Wayne Week — Feb. 4, 2024

N E W OL D NORT H M E DI A PR E SE N T S A W E E K LY N E WS M AG A Z I N E

Wayne

WEEK

F E BU R A RY 4, 2 024

N E WOL DNORT H .C OM

AUDIT REPORT UPDATE: NAMES ARE BEING NAMED AS GOLDSBORO LEADERS CONTINUE TO UNWRAP STATE’S PRELIMINARY FINDINGS.

SPECIAL REPORT: CITY HALL

FEATURE

As city officials and non-profits look to begin a “compassionate relocation” of Goldsboro’s homeless population, a man who lived in Tent City for more than 7 years finally leaves the woods. p. 16

by KEN FINE and RENEE CAREY p.8

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FEBURARY 4, 2024 Volume 1, Issue 25

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EDITORIAL EDITOR Ken Fine EDITOR Renee Carey DESIGN DIRECTOR Shan Stumpf PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Casey Mozingo

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OFFICE 219 N. John Street Goldsboro, N.C. 27530 919-648-9905

CONTENTS 4 City manager asks for more

time to respond to preliminary audit report

Goldsboro officials knew they would be unable to meet the state’s Jan. 26 deadline, so they asked for — and received — more time to refute claims made by auditors.

8 Councilman left water bill unpaid for years

Sources have named former City Councilman — and current Wayne County Commissioner — Antonio Williams as one of the elected officials state auditors allege did not have their water service cut off despite not paying their bills for years.

10 Sources name Stevens, Matthews

Former City Councilman Mark Stevens and current Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Matthews are, according to sources, among those who received perks from the city Water Department.

16 Out of the woods

The man most consider the first permanent resident of Goldsboro’s Tent City decides to leave the encampment after more than 7 years in the woods.

20 Spectator

The Eastern Wayne High School Lady Warriors ended their rival’s undefeated season in Goldsboro High School’s gym, but the night was not a total loss for the Cougar faithful, as the varisty boys capped off the evening with a blowout victory.

© 2023 NEW OLD NORTH MEDIA LLC All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without permission.

COVER: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION SHAN STUMPF/ ADOBE STOCK

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NEWS +VIEWS SPECIAL REPORT: CITY HALL

City granted extension for preliminary audit report response Goldsboro leaders were supposed to send their answer by Jan. 26, but were unable to hit the deadline.

B Y K E N F I N E and R E N E E C A R E Y / Goldsboro

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ccording to a confidential state source, City Manager Tim Salmon has requested — and received — more time to file Goldsboro’s official response to a preliminary report sent to City Hall by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor Jan. 12.

The answer, which would include documentation if the city were disputing any of the six “issues” outlined by auditors, was originally due Jan. 26.

The state’s preliminary findings highlighted everything from undocumented water bill credits allegedly given to elected officials, city employees — including Salmon, himself — and their family members to tens of thousands of dollars in purchases made with government credit cards auditors said were not justified by required supporting documentation or approvals.

The report also called into question how the city spent some of its Coronavirus Relief funding — and how, in their view, Salmon and his assistant, Octavius Murphy, ignored existing city procedures during that process.

As far as the “how,” auditors identified several common threads, including lack of oversight, shoddy management practices, and a lack of written policies and guidelines that established a standard for city employees to live up to.

The following are among the findings Salmon now has a few more days to answer for: • Auditors said the city violated federal law and guidelines by failing, in regards to Coronavirus Relief money, to “distribute funds to recipients for qualifying expenses that were necessary, incurred due to the pandemic, and adequately documented” — that as a result, $21,346 was “wasted,” including $7,000 given to a non-profit after its leader spent $4,000 to repair his personal vehicle, a Lexus RX350, and $3,000 for a down payment on a new Acura MDX and asked the city to reimburse him.

• Auditors tested the city’s disbursements to seven non-profits and small businesses that received a total of $92,500 from

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November 2020 to April 2021 and found that nearly a quarter of the money spent — 23 percent — was used for expenses that were “not necessary, not incurred due to the pandemic, and not adequately documented.”

• Auditors obtained an inventory of 575 cityowned vehicles from the fleet management system so they could review the list for inconsistent record-keeping. They tested 334 of them that raised red flags — some, because they existed in the Department of Motor Vehicles database but not the city’s records, and vice versa — and of those 334, the city “could

not account for, explain, or provide documentation supporting the status or location” of 43 percent of them. Among the unaccounted-for vehicles are 122 cars and trucks, 20 cargo and utility trailers, and three commercial lawnmowers worth north of $117,000.

