Sheriff Alan Jordan Makes Another Threat | Eastern North Carolina Now

    There is never a dull moment when you are a county commissioner. Sheriff Alan Jordan made known to the county manager that I, a Beaufort County Commissioner, would not be allowed to enter "his building" if I showed up to accompany the structural engineer on his inspection of the building. This happened on Thursday April 10th. There are two things going on here. The first is the windows need repair before the hurricane season begins. The second is that Jordan and his supporters are telling everyone who will believe them the Oakland Building (houses his offices) is not structurally sound and "could fall in any minute". Some commissioner candidates believe this. Don't vote for them.

    During Hurricane Irene Washington experienced high winds and horizontal rain. Water blew through these ill repaired and ill fitted metal frame windows which were installed in about 1913. The building has high ceilings and is three stories tall. Damage was enough to shut down the 911 calling center while repairs were made. Since Irene I have been trying to have these windows repaired before we have another event that will cost money.

    This has been a slow process because Sheriff Jordan is trying condemn the building in order to support his claim that we need a new jail and sheriffs offices. Consequently staff has been slow to respond. Three months ago I put the repairs to the windows on the commissioners meeting agenda. Still we have heard stories that the windows are not repairable, the City of Washington Historic District will make unreasonable demands about repairs and the cost will be very high. I have patiently waded though these false claims. The windows are repairable, the City of Washington has not been unreasonable, and we have a preliminary estimate of about 9,000 dollars. Wow, this is doable.

    One false claim has not gone away. Local experts, I call them the sheriff's engineers, still claim the building was damaged by a fire several years ago and that floor rotting makes the building too unsafe for workmen to repair the windows.

    I have examined this steel and timbered truss building on several occasions. I even, at no cost to Beaufort County, assisted in repairing some of the roof trusses so we could put a new roof on the building about 9 years ago. Because of this, I knew all these claims were hot air, baloney and simply not true.

    It was decided, in order to protect the County, to have a structural engineer examine the building and make a recommendation about the floors in the area of the windows. We will probably lay plywood on some of the floor so the work can be done.

    Because of all the hot air coming from the Sheriff's Department and their "engineering staff" I publicly requested that I accompany the county engineer along with the consulting engineer during their death defying inspection.

    All I knew was the inspection was to be done on Thursday April 10, 2014. I received no other notice. Thursday morning I was notified that Jordan would refuse me admittance to "his building". The building belongs to the Beaufort County. Actually, in my capacity as fiduciary (commissioner) I come closer to owning the building than Jordan. I could vote to sell the building or I could vote to have the King Sheriff moved to other offices. His statement about "his building" is the height of arrogance. You will take note that it was "his jail" until he failed to properly have it repaired and test his safety equipment. Then Sheriff Jordan ran to Judge Sermons to accuse me along with the commissioners of not keeping it safe.

    I requested an attorney representing the County along with some commissioners be present when I attempted to enter "his building". I am thankful that an attorney representative along with commissioners Brinn, Deatherage and Booth were present. The county manager along with the county engineer were also present. While this group was assembling I was notified that the Sheriff has decided he would allow me in "his building". We were shuttled around on the ground level by two deputies. I guess they were Sheriff anointed engineering deputies.

    Why is it so important for the Sheriff to deny me access to the jail and "his building". I thing I have been thrown out of the jail three times. I know why. Most of the people who tour these building accompanied by the Sheriff or his "engineering staff" know very little about structural engineering. The sheriff gives them a song and dance about how bad things are and the guests simply do not know the difference. The same thing happened in the jail. True believers would tell you the sheriff would not mis inform anyone. Wake up and get into the real world. Jordan has done everything he can to convince the public of his need for a new jail and offices. If it is phony about one thing it is phony about a lot of other things.

    I have successfully knocked down every argument he has presented,. I discovered that the jail safety issue was actually his fault because he had not been requesting repairs for the jail. The worse conditions he can make conditions the closer he is to getting a new jail and offices.

    With the Sheriff's department failing to cooperate with public officials and spreading false information about facilities, the entire public should be suspicious about law enforcement. Thank goodness Jordan is not running again and we have an opportunity to elect someone who is not associated with him.

    I am not going into all of the reports about inferior service, intimidation, arrogance, and wasted money I have heard at this time. We have an opportunity to get new leadership from people outside the Sheriffs Department. What does Sheriff Jordan have to hide?????