Town of Oriental Press Release

Readers of The Pamlico News will know about the lengthy screed published on the front page of Wednesday's edition. The lead in paragraph described the screed as the "settlement agreement" between the Town and me.

It is not.

The document, described as a "Press Release," was forwarded to local press by Town Hall, with the following message:

"From: Town Manager <Manager@townoforiental.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 12:42 PM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE
To: editor@thepamliconews.com, Jeff@compassnews360.com, Charlie Hall <charlie.hall@newbernsj.com>, Town Dock <info@towndock.net>

Good Afternoon,

Please see attached Press Release. Any further comment from the Town can be solicited from Mayor Bill Sage at 252-670-8227.

David Cox Comment: The Town's "Press Release" is quoted below. I have been told by a usually reliable source who wrote the document, but until the author has the fortitude to sign it, I prefer to call the author "anonymous" or "concealed."

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—March 17, 2015—Oriental, NC

To paraphrase Gerald Ford, “Our long David Cox nightmare is over.” A full release including a dismissal with prejudice of all lawsuits and appeals filed against the Town by Oriental resident David Cox has been executed by Cox and Oriental Mayor Bill Sage on behalf of the Town. The long and expensive ordeal began when Cox challenged the Town’s authority under state statutes to close the street rights-of-way at South Avenue’s western terminus at Raccoon Creek and all of Avenue A. Cox filed a lawsuit in August 2012 objecting to the Town’s closing of Avenue A, which was done by order of the Board of Commissioners after a public hearing in July 2012. After a hearing in Pamlico County Superior, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford, on April 6, 2013, dismissed all counts of the complaint filed by Cox . Cox had represented himself, pro se, in the court hearing. Cox then obtained an attorney who filed an appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals from Judge Alford’s order dismissing the case.

After the dismissal of the lawsuit, the Town entered an order to close the western end of South Avenue to the waters of Raccoon Creek. The order announced the intention of the Board to dedicate the property as a park providing public access to Raccoon Creek and public amenities to be constructed thereon. Picnic tables were purchased and placed on the property as part of the process of making it a first-class amenity for the Town citizens and visitors alike.

Notwithstanding that his case had been dismissed and an appeal filed, Cox (again acting pro se) filed a second lawsuit against the Town for the closing of a portion of South Avenue. This meant that the Town had to pay its attorneys not only for successfully obtaining dismissal of the first suit and to fully brief the issues to the Court of appeals, but now also to start the process again on the second lawsuit. The Town’s legal bills began mounting to tens of thousands of dollars. The Town filed motions similar to the earlier motions in the first case to dismiss the second and for sanctions against Cox for filing the second suit. Superior Court Judge John Nobles entered a stay of the second action pending the outcome of the appeal, on the grounds that the appeal would likely resolve the second case.

On the first of July 2014, the Court of Appeals filed its opinion and order affirming Judge Alford’s order dismissing the first lawsuit. The opinion found that Cox had no standing to bring the first suit. By this point, the Town had spent more than $60000 on the Cox lawsuits and the Town’s attorneys invited Cox to dismiss his second action in light of the Court of Appeals’ decision, to end the farce once and for all, warning Cox that sanctions would be pursued if he refused. Cox refused to take a dismissal and, therefore, the Town was obliged to file yet another exhaustive brief to the Superior Court and to renew its formal motions to dismiss. Judge Alford held a hearing on November 24, 2014 on the motions and subsequently issued his order dismissing all of the second lawsuit, another complete victory for the Town, but at considerable additional cost. Cox then did the unimaginable. He filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals of Judge Alford’s order dismissing the second case.

Judge Alford had indicated that the Town’s motion for sanctions was still ripe and that he would hear a motion if the Town pressed it. Further talks between the Town attorneys and Cox ensued and as deadlines at the Court of Appeals approached and passed, Cox finally agreed to dismiss the appeal and all matters and suits against the Town. The Town merely agreed not to pursue sanctions any further. The release and dismissal was signed and will be submitted to the Court this week. The total cost to the Town of Oriental of David Cox’s actions is likely to be in excess of $80000.

During this expensive and lengthy process, the Town proceeded with completing the partially built dock on the property obtained from Mr. Fulcher. We now enjoy a beautiful new eighty-foot public dock for visiting boaters to The Sailing Capital of North Carolina. In addition, the Town applied for and has been awarded grants for the construction of a public restroom facility on the property and for acquisition and placement on the property of a waste pumpout station for vessels visiting the new Town Dock Number Two. Plans are approved and construction is proceeding. The old historic boathouse on the property is to be fully renovated into a Visitors Center, adding yet another much needed amenity to the Town assets for visiting boaters and other tourists.

The Town Board of Commissioners and the Manager and her staff are about to enter the budget process for the next fiscal year. But for Mr. Cox and his lawsuits and appeals, there would be many more dollars available for Oriental to use in providing facilities and services to its citizens and visitors."