• Auditors claimed a current Goldsboro employee used their position to credit their mother’s utility account nearly a dozen times between Jan. 30, 2019, and March 30, 2022, to reduce her water bill by more than $400 — an alleged crime they blamed on inaction from city leaders. According to their report,

the employee, who was not identified, should have been authorized only to credit utility account balances with “proper support and managerial approval,” but when asked by auditors to unwrap Goldsboro’s process, “the Utility Customer Service Manager and Supervisor” said the city had an “informal practice” that allowed employees to credit accounts when they had “unusually high water consumption.”

• Auditors reported that from 2019 to 2022, Goldsboro “wasted approximately Continued on page 6

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Continued from page 4

2.2 million gallons of the City’s water and sewer resources over three years by distributing water without collecting payments,” and left at least $52,914 on the table — risking “setting a tone that not paying utility bills was acceptable” — because of everything from untimely cut-off of delinquent accounts and turning a blind eye to illegal reconnection of disconnected services to city employees crediting delinquent accounts inconsistently and without just cause.

• Auditors alleged that “inaction from city leadership” resulted in elected officials, city employees, and their family members getting what the state said could be seen by the public as “preferential treatment” in the form of undocumented water bill credits and by not having their utility services disconnected despite prolonged delinquency and large debts accumulated on their

accounts.

• Auditors, after analyzing a sample of 194 of the 32,000 “P-Card” purchases made by elected officials and city employees between July 2017 and June 2021, determined that 81 of them — 42 percent — lacked itemized receipts, documentation to support “a valid City purpose,” or documentation of approval. The charges ranged from expensive barbecue luncheons and a $1,500 desk set to trips to the West Coast and stays at beach resorts.

It is unclear how long it will take the state to finalize the audit after the city files its official response — or whether all six “findings” identified in the preliminary document will be included in the final version — but once officials complete the report, it will be made public and published on the Office of the State Auditor’s website. n

The answer, which would include any documentation if the city were disputing any of the six 'issues' outlined by auditors, was originally due Jan. 26.

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SPECIAL REPORT: CITY HALL

Former councilman left water bill unpaid for years Antonio Williams, while his water bill was years past due, demanded a “forensic audit” to root out “bad behavior.”

B Y K E N F I N E A N D R E N E E C A R E Y / Goldsboro

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ack in June 2020, then-Goldsboro City Councilman Antonio Williams threatened to vote against passing the city’s 2020-21 fiscal year budget because the spending plan did not include funding for a “forensic audit” he felt was necessary after noting that during a closed session, he was told that there were “a lot of problems” with the city’s financial records.

“There was a lot of problems. A ton of problems. A lot of bad behavior,” he said then. “We have to have a forensic audit. I mean, look at the Board of Education. We have citizens asking them to step down due to their lack of attention to their financial health. I’m not saying that we’re the School Board, but I am saying we need to assure our citizens that we are paying attention to how their tax dollars are being spent. The forensic audit allows us to do that.”

What Williams did not disclose at that meeting — and has never publicly disclosed — is that at the time he made that comment, it had allegedly been more than three years since he paid his water bill.

Several sources, including one who attended one of the current City Council’s marathon closed sessions the week of Jan. 22 where the information was disclosed, said Williams was named by Finance Director Catherine Gwynn as the person identified as “Former Council Member B” in the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor’s preliminary findings sent to City Hall Jan. 12.

According to the sprawling report, his service was not disconnected despite the fact that “the account was delinquent on two separate occasions for a total of 1,392 days and accumulated an unpaid balance of up to $798.”

Williams’ bill, auditors said, should have been cut off Dec. 3, 2016, and again on Jan. 29, 2021, but the city “allowed the account to remain open and continue to accrue usage for a total of more than three years and nine months” — creating, according to the state, the risk of “giving the appearance of unequal treatment and thereby eroding the public’s confidence.”

Wayne Week reached out to Williams via the email account provided to him as a member of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and asked for a response after detailing the allegations. As of press time, he had not responded.

Williams was elected to represent the

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untimely disconnections.

• Auditors determined that the city failed to collect $1,012 in stolen water and sewer services.

• Auditors determined that the city failed to collect $40,520 because of “unsupported balance credits.”

• A current Goldsboro employee allegedly used their position to credit their mother’s utility account nearly a dozen times between Jan. 30, 2019, and March 30, 2022, to reduce her water bill by more than $400 — an alleged crime state officials blame on inaction from city leaders.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SHAN STUMPF

city’s District 1 in 2015 and won re-election in 2019. A year later, he stepped down after he was elected to serve as District 2’s county commissioner.

