Wayne Week — Jan. 5, 2024 by Wayne Week

WEEK Wayne

As we begin the next year of our journey, we take a look back at the stories that shaped Wayne County in 2024 — and provide our thoughts on how this community can ensure it has a bright future.

2024in Review

JANUARY 5, 202 5 Volume 2, Issue 18

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR Ken Fine

EDITOR Renee Carey

DESIGN DIRECTOR Shan Stumpf

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Casey Mozingo

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4 Audit report rocks City Hall

A damning report sent to Goldsboro leaders by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor caused quite a stir along Center Street — and allegedly led to the resignation of the city manager — but the new City Council has taken corrective steps to move the city forward.

6 WCSO cases end in guilty pleas

One former high-ranking Wayne County Sheriff's Office deputy will spend the next several years in federal prison — and another pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud charges — but their former boss has stayed mostly mum on the FBI's sensational investigation into his department.

10 Whichard has WCPS on the rise

Wayne County Public Schools' superintendent has gone public with his claim that the county is not providing the school district with the funding it needs to hire and retain quality educators. Commissioners said they want to see results before they hand over more money. Well, under Dr. Marc Whichard's leadership, it appears WCPS is on the climb.

12 Pikeville mayor's plan outed

Garrett Johnston was caught on tape plotting to take over the town he was elected to serve — and lampooning several town employees, including Town Manager Tim Biggerstaff and Police Chief Rodney Jarman. Town residents were not pleased.

20 Guns still haunt Goldsboro

More than a dozen people were shot to death inside the city limits in 2024 — including several broad-daylight murders that grabbed statewide attention, but Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West believes his officers can turn the corner once his department is "staffed up" as a result of the City Council's decision to increase the salaries of those who serve.

COVER DESIGN BY SHAN STUMPF

LOOKING BACK. FORGING AHEAD.

2024 — in Review

One year ends. Another begins. And every time they do, we look back.

This year has been no exception.

So, we decided to take that journey back — and forward — with you this week.

Not because we want to dwell on the setbacks, but because we want to think about how far we have come, and where we still need to go.

It is not always easy to think about the bad stuff — the challenges faced, the disappointments, the bad news.

But it is critical if you are going to move into the new year with a feeling of accomplishment and optimism.

And that is exactly what this community is doing — moving forward.

We have taken some hits, and we have discovered some pretty scary information about some of the people with whom we have entrusted our future.

But we are not afraid anymore of upsetting the apple cart and making a change — a real change. So, it is out with the old and in with the new. And you have made that possible.

We can’t believe how much has happened this past year or two — a school district took a massive step forward, a Sheriff’s Office scandal shocked us all, the city tripped and excused away financial missteps and then made a significant change that altered the course of its future.

We had a town that stood up to a chief executive who thought he did not have to follow the rules and realized the consequences of just assuming the right person is going to be elected to run a critical department of our county government. And although we paid a price for the choice, we made sure it did not happen again.

We watched frivolous lawsuits filed — and fail.

We watched as those who have been holding the community hostage with cantankerous and wasteful explosions that embarrassed our city and county and slowed meaningful progress finally get the message that we wouldn’t tolerate the interruptions anymore.

We talked about crime, drugs, homelessness, and the future of our children and what we need to do to secure it — and we narrowly averted a catastrophic change to the mission of the Air Force base, gaining a little extra time to fight for its continued presence in our city.

We have seen increased investment in our community — and the potential for much more.

And we now have leadership in place in many areas with a focus on what it will take to get there.

But most importantly, we are all watching now. And more of us are getting involved.

Your tips, your comments, and your determination to expect more have made a difference.

You aren’t wishing away bad behavior from those who serve — those who made promises to earn your vote.

You are making sure they are held accountable.

It’s why we decided to look back — to see how much has changed and how much still needs our attention.

The coming year is looking pretty good — as long as we stick together.

No more heads in the sand, no more watchdogs with no teeth, and finally a newspaper and a community that are not accepting the excuses and public relations spin as answers anymore.

Well done Wayne County.

Now, onward and upward.

Audit report rocks City Hall

A damning report sent to Goldsboro leaders by the N.C. Office of the State Auditor caused quite a stir along Center Street.

It started back in early 2022 when then-North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell excoriated Goldsboro leaders for the city’s repeated inability to fulfill its financial reporting obligations in a timely manner.

The failure to submit those annual audits resulted in one of the nation’s leading bond credit rating agencies withdrawing its rating on the city’s General Obligation Bonds and General Obligation Street Improvement Bonds due to “insufficient information” — a deficiency characterized by Folwell as a “serious matter” that he said was “a reflection on the quality of both governing board oversight and management

practices of the city.”

The treasurer’s harsh words were followed by his charging then-State Auditor Beth Wood with taking a deep dive into how business was being conducted inside City Hall.

And when, less than two weeks into 2024, a preliminary investigation report was sent to Goldsboro leaders by the N.C. Office of the State Auditor, it sent shockwaves across Wayne County.

State officials claimed they had found a series of “issues” that raised red flags — from city employees’ alleged misuse of federal funds and city procurement cards to preferential treatment being offered to former City Council members.

The allegations included:

• An “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.

• According to the report, former City Councilman Antonio Williams’ water service was not disconnected despite the fact that “the account was delinquent on two separate occasions for a total of 1,392 days.”

• Auditors alleged that some city department heads and Williams made, on the taxpayers’ dime, “travel-related purchases” that “lacked documentation to support a valid City purpose and documentation of approval.” The then-councilman’s 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 state officials, who recommended that the city “review all P-Card purchases identified in this finding that lacked required documen-

tation and approvals and consider pursuing recovery of the funds.”

• Auditors alleged that “inaction from city leadership” led to everything from a Water Department employee crediting her mother’s water account 11 times to 24 balance credits being given to accounts that were “delinquent and/or in the name of a City employee or elected official,” including the account belonging to then-City Manager Tim Salmon.

• The report stated that Salmon overrode objections from department heads, dismissed grant agreement requirements, and brushed aside the city’s “existing financial procedures,” leading to misappropriation of more than $21,000 in federal Coronavirus Relief funds. More than $7,000 of that sum was paid to the director of the non-profit Three In One Family Center for a down payment on a new Acura MDX and repair work on his personal vehicle, a Lexus RX350.

And to make matters worse, auditors concluded that nearly every single finding had the potential to “erode” the public’s trust in its government — and was the result of shod-

dy leadership.

Within a month of the publication of the details of that report in the Jan. 21 and Feb. 4 editions of Wayne Week, Salmon resigned, and Assistant City Manager Matthew Livingston agreed to take on the post in an interim role.

Changes were made to procurement card and Water Department policies and procedures.

The Finance Department finally got the city caught up on its audits.

And Mayor Charles Gaylor said that the NCOSA was satisfied — that no further action would be taken by the state and Goldsboro was poised to be removed from the Local Government Commission’s Unit Assistance List.

But eight months after Salmon’s departure — and the mayor’s pledge that details about a formal search for his permanent replacement were forthcoming in short order — Livingston still held the position with an “interim” tag.

Gaylor told Wayne Week that he was conflicted — that while he believed a search was “best practice,” he also felt Livingston had performed well since his predecessor’s February exit.

And he told members of the City Council

that he would support whatever decision the majority made.

Councilman Chris Boyette was adamant that Livingston be given the position without a search he characterized as a “ridiculous” waste of taxpayer funds.

Councilwoman Beverly Weeks agreed.

Several department heads told members of the board that they believed their interim boss was the right person for the job.

But the majority of the council would ultimately vote to hire Chapel Hill-based Developmental Associates to lead a search for City Hall’s next leader.

The process began in December, with the public being given the opportunity to weigh in on Goldsboro’s next leader via a survey and a community meeting held at Wayne Community College Dec. 19.

And while no official timetable has been set for the completion of the process, it is expected to gain momentum in the coming weeks as a candidate list is created and then trimmed down before official visits and interviews are conducted ahead of the release of a “short list” of the most qualified candidates.

our TAKE: NEW COUNCIL HELPED CITY TURN THE CORNER

The city of Goldsboro has had financial troubles.

And that is putting it mildly.

You have been here and seen it — along with all of us.

You have heard the excuses — and the empty celebrations when finally, after nearly five years, the city was able to say that the audits that are required by the state, and that every other community gets done on time because there is a consequence if they don’t, were finally caught up.

The pandemic.

Personnel shortages.

Bad financial accounting procedures that had to be “completely redone” because the former finance director did not do them properly.

Clean audits from the state that all of a sudden were deemed not acceptable by the city’s current finance director.

On and on.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

The bottom line is that the city has been in a financial mess — and it cost you money.

There is a common theme here.

If you look around, so many of the consequences that we have faced in Wayne County over the last few years have cen-

tered around one big, ugly fact.

When you put people in charge who should not be there, and you do not hold them accountable or you make excuses for them, you get trouble — fines and low bond scores and frivolous lawsuits kind of trouble.

But even if 2024 was a frustrating display of ring around the excuses, the future of the city of Goldsboro is looking a whole lot brighter.

That’s right, we put new people in charge — well, you the voters did anyway.

And look at what they have done so far.

Don’t think it was easy getting rid of the former city manager.

The new City Council members — and some of the old ones — knew what kind of trouble that would cause and the steps that would have to be taken to fill the job.

But it was the right thing to do, so they did it.

Don’t think that it wouldn’t have been easier to let the old pot-stirrers continue to wreak havoc at council meetings and use race politics and threats to get what they wanted — or to settle a lawsuit that was meritless — even if that would make the evening go a lot quicker.

But this council said, “Nope.”

And let’s talk about the Goldsboro Po-

lice and Fire departments.

This city was facing serious threats to the safety of the community — gunshot reports were up and so was crime.

People were getting murdered in public places in broad daylight and drugs were flowing — and the GPD could not get the personnel they needed to get the job done.

So, council members bit the bullet and lived up to the promises they made to voters when they ran for office.

The safety of this community would be top priority — and they were prepared to do what needed to be done.

No hemming and hawing.

No half measures.

They did the tough — but necessary — thing.

And now, we are looking to move forward on a new city manager.

It would have been easier just to coronate the acting chief executive.

And there might be some reasons why that might be the right choice.

But this council has decided to make sure they put the right person in place — even if a search leaves them where Councilman Chris Boyette believes it will, with Interim City Manager Matthew Livingston still standing at the top

of the mountain.

Perhaps they have learned something by watching the mess that has played out over the last few years.

Goldsboro has too much potential to keep going along the same path — and much too much to lose.

This community must prove that its negatives — crime, homelessness, and infrastructure struggles — are in the sights of the new leadership and that “the way it has always been done” is simply not good enough anymore.

There cannot be anymore “yes” men or puppets in charge.

And there certainly is no more room for “you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours.”

There is simply too much at stake.

We need leaders who are competent, who treat staff with respect, but who also hold them accountable.

Moving forward requires leadership.

But, the good news?

It is beginning to look like the City Council is determined to do the job its members were elected to do — get this city back on track.

And it will be up to all of us to ensure there is no backsliding.

Cox, Worth cases end in guilty pleas

One former WCSO leader will spend the next several years in prison.

Agrand jury.

A sprawling federal indictment.

An arrest captured by a passerby with their cellphone camera and posted to social media.

A bombshell bond hearing.

Sensational narratives from prosecutors about a man who led a county drug unit crossing the line and protecting and working alongside the very men he was charged with bringing to justice.

Two plea deals.

One prison sentence.

Some characterized the government’s case against two men who were, at one time, among the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office’s highest-ranking officials as a story that felt more like a movie than reality.

But a little more than a year after former WCSO Drug Unit Chief Michael Cox and former WCSO Maj. Christopher Worth were detained by the FBI, both admitted to federal crimes — and one will spend the next several years behind bars.

