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The ChronTcle
Volume43,Number8 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, October 29, 2015
Any. alleges 'pattern & practice'
of fraud in W-S clerk's office
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
The attorney suing the Forsyth County
Clerk of Superior Court Office, an estate
guardian, and others over alleged "acts of
fraud" involving the loss of over $1.4 mil
lion in assets belonging to a now deceased
African-American retired nurse, claimed
in court papers a year ago that he has evi
dence that this wasn't just a one-time
occurrence, but rather, "a pattern and prac
tice of fraudulent activity by the Clerk's
?Office...," and that specific guardian.
Even though The Chronicle is focusing
on allegations centered at the Forsyth
County Clerk's Office, the allegations of
fraud in the quasi-judicial process of deter
mining legal guardians for incapacitated
in^l?\/?/4iio1c
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could have
statewide
implications
if they're
being repli
cated in
other counties without investigation. '
Reginald D. Alston, the attorney repre
senting the estate of the late Mary Ellen
Brannon Thompson (legally known as the
"ward"), made the allegation in the lawsuit
he filed last week (as
exclusively reported by The Chronicle)
against the Forsyth County Clerk of
Superior Court Office, which administers
guardianships; and attorney Bryan
Thompson (no relation to Mary
Thompson), the estate guardian alleged to
have had an official in the Forsyth County
Clerk's Office on May 1,2007,"... sign a
guardianship appointment in his favor....
without giving notice to Mary Thompson
[while she was living] and her next of
kin..." as required by state statute.
Alston also made the allegation in sev
eral motions he filed in the case dating
back to March 2014.
As the Clerk appointed estate guardian,
See Fraud on A9
See Part One of report
See last week's website
story that reports the filing
of the lawsuit at
www.wschronicle.com.
Thompson
Frye
,^ ^ , Photos by Todd Luck
(L-R) Chronicle Publisher Ernie Pitt, Keith Grandberry, Robert Brown, Oba Kabiru Adewale Shotobi with his daughter Adetayo, and his wife Kudirat are at The
Chronicle office.
King with ties to Triad seeking investors
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE ,
Oba Kabiru Adewale Shotobi, the king of the Nigerian
city of Ikorodu, visited North Carolina last week in hopes
of finding new partnerships to help his people.
Shotobi visited Winston-Salem last Wednesday as one
of his many stops in the Tar Heel state. In Charlotte, he
visited a sustainable energy project at Johnson C. Smith
University. He's also had numerous meetings with
business leaders interested in doing work in Africa.
This week Shotobi is scheduled to go to Washington,
D.C., and Chicago. Ikorodu is a city of 1.5 million people
in Lagos State, Nigeria, that is known for its agriculture.
Shotobi said his city has many infrastructure needs in edu
cation, transportation, energy and other areas.
"I am here to solicit for investors to assist us," he said.
The trip also had a deep personal meaning for Shotobi,
who is a 1983 graduate of N.C. A&T State University,
which he visited during the college's homecoming this
past weekend.
Shotobi said his electrical engineering degree from
A&T was thanks to Robert Brown, founder and CEO of
global business management consulting firm B&C
International of High Point. Brown is a veteran in crisis
management and communications professional who, over
his long career, worked on the presidential campaigns of
John and Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon and advised
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Shotobi was working in a hotel in Lagos when he met
Brown, who was staying there while helping to organize a
new government in Nigeria. Shotobi was one of several
young people Brown took to the United States to attend
college.
"I felt Nigeria needed some great leadership," said
Brown. "They had some very good people there, but I felt
they needed more."
Shotobi said he believed that the education Brown
helped him get was one of the reasons he was picked by
his city's kingmakers this year for the coveted position he
now holds. He said Brown was like a father to him. He
said he dedicated his crown to Brown.
"I wanted to come and say thank you for helping to
make me what I am today," Shotobi said.
Brown, who helped plan Shotobi's current trip, said
he was surprised and delighted when Shotobi became
king.
"I think he'll be a great king," said Brown. "He's com
passionate, he knows what to do, he's knowledgeable, he's
a brilliant guy."
Shotobi is not the first African leader to have an edu
cation in America. Winston-Salem State University
See King on A2
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Judge denies motion to dismiss case filed by N.C. NAACP
N.C. photo ID federal
lawsuit will go on
BY TEV1N STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
A federal judge has denied a motion by the
State of North Carolina to dismiss parts of the law
suit filed by the N.C. NAACP and the Southern
Coalition for Social Justice that challenges North
Carolina's voter-identification requirement.
A new tentative hearing has been set for
January 2016.
The N.C. General Assembly passed the law
known as the Voter Information Verification Act in
2013. The law requires voters to have a photo ID
when voting and would go into affect in 2016, dur
ing the March 15 primary.
?
According to the Dr. Rev. William J. Barber II.
president of the N.C. NAACP, the day after the
law went into the books he began to prepare to file
the lawsuit. Since filing the lawsuit. Barber has
been trying to educate the community on what the
law means and how it will have a direct effect on
minority voters.
Ahead of the trial. Republican legislators
passed an amendment that eased the photo ID
See ID on A2
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