He is currently involved in a lawsuit he filed against the city that claims, among other things, that during his tenure on the council, he was “subjected to repeated harassment, mistreatment, deprivation of due process, and abuse as City employees continuously relegated his voice from councilman to nothing more than a nuisance.”

It is unclear if the supposed “preferential treatment” he received for his delinquent water account will give the city an opportunity to refute any of his allegations.

But “Former Council Member B” is not the only way Williams is identified in the preliminary audit report.

A confidential state source — and sources inside City Hall — confirmed that the former District 1 representative was also one of the people who made, on the taxpayers’ dime, “travel-related purchases” that “lacked documentation to support a valid City purpose and documentation of approval.”

His hotel, airfare, food, and transportation charges in Los Angeles, California, were noted as among 53 of 194 charges made with a city “P-Card” flagged by auditors, who recommended that the city should “review all P-Card purchases identified in this finding that lacked required documentation and approvals and consider pursuing recovery of the funds.”

Williams is not the only high-profile person tied to the preliminary audit findings by

sources in recent days.

City Manager Tim Salmon, who has been banging the drum for water and sewer rate increases for years, was identified as one of the city employees and elected officials auditors said received an undocumented credit to their water account.

And there were other issues with the Water Department outlined by the state.

They include: • A current city employee was delinquent on three separate occasions — for a total of 3,111 days — and did not have their utility services cut off, despite carrying a debt of $1,466.

• Auditors reviewed the detailed account balance history for 19 accounts that were delinquent from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022, and found that the Utility Department did not cut off the 19 accounts until between 34 and 817 days after what should have been the cutoff date. From that date until their eventual cutoff, those customers used approximately 2.19 million gallons of water and sewer services without paying.

• Auditors found that the Utility Department did not detect in a timely manner, or, in some cases, at all, the illegal reconnection of utility services on accounts that had been cut off. They reviewed 167 accounts that were delinquent between October 2020 and November 2022 for nonpayment and determined that 9 percent of the customers illegally reconnected their service and resumed usage.

• Auditors determined that the city failed to collect at least $24,537 in water and sewer services provided to delinquent accounts with

Had Williams responded to Wayne Week’s request for comment, he would have been asked about allegations made about his prolonged lack of payment on his city utility account — and why, if he was receiving a stipend from Goldsboro as a sitting council member, the money he owed could not have been deducted from those earnings.

He also would have been asked whether he feels not having his water service disconnected as a sitting council member could have sent a message to ordinary citizens that he was receiving preferential treatment because of his status as an elected official.

He would have had an opportunity to talk about his alleged trip to Los Angeles, California, and whether he feels — regardless of whether the city, in its official response to auditors, can provide the missing documentation and/or prove it was for a valid city purpose — that traveling across the country is a good use of taxpayer money.

But, perhaps most importantly, Wayne Week would have asked about Williams’ repeated calls for a “forensic audit” of the city’s finances and the “ton of problems” and “bad behavior” he spoke of back in June 2020 — if he feels elected officials and city employees allegedly not paying their water bills sends the wrong message to the citizens he referenced then whom he said had concerns about their government’s “financial health.”

Finally, Williams, who is currently running for re-election, would have been asked if he is happy that State Treasurer Dale Folwell initiated the investigation that ultimately resulted in his being identified as “Former Council Member B.” Should the commissioner respond to our request for comment, we will publish it in a future edition of Wayne Week. n

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SPECIAL REPORT: CITY HALL

Sources name Stevens, Matthews

Former City Councilman Mark Stevens and current Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Matthews are, according to sources, among those who received perks from the city Water Dept.

B Y K E N F I N E A N D R E N E E C A R E Y / Goldsboro

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n “informal, verbal payment arrangement” offered by former Goldsboro Finance Director Kaye Scott — and a directive delivered by her to Water Department employees — allowed former City Council member Mark Stevens to avoid paying his water bill for more than four years without disconnection of his service, despite the fact that he accrued a debt of nearly $5,000.

And the finding, which was included in a preliminary report sent to City Hall Jan. 12 by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, also determined that the arrangement was “not offered or made available to other utility customers,” which led auditors to conclude that the grace extended to the elected official ran the risk of “eroding the public’s confidence” in its local government.

According to the state, Stevens’ water services should have been cut off for nonpayment on Oct. 9, 2016.

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Continued from page 10

“However, the account remained open and continued to accrue usage for over four years,” the report reads.

And to make matters worse, Stevens, the former District 3 representative who resigned in August 2019, was not the only person with a connection to City Hall who received alleged benefits from the Water Department that were scrutinized by auditors.

