Comments | Eastern NC Now

The title search problem is really an out-of-town attorney problem. Normally, in a government development project of this size, government attorneys ride herd on these things, including title searches. However, with an out of town attorney, two hours away each direction, it appears that the central office staff tried to play attorney and substitute for a real attorney, and this fiasco on the four acres is the result. It took $250,000 that could have been used for other things out of the school budget as well as setting county taxpayers back another $250,000 out of the county budget.

Practicing law without a license is a criminal offense in North Carolina, and screwups by unlicensed persons like this is the reason why. Maybe the school system is stonewalling because someone may have some criminal liability in this disaster. Those four commissioners are in full coverup mode. If there had been a legiitimate professional title search done in a timely manner, they would have no reason not to provide it. The fact that they are stonewalling speaks volumes by itself.

Most school boards have local attorneys engaged as their school board attorney. In Beaufort County's case, the superintendant convinced them to hire someone who is part of the state education establishment. He may see that as protection for him over public demands on curriculum, but it has screwed the school board, the county, and the tazpayers on the bumgling of this school project. This boondoggle ought to wake up a majority of the school board to the fact that we need someone local as our school board attorney.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 6:22 pm By: John Steed

Global warming / climate change is, indeed, a highly debated subject in both science and politics. There is an online petition of thousands fo scientists who disagree with the establishment polemic. One wonders if they are now teaching one side of the issue as fact in our schools. It is good that British schools are required to let students know that the polemic is not gospel truth.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 4:26 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer

It would seem that a science curriculum committee would be a different set of people from the social studies curriculum committee, so I cannot see how that would overburden any of them. The paid staffer who would work with both committees is Dr. Parker himself. He is getting a very high salary and should be able to do both. Can't he walkd and chew gum at the same time? But given the incorrect information he gave the School Board on both the social studies and math curricula, maybe not.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 2:56 pm By: Conservative Voter

Getting back to curriculum, it is my understanding that Dr. Parker said they were now working on science curicula. This is an area, too, that needs to be closely watched to avoid "woke" indoctrination. Climate alarmism is a big part of the "woke" agenda as well as of the globalist ideology.

The CO2 theory of climate is controversal both scientifically and politically. A curriculum that presents that theory as fact and ignores scientific viewpoints that disagree is nothing but political indoctrination of students. That is the very thing that the Civitas poll showed 71% of North Carolina parents oppose.

When a lawsuit was brpught against British public schools for showing Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth", the British High Court ruled that the movie is a "propaganda film" that contains multiple mistatements of fact and ordered that it could not be shown to school children unless there were disclaimers given of those things. We do not need a school curriculum that spews the same sort of one sided propaganda.

What students need to hear is both sides of the argument. A good counter to Gore's movie is a British TV documentary, "The Great Global Warming Swindle" broadcast nationally on the UK's Channel 4. That documentarey interviews many prominent scientists from around the world who debunk the CO2 global warming theory. It is available on the internet: www.youtube.com

A number of scientists have also written books debunking the CO2 global warming theory. They would also be resources for the schools to show that side of the debate.

In addition to the scientific debate on this subject, there is also a political debate on it both here and in Europe. For the last few years, there have been mass protests by farmers against the EU's climate agenda, which the farmers denounce as "Climate Communism". In the last EU election, parties that oppose the EU climate agenda made major gains across the continental while the "green" parties suffered major losses. Dr. Vaclav Klaus, twice elected prime minister and twice president of the Czech Republic, a member of the mainstream right Civic Democrats, has openly called climate alarmism "a budding totalitarian ideology that is the greatest threat to freedom, democracy, and prosperity in the world today."

Here in the US, President Trump has withdrawn our country from the Paris Climate Accords. His EPA appointees have also announced that they plan to withdraw the Obama EPA's "finding" that CO2 is a hazard.

When a subject is highly debated in both science and politics, it is only fair that both sides be presented to students in our schools so that they have all the information to make up their own minds.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 1:08 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Washingtonian: The Center-Left Coalition of the Beaufort County Commissioners voted that it remain hidden as long as they are in power.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 11:11 am By: Stan Deatherage

RINO Hunter: I am well satisfied that few school board members showed up to act at the Beaufort County Republican Convention.

First, the majority of them pay little attention to detail, and therefore, are slaves to the status quo.

Second, the majority of them do what they are told rather than think through semi complex situations or policy issues.

Third, the majority of them are no friends of transparency in self-governing as proved by the public communications within their public meetings.

Fourth, the majority of them rarely work in concert with what is conservative in ideology and, likewise, prudent in practice.

Fifth, of the four elected Republicans at the convention voting to successfully expand the transparent reach of the Executive Committee, of those that remained to vote, only one was a Conservative - Charles Hickman.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 11:00 am By: Stan Deatherage

Remember these truths about the infamous 4 acres of land:

First - If Beaufort County Schools had done their "homework" before considering the design of a 52 million school that they actually do NOT need, they would have known that they did not have title to all of the property thought owned, and then they could have elected to design beyond that real property encumbrance.

Secondly - If the successful and innovative designing around that reality of not owning land was undesired, the Beaufort County Schools could have negotiated, at no cost, a trade for one piece of unneeded land, owned by the schools, for another piece of unneeded land by The City of Washington, all at NO cost to Beaufort County's taxpayers.

Third - Since neither the successful negotiation for land was enacted, or an innovative design on land known to have not been owned was performed, the Schools asked the pathetically incompetent Center-Left Coalition, within the Beaufort County Commission, to waste $500,000.00 for overpriced land that was never needed to be purchased and paid for in the first place.

I do believe that I have professed the history of this sorry bit of terrible governing, properly delivered in its essential formation, as an allegory of how NOT to govern, by representation of, our self-governed People.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 10:39 am By: Stan Deatherage

The more I consider that $500,000 four-acre land purchase the more it sticks in my craw. Also, the county paid $10,000,000 to get that "free" education lottery building money. I wonder how many schools we could save with $10,000,000. Jeff makes a great point. It's a very bad look indeed.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 9:29 am By: Van Zant

Spend $500,000 to purchase 4A of land and now voting to close a school. Sorry, very bad look to this.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 8:42 am By: Traditional

Superintendants are always looking at that next bigger better paying job in another district and they are allergic to having anything conservative on their resume or anything that rocks the boat with the education establishment in Raleigh. They do not mind a totally "woke" curriculum but do nto want one that is traditional or conservative. Cheeseman is the usual breed of cat one gets with a superintendant but even more of a control freak than usual.

What is appalling is that we have so many weak school board members who are content to be led around by the nose by a liberal superintendant. Some of them can talk the talk but then absolutely refuse to walk the walk. This is absoolutely sickening. These weak kneed politicians are just pathetic. We need "woke" out of our schools and they just twiddle their thumbs. We do NOT need school board members who are yes-men to a liberal superintendant and grovel at his feet. We need school board members who will stand up and be counted for bringing in a proper curriculum.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 8:15 am By: John Steed

The superintendent and staff are slow walking this issue and the board majority is content with that. The board gives it five ho hums.

Commented: Thursday, March 27th, 2025 @ 7:15 am By: Van Zant