The FBI was not targeting lawmen when it launched “Operation Polar Bear,” an investigation that aimed to take guns, drugs, and dealers off the streets.

But as agents zeroed in on Eastern North Carolina drug traffickers, they learned, via wiretap, that Cox had been using his position to protect — and work with — at least two known dealers.

“We found that he actively protected drug traffickers that engaged in violent criminal activity and who brought narcotics poisoning our communities,” U.S. Attorney Michael Easley Jr. said.

And when they started investigating the former Drug Unit chief, they learned that he and Worth were also involved in what the government characterized as a “bid-rigging” scheme that “defrauded” the Wayne County government and its taxpayers.

They also discovered that the Drug Unit itself was, as one FBI agent told a federal judge, dysfunctional, as its offthe-books method of handling evidence provided it with the ability to avoid creating any record of a drug suspect’s arrest for drug dealing.

In addition, it allowed members of the Drug Unit the ability to seize drugs and guns from citizens without any account-

ability for such evidence — resulting in there being few safeguards in place to stop deputies from taking unmarked evidence, such as firearms, for their personal use.

Wayne Week provided extensive coverage of the saga — much of which is available in our archive and on our sister website, NewOldNorth.com — and our team was in the Wilmington courtroom when Cox and Worth both told Chief U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers II that they had, indeed, violated their respective oaths and committed the crimes they had been charged with.

Cox would be sentenced to two 74-month prison terms for drug conspiracy and mail and wire fraud charges. (Since the sentences will run “concurrently,” he will serve only one of them.)

But Myers told the former lawman that considering the charges he was up against — and the evidence the government had at its disposal — the six-plus years he must now serve behind bars was a “gift.”

“I have chosen to be merciful,” Myers

said. “You really have received a gift.” Worth got one, too.

For his participation in the mail and wire fraud — a scheme that saw Cox’s business, Eastern Emergency Equipment, receive contract after contract to upfit WCSO vehicles because the process was “rigged” — the former major was given the following sentence:

He will be confined to his home for “a period not to exceed one year” — and during that time will be restricted to his residence “at all times” except for “pre-approved and scheduled absences” for employment, education, religious activities, attorney visits, or “other activities” approved by his probation officer.

He will remain on supervised probation until the four-year sentence handed down by Myers has run its course — and, during that time, cannot leave the Eastern District of North Carolina without first getting permission, or own, possess, or have access to a firearm.

And he will carry the “convicted felon” designation with him for the rest of his life — and, according to his attorney, stands to lose the pension he earned during his decades-long career as a lawman.

Easley called both resolutions “justice” for Eastern North Carolina and Wayne County.

And FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert DeWitt said he hopes what happened to Cox and Worth will send a message to others who “tarnish” their badges.

“Law enforcement officers are entrusted with an incredible responsibility to serve our communities and ensure justice. Anyone who tarnishes their badge for their own profit will be held accountable,” he said. “The FBI will root out public corruption and defend the vast majority of hard-working officers who carry out their duties honestly and honorably.”

But the now-convicted deputies’ former boss, Sheriff Larry Pierce, has remained mostly mum — only offering comment via a press release issued in August 2023 after the indictments were handed down by the grand jury, a statement that said after learning of the investigation, “the Wayne County Finance Department and the Sheriff’s Office implemented immediate corrective action.”

our TAKE: THERE IS STILL ONE MORE LOOSE END TO TIE UP

No one saw this one coming.

Who would have thought that a law-and-order place like Wayne County would be facing the indictment of not one, but two, deputies in the current sheriff’s administration?

Who would have imagined that the charges against them would include not only bid rigging, but that one of them would be accused of improper interactions with suspected drug traffickers?

There is no question that the Michael Cox and Christopher Worth cases shook the foundations of this county and made many of us wonder what happened to the Sheriff’s Office that used to be looked upon with respect.

It made many of us think back to a name from the past.

You know who we are talking about — a man who was dedicated to caring for this community and serving it, honorably; a man we lost much too soon.

What happened?

We don’t know for sure.

But we do know this: When an organization is rotten — this rotten — it is because the person who is supposed to be setting the standards and demanding that they be adhered to is not doing his job.

And yes, sadly, all of this happened under current Sheriff Larry Pierce’s nose.

In fact, one of the men sentenced this past year was one of Pierce’s right-hand men — the guy in charge of one of the most important groups that keeps this community safe, the Drug Unit.

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John D. Lewis Gaston Lewis

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And the mess in the inventory room — and the guns and drugs that were not recorded properly — that was under Pierce’s watch, too.

Makes you kind of wonder, doesn’t it, exactly who was minding the store at the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office?

Well, we know one thing.

The Goldsboro Police Department was on the job.

Investigators knew there was something not quite right there — that drug cases were not being handled properly.

So, instead of sitting back and watching the mess continue, they waited until Cox was out of the picture.

That is what honest and dedicated law enforcement officers do.

It is not about protecting their own. It is about keeping this community safe.

That is a part of this story that should make you proud — very proud.

It is what happens when the leader of a law enforcement agency teaches his officers the right way to serve — who instills in them what the oath they recited really means.

GPD Chief Mike West and his crew — that is the good news in 2024.

But more on them later.

In 2026, Wayne County voters are going to elect a sheriff. And rumor has it that Pierce is considering throwing his hat back in the ring.

And while we can’t — and won’t — tell you how to vote, we can tell you this.

This should not be about Republican or Democrat.

It should not be about, “I’ve known him all my life and he’s a good man.”

It should not be about backdoor deals or partisan power-brokering.

This is about the future of this community — and how to make

sure those who wish to harm it, to bring violence and drugs into our neighborhoods, understand that we mean business.

There is no question that a chief executive officer of a major corporation who was this clueless about his operation — whose lieutenants were engaged in this sort of bad behavior under his nose and who even had his own Tahoe upfitted through the same questionable bidding process — would be tossed out for gross incompetence.

