Photo* by Lay la Garms
BOE members (from left) Fleming El-Amin and Ken
Raymond listen as Stuart Russell speaks.
BOE
frontpage A1 t
Raymond declined, say
ing, "That meeting has
yet to be set."
El-Amin thanked
attendees for their pres
ence.
"Thank you every
body for showing up this
afternoon - we appreciate
and respect your time,"
he stated. "Please come
back."
Assistant County
Attorney Lonnie Albright
recommended that the
board discuss the interim
position in closed session
because it is a personnel
issue. Raymond hinted to
his intentions of appoint
ing Deputy Director of
Elections Lamar Joyner
to the interim post, stat
ing that he and Joyner
had discussed the possi
bility prior to the meeting
Joyner indicated that he
was up for the task. Many
of the citizens
present at the
meeting
expressed frus
tration at . not
being allowed to
speak.
"People went
to some trouble
to attend that
meeting and it
turned out to be
a nothing of a
meetin'g because
there was no chance for
the public to speak, to
voice any opinions,'
declared Anne Wilson, a
local concerned resident.
In its petition to dis
" miss Coffman. the board,
which is home to two
Republicans and one
Democrat, cited "egre
gious transgressions" that
Coffman had allegedly
made, saying that he
either "purposely misled"
Secretary Stuart Russell
or "recklessly responded
to important requests of
his." The petition also
alluded to Coffman's
"controversial history,"
specifically an incident in
2008 in which he called
an African American
temporary employee a
"crack ho," for which he
reportedly attended sen
sitivity training, and his
"disrespect" towards
Board Chair Ken
Raymond and the Civitas
Institute, a right wing
conservative organiza
tion. Coffman's mishan
dling of a recount in three
Tobaccoville precincts
following the 2013
General Election Village
Council candidates was
also called into question
in the nine-page petition.
Wilson, who was
arrested along with her
husband during Moral
Mondays protests at the
NC Legislature in June,
admitted that the
Tobaccoville count was a
cause for concern, how
ever, as a newcomer to
the board, she believes
that Raymond acted rash
ly in firing Coffman.
"He is too early in this
position to be firing any
body," she said. "I was
not a fan of Rob
Coffman's. 1 don't think
we were of the same
political ilk. but I know
that R?^jb knew this busi
ness inside and out."
City native Constance
Bradley, a retired mental
health nurse, believes
Coffman's actions over
four years ago should not
have in any way predicat
ed the actions of the cur
rent board.
"To me it just doesn't
make no sense," she
declared. "All the stuff
they had, they went over
n Deiore, ana
now it's back
up again, and
all at once, it's
just so impor
tant."
Bradley,
an active
member of the
Forsyth
County
Democratic
party, believes
mat the board bad ulteri
or motives for ousting
Coffman.
"1 think the
Republicans just want
him off because I think
they've got somebody
else that they want to put
in so they can keep
knocking us (progres
sives) down like they
always do," she said. "...
You shouldn't hold stuff
against him after he's
already been treated."
Kim Strach, executive
director of the State
Board of Elections, con
firmed the local board's
decision on Jan. 17, how
ever North Carolina law
requires a 15 day window
in which to "consider Ms.
Strach's decision,"
Raymond explained.
Rev. Paul Lowe, chair
of the Democratic Party's
Fifth Congressional
District, said he believes
the board's actions were
politically motivated.
"I'm not sure he
should have been termi
nated," said Lowe, the
pastor of Shiloh Baptist
Church. "There may have
been a need for some
kind of reprimand, but
not termination."
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Anne Wilson was one of
those on hand to show
her concern.
Lowe
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Sit-in Anniversary
Events
AATPtxxo
North Carolina A&T State University will
mark the 54th anniversary of the
Greensboro Four's historic sit-in tomor
row (Friday, Jan. 31), beginning at 6:30
a.m. with the presentation of the Human
Rights Medal to former Congresswoman
Eva Clayton in Alumni-Foundation
Events Center. The celebration will move
to the February One Monument (pictured
here) at 9 a.m., where a wreath will be
laid and the two surviving members of the
Greensboro Four - Joseph McNeil and
Jibreel Khazan - will speak.
Crime
from page AI
"We're not satisfied
with this," he stated. "We
still have work to do, of
course, in the areas of mur
ders and homicides. One
homicide is too many."
Rountree attributes the
overall downward trend to
"the hard work of the
women and men of the
Winston-Salem Police
Department." In the com
ing year, the department
will continue its proven
method of employing
"proactive policing," he
said.
"Our plan is to contin
ue working with the com
munity, working with our
community partners, on
the initiatives that we have
to make this city safe,"
Rountree stated. "...We
tried to be more visible, we
try to work in the commu
nity more."
Although preliminary
statistics point to a positive
trend citywide, Marva Reid
of the East/Northeast
Winston Neighborhood
Association said that is not
the case in her community.
"The numbers don't
reflect the real crime that
goes on in the Northeast
area, because so much of it
goes unreported," she
explained. "The residents
feel like nothing's going to
be done about it. and that's
sad."
Reid, a longtime com
munity organizer and
neighborhood watch cap
tain, said she used to
encourage her neighbors to
report crimes that occurred
in the area to the police,
but she no longer does so
because she says the risk of
perpetrators discovering
who reported them is too
high. As a community
leader, Reid says she is
regularly approached by
community members who.
have been victimized but
do not report the incidents.
"They feel like. Why
bother?'" she related.
"They just pray and hope
that it won't happen
again."
Reid said a persistent
lack of trust between mem
bers of the predominantly
black and brown commu
nity and the police is par
tially to blame for the
underreporting of crime
she has witnessed.
"The people still don't
trust the police depart
ment," she declared. "That
is the bottom line."
The troubles her com
munity faces predate
Roundtree, whom Reid
says has been "very
responsive" to the commu
nity's needs.
"He does an outstand
ing job as the chief," she
said of Rountree, who took
office last summer. "He
does the best that he can."
Rountree says his
department is working to
address crime in all areas
of the city. A Street Crime
Unit was added in
November and will contin
ue to work strategically to
reduce and prevent crimes
of all sorts, including
homicides, the chief said.
"These kinds of things
are things that law enforce
ment can't predict, but
what we can do is try to
have our people in the right
place at the right time," he
explained. "...We're trying
to increase police presence
as best as we can. We're
trying to enhance our
deployments."
Dottie Jordan, chief of
the Southeast Community
Neighborhood
Association, said she has
seen a significant decrease
in crime in her neighbor
hood over the course of the
last year. Break-ins and
drug activity were once an
issue in the neighborhood,
but thanks to the work of
the WSPD, those issues
have been quashed and res
idents are now able to turn
their attention to lesser
concerns: getting speed
bumps installed to deter
speeding in the neighbor
hood, said Jordan, a native
of Louisville, Ken.
"Our crime is down
because we get a report
every time we have a com
munity meeting," noted
Jordan, a retiree and great
great grandmother of 12'." ^
"It has gone down quite a
bit. and I have to give a ,
shout-out to the policemen '
in our community because
they do patrol our commu
nity."
The statistics detailed
during the press confer
ence last week were based
on preliminary results;
final statistics are slated be
released in the coming
weeks, Rountree said.
File Phoco
Marva Reid with Chief Rountree at a East/Northeast
community meeting last year.
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