According to the report, City Councilman Antonio Williams’ water remained on “even though the account was delinquent on two separate occasions” for a total of 1,392 days.

And several people, from City Manager Tim Salmon to Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Matthews, received what auditors characterized as “unsupported utility account balance credits.”(Wayne Week has reached out to Ms. Matthews for comment but did not, by press time, receive a response. Should she, at any point, choose to address the issue, her thoughts will be published in a future edition of the paper.)

The names of the city manager and former and current council members were not disclosed in the report given by a confidential state source to Wayne Week ahead of the publication of its contents in the Jan. 21 edition of the paper, but have since been confirmed by several

"And to make matters worse, Stevens, the former District 3 representative who resigned in August 2019, was not the only person with a connection to City Hall who received alleged benefits. "

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city sources — including one who was in the room during one of the City Council’s marathon closed sessions held the week of Jan. 22 when the previously unidentified officials were named by Finance Director Catherine Gwynn.

The city has an opportunity to respond to the concerns noted by the state, but Salmon has, according to sources, asked for — and received — an extension to avoid failing to meet the original Jan. 26 deadline.

The allegations came to light after State Treasurer Dale Folwell instructed then-Auditor Beth Wood to conduct a “thorough” review of how business was conducted in City Hall after Goldsboro leaders repeatedly failed to fulfill their financial reporting duties in a timely fashion.

The treasurer excoriated city leaders for failing to meet “basic but critical” oversight functions and said he was concerned that the Wayne County seat might have “major weaknesses” in its day-to-day operations and its finances “might be in disarray and therefore vulnerable to mismanagement or misappropriation.”

“It is troubling that the state’s 30th largest city, the county seat and home to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, no less, has been unable to get its act together,” Folwell said in January 2022.

Two months later, Deputy State Auditor Katie Gleason sent a letter to then-Mayor

David Ham, officially notifying him of the investigation and its objective — to “determine whether the City of Goldsboro implemented controls to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse according to applicable laws, rules, and best practices, and identify the effects and causes of any lack of controls.”

One of six findings revealed that the “city did not cut off delinquent utility of accounts of Council members and employees” — a point auditors substantiated by noting that Williams, Stevens and a current city employee never had their service disrupted despite “being delinquent for three to eight years” while, after testing 19 of “the most delinquent accounts” of non-Council members and nonemployees, “all were eventually cut off.”

That discrepancy, which the state blamed on “inaction” from Scott, former City Manager Manager Scott Stevens, Salmon and Gwynn, “risked giving the appearance of unequal treatment.”

“Equal treatment by the government is a key responsibility for government leaders,” the report reads. “Standards from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) state that those entrusted with public resources are responsible for providing service to the public effectively, efficiently, economically, ethically, and equitably.” n

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{ our TAKE }

Broken record

ADOBE STOCK

W

e feel like a broken record.

Whom you vote for matters.

Whom you vote for matters.

Whom you vote for matters.

Followed even more closely by: When there is no watchdog, when no one keeps an eye on the powerful and the people who are in charge of your money, bad things happen.

Or, the well-worn, but oh so true caveat: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Week after week, we show you the next set of consequences of making the wrong choice and not keeping a close eye on those whom you have entrusted with caring for Wayne County’s future.

And for the past 12 months, there have been 14

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many of them.

The latest is the city of Goldsboro. But there are more.

Thanks to our army of watchers, tipsters, and leakers — people who know what is really going on behind closed doors and are done being afraid to say it — we are finding out a whole lot about how your communities are being run.

There are some bright spots — some comeback stories — and we will share them, too.

You saw an important one a little more than a week ago in City Hall.

But it turns out there are more people who have been looking out for themselves instead of making sure their community

runs smoothly.

And we know you are hearing these things, too: “It’s a witch hunt.”

“They are only telling part of the story.”

“They just want to sell newspapers.”

“They have axes to grind.” (That one is our favorite.)

“That decision was completely legal/by the book.” (That is probably our second favorite.)

Get used to it.

You are going to hear a whole lot of spin as the saga that is the city of Goldsboro’s audit journey moves forward.

And by spin, we mean some excuses and explanations that might sound plausible, but

that simply don’t acknowledge the reality: Thousands of dollars of your tax money that seem to have “poofed” into non-existence with no paper trail, no supervision, and no accountability.

All the while, of course, you listened to city leaders telling you how hard times were, how you needed to understand that there might be a need for water rate increases and how cleaning up the mess that was the city of Goldsboro’s finances was just going to take time.

