Barbara Owen, Salisbury, NC
♦ Please forgive me, but I’m still somewhat in shock. You see, yesterday I received the disturbing news that I am being sued! I have always done my utmost to be a good law abiding citizen of Rowan County – paid my taxes on time, kept my property up, supported area businesses, and sent my children to the local public schools. I guess I just never figured something like this could happen to me or my family.
So, who is taking me to court, you ask? Some bill collector I’ve been avoiding? NO. Some business seeking to collect an outstanding debt I owe? NO. Some slip-and-fall lawyer representing a dubiously injured client? NO. You probably won’t believe this – but I am actually being sued by the Rowan County Board of Education. And by the way, if you are one of the 140,000 citizens of this county, the Rowan County Board of Education voted to sue you as well.
It seems the Board was offended by the more than $28 million of our money they were offered by the County Commissioners, so now they are going to spend who knows how much more of our tax dollars to fight for even more of our money. They are serious – they want our money and they want it now. So in a 5-2 decision the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education voted to sue each and every tax paying resident of this county. That’s right – five elected members of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education voted to increase our property taxes by dragging us to court and forcing us to pay for TWO opposing lawyers! And we trust these people to oversee the education of our children.
Two of the school board members, Chuck Hughes and Josh Wagner tried to save us by voting against this insanity. For their stand and actions we are greatly appreciative. As for the five other members of the Rowan-Salisbury School Board, how can they hope to defend such a vindictive act? How in the world could anyone think this was a wise decision? How could you possibly vote to sue the parents of the very children you were elected to represent? We, the tax paying citizens of Rowan County will remember your names:
Dr. Richard Miller
Kay Wright Norman
Jean Kennedy
Susan Cox
LA Overcash
And remember in November their vote to sue us all.
