Strong
GOP *
support
Reagan falls
to E. Forsyth
See Opinion/Forum pages on A6&7 *
• See Sports on page Bl*
Volume 43, Number 19
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
THURSDAY, January 12, 2017
EXCLUSIVE
Alleged Injustices targeted
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
A grassroots group consisting of families deeply con
cerned with allegations of corruption in the Forsyth
County Clerk of Court's Office is planning to call wider
attention to what they consider to be allegedly question
able practices of that office, and the public administrator
who works.with it, guardian Bryan C. Thompson.
At issue is a practice The Chronicle first and exclu
sively reported about in 2015 regarding the failure of the
Forsyth Clerk of Court’s Office to properly file-stamp
documents pertaining to elderly people being legally des
ignated as “mentally incompetent,” making them wards of
the state, and assigning attorney Thompson as their
guardian to manage their properties and assets.
Doris Tucker of Washington, D.C., is the leader of the
still-evolving group that is demanding answers. She is
also the niece of the late Mary Ellen Brannon Thompson,
ompson
whose story The Chronicle first
reported on in October 2015 when a lawsuit was filed on
her estate’s behalf against attorney Thompson (no rela
grion) and the Forsyth Clerk’s Office, among others, alleg
ing that a $1.4 million estate belonging to the retired
African-American nurse had been allegedly squandered
when that attorney was illegally appointed as her estate
guardian.
According to its website, “The Clerk’s Office provides
administrative support for the judicial operation of the
Forsyth County Courts” and that administrative support
must comport with state statute, and longstanding rules
that codify legal procedure in doing the public’s business.
File-stamping or “entering” orders from a judge or
court officer, complete with name, date and time for the
court record, is part of that legal procedure.
The lawsuit alleged that in May 2007, the guardian
and the Clerk’s Office colluded to have himself assigned
to Ms. Thompson before she had been legally designated
as mentally incompetent; that there was no medical sub
stantiation for the designation to begin with; and that
See Targeted on A4
NEW JUDGE
>
Photo by Todd Luck
Carrie Vickery is sworn in by Judge Denise Hartsfield as her husband, Phillip “Skip" Skipper Jr., holds the
Bible and her young niece, Anna, on Thursday, Jan. 5. >
Vickery sworn in as district
court judge as ‘foe’looks on
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
A packed courtroom watched as
Carrie Vickery was sworn in as a dis
trict court judge on Thursday, Jan .5,
at the Forsyth County Hall of Justice.
It was standing room only for the
nearly hour-long ceremony that was
attended by her fellow judges, Mayor
Allen Joines and numerous elected
officials. Sheriff Bill Schatzman
called the court to order for the cere
mony, which was symbolic in nature,
since Vickery has been acting as a
Rev. Dr. John Mendez
judge since Jan. 3.
Vickery won the position in last
year’s election after a long campaign.
Emmanuel Baptist Church Pastor
John Mendez fold attendees that
when Vickery attended a service at
his church, he was impressed by how
she stayed the whole time and inter
acted with congregates afterward. He
said he called his friends, telling them
to support her immediately after that.
“Given the climate of division
that is reflective within our nation
right now, we need people who have
a sense of community, who believes
in diversity and have sworn and
See Vickery on A4
Gov. Cooper
is building
diverse
Cabinet
i
BY CASH MICHAELS
. FOR THE CHRONICLE , ,
Since he took the oath of office on Jan. 1, Gov. Roy
Cooper, a Democrat, has wasted little time to make good
on his promise to appoint a diverse Cabinet, and adminis
tration.
Last week, North
Carolina’s 75th governor
announced his appointment
of State Bureau of
Investigation veteran Erik
Hooks as the new head of
the N.C. Dept, of Public
Safety, and environmental
ist Michael Regan as secre
tary-nominee of the N.C.
Dept, of Environmental
Quality. •
Both are African
Americans, and both will
be subject to state Senate
confirmation before they take office.
- Secretary-nominee Hooks, 50, will oversee the State
Bureau of Investigation, the state Highway Patrol and
Alcohol Law Enforcement, in addition to the state prison
system. Hooks, who began his law enforcement career
with the SBI as a resident agent in (989^0 former assis
tant SBI director, and is currentlySa special agent in
charge of the inspections and compliance division.
” Cooper says he hopes Hooks can help bridge the gap
between communities of color and law enforcement.
Hooks is a native of Spring Lake, and an alumnus of
N.C. State University.
Michael Regan is a 10-year veteran of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.
and the Research Triangle Park until 2008. In February of
that year, Regan served as National Director of Energy
Efficiency and Southeast Climate & Energy Policy, and
then associate vice president, U.S. Climate and Energy &
Southeast Regional. director, for the Environmental
Defense Fund in Raleigh until July 2015.
In September 2016, Michael Regan founded M.
Regan & Associates in Raleigh “to help organizations
See Diverse on A4
vO
IT-£
January
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