PUBLISHED JiACH THURSDAY f| ' ?? T=J THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE f=| "Building Coaaumlcaiive Bridges PEMBROKE, N.C. h ATn-IUc.lS.Wog" ROBESON COUNTY l-ri-ru-rn-n-n-f1-J^-ri-^n-n-n-n-l^^J^-n-n-0-0J^-0-,TJ^-n-n-r>J^^ ? ? n.r?^~L~u'Lnj^LrtJYjTjxru~>jv\j~u*tn_ VOLUME 8, NUMBER 10 20< PER COPY Thursday, March 6, 1980 ? 3 AN EDITORIAL INQUIRY OF THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE ' MCDUFFIE CUMMINGS WRONGLY ACCUSED? Should the SBI probe Osborne Lee,Jr.,Ben G. Floyd 'Jr.,The Robesonian? McDuffie Cummings, Pembroke's embattled town manager, made the front page of the Rebesonlau on February 27, 1980. Harvey Burgess, a Robeson!? staff writer, in a copyright ed news article, seemingly charged McDuffie Cummings with several ser ious violations of the law; so serious as to apparently warrant an S.B.i. inves tigation that was seemingly engineered by the Robe son ian and its attorney of record, Osborne Lee, Jr.. of the firm of Lee & Lee, Attorneys at Law, Lum berton. The Carolina Indian Voice has looked into many of the allegations raised by the Burgess article against Cummings; the results of our "Look see" clearly show that McDuffie Cummings. in our opinion, is not guilty of any crime nor conflict of interest. However, we cannot make that same statement about Burgess, the Attorney for the Robesonian. W. Osborne Lee, Jr.; the management of the lobeaoalan; ?ho Clerk of the Superior Court of Robeson County. Ben G. Floyd; nor others connected directly or indirectly with the bail bond business in Robeson County. The results of our investigation are being printed so that our readers may make up their own mind. SOME BACKGROUND.... As our readers may recall, Pembroke Town Manager McDuffie Cummings,^ was introduced to the public via the news media in 1977 when he spoke out against, as he saw it. a brutal beating of an Indian native, O'Neal Oxendine, by two highway patrolmen-Hubert Coving ton and T.J. Evelyn. The beating of the unarmed Indian, in the presence of his children, in front of his home, stirred Cummings to speak out. Since then Cummings has continued to speak out against, as he sees it, the heavy handed tactics of the highway patrol. Cummings' support, especially by the Pembroke Town officials, has caused strained relations between the Pem broke community and the local political establishment. Including the local state troopers. Many contend that "bad feelings" exist between Pembroke, certain ele ments within the Indian community and Ben G. Floyd, Clerk of Court but, more than this. Governor Jim Hunt's "man" in Robeson County. Floyd has been criticized in certain quarters for the failure of the Hunt administration to deal effectively with patrol related Indian grievances. The ensuing controversy has led to a series of confrontations between Ben Floyd and the Indian community in particular. As an illustration, when Ben Floyd unilaterally attempted to twart the will of the county democratic party regard ing selection of the county board of elections the present Indian county chairman. John Mark Brooks of Pem broke, refused to "go along" with Floyd .and local politics. Brooks took the matter to'the state board of elections to preserve the local selection of Mrs. Louise Hunt. As a result of this and other seeming political reverses, many political ob servers feel that Floyd is mounting a retaliatory campaign against those democrats whom he feels has "kicked the traces." Some Indians cite the selection of Trooper Hubert Covington to escort Gov. Jim Hunt reeently Into the heavily Indian Pembroke community to view the Reconstructed Old Main on the FSU campus as a classic example s A number of Indians read Coving ton's selection as a political affront to Cummings and the Indian community. Some contend that Floyd was "flexing his political muscle." Covington was one of the troopers involved in the celebrated O'Neal Oxendine case. McDUFFEE CUMMINGS, A CENTER OF CONTROVERSY McDuffie Cummings has been in the thick of many of the Indian-Ben Floyd confrontations. Because of his courage and willingness to take a stand, he has been subjected, as we see it, to a calculated campaign of harassment that would have broken a lesser man. On July 20, 1979 McDuffie Cummings, Police Chief Vernon Oxendine, Ser geant Harvey Bullard and the Town of Pembroke were sued collectively for about five million dollars in damages for assault and battery by Alfred W. Cook, a white Lumbertonian owning some property within the Town of Pembroke. Mr. Cook's' attorney is' W. Osborne Lee. Jr., the Robesonlan's attorney of record. Interestingly enough, Lee was also the attorney who secured the dismissal of the civil charges against Trooper R.L. Davis in the Terry Lockee assault case before Judge Robert L. Farmer, the same Judge who refused to dismiss similar charges in the Cook case even though attorneys for the Town of Pembroke argued that the statute of limitations had expired on Mr. Cook's charges. Since that hearing in Superior Court the Cook case has been strangely dormant; though the attorneys decline to comment, given the extensive coverage of the case in the Robesonian. we can only wonder out loud whether or not the Cook case was concocted merely to harass and embarrass McDuffie Cummings and the Town of Pembroke. As an illustration, the July 20, 1979 edition of the Robesonbui stated that Cook ..."charges that he was plowing land on his Pembroke farm " however, by no stretch of the imagina tion could the over grown vacant lot in the down town business sector of Pembroke be characterized as a "farm" and in fact the complaint of Mr. Cook, as filed in the Robeson County Courthouse, does not use the word "farm." It is more than interesting, however, that the complaint was being filed in the courthouse at approximately the same time that the Rubra an tan was being printed though the edition in question quotes extensively from Cook's complaint as prepared by Osborne Lee, Jr., his attorney...and the attorney of record for the Robesonian. Again, we can only speculate out loud; Are these latest charges of the Robeaonian. and. apparently, Osborne Lee, Jr., against McDuffie Cummings, another attempt to publicly embarrass and intimidate him? >i| The results of our "look see" should help our readers make up their own minds and formulate their own opin ions. CHARGES AGAINST CUMMINGS REFUTED... The RobesoaiaB charged Cummings with being in violation of North Carolina General Statute 15A-541: "No sheriff, deputy sheriff, other law enforcement officer, judicial official, attorney, parole officer, probation officer, jailer, assist ant jailer. employee of the general court of justice, or other public employee assigned to duties relating to the administration of Criminal justice...may in any case become surety on a bail bond..." It is a maxim of law. according to attorneys, with the added force of common sense, that following the enumeration of particular classes "other" must be read as "other such like," and includes >nly others of like kind and char act : r. each case the specific terms usee by the statute-relate to law enforcement personnel and to persons associated with the court system; therefore, McDuffie Cum mings, even if he were a bondsman which he is not, would not fall within the class of persons prohibited by law from writing bonds. According to records and personal interview, we have found that Pem broke Bonding Company is owned and operated by Rav Hunt who also happens to be the fire chief of Pembroke though, unlike the Robeson lan. we fail to see the significance of Mr. Hunt's employment with regatd to his bonding business. According to records, Mr. Hunt made application in his own name doing J business as Pembroke Bonding Com pany to the Robeson County Com missioners for his license. McDuffie Cummings, in spite of inferences to the contrary, has never applied for licenses to write bonds and has never, as far as we have been able to ascertain, written one. Further more, our investigation has shown that Ray Hunt does not write bonds while employed by the Town of Pembroke in his capacity as fire- chief. As a matter of fact the only relationship Ray Hunt and McDuffie Cummings has is in the form of a contract; in return for posting the required bond and performing book keeping services, Ray Hunt has agreed to give Mr. Cummings a specified percentage of the profits (if any) of Mr. Hunt's enterprise. Similar arrangements between busi nessmen can be ascertained by exam ining general business practices in Robeson and elsewhere. It seems to us that Cummings has been tarred with the brush of inuendo for being enterprising. In spite of the inuendo and infer CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Larry McNeil, ? member of Pembroke State University aecmlty force, gives a INDIAN UNITY CONFERENCE "North Carolina Indians in the 1900V' will be the theme for the Fifth Annual Indian Unity Conference to be held March 64 at the Royal Villa Hotel in Raleigh. About 700 persoos are expect ed to attend, representing Indian tribes and organisations in North Carolina and other states. "The conference trii feces an econo mic and adncntjannl desefepmant in Indian commenitiee." aald Jim t. Loony of Charlotte, thalrman of the North Carolina Cnaimliilmi at Indian Affairs which la apoaaating the gather ing. "Bach year, the iimfeiaaua helpe la nallo Indian peopio and la ahe^then their pride. In their anhnral heritage.' 0 reenter Jim Heal nHM apeak la dm ^heriagea^Frlday^March 7 at 9 a.m. IABBIm laHli^d yaaMm ma adneatar and a member af dm Presi dent's NatkeeaJ Advfcery CemmMee fer Women, and A. David Lester. Cemmia tieneraf the llnlilie.dis fer Native ? I 0: # ? Alto on hand will be Lien tenant Governor James C. Green, Speaker of the House Cad J. Stewart. Jr., and Acting Secretary of Administration Jaae Smith Patterson. Workshop topics include women's issues, education, political awareness, health issues and others. The registration fee is S25.00 per person which includes all conference sees ions, one breakfast and one ban quet Separate banquet tickets may be pnrchnssd for 110.50 pet person for thane who will attend the hnn^net only. February 27 la the deadline for regtototioo. Far information, contact the N.C. Commbaton of Indtoa Affairs. P.O. boa 27221. Katetgh. N.C. 27*11. or oall (fit) 72249W. lenw. aV'Vir^tiHest far Native baa mnatoton WMto Lawry and