That is called accountability.

So, if the powers that be in this community — you know, the same ones who railed against the incompetence and fraud in Washington and called for the chief executive there to be tossed for gross negligence — don’t stand up and say this is unacceptable, then they do not deserve the seats they hold either.

There is no more time for this sort of looking the other way.

We need a safe community — one where criminals think it is just not worth the trouble to operate.

You, the folks who have raised your children here, deserve it — and so, too, do the honest men and women who work in that office risking their lives every day.

There are people who can stand up and speak the truth, who can hold up a mirror and demand a new standard.

We need to send a message — a strong one — about how we want this community protected, and what we expect of those we trust to protect it.

Demanding a new sheriff is a good place to start.

And it would go a long way toward restoring the trust in this community’s system of justice — and the integrity of the people who asked the voters to entrust them with its future.

AWHICHARD HAS WCPS ON THE CLIMB

Wayne County Public Schools' leader is making a strong case for more funding.

t first, he took his message to the public — telling local residents, during a February presentation at the Maxwell Center, that if Wayne County Public Schools was going to thrive, members of the county Board of Commissioners needed to increase funding of the district so WCPS could hire and retain quality educators.

But Superintendent Dr. Marc Whichard did not stop there.

He then met with county officials and elected officials — vowing to ensure WCPS’ newly-minted “Low-Performing District” status was a “one and done,” and that he would see to it that dollars were spent wisely so the trust that was broken in the wake of a 2020 $5 mil-

lion budget deficit was restored.

Whichard made controversial decisions to fulfill his promise of being a better steward of tax dollars.

He shuttered the Edgewood Community Developmental School campus and moved its students to Eastern Wayne High School to save money he said was being wasted on a facility that simply cost too much to operate and repair.

He moved Wayne School of Engineering to the Wayne Academy building in an effort to expand its population and lure children back to WCPS from private and charter schools.

He sent the Goldsboro High School student body to the WSE’s former home and Wayne Academy’s alternative population to modular

classrooms at EWHS.

The savings, Whichard said, would amount to some $750,000 a year. There was more.

According to teachers and administrators, the superintendent became a fixture on local campuses — enforcing a list of “non-negotiables” including banning cell phones in classrooms he believed would improve test scores.

And when the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction published its “School Report Cards” in the fall, WCPS had, indeed, worked its way off the state’s “Low-Performing District” list, as nearly every one of the district’s schools made notable academic strides.

Back in March, despite their agreement to

“work together,” the meeting between WCPS and county officials — and their respective elected governing boards — was ripe with drama.

There was finger tapping.

There were heavy sighs.

There was inaudible mumbling.

There were eyerolls and winks.

And officials from both sides of the table, out loud, seemed to relish in what they perceived as “gotcha” moments.

There was even a heated exchange between the boards’ two former chairmen and longest tenured members, Chris West and Joe Daughtery.

And ultimately, despite agreeing to continue the funding “conversation” beyond the joint meeting, the sides’ positions were seem-

2024 Year in Review

our TAKE: IT'S TIME TO GIVE SCHOOL DISTRICT ITS DUE

It has not been a stellar few years for Wayne County Public Schools — from financial woes to test scores that put several schools in the danger zone and the district into low-performing status.

No one was proud — and the future, well, it looked pretty grim — especially with Air Force brass looking pretty closely at the future of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and the prospects of the community that hosts it.

We were worried, we won’t lie. But that was then.

This is now.

Superintendent Dr. Marc Whichard said that he, the district’s administrative staff, and the teachers were not going to let the mistakes of the past dictate the course for the future.

One and done. That’s what he said.

And, so far, he seems to be living up to that promise.

But it did not come easy.

Those who stood in the way were shown the door — and new standards and expectations were set.

And it seems to be working.

But there are still some struggles. There are still too many students in the county schools who are not reading at grade level — or getting the

ingly fairly clear.

On the one hand, the commissioners said they were willing to listen to WCPS leaders about the needs of local schools — and even entertain increasing local funding levels — but those discussions, they said, must be accompanied by demonstrated performance improvement among students.

In other words, they expected a “return on the investment” they believe the county was already making.

On the other, the school district asserted that local spending was not high enough and was, in part, responsible for the difficulty in hiring and keeping teachers and managing the upkeep of facilities.

kind of scores that show they have the skills they need to move on to college or into the workforce.

There are still discipline problems that need to be addressed — and some personnel who still haven’t gotten the message that there is a new sheriff in town.

And then there are the circumstances and daily struggles that happen in a community where so many children come from families who are struggling or whose parents don’t seem to understand the critical role they must play in their children’s education.

Those challenges are not going to go away — anywhere.

But they are especially important here.

Still, there is a new feel about the county schools and a sense that the fight is back on to turn those test scores around and to make sure that as many children as possible get the education and the support they need.

The hard work is making a difference.

But we cannot settle for small steps forward — we need big, audacious, and significant ones.

And there is something else we need to talk about — money.

The county commissioners have

Whichard attempted to show commissioners how the district was trying to cut costs — to tell the story of a school system that was being good stewards of the money the county has provided while acknowledging that “we have got to do better.”

But Daughtery, who has been a commissioner for more than a decade, said he had heard the same claims before — that more money would keep teachers and improve the quality of the district’s then-six low-performing schools.

“I went to the mat, and we were able to get the one percent increase (in teacher stipends),” he said, adding that since then, the number of low-performing schools in WCPS

suggested — well, they have said — that they do not want to throw more money into the school district until they see significant signs of improvement.

Well, here they are.

The district is not where it needs to be, but it is significantly improved from where it was.

For the first time in a long time the budget is managed.

There is a fund balance, and there is not money being spent unwisely.

There might be a consultant or two who still need to be jettisoned — and perhaps more discretion on the types of materials and programs that are being used — but the steps have been taken to fix the district’s financial mess.

So, even though the county can claim credit for the new buildings that will house students in two new schools in the near future, there is still more work to be done.