One of our favorite comments is more than a little “ironical.”

It seems that one of the people who benefited from an alleged water bill “look the other way” was none other than former City Council member Antonio Williams, who is now a Wayne County commissioner.

Late fees, a balance and no shut off, and a little bit less than $800 owed.

But that is not the irony — although it is kind of hard to believe, especially since the city paid Williams a stipend to be a City Council member.

Wonder why they couldn’t have taken the money he owed out of that?

And Williams was not alone or the worst offender.

Another former council member also racked up a jaw-dropping balance of nearly $5,000 — same deal, no consequences, no shut off.

And that wasn’t all.

There were tens of thousands of dollars in unexplained and undocumented excused water payments — in a system that has been struggling for money, and that is facing the need for expensive upgrades that city leaders said they were not sure we could afford without a water rate hike.

Hmmm.

Looks like there might have been SOMEWHERE we could have started getting the money.

And then there was the “stolen water” the auditors said was unaccounted for, and what they described as more than 2 million gallons the city lost or could not account for. Think about how much help it would have been to have that revenue in the city coffers.

At the very least, it could have been a place to start.

But we digress — although we really didn’t.

What is so interesting about Williams and his water bill is that while he was a City Council member, he was one of the most vocal proponents of a “forensic audit” of the city’s finances.

Of course, he was after someone else.

He was sure that he was going to catch then-Mayor Chuck Allen in some kind of ethical quandary.

But … oops!

It did not happen — despite Williams and former council member (and also now county commissioner) Bevan Foster’s consternation.

But the forensic audit that did happen, the one State Treasurer Dale Folwell ordered — which, by the way, was not a complete audit of the city’s financial picture (think about what we might find out if we did one of those) — is what uncovered some interesting expenditures, including how the city chose to award COVID funds.

And ironically, it is what also uncovered Williams’ water bill and his trip to Los Angeles, California on the taxpayers’ dime.

The truth is, there probably is a process by which an excessive water bill can be excused away properly.

And there might be arrangements that could be made for someone who simply couldn’t pay a past due balance without facing a shut-off notice.

But those procedures — and the records that accompany them — should be welldocumented and open to the community.

Otherwise, benefits could be perceived as being available only to those who hold power.

That, by the way, is exactly one of the things Williams is claiming in his lawsuit against the city — that some officeholders were privileged and he was treated unfairly.

And that’s what the auditors said the city should be concerned about, too.

Perks given to city leaders and/or employees send the wrong message to residents who believe they are required to live by a different set of rules.

Trust in the integrity of the city government, that was what was at risk, the auditors said.

And they were right.

Sure, it is a preliminary audit report.

Sure, there might be some perfectly logical explanations for some of the money that was spent — and why the city did not have the appropriate records for those expenditures or for the more than 140 vehicles auditors say are not properly recorded on the books.

Sure, there might be a logical explanation for why years of “late audits” were necessary to “clean up” alleged “past bad financial practices.”

But let’s also mention that those audits, when they finally came in, did not seem to catch any of the discrepancies the state auditors found — or correct them.

So, regardless of the explanations, what the state auditors allege in that preliminary report is yet another disturbing example of how poorly some of the administrations of public bodies in this county and city have been run — and how long no one has held them accountable.

You have heard this story before.

Remember the $7 million fund balance that became a $5 million deficit in your county schools?

If someone had not been watching — if New Old North had not gotten wind that there was something wrong — would anything have changed?

We aren’t sure.

Sunlight brings the truth to light. And when there is truth, when we have all the information, we can make sure our money is used responsibly and that our city, county, and schools operate in the manner we expect them to.

And, most importantly, we have leaders who are held accountable.

We have had too much of the other for too long.

As a community, we were too engaged ourselves, first in COVID and then in the recovery, to worry about who was doing what in the County Courthouse, in City Hall, or on Royall Avenue.

And it cost us.

That’s what happens when no one is keeping an eye on those in power — and when those who could make a difference, who could hold city, county, and school district leaders accountable, don’t think they have the time to get involved.

We need better candidates.

We need better leaders.

We need to replace the rot and to put some new faces, new ideas, and new decisionmakers in charge.

It matters. It does.

So, we will keep saying it until it registers — until we can start writing about the next steps, the progress, and the new future we hope this community can start chasing soon.

Because we are as saddened and surprised as you are that seemingly every time we uncover a “shocker” — from the school district and the Sheriff’s Office to City Hall — another one surfaces that warrants the cover of our newspaper.

It speaks volumes about just how much work we have to do.

So, here are some things to keep in mind as we continue to shovel our way out of the messes we are seemingly surrounded by.

