Anson Commissioners appoint Howell for Sheriff

WADESBORO — The Anson County Board of Commissioners appointed Sheriff Scott Howell to serve for the next four years following the passing of Landric Reid, although a legal battle is expected to continue over the matter.

“Two people [Scott Howell and Sgt. Gerald Cannon of the Wadesboro Police Department] have been appointed to the same position,” said Anson County Attorney Scott Forbes. “It’s for the courts to decide what has happened or what is going forward. The board of commissioners have done here what they deemed proper. There are competing statues on this.”

The Anson County Democratic Party’s initial selection of Gerald Cannon to succeed Sheriff Landric Reid was overturned by the North Carolina Democratic Party after a previous Executive Committee Meeting violated the processes and rules laid out in the party’s plan of organization.

A non-publicized, secret meeting of the Board of Commissioners took place on Monday, Dec. 5. Two commissioners were physically present, and three called into the meeting. The five at the meeting were JD Bricken, Harold Smith, Vancine Sturdivant, Dr. Jim Sims, and Jarvis Woodburn, who called the meeting in his role as chairman. It’s unclear how the vote broke down, although Gerald Cannon was sworn in as the new sheriff at this meeting.

In a Facebook post, Bricken stated that he was made aware of the meeting while driving with his wife, questioned the authority of the meeting, phoned in, and then hung up.

Two things remain unclear — If the vote from this meeting was valid, and if Sturdivant and Sims were acting in the capacity of commissioners to vote since neither sought re-election. Another twist — Sheriff Howell was the Sheriff during this vote.

Forbes said he was not made aware of the meeting. It appears that proper notice of the meeting was not provided to the general public, in violation of North Carolina General Statute 153 A-40 Section B.

Forbes further clarified that a letter signed by Anson County Democratic Party chairwoman Dannie Montgomery was presented to the Board of Elections that the vote was certified in favor of Gerald Cannon. Forbes said that the Board of Elections determined that that was a discrepancy with the vote and then passed the appointment process to the commissioners.

“There was a debate whether that vacancy in the office had happened before yesterday (Monday, Dec. 5) or not until yesterday,” Forbes said.

Around 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 5, Forbes said that an emergency meeting of the state Board of Elections was called, who denied taking process on this matter and denied appointing Cannon. Subsequently, the Anson commissioners called the emergency meeting that led to the disputed vote.

Cannon filed a lawsuit against the County on Tuesday, Dec. 6. The preliminary injunction was denied by Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell, although Forbes clarified that does not mean the dispute is settled.

“It is my understanding that plaintiff Cannon is proceeding,” Forbes said. “I believe they are going to proceed through the attorney generals office. I don’t anticipate them giving up. “

Howell was sworn-in as Sheriff Friday morning.

Public comment gets heated

“Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen many irregularities happen within this Sheriff’s election,” said resident Jerel Miller.

Miller said that he witnessed Dannie’s husband, John, telling people not to vote for Scott Howell because he is a racist during the voting process.

“There is not one piece of evidence to support that Scott Howell is a racist,” Miller said. “At the end of the day, when the far radical left doesn’t have anything else to use, when truth and logic fails, they’ll play the race card as always,” he concluded.

An alleged text message by then-Commissioner Sturdivant went viral on Facebook for stating that ‘Our young males can not take 4 years of this racist’ and encouraged people to vote at a cluster meeting of the precincts.

Bobbie Johnson came to the meeting expecting to get arrested for refusing to yield his time during his address to the board.

“That was my intention,” Johnson said in the December cold outside after the meeting. “I made arrangements with my wife.”

He called the actions of some of the commissioners “absolutely illegal and immoral.”

“You broke your oath of office,” Johnson said to the commissioners. “I no longer consider the people involved in [the Monday meeting] my commissioners.”

Johnson then began to cite the aforementioned general statute that a special meeting of the commissioners must be posted on the courthouse bulletin board with at least 48 hours of advance notice and that only business connected with an emergency may be discussed.

Forbes informed Johnson that his time was up, and Johnson continued to speak. Only after Forbes, Howell and Bricken politely took Johnson aside and asked him to return to his seat did he do so.

“In this process, democracy was what we were most focused on,” said Dannie Montgomery, conceding that there were some ‘issues’ that were addressed early on. “Democracy is something we cannot afford to lose.”

Montgomery confirmed that there was a special meeting held on Monday to vote for Cannon.

“We need to not let hate and bigotry get in the midst of us,” Montgomery said defiantly while pointing at Cannon in the back of the room. “Racist and racists’ behavior are a part of a system — it is not a people. It is not a people. We need to fight against our racist system.”

After the public comments and various smaller matters, Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood recommended that they enter closed session.

“After consulting with the attorney, through a very difficult, a very, very, tricky issue, I make a motion that we appoint Mr. Scott Howell as the Anson County Sheriff immediately and extending through the next four years,” Gatewood said after the over 30 minute wait.

There was a prolonged delay by the commissioners and their attorney over a few technical matters concerning paperwork and procedure, but eventually newly-appointed chairman Bricken, Jamie Caudle, re-elected vice-chairman Robert Mims and Gatewood voted in favor of the motion. Opposing voters were Jarvis Woodburn, Harold Smith and Priscilla Little. It was both Caudle and Little’s first meeting as newly-elected commissioners and were sworn-in at the onset of the meeting.

Immediately following the vote the meeting was adjourned to rapturous applause by the over 60 individuals in attendance. There were many citizens outside of the Anson Government Center who could not enter the meeting due to the fire code.

“It’s been a long ride,” Howell said after the vote to a group of reporters. “My best friend passed on Sept. 21 and I was appointed by the county commissioners. It’s been heavy on peoples hearts.”

When asked by a TV reporter, Howell said that he does not believe that the ACDP worked against him because he is white.

“As we go forward, I promise to lead this community with honesty, integrity and professionalism as I always have for every citizen in this community,” Howell said.

Other notes from the meeting

Montgomery stated that there were 113 votes at the Democratic county executive meeting on Saturday, Dec. 3, although this number has not been verified. She said there were 59 votes for Cannon against 54 other votes. At the subsequent county convention, she said there were 80 votes but didn’t provide an exact breakdown.

“Our goal was to be transparent and open,” Montgomery said. “Even if mistakes were made, it was our intent to be transparent and to do a good job and deliver the next sheriff of Anson County.”

Thomas Edwards, a registered Democrat who voted in the Burnsville precinct, said that it’s expected that the North Carolina Democratic Party will charge Montgomery with violations stemming from the initial Oct. 8 county executive meeting and over the secret commissioner vote.

Despite potential forthcoming ethics violations, Montgomery remains the chairman of the ACDP at this time.

“It’s been illegally done at this point,” Edwards said. “It’s one of the biggest things we’ve seen in this county,” adding that the secret commissioner meeting was “coerced.”

According to a message from Jim Little, the dispute will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Anson County NAACP.

“We are going to discuss this travesty of justice in the branch meeting of the Anson County NAACP,” states the message. “Our votes are important and not to be trivialized as in this case. The new board of commissioners did not even consider the 59 to 54 vote by the executive committee which was carried out orderly as pointed out.”

Forbes also said that the emergency meeting was called by then-chair Woodburn, not county clerk Denise Cannon, who is the wife of Gerald Cannon, but that it was her responsibility, as always, to contact the commissioners about the meeting.