If you want a great school district, you have to invest the money in making it so.

And that starts with putting the right people in front of those white boards.

We need to keep the great teachers

had more than doubled. “How can I ask again? I think you all have to accept that it is not only the money that is affecting these teachers. Money is not the only factor in student performance and teacher (retention).”

And when Whichard cited, again, that the county’s level of local funding was ranked in the bottom half of the state, several commissioners disputed the numbers — saying they did not take into account “extras” that the county had funded over the years, including technology, school resource officers, and other items that reflect millions in additional spending.

That has been another age-old problem between the boards — that both have their own set of data they believe tells the “real” story.

and administrators we have and to say goodbye to those who are not getting the job done.

That’s how we can attract the people we need to create the sort of district that lures the best and the brightest — not somebody’s daughter with connections or the only person who filled out an application.

The answer is not online education. It is making WCPS a great place to work and a place where teachers feel they are appreciated and rewarded.

You get what you pay for. You just do.

So, if the county commissioners want to have a school district that attracts business and residential investment — and keeps the Air Force base right where it is — they are going to have to pony up more support.

We know it is not easy. We know the voters like “no new taxes” much better.

But it is just time to take a bold step forward — a leadership step forward.

We think we have the right people in place — and a couple new ones coming in — who are savvy, forwardthinking and just gutsy enough to make the tough decisions we need to create the roadmap we need to be the next boom area.

“All I’m asking for is what can we do to compete?” Whichard, at one point, said. “I am not saying that we are perfect. … The point is that we have got to do something locally to move the needle.”

But Daughtery said he would only support providing more funding if it were “tied to performance.”

“Once we move the needle, then we provide more funds,” he said.

Whether or not the strides Whichard — and the Board of Education — have made since March will result in such a measure is a story many county residents will surely be following as budget season begins in the coming months.

PIKEVILLE'S MAYOR IS ON THE HOT SEAT

Garrett Johnston was caught on tape plotting to take over the town he was elected to serve.

When Pikeville commissioners — and Mayor Garrett Johnston — called a special meeting in May, one town resident decided it “didn’t smell right.”

Notice of the session was limited to a piece of paper taped to the front door of Town Hall far short of the timeframe required by state law.

Nobody, other than the elected officials, seemed to know it was coming.

And when the reason for the meeting was revealed — a public hearing on a potential change of government that reflected a departure from what the Local Government Commission recommended before the state agreed to relinquish control of the town it had taken over a few years prior — alarm bells started sounding.

Johnston told the few who found out about the meeting and chose to attend that “the manager form of government” was, indeed, stronger, but that he felt a change that would give him more power was reasonable because he was in the mayor’s seat.

State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who was involved in the takeover of the town in April 2021, when Pikeville had only 4.8 percent of restricted available funds available to meet its $765,000 budget and was at risk of missing five debt payments totaling $158,000, was concerned — both about the potential change of government and how notice of the public hearing was delivered.

“I’m always concerned about decreased transparency, decreased competency and increased conflicts of interest,” he told Wayne Week.

But he had no idea that before the board actually implemented the change, Pikeville residents would fight back.

They exposed, via audio from a secretly recorded conversation with Johnston, just why the mayor was so keen on making the move.

He wanted, according to what he said during the several-hour

meeting, to get rid of the majority of the town’s employees — including Town Manager Tim Biggerstaff and Police Chief Rodney Jarman — in what he dubbed “Operation Clean Sweep.”

“Just know that there is something called, ‘Operation Clean Sweep,’ that is ready to go into effect,” Johnston said. “We can pick them off one at a time.”

He didn’t stop there.

He made fun of an employee he said was “dyslexic” and therefore could not be trusted to “read meters.”

He claimed another was recovering from cancer and was “basically just here for the benefits.”

He attacked several people who applied for the town manager position in 2022 — calling one of them a “big, lazy, slob.”

And he lambasted Biggerstaff, whom he called everything from “dickless” and “spineless” to a “pushover” before inferring there was something inappropriate about the fact that he adopted a 13-year-old boy — all while acknowledging that by doing so, he was breaking the law.

“I’m breaking the law by sharing personnel issues,” Johnston said at one point.

By changing forms of government, he could ensure Biggerstaff was sent packing, he added.

“If we change forms of government, we bump him down for three months. We’re throwing a bone. I don’t want to do it, and I certainly don’t want to go over three months. Initially, (Commissioner) Matt (Thomas) asked for six. I said, ‘No. I’ll give you three at best,’” Johnston said. “The manager works for the board — at the pleasure of the board — and we can fire him at any time without cause. So, when we decide we’re done — he can wear the wrong aftershave one day and piss us off — we can fire him. There’s nothing he can do about it.”

And he could also go after Jarman — and other town law en-

forcement officers he lampooned during the meeting.

Johnston called Jarman a “manipulator” who, despite having worked in law enforcement since 2009, was not fit for the position.

“There’s not another agency in Wayne County that will hire him,” the mayor said. “That should say something to you.” And he made disparaging remarks about the law enforcement community as a whole.

“The law enforcement crowd, you’re gettin’ guys with daddy issues that need a badge to feel powerful. Knowing that we’re going to be dealing with those kinds of personalities, we just need strong leadership over them to keep them in line,” Johnston said. “We know they’re coming with issues. … If we leave Jarman too long, he’s going to create a whole lot of trouble. So, he’s gotta go quick.” Initially, Jarman, who had already heard the recording before he read its contents in Wayne Week, opted to take the high road.

“We base what we do on our department motto, which is, ‘Proud, Professional, Proactive.’ That’s what we’re going to continue to do. That’s what I feel like the officers we have put in place are doing,” he said. “Everyone plays an important role here and we all keep that motto, that mission, in mind. So, we’re going to continue to support — and be honored to serve — this community. The majority here in Pikeville, they know that this department is doing the very best that it can with the equipment that we’re allocated and the officers that we have. Everybody is struggling in law enforcement with recruitment and retention. Well, we’re one of the only departments that I know of that’s fully staffed. I think that speaks for itself. It speaks volumes about the kind of agency and the kind of atmosphere we’re trying to create here. So, we will continue to maintain that professionalism. And we will continue to be proud — not just proud, but Pikeville proud — to serve this community.”

