STJ Presser: The voters will decide if a new jail is built by who they vote for in November | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Three sitting commissioners, two candidates for the Beaufort County Commission and the Beaufort NAACP held a press conference Thursday (8-21-14) on the recent developments related to the building of a new jail/public safety facility in Beaufort County. You can watch the entire presser in the video below but here's what you need to know about what was said and done:

    A letter was crafted and signed by: Commissioners Stan Deatherage, Hood Richardson, Gary Brinn, Bill Booth for the NAACP, and candidates Keith Kidwell and Frankie Waters that said:

    This is notice there will be changes in Board of Commissioners after the November 2014 elections. Commissioner Klemm, on the majority of four, is not running for election. We anticipate within the total of three vacant seats there may be as many as three commissioners elected who oppose this new jail construction. We, as a new board, intended to stop this jail construction, even if construction has begun, at the December 2014 commissioners meeting, while we petition Judge Sermons for relief. Should we not be released from this illegal order we will petition the higher courts for relief."

    The signatures left blank on the letter were candidates: Ron Buzzeo and Robert Cayton. Both were notified of the presser but failed to appear.

    Thus, here's what it all boils down to. The 4-3 majority on the current Board of Commissioners will change as a result of the November election. With Brinn and Richardson returning to the new board, if Kidwell and Waters are elected the jail will be stopped. If Ron Buzzeo, or Robert Cayton, along with Ed Booth who is running for re-election as a supporter of the new jail, are elected the building of a new jail in Chocowinity will proceed.

    So the determination of whether this 20-30 million project will be stopped or move forward will be decided by who the voters of Beaufort County vote for in November.

    Click here to review the letter.

    Here's the video of the entire press conference: