed decimating likely a third of the Fibrant’s subscribership to a free ride). He would also revitalize the Downtown’s storefronts. (Manikins in the windows for an occupied look? Graffitti proof paint? Unsmashable windows?)

Troy Russell: Troy urged candidates to work with each other and that one person on city council could not independently make changes. He pointed that Salisbury lacks money and forces people to walk on the streets. He said bringing more businesses to Salisbury might help improve the city’s demographics.

Tamara Sheffield: Tamara believed little difference existed between Ferguson and Salisbury. Tamara subscribes to the idea that when Salisburians watched the news about Ferguson that Salisbury was one incident away. “The big difference is the love people in the city have. She believes that there’s a big difference.”

Maggie Blackwell: Blackwell said Salisbury’s demographics appear similar to Ferguson, yet they are also similar to a thousand other cities that are thriving. She saw Salisbury’s better days are in the future. In a low voice she admitted she has never seen race relations in Salisbury as they are now. She planned to junket to another city in October to learn how that city bridges the gap in race relations. She believes the best way to solve a problem is see what is working.  Many in the audience were unresponsive to what Maggie was saying.

Mark Lewis: The former city councilman who was voted out of office over Fibrant, told the attendees that there’s a steady degradation in the community dialogue over previous years. He blamed the N.C. General Assembly for legislation as a contributing factor. He believes nobody trusts anymore and cited six people standing out with confederate flags by the Confederate Veteran Memorial. He wondered if that was what our community is all about. “Why were those protestors more important than the 300 people who showed up at the bell tower to pray?” He added that is important that the county and city leaders work together. (Lewis received polite clapping).

Brian Miller: Miller shrugged off the Ferguson question, stating that demographic statistics can be morphed to say anything. (This brought eye-rolls and silence from many in the audience) Miller said “Might race relations in our community be improved? Absolutely.” Miller sounding defensive predicted that several of tonight’s candidates would put forward the notion that the incumbents do not care about our citizens? I reject that 100%. He listed several events the city hosts that honored all the citizens in the community. Many in the audience appeared puzzled by Miller’s reaction.

In his closing statement Miller spoke about Salisbury leaders needing to bold changes to improve the city. He tried to call out Todd Paris for his critical statements about the city council and said they were ironic. “A lot of those issues that Paris Brought up and talked about were decisions made by a former “city employee” that had a lot to do with where we are today. I think everybody knows what I’m talking about.”

Scott Maddox: Maddox stated that Salisbury’s problems: Trust, communication and tolerance are similar to those faced by the entire nation. “We need to get to a point where people are not afraid to say what’s on their heart–that people are not afraid to say how they really feel. We need to address others concerns whether they are our concerns or not.” Maddox believes fixing Salisbury’s inclusiveness will take time.

Rowan County Sheriff’s Office

♦ Rowan County, N.C. Sheriff’s Office MOST WANTED LIST:

http://ossip2c.rowancountync.gov/p2c/mostwanted.aspx

Rowan County Sheriff’s Office

♦ Rowan County, N.C.’s unsolved murders with all the known facts and photographs going back several decades. The Sheriff’s Office “Cold Case” files:

http://www.rowancountync.gov/GOVERNMENT/Departments/SheriffsOffice/ColdCases.aspx

Rowan County N.C. Sheriff’s Office UNSOLVED MURDERS