But when more than 100 people converged on the Pikeville-Pleasant Grove Fire Department July 8 — most, to demand Johnston’s resignation — Jarman took a different tone.

“The damage has been done with your words and your actions. In four hours of recorded audio, all of which I have listened to in-depth, you undermined the hard work of so many for the selfishness of one,” he said. “I stand before the board, town staff, residents, and the community as a whole, not only to identify a problem but to provide a solution. I will continue to protect you as a citizen, but I cannot serve you as a mayor. I respect the seat in which you sit, but not the person who sits in it. I will always do and stand for what is right in this department and this community and therefore, in unity with them, I stand and demand your resignation. Sincerely your — no, sincerely, the community’s — chief of police.”

The board would ultimately vote to censure Johnston and ask for his resignation, but the mayor has not stepped down. He did, however, lose his ability to execute “Operation Clean Sweep” when commissioners voted to reverse its decision to change forms of government and extend Biggerstaff’s contract.

And in the months since the audio was released, more allegations against the mayor have surfaced. — including that he accepted “two boxes full of gifts” from a man Johnston has said would bring soccer programming to the town after a $400,000 soccer complex was constructed. (The man was Johnston’s daughter’s college soccer coach at Mid-Atlantic Christian University.)

North Carolina General Statue 138A-32 prohibits a “public servant” from accepting gifts for a variety of reasons. Among them are if the person giving the gift “is doing or is seeking to do business of any kind with the public servant’s employing entity” or “is engaged in activities that are regulated or controlled by the public servant’s employing entity.”

And given the fact that the coach told Biggerstaff that he is working on the soccer complex project — and several officials inside Town Hall have said Johnston has championed the coach as a future Pikeville contract employee — the mayor’s receiving gifts from him appeared to be a violation of state statue.

Given all that transpired, Rep. John Bell repeatedly voiced concerns.

“Mayor Johnston needs to remember that he’s elected by the citizens of the Town of Pikeville and he answers to the citizens of the Town of Pikeville. He seems to have forgotten that and it’s troubling for sure,” he told Wayne Week. “With the conversations that I’ve had, unprovoked, there’s a lot of people concerned with what’s going on in Pikeville right now,”

And there is momentum among residents to ensure Johnston’s political career — at least in their town — ends in November as he did, after all, receive only 64 votes to gain the seat in 2021.

“He wants total control. He wants to be the king of Pikeville,” one resident said. “But trust me, he has virtually zero support in this community. If my dog was on the ballot, he’d beat him.”

2024 Year in Review

our TAKE: VOTE HIM OUT

The story of Pikeville Mayor Garrett Johnston and what can only be characterized as his attempted coup of the town’s government is almost unbelievable.

To think that a mayor would attempt to manipulate a system to “get rid of” people he — and he alone — deemed “unqualified” and would feel comfortable enough to reveal his plans to upend the current government system without fear of reprisal is just shocking.

And yet, here we are.

There are many lessons to learn from the case of Garrett Johnston.

First, the one that is broadcast loud and clear, it matters whom you put in office — and how much power you give them.

And, by the way, Pikeville is not alone in making this mistake.

We have been watching with intense interest over the last few years the incredible number of politicians and bureaucrats who have no business being in office, let alone dictating the course of the county’s future, thinking they and they alone have the smarts necessary to make all the decisions and judgments.

And we have also seen more than a few people who tested the waters, found out that no one was watching, and proceeded to hire their family members, to manipulate contracts and expenditures to their benefit, and to make bad decisions that cost this community.

We won’t even mention some of the mind-blowing scary near misses we have had with absolutely unqualified people in charge of some very important aspects of the operations of this county and city — and the consequences that have resulted.

So, while we were shocked to hear about Johnston and his adamant defense of his decision to have a public meeting to set up this complete rejection of the town manager form of government — and the insidious way he advertised this critical meeting on a flyer randomly stuck up on the Town Hall door in direct violation of public notice laws — we have seen actions like this before.

And they all center on one very, very important warning.

You cannot let anyone, no matter how small your community, operate without keeping a sharp eye on them.

They work for you. Not the other way around.

Johnston seems to have forgotten that important caveat — even when hundreds of Pikeville residents gathered to reject his plan and to remind him that he does not make the decisions about the direction of the community’s future, they do.

Any public official caught so red-handed — especially with the vile statements he made about his employees and his fellow officeholders — would have slunk away in disgrace.

Not Johnston. He is still in place — until he is up for election this November.

And that leads us to admonition No. 2.

Your vote matters. And so, too, does your participation in local government.

When no one competent steps up to fill the seats of your county and city governments and your school boards, that is how you get a circus with no accountability.

And yes, it is how you get a county Register of Deeds who cannot do the job, board members who seem to do nothing but bluster at monthly meetings, or a council member who seems to be intent on doing nothing but race baiting.

And it is also how you get a sitting public official who is so bad — and so not doing his or her job — or so corrupt and “bought and paid for” that you cannot get rid of them until another ballot is cast.

So, this stuff matters. It really does.

And if you want a community that is moving forward without a whole bunch of good old boy backscratching and nepotism, you have to step up and say, “No more.”

Yes, you can serve.

Yes, your experience and input matter.

No, you don’t have to settle for Johnston in a community as full of talent and servant leaders as Pikeville.

This election season, you will get the chance to prove it.

And just because we think it is important, don’t sit back and think that Pikeville is the only place that has some big decisions to make.

So, ask the questions, demand the answers, hold your elected officials to their promises, and keep close track of the issues facing our community.

And remember this: If an eagle-eyed community member had not spotted that notice in Pikeville and let us know what Johnston was planning, we might be having a very different discussion right now.

That is proof that you can play a big part in cleaning up this community’s dysfunction.