Diane H. Miller

Town Manager

Town of Oriental, NC

507 Church St PO Box 472

Oriental, NC 28571

Ph: 252.249.0555

manager@townoforiental.com

www.townoforiental.com

Pursuant to NC General Statutes Chapter 132, Public Records, this electronic mail message and any attachments hereto, as well as electronic mail message(s) that may be sent in response to it may be considered a public record and as such are subject to request and review by anyone at any time."

David Cox Comment:

I urge any member of the public having questions about the document to follow the instructions and call Mayor Bill Sage.

Good For David Boren

David Boren, President of the University oF Oklahoma, has a moral compass.

He also knows how to take decisive action. Would that more of our leaders take heed.

David Boren is not a household name in most of the country. In fact, no University President anywhere across our land is likely to be as well known as the football or basketball coach. Nobel laureates on the faculty? Who cares!

David Boren is unusual. Former governor of the state of Oklahoma, former senator from Oklahoma, he resigned his senate seat to accept the position as President of OU. In his campaign for Oklahoma governor, he defeated James Inhofe. Boren was a Rhodes Scholar.

As for decisive action, he has expelled two members of SAE who were ringleaders in the racist chant, closed the SAE fraternity and forced them to move out of their building on campus.

"Sooners aren't bigots," he announced.

47 Senators Violate Logan Act

Is there something significant about the number 47? That's the same number Mitt Romney used to describe the percentage of Americans who weren't going to vote for him. Just sayin'.

Those curious about US law may have learned that the 47 Republican senators signing the letter to officials of Iran appear to have violated the Logan Act and be subject to 3 years in prison.

So who was Logan and why was the Act passed? Here's a good summary of the history of the Act. And it is a long history.

In 1798 a certain American citizen named Logan travelled to France and worked to improve US - French relations and to free Americans captured by France during the Quasi-War. Logan was a follower of Thomas Jefferson (of the Democratic-Republican party). President Adams, of the Federalist Party, was outraged.  This was not just about Constitutional prerogatives - Adams sought improved relations with Great Britain while Jefferson sought improved relations with France.

So much for the idea that "politics stops at the water's edge."

It never did.

In more than two centuries, there has never been a prosecution under the Logan Act, though there have been some close calls.

Powerful Words

In yesterday' Atlantic, James Fallows pays tribute to President Obama's words on the Pettus Bridge at Selma.

None of us can add to the President's eloquence and wisdom, but Fallows helps us fit the passages into our own hopes and dreams: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/finally-i-hear-a-politician-explain-my-country-the-way-i-understand-it/387178/

There were, in the President's words, echoes of Lincoln. And of Jefferson - and of those who cobbled together a rickety Constitution to hold together a great nation whose citizens often didn't like each other much. But no matter.

We can overcome our divisions and do great things together - and have done so, on occasion.

We are not perfect - or even close, but we can become more perfect if we so choose.

I was also reminded in the President's words of the voice and vision of a great poet who celebrated

"the American muse, whose strong and diverse heart
So many men have tried to understand
But only made it smaller with their art,
Because you are as various as your land,"

Don't take my word for it, read John Vincent Benet's epic poem John Brown's Body  for yourself:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700461.txt

Yankee Station And Selma

Fifty years ago, my ship was boring holes in the South China Sea, firing projectiles into the jungles of South Vietnam at targets we couldn't see - some nine miles away. It was hard and challenging work and our sailors did it well, but in the end it had little effect.

Meanwhile, brave Americans marched to Selma, stood up for freedom in Greensboro, marched in Memphis, and changed America for the better. These were real patriots and I salute them.

And so did President Obama:  http://www.vox.com/2015/3/7/8168085/president-obama-selma-50

Nemtsov Memorial March

I was glad to see photos of crowds marching in Moscow in honor of Boris Nemtsov.

This march really took more courage than the "Je suis Charlie" demonstrations in France. Supporters of Nemtsov could be in real danger from the Russian state.

Good for them.

Putin Opponent Slain

When I read about the shooting death of Boris Nemtsov, a critic of Putin, on the streets of Moscow, it reminded me of the 1934 assassination of Sergei Kirov.

Kirov was a rising star in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, playing a significant role at the 17th Party Congress in 1934.

Since 1926, Kirov had headed the Leningrad Communist Party. At the 1934 Congress, Kirov received more positive votes than Stalin. That may have been his downfall. Stalin asked Kirov, who was becoming increasingly popular within the party, to come work for him in Moscow. But Stalin kept Kirov in Leningrad for 9 more months.

On December 1, 1934, an expelled party member named Leonid Nikolayev entered the Party headquarters at the Smolny Institute, waited in the hall for Kirov, and shot him down.

Stalin led that investigation, just as Putin is leading this one.

Stalin used the assassination as an excuse to round up all of his own opponents within the party. Few of them survived the subsequent purges.

A word to the wise for Nemtsov suppoters - it might be well to go into hiding.

Cox v Town Of Oriental

Quick update. Last week, I sent a letter to the Town Commissioners explaining my view of the law that applies and where things stand. I also outlined a possible resolution. I sent a more detailed letter to the Town's attorney. I expect they will go into closed session tonight to discuss it.