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Henderson County Four Seasons Politics: GOOD JOB! NEEDS WORK Diverse ballot, HCA retreat, top SRO
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That makes this an especially good time to take stock of where the people’s right to know stands in our state. Unfortunately, for as long as anyone can remember, North Carolinians have suffered under the shroud of one of the worst public records laws in the country.
The examples right here in Henderson County are embarrassing and stark:
• Laurence McKisson sexually abused 17 children in Henderson County public schools between 1998 and 2001 before he was caught, arrested, convicted and sent to prison for 63 years. Parents of his victims filed a lawsuit against the school system for failing to vet, monitor and supervise McKisson, calling him a “perverted child molester who was known to have a pedophilic interest in students and who sexually abused children.” McKisson will likely die in prison and for as long as he languishes there personnel files that may shed light on how he was evaluated remain hidden from public scrutiny.
House members have filed separate bills that would allow 14 counties in the Piedmont and mountains and 12 counties in Eastern North Carolina to run public notices on their websites instead of in newspapers. This has been a bad idea over the past 10 years and it is arguably a worse idea today when a public health crisis calls for greater transparency, not less, and when the virtual learning experience in public schools has exposed huge gaps and inequities in internet access.
Public notices alert the public to pending government actions on rezoning requests, budget hearings, tax increases, auctions, property transfers, delinquent taxes, foreclosures, street name changes and more. They alert the public to disruptive land-use changes for things like sewage treatment plants, asphalt plants and garbage incinerators. They tell the public in advance about proposals for traffic-clogging high-density developments and plans for wider roads or new roads.
In a proposed park swap, the city would give up about half of the 60-acre Berkeley Park, which Kimberly Clark donated to the city in 2008 on the condition that it would be used for public recreation. In return, the School Board would cede Edwards Park to the city.
On the surface, the deal seemed to tilt in favor of the county: The School Board would get around 25 acres while shedding two acres it didn’t need. But for a variety of reasons location, location, location among them the deal worked in the city’s long-range interest too. In negotiations, School Board representatives and school administrators had tentatively committed to improving the historic Berkeley Mills Stadium for use by Hendersonville High School’s baseball team and building a diamond for the women’s softball team plus six lighted tennis courts for Bearcat varsity squads. The value for city and county residents alike is that the ballfields and tennis courts would be open to the public. What’s more, ove
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