So, speak up.

Your voice matters.

If you don’t believe us, just ask Pikeville Town Manager Tim Biggerstaff and Police Chief Rodney Jarman.

GUN VIOLENCE STILL HAUNTS GOLDSBORO

Agroup of teenagers opening fire inside Berkeley Mall at just before noon. A 22-year-old shot five days later during an attempted murder.

Four 18-year-olds listed as suspects after allegedly firing into an occupied home less than 24 hours after that.

A 17-year-old shot to death the same week. And that was just in January.

The following month brought more of the same — four more shooting victims, with one as young as 13.

All the while, Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West kept telling the public his officers were doing the best they could to thwart the violence, but stressed that he was limited by thinning ranks.

The Goldsboro City Council responded by voting to increase salaries for those who wear GPD uniforms — a measure that resulted in

a “flood” of applications coming in and a renewed sense of hope, among city law enforcement, that they could, in relatively short order, send a message to would-be criminals that Gang Prevention, Selective Housing, and Vice units would soon be back in business.

That message, though, was not received.

The first week of March, an 8:34 a.m. shooting left two people suffering from gunshot wounds.

Eleven days after that, an 18-year-old and 22-year-old were charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting a 17-year-old from their vehicle.

During a three-day stretch a few weeks later, the GPD responded to four more shooting incidents and two more teenagers were charged.

The following month, two people were found shot to death inside a home on Fussell Street.

And April 27, a former Goldsboro High

School football and track standout was charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly killed a 26-year-old at 9 in the morning outside a store less than a mile away from the city’s revitalized downtown.

By May, ShotSpottter data had recorded more than 1,100 rounds fired inside the city limits since the beginning of 2024.

And while members of the City Council had acted on salary increases in hopes of putting more officers on the streets — and reacted and called for prayers seemingly every time another headline was made — something changed when an 18-year-old was shot to death inside the Ash Street Food Lion in early June, an incident that unfolded at 1:34 p.m.

Mayor Charles Gaylor convened a special meeting of the council and invited the public to attend.

On June 11, hundreds packed the council chambers — some joining in as Bible verses were invoked, others wiping tears from their eyes as elected officials condemned what they characterized as a frightening rise in gun violence.

But then — no more than an hour after the crowd that converged on City Hall dissipated — a drive-by shooting resulted in bullets piercing a home occupied by three people on Olivia Lane.

One local resident told Wayne Week that she was “terrified” to take her children “anywhere” — from Herman Park and Berkeley Mall to McDonald’s.

“What are we supposed to do?” she said. “It could literally be anywhere, any time at this point.”

And social media platforms were saturated with similar concerns.

But some, like Wonnie Wynn, said they were not surprised Goldsboro had gotten to this point.

During his youth, he lived “that street life.”

He was incarcerated multiple times.

But he said that teenagers growing up in the city’s toughest neighborhoods today are different than those he interacted with before he changed his life.

They are out of control.

There is nobody on the streets willing to check their behavior.

There is no structure in their lives and no “elders” that command their respect.

And if they get arrested, it doesn’t faze them.

“This is what you gotta understand. A lot of these (kids) ain’t afraid of the penitentiary system neither,” Wynn said. “When I was in prison, it was the same as the streets. Prison ain’t nothing. Every time they get sent to prison, it’s like a vacation.”

Archbishop Anthony Slater weighed in, too.

“We don’t have a gun problem,” he told Wayne Week. “We have a people problem.”

And to solve it, he added, would require a shift in the way his community sees the world.

“We’ve got to get to the children. It’s the only way,” Slater said. “They have no sense of values. So, that meeting, what the council is trying to do, I applaud it, but we’re not solving this issue because there’s no plan. There’s an idea, but I don’t think they know what they’re getting into. We’re not dealing with the problem. The problem goes back to the family unit.”

So, policing Goldsboro’s way out of it will never fully work, he said — a thought that was seemingly validated when several more homicides unfolded in the second half of the year, the most recent, the murder of a 31-year-old behind a home on East Walnut Street.

But West contends that since he has hired more officers — and organized more targeted patrolling in areas that have been the setting of most of the city’s gun-related incidents — he has seen progress.

“We’ve seen a noticeable decrease with our violent crime and gun crime. We’ve gotten more guns off the street,” West told Wayne Week during a recent interview. “Our (violent crimes) in February and March, we were trending toward a 41-percent increase over the previous year, and right now, we’re at a 3-percent decrease overall. The ShotSpotter is down 43 percent compared to this time last year. The number of rounds fired is down 49 percent. So, when we get staffed up and we get all of these specialized units back in place and we can get out there and do our targeted enforcements — where we see where our problems are and go out and get after it — it’s working for us right now, but we’ve just got to put the community component back in place when I get more officers to do the oneon-one with the community.”

2024 Year in Review

our TAKE: YES. WE ARE LOSING OUR CHILDREN.

We have talked a lot about safety over the past year.

The statistics were scary — more shootings, more crime, more drugs, and the most frightening of all the concerns, out-of-control youths with no fear of authority.

We talked about it as a newspaper and as a community nearly every day.

And there were potentially huge consequences if we did not come up with a solution.

When crime started happening even more out in the open — during the day — and there seemed to be no deterrents to stop the shootings, it became obvious that there was more here than just an evolutionary shift.

This was a crisis.

So, it got to the point that sitting back and watching the problem just wasn’t good enough anymore.

It was time to act.

So, we did.

We put people in charge who would address the problem with more than just excuses about why nothing could not be done.

The first goal was to fund the Goldsboro Police Department — listening to Chief Mike West about the rapidly decreasing numbers of people who wanted to come to work or to continue their careers here.

He sounded the warning and we listened.

And so, too, did our city’s leaders.

And they took a step — one most politicians don’t want to take.

Council members moved forward on faith — funding “public safety” immediately.

It was the right move.

It put Vice, Gang and Housing units back on the street, and GPD officers got the message that this community supported them and

valued their sacrifices.

