Comments | Eastern NC Now

Mr. Williams – I recognize, and appreciate, that you did vote against closing Snowden when the final vote was held. I believe you did represent the feelings and desires of the overwhelming majority of people not only south of the Pamlico, but across the county as a whole in doing so. I belatedly realized that I had only named those County Commissioners and School Board members who voted in favor of closing the school in my article discussing the issue published on June 6th and not those who voted against the decision.

Commissioners Richardson, Deatherage and Dunn, in addition to School Board members Hickman and Davis also cast votes for saving the school, which was the correct decision in my opinion. They were all outspoken critics of closing the school and sought ways to prevent the closure during the process. I wish that you had been more outspoken about keeping the school open in public comments during the meetings concerning the issue. As a former Infantry officer, I was taught and believe that there is no substitute for leadership by example as expounded in the Infantry motto: "Follow Me!" I feel that your position as Vice Chair of the School Board and having served multiple terms on that board place you in a position that could have helped convince or sway the votes of other members into making the same choice as you. Regardless, when the time came, you made the correct decision to vote against closing Snowden in my opinion.

Commented: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 @ 2:15 pm By: David Hudson

Since School Board member Terry Williams is speaking here and offering to be transparent, please tell me about the discussions of the Board members when they learned they didnt own the 9 1/2 acres.

Then how did the School Board members' discussion reduce it to a 4 ac purchase for $500,000?

Did no one on the School Board feel robbed and then demand a Title Search????

Thanks in advance,
Befuddled.

Commented: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 @ 12:30 pm By: Befuddled

Lets make it a little easier for Terry. Was THIS move to close Snowden ever on the school board's public agenda prior to the motion to start the process to close it? No, I didn't think so. Has it ever been on the school board's public agenda since the 2022 school board election? I didn't think so there either. IF I am wrong, please cite the meeting dates so that can be confirmed by the meeting minutes.

Commented: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 @ 12:34 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer

Rino Hunter - this probably is my last comment here because apparently no one on here is interested in the truth. Where did I say the Snowden discussion was behind closed doors? No where did I say that. Besides if you want to have a transparent conversation then sign your name and stop hiding behind the ridiculous Rino Hunter. So easy to make unsubstantiated claims when you hide.

Commented: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 @ 9:21 am By: Terry Williams

Hood Richardson - You can remind me so let me remind you. Once the Snowden issue was brought up for discussion, which has been a discussion for more than 10 years, I voted for transparency and to allow the voice of the people to be heard. Something you preach all the time until it doesn't fit your narrative. My vote had nothing to do with anyone else's decision or vote. Ask your trusted board member you refer to all the time did I not tell them more than a week ahead of the vote I would be a NO vote. You just can't accept the truth that sometimes people actually do what they feel is right. I'm indebted to no one but those good people of Chocowinity who continue to support me and I will always support them 100%.

Commented: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 @ 7:46 am By: Terry Williams

Elon, you are the greatest African American of our age; however, "one must break a few eggs to make an omelet," and that is what the congressional Republicans did, especially in the People's House, to begin the process of correcting the listing ship of these United States of America.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 10:07 pm By: Stan Deatherage

Washingtonian: Proven politicians (serving at least two years), who have served with some notable and conservative distinction, outside of your mentioning of Commissioners Richardson and Deatherage as good servants of the public, are as follows:

Adam O'Neal, Belhaven's mayor, as long as he wished to be it, comes to mind.

I speak Adam's name first because he was exemplary in his committed duty to the People of Belhaven, and served as a fine example of how one must govern to be the ultimate public servant.

County Commissioner and Washington City Council Member Carol Cochran - Carol was the real deal, and like Adam O'Neal, was not only my peer but a good friend.

Speaking of friends, current School Board Member Charles Hickman serving as the Richland Township Representative is a smart and steady addition to this dysfunctional school board. Like Adam, Hood, Carol and myself and others, we all fully realize that none of this is "rocket science;" however, it does seem to be that way for so many other elected Beaufort County politicians.

Also, I would be remiss to not mention Belhaven's commissioner Steve Carawan, who was wise enough to become and remain Adam O'Neal's sidekick in how to properly govern.