Leadership matters.

Hypocrisy is dangerous.

Entitlement is corrosive.

Apathy can be catastrophic.

And knowing exactly what we are dealing with is a critical part of taking back our community.

It is more than past time that we take charge again.

And we are calling on those who have the skills, the integrity, the know-how, and the reputation to join us by helping to find the next generation of leaders.

We cannot afford to be passive anymore.

Because if we don’t wake up soon, when we finally do, we might find ourselves beyond the point of no return.n

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Jason Daniels PHOTO BY CASEY MOZINGO 16

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OUT OF THE WOODS

The man most consider the first permanent resident of Goldsboro’s Tent City decides to leave the encampment after more than 7 years.

BY KEN FINE

J

ason Daniels secures a rope to the thickest branch he can find halfway up one of the decades-old trees nestled in the woods behind Berkeley Mall.

He knows a powerful storm is approaching Goldsboro — that he will likely be alone not just in the coming moments, but perhaps, for days.

The only home he has known for the last several years is only a few hundred yards away, but going back to his campsite in an area known to local residents as Tent City is not an option.

His place was their place — the scene of hundreds and hundreds of love-filled moments that unfolded since the day he and his girlfriend got off a bus in Wayne County and were told by his cousin that they no longer had somewhere to lay their heads.

And now, she was gone.

So, Jason takes a deep breath and places the noose at the other end of that rope around his neck.

“I figured nobody would ever find me because I’d be taken away by that storm,” he said.

But when he jumps, the rope snaps.

“I’ve told everybody that rope broke for a reason,” Jason said. “That’s God. That’s Jesus.

That’s the work of the Lord.”

I

f you ask members of the homeless population who currently live in Tent City to name the first person to make a home beyond the tree line behind the railroad tracks that line Royall Avenue, every single one of them would say, “Jason.”

Up until a few weeks ago, he had lived in the woods for more than seven years, enduring everything from hurricanes and snowstorms to grueling summer heat.

But after a “dirty shot” sent him to the hospital with a severe leg infection that nearly cost him his life, the 35-year-old asked God to ensure he would never go back.

He has been clean ever since.

“I just said, ‘Lord, I’m done. I don’t want to go back.

If there’s anything You can do in Your power, please help me,’” Jason said. “I said, ‘I’m the son of a sinner, and I know it. And I don’t know how most people do this with You, but I know who You are, and I know Your power.

Show me where I’ve got to go when I leave here. Tell me where I’ve got to go, and I swear I’ll take You with me.’”

The where remains to be determined, but it will be a rehabilitation facility as far away from Tent City as he can get — in all likelihood, New Bern.

But the how is a young woman Jason believes God put into his life to save it.

T

ent City is not the same place it was when Jason and his girlfriend set up camp more than seven years ago.

And while some scoff at the Goldsboro Police Department’s narrative about the dangers posed by some of those who reside there, the man who lived in the encampment longer than any of them said he has seen a dramatic increase in crime inside Tent City.

“A dude has gotten shot in the leg. I’ve been told to get down on the ground with a gun to my face and it not be an officer (who said it),” Jason said. “Everybody is ready to take from you with a smile on their face.

What they’re doing is they’re taking stuff from other people … the tools and instruments y’all are giving them out there to clean it up, all they’re doing is hoarding it up and taking it somewhere else. That’s the truth. The more and more and more that (non-profits and churches) give, it’s gonna keep them holding on to where they’re at.”

And by staying beyond the tree line behind the railroad tracks that line Royall Avenue, each is playing a deadly game, he added.

“I just don’t want to be around the life. To see their faces and stuff and to see where they are still at, it’s hard,” Jason said.

“You know, only the names are gonna change. The faces are gonna stay the same. They are all gonna look like they’re sick and dying — just holding on for a little bit until it’s over.”

But perhaps, Jason said, knowing that he — the one person who has been there every time a new person came into the encampment — made it out will give them hope.

“One day, I pray they will eventually see they need to find another way and seek the help that hopefully will still be there. I hope and pray that the help doesn’t go away,” he said. “Be stronger than that drug. Be stronger than what you’re putting into your body. It is a mindset, and it all boils down to whether you want to be out there or not. Nine times out of 10, the people out there are out there by choice.”

“ You know, only the

T

names are gonna change. The faces are gonna stay the same. They are all gonna look like they’re sick and dying — just holding on for a little bit until it’s over. ”

o the self-described “O.G.” of Goldsboro’s infamous homeless encampment, Kellie Floars is so much more than a person who founded a non-profit, feeds the homeless every Tuesday evening, and places single mothers and their children into hotel rooms while she helps them secure jobs, an education, and housing.