And those same officers sent a message of their own — “Crime in Goldsboro will no longer pay. We are watching.”

OK. That’s the obvious first step.

But now that we are officially in 2025, we need to talk about something else.

“We don’t have a crime problem. We have a people problem.”

We certainly do.

We have a generation of young people who do not understand limits and who don’t measure consequences in the same manner we did.

We have young people who are lost, who are finding solace and “family” on the streets and dreams that center around not a career and family, but about a quick buck and riches that come from drugs and violence.

If we are going to change this trajectory, we have to face that.

You read the warnings.

“These kids don’t see prison as a negative. They don’t fear it. It is like a vacation, not that much different than the streets.”

We paraphrase, but the message is clear — and terrifying.

You might think your teen is safe, that he or she would never get mixed up with a gang or drugs. And no, there won’t be a shooting in my neighborhood.

Not so.

The tentacles of crime and drug abuse are long and powerful. They stretch into our schools and into all socioeconomic stratospheres.

To make our community safer, we have to talk about not just crime and punishment, but prevention.

We have to unite to reach our most vulnerable young people before it is too late.

And that starts with the putrid stench of the influences that flood their social media accounts and those who don’t have the support of families or dreams of their own that seem to be in reach.

The discipline starts at home, of course.

And there need to be real penalties for parents who abandon their children to the streets — and real protections for those who are in the crime-ridden housing developments that have stained our community.

Do we have the solution?

Well, we have a suggestion for a start.

There are bright minds here — and people who work with these young people every day.

They know the pull of the streets, the lack of parental involvement, and the forces that are changing our children and their view of the world.

And then there are those who are there when an 8-year-old is the victim of random shooting, or when a young life is shattered with a charge of felony murder.

They see the consequences of drugs and guns in our community — and some of them are survivors of that life.

So, let’s talk.

Honestly — without the fear of being labeled for telling the truth.

That’s how we begin.

That is how we can devise the kind of plan that is more than just what sounds good.

Yes, it just might take a community to fix this one.

And we must fix it or none of us are safe.

Our hope is that someone will have the courage to facilitate that first step.

“I don’t care how y’all spin it. ”

Keen Plumbing Co.

DOWNTOWN PARKING

Mayor Charles Gaylor is not happy about it, but the majority of the Goldsboro City Council put a several-month moratorium on a controversial two-hour parking restriction policy that drew the ire of businessowners and shoppers for the better part of 2024.

The policy will now remain frozen until at least the end of March and is expected to be on the agenda for the council’s upcoming retreat — at which time the city’s leaders will decide whether or not creating a new policy that “works for everyone” is even possible.

The issue has consumed hours of the council’s time since its members were sworn into office after the November 2023 election.

And the policy has been changed numerous times in the months since.

A moratorium was put in place for a block of Center Street and Saturday was removed as a day when restrictions would be enforced.

Businesses were, against the recommendation of the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp., given placards that allowed a certain number of customers to park for an extended period of time.

But those who voted to stop, at least for now, tickets being issued to those who parked in regulated spots for more than two hours said they felt the policy was hurting the very people it was created to help — the men and women who run spas, salons, boutiques, and restaurants.

“I understand what it means to either have a good month or a bad month … and they are telling me this is hurting their businesses,” Councilwoman Jamie Taylor said before the vote to pause enforcement of the policy took place. “If you have businesses out here that are doing fair and you have the city put restrictions on parking and it’s hurting their business, it doesn’t take long for a small business

to go under. Come on guys. It’s been almost a year … and what we do have is businesses that are suffering.”

WCPS BUS DRIVER SHORTAGE

Should the Wayne County Board of Education approve the measure that is expected to be on its agenda Monday, future Wayne County Public Schools instructional assistants, school nutrition workers, and custodians would be required to “obtain and hold” a commercial driver’s license and be willing to serve as a bus driver as a condition of their employment.

WCPS spokesman Ken Derksen said the proposal is “intended to be another tool that the school district can use to help address the bus driver vacancy challenges being experienced by some schools” — and emphasized that it would not impact current employees of the district.

And while some feel the policy could deter potential candidates from applying for positions within the district that require taking on a bus route, Superintendent Dr. Marc Whichard has made it clear that he will try whatever he can to ensure students have a ride to school.

The policy notes that its goal is to “ensure that the school system maintains a sufficient number of qualified school bus drivers and substitute school bus drivers to efficiently and effectively operate the school transportation system.”

And the positions that would be impacted include “all” instructional assistants, school nutrition program workers, and custodians hired after the policy is approved — employees who would, should the measure pass, be “available and willing to drive a regular bus route as needed and as directed by their school principal.”

Those who fail to do so — and are not exempted because of medical reasons — are subject to being fired.

2024 — Through the SPECTATOR's lens

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Wayne Week — Jan. 5, 2024

WEEK Wayne

2024in Review

EDITORIAL

PUBLISHER

CONTACTS

CONTENTS

LOOKING BACK. FORGING AHEAD.

2024 — in Review

Audit report rocks City Hall

our TAKE: NEW COUNCIL HELPED CITY TURN THE CORNER

Cox, Worth cases end in guilty pleas

our TAKE: THERE IS STILL ONE MORE LOOSE END TO TIE UP

AWHICHARD HAS WCPS ON THE CLIMB

2024 Year in Review

our TAKE: IT'S TIME TO GIVE SCHOOL DISTRICT ITS DUE

PIKEVILLE'S MAYOR IS ON THE HOT SEAT

2024 Year in Review

our TAKE: VOTE HIM OUT

GUN VIOLENCE STILL HAUNTS GOLDSBORO

2024 Year in Review

OTHER STORIES WE ARE WATCHING

HOMELESSNESS

STATE EYEING MOUNT OLIVE

Keen Plumbing Co.

Keen Plumbing Co.

DOWNTOWN PARKING

WCPS BUS DRIVER SHORTAGE

2024 — Through the SPECTATOR's lens