Mayor Clif Williams of Aurora has always been an outstanding advocate for the betterment of his small town, and I have often found myself voting yes to help that beleaguered community because of Clif, and, moreover, his town has long played host to Beaufort County's largest single taxpayer - Nutrien, formerly PCS, formerly Texas Gulf.

Additionally, City of Washington Councilman Bobby Roberson kept a keen eye on spending for the City of Washington, and even though Councilman Roberson lost votes just like Hood and I do lose them, it is truly a hard slog to out-govern a majority of Democratic Socialists, and their associative counterparts - the RINOs - those who the Democratic Socialists always find a way to control.

I may have missed some of those, who have served with distinction in some of the smaller town governments, as I actually do not know all that much about the smaller governments, as I serve the entire county, every citizen; where if one lives in a city or town, the majority of their services come from the county government; concurrently, if citizens live outside of city /town limits, all of their services come from Beaufort County's government.

Since I serve at the behest of my constituents from all over the county, I am absolutely and intrinsically concerned with the largest government within Beaufort County, and I govern accordingly by dedicating my time appropriately to that duty; additionally, the Beaufort County School Board, who could not exist without the county government of Beaufort County ... Ergo, I watch them closely, more now than ever as this Republican led governing body cannot find the mental acuity to govern in any credible manner.

Washingtonian, I hope I have answered your question to your proper satisfaction.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 8:59 pm By: Stan Deatherage

Cheeseman is building his Washington mega-school with excess capacity. One wonders what his game plan is, and Bath elementary may well be on his target list. I wish we had fewer useful idiots on our school board. Blindly following the bureaucracy makes a really poor excuse for an elected official.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 6:05 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer

The bottom line with the decision to close Snowden is that members of the School Board and the County Commissioners did not listen to the voices of their constituents. The only people who spoke in favor of closing the school were the elected officials who voted to do so. This entire process was corrupt and in violation of multiple state statutes which I will be discussing in an upcoming article.

Do not be surprised when the decision to close the school in Bath is made within the next four to six years. How would this happen or that will never happen you say? Northeast Elementary is not fully utilized in terms of available space. It is also a much newer facility. It would be able to accommodate the students from Bath. This would save money and resources; an argument that was made to support closing the Snowden school. Poor decisions and management on the part of the Superintendent and School Board continue to lead parents to remove their children from our public schools in favor of private schools, home schools or others outside of our county. They then have the audacity to accuse the public for not keeping their student populations large enough to support a school. This leads to less money coming into the county school system’s budget. Bath is the only school in Beaufort County that isn’t considered a Title I school and therefore doesn’t receive additional federal funding that all the other schools receive. Consolidating Bath with Northeast (a Title I school) would increase the federal dollars coming into the county to make up for the students leaving the school system.

I am opposed to consolidated schools and believe that schools, like Snowden, that serve their local communities are the best option. Consolidating schools is the trending agenda item in public education. We have already seen this transpire in Washington and Aurora over the past two years. Don’t be surprised that the Superintendent hasn’t already planned his next consolidation in the scenario I presented here. I hope I’m wrong. Electing leaders that listen to their constituents and govern responsibly and ethically is the only way to affect much needed change.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 4:16 pm By: David Hudson

Frankie Waters has a long history of supporting Democrats. He was forced to resign from the county GOP executive committee for party disloyalty a couple of years ago for openly supporting and contributing to the Democrat nominee for Beaufort County Sheriff. He is an phony as a three peso bill.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 2:04 pm By: Rino Hunter

Many Fake Republicans pretend to have supported Mr. Trump now.

The measure of any Republican, when given the awesome responsibility to serve is what they do the People's business, how they act on issues; most importantly, how they consistently vote.

Frankie the Fraud voted to support Biden's treasonous Open Border policy to aid in all positions Leftist; I believe Two Faced Randy did the same, but masked it in not understanding my written words.

Of course both of these frauds will not write anything, and therefore I surmise they cannot write, so that their critique of their betters goes underalded by those who have a full working brain.

Commented: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 @ 11:26 am By: Stan Deatherage