She is a guiding light who, without judgment, wraps her arms around the hopeless and the forgotten.

So, when Jason found out that Kellie, on behalf of Tommy’s Foundation, had applied for a piece of the $500,000 windfall North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell secured for the United Way to combat the community’s homelessness crisis, he agreed to talk about why he finally decided, after nearly a decade, to leave the woods behind.

“She’s available and she’s there,” Jason said, his voice breaking. “Without the funding that she gets and the people that give to her, without those people, there would be no chance for me. I would be dead in those woods.”

Tears form in his eyes.

“She walks with the Lord, and she saved my life,” he said, taking a moment to collect himself. “If you come to me and the Lord’s with you and I know it, I’ll accept you and trust you as a friend.”

I

t’s just before noon Wednesday — several hours before Kellie and volunteers from other nonprofits will take to the most well-known homeless encampments around the city with Goldsboro police officers to participate in a “count” that will lead to funding to fight homelessness in Wayne County — and Jason has only one question remaining on his application for the rehabilitation center in New Bern he expects to be living in soon.

What does he hope to gain from his rehab experience?

The answers might seem simple, but to Jason, they are larger than life.

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. Wayne WEEK . 17

Continued from page 17

“To stay clean. To get away from the lifestyle that I’m living because it’s not healthy for me. I need a place where I can be around level-headed people that’s pretty much in the same boat as me,” he said. “And I want a job. I want to be able to wear clean clothes every day.”

He looks down at his outfit — a pair of slacks, a zipped-up hooded sweatshirt and a dark blue peacoat — and smiles.

“This is the cleanest I’ve been in a long time,” he says. “I gotta tell you, it feels good.”

And so does being substance-free.

“I’ve been poking myself since I was 18 — shooting that meth — but this time, I made it past the shakes and the shivers,” Jason said.

“Nothing will bring me back. I’m never going back to (Tent City) to stay. I will never be down there in that life again. I will never do those drugs again.”

But he will also never forget what he learned during his seven-plus-year stay in those woods — lessons about the human condition, his inner strength, and his ability to survive when it felt like he was moments away from giving up on life.

“It made me stronger. It’s given me a voice in the back of my head that’s a lot louder than it was when I was 18 and snorting powder,” Jason said. “And, you know, I never thought I would be able to cut down a tree and use that tree to build — to make shelter and a fire and survive off

just that one tree. When you can survive out there, you know you can survive anywhere.”

So, if he doesn’t get into rehab, he will do whatever he must to ensure he stays on the path he believes God set him on the day He brought Kellie into his life.

“I said, ‘I don’t care if you send me to jail this time. I’ll do it there.’ I would go to the mental hospital and do it if that’s the only place she could send me,” Jason said.

“I’m done. That’s how done I am.”

And he believes that when the GPD begins what has been characterized as a “compassionate relocation” of the homeless both in Tent City and encampments in other corners of the community, the men and women he has called neighbors for all these years might have no choice but to make the same decision that took him nearly a quarter of his life to finally make.

“It’s coming. I feel it. They’re coming again, and this time, they are bringing more intelligence with them.

They’re done with Tent City and the problems out there with the homeless,” Jason said. “So, I hope the ones out there make the right decision.

They can change, but they just don’t want to. And I hope when they do make that decision, that Kellie still has the money to help. God bless them. For real. If they ever lose the help, people like me will never have a chance — especially around here in Goldsboro, North Carolina.”n

“ Nothing will

bring me back.

I’m never going back to (Tent City) to stay. I will never be down there in that life again.

I will never do t hose drugs again.”

Annual homeless count is likely inaccurate If she had to guess, United Way of Wayne County Executive Director Sherry Archibald finds it hard to believe that Wednesday’s count of the community’s homeless population was anywhere close to accurate.

There were simply too many challenges — from the presence of law enforcement that could have spooked certain individuals to the requirement that the unhoused provide their full name, date of birth, and social security number on the form local non-profits were asked to get them to fill out.

But Archibald is also hopeful that the United Way’s participation in the process — the first time the organization has been a part of the census of sorts — will lay a foundation that will ultimately result in a more realistic accounting of the homelessness crisis facing the community in the future.

And with the help of the eight nonprofits who assisted with the count — a team Archibald called on because she knows they have built trust among Wayne’s homeless population — this year’s number, she feels, will be far more reflective of reality than it has been in the past.

“I explained to them that I could use some help and asked them if they could reach specific areas of the community

they have been working with,” Archibald said. “I’ve not been part of this before.

I’ve known that we’ve needed it … and I certainly recognize that we have not gotten an accurate number the last couple of years — especially since COVID. So, it’s not going to be (a real number). It’s absolutely ridiculous. But honestly, this is my first year diving into this, so I think our goal is that it’s not going to be accurate, but it’s going to be more accurate than it has been the last five years.”

The numbers collected during what is supposed to be an annual count directly impacts federal funding allocated to the region Wayne is a part of. Once the region gets its money, the counties within it can apply for a piece of the pie.

But Wayne has not been going after any of those federal funds, Archibald said.

So, challenges or not, something has to change.

The United Way hopes to offer a training session this fall for organizations they will call on to help them get a “real number” next year.

And then, she will work to ensure the county is awarded funding she believes could make a real impact on homelessness across the community.

“We need to be laying the groundwork,” Archibald said. “I want to build that up — to build a foundation.” n

SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS Want to sound off on the issues we’re covering?

Send your thoughts to letters@newoldnorth.com and we just might publish them in a future edition of Wayne Week.

Word count is not overly important, but please identify yourself by name and the city or town you reside in.

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

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Rivals clash The Eastern Wayne High School Lady Warriors put an end to rival Goldsboro High School’s undefeated season Tuesday evening at GHS, but the night was not a total loss for the Cougar faithful, as the varsity boys capped off the night with a blowout victory.

Photos by Ken Fine

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

MAIN EVENTS

HAPPENINGS AROUND WAYNE COUNTY

GRANTHAM GETDOWN

FEB. 3 7 p.m.

Rock out with the Band of Oz and support the Grantham Volunteer Fire Department at the same time.

A $25 donation to the firefighters gets one person in the front door for what is sure to be a great time had by all.

The Maxwell Center

VALENTINE’S DAY POP UP

FEB. 10 4 p.m. — 8 p.m.

Shop with a variety of local vendors insde “Good Thymes” and pick up something special for your sweetheart.

Downtown Goldsboro

I AM A LIFE-LONG REPUBLICAN, AND HAVE BEEN HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE WAYNE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY WHERE I SERVED AS CHAIRMAN.

RE-ELEC T

FREEMAN HARDISON JR. County Commissioner District 4

PRIOR TO BECOMING A COMMISSIONER, I HAVE SERVED THE COMMUNITY AND WAYNE COUNTY IN THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS: l Wayne County Planning Board - former Board Member l Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority (GWTA) – former Chairman l Wayne UNC Healthcare Hospital - Board of Directors

Executive Committer Board Member - Building and Grounds Committee - Chairman - Quality Committee - Member - Wayne Action Teams for Community

l Health (WATCH) - Board Member

WHILE SERVING AS A COUNTY COMMISSIONER FOR THE PAST THREE AND A HALF YEARS, MY FELLOW BOARD MEMBERS AND I HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN ACCOMPLISHING THE FOLLOWINGZZ l The purchase of Grantham’s EMS station from the Grantham’s VFD. l Finding funding for the town of Mt. Olive. l Construction of a new Department of Social Service

and Health Department.

l Construction of a new jail to support our law enforcement; providing

a safe environment for the officers as well as those confined.

l Purchase of a mobile command unit for the Sheriff’s department. l Construction of a new elementary school in Fremont and plans

for a new Rosewood Middle School.

l Renovation of the Fremont Library.

EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES, WE MUST CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE. MY GOALS AS COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4 ARE:

l Continued development of shell buildings for new businesses

1. Continue to support our farmers and the Wayne County

l Continued support to Wayne Community College (a leader in

2. Continue to Improve School Facilities: I will continue to advocate for

coming to Wayne County.

affordable education for North Carolina) for their new Center for Industrial Technology Education (CITE) building.

l Supported competitive salaries and compensations for our county

employees, sheriff department and emergency department.

l Updated equipment and training to emergency stations and community

volunteer fire departments in areas so that they can provide timely coverage for our communities.

l Grants to provide internet service in areas who do not have service,

and improve services in other areas.

agricultural industry.

funding and initiatives that improve school facilities. This includes building a new Rosewood Middle School.

3. Improving Economic Development: we must attract new businesses and

industries to our county, creating job opportunities for our residents, and promoting sustainable economic growth.

4. Developing a Regional Sewer: Access to proper sanitation

is crucial for the well-being of our communities and economic growth.

5. Continue to support mental health initiatives throughout the County.

newoldnorth.com

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L D AN

SCAPE ESIGN

OF GOLDSBORO, INC.

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