There Can Be Only One ….. RC Sheriff’s Race 2022

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Deborah Keller

**OPINION**

11/02/22

Our Sheriff’s race has been quite a roller coaster ride this year. First we had candidate Tony Roberson (former Polk County deputy) throwing his hat in the ring two years ago as a Republican candidate, we also knew that Jason Wease (business owner) was going to run as a Democrat as he has declared he would run each time back in 2013.

The current Sheriff Chris Francis (age 48) who has been in office for twelve years was not ready to retire so he would be running again. Then Steve Theodoropoulis (former Florida HP and Fed Air Marshall) who ran in 2018 announced he would also be running as a Republican candidate.

The man to beat at that time was the incumbent Sheriff Chris Francis. Sheriff Francis had twelve years worth of record to try to defend and in the past few years a lot of questionable things have gone on in his department. This being said between deaths at the jail, officer actions and lawsuits Sheriff Francis decided to pull out of the race.

This action put quite a monkey wrench into the strategy and campaigns of the other two candidates who had been gearing up to run against Francis. Now they had to focus their campaign on who would be the better candidate for the job. As they were trying to change direction there was another development in the race.

NC DMV Officer Aaron Ellenburg put his name in the hat to run in the Republican primary. The other two candidates tried to tie Ellenburg with Francis even though he did not actually work for the Sheriff’s department.

This started the negative campaigning right out of the gate. So many negative things were said and posted on social media about each of the Republican candidates it was hard to keep tract of them. Jason Wease did as he has done in the past and totally stayed away from the negativity surrounding the other candidates.

The Federal government then tossed us a curve ball and moved the primary from February to May trying to make sure all state districts were represented as fair as possible.

Then, Lo and Behold, Republican candidate Tony Roberson decided that the Republican Party was not aligning with his personal beliefs and was being run by Word of Faith Fellowship. He pulled out of the Republican primary race and decided to run as an unaffiliated candidate. This required him to get enough signatures to be put on the final ballot, which he did. He is in fact still a registered Republican but is running independent of their party.

So….whew! (dizzy yet?) The primary was finally held in May with Aaron Ellenburg being chosen as the Republican Party’s candidate for Sheriff. This set up a ballot with Ellenburg (R), Wease (D), and Roberson (U).

As the race went on the negativity just got uglier. One huge point of contention was the fact that Roberson’s pick for Chief Deputy, should he win, was former disgraced Sheriff’s Deputy Jamie Dunn. As you may recall he was fired, charged, and convicted for excessive violence against a restrained person in the jail. (see video here)

It was implied on social media that Ellenburg had no real law enforcement experience and was a “pick” of current Sherriff Francis so nothing would really change. Wease who stayed away from all the negativity just continued to run his campaign for change in his own style.

Now to mention another twist in this race. Roberson had a woman arrested and charged with posting malicious statements on social media. She was pursued for eight months at great personal expense to only have the charges dropped on the day of her hearing.

Then several months later Roberson himself was sued for posting inaccurate things with malicious intent on social media about someone else. (head spinning now?) He stopped posting things after that but his Chief Deputy pick Dunn continued to post things going so far as to dig up old text messages between people from years ago and posting them.

Early voting started on Oct 20^th. It will end on Nov. 5^th with the final election being held on Tuesday Nov. 8^th. You can vote for the candidate of your choice regardless of party (if there is a choice in a race) or not vote for any of them if you choose. It is important to go vote even if you leave some races blank. It sends a message of dissatisfaction to that candidate for sure.

The point however is that the Sheriff’s race is a local election. Whoever wins still will have the taste of that negativity in their mouth after the campaign. Those feelings do not just magically go away the day after the vote comes in. Neighbors, friends, and families remember the hurtful things said and done by each other. These wounds will fester for a long time.

We all are neighbors and members of this community. No matter who wins we all must learn to get along and let the hurts of this election be behind us. I hope that the damage can be repaired and that all can support the winner. This county has serious issues in the Sheriff’s office and especially the jail. Issues that will take everyone’s input and help to try to correct. Hopefully all will support the winner of this race and allow them time to try to correct the problems they will face when they take office.

This is not an episode of Highlander. No one needs to lose their head. No matter how many run for an office there can be only ONE.

Ted Bell’s Million Dollar Marion Mansion?

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Deborah Keller

Ted Bell’s Marion House (contributed photo)

May 10, 2022

I have been surprised at how many people thought District Attorney Ted Bell still lived in Rutherfordton. I guess it’s not surprising since his children still attend Thomas Jefferson in Mooresboro but in fact he now lives in Marion and has for the past three years.

Ted Bell’s Rftd Home (contributed photo)

When he first came here he moved to Forest Hills in Rutherfordton from Birmingham, Alabama. He had a very nice house that his family purchased for $375,000. In 2008 he became an assistant district attorney in District 29A. In 2015, seven years later, Ted Bell became the District Attorney for 29A.

In 2019 he sold his house in Rutherfordton for $385,000 and purchased a 4+-acre property in Marion (same town as his friend Judge Randy Pool) for close to a million dollars. The MLS online pictures of the home are beautiful. It has 4 bedrooms, 4.5+ baths, and 5,116 square feet with a pool and three-car garage with workshop.

He has done well for himself since moving here and that is what we would wish for anyone. However, that is not always the case for a lot of people who live in his district. It is hard to see how he can relate to the general population of people in his district with his income and standard of living.

It is possible to see where he would not understand the difficulty of people who are trying to pay court fines when they are making minimum wage. These people can’t afford lawyers and any unexpected expense can totally disrupt their lives. These people once entered into the “system” have no real chance of getting out of it. The “system” requires money and money is the one thing most of these people do not have.

Most lawyers, judges, and officials who live in million dollar homes do not understand how even a $200.00 fine can disrupt a family’s life. There are currently no programs for indigent offenders to “work off” a fine. They either come up with the money or go to jail. This means often times that rent cannot be paid putting them in danger of homelessness.

Ted Bell constantly talks about community engagement being part of his D.A. duties. How can you be engaged in the community without trying to find a way to help people in these situations? This affects not only the people involved but their families as well. Ted Bell says he “protects the children.” Well who is protecting these children when their family becomes homeless or their electricity is cut off or they are hungry because their parent paid their court fines or worse yet lost their job and went to jail.

Ted Bell has been in office for seven years and has never made any effort to address these issues. People with money get lawyers, pay their fines, and get on with their lives. It is understandable how they really do not realize the situations others not as affluent as they are in, but Ted Bell sees this every day. People, who do not have the money to pay fines, do not have jobs that allow them to take time off for personal issues, do not have family to help. Instead of helping them he is the one who increases the difficulties they face.

These people matter. A person’s importance is not necessarily related to the amount of disposable income they have. It seems that Ted Bell only relates to those of his same socio-economic status. He seems to protect his “friends” while ignoring others. This is not the way it should be.

A District Attorney should represent the people he is elected to serve regardless of their economic status. All should be treated equally under the law and provisions should be made to help people work off their fines who do not have funds available to cover them.

Ted Bell recently sent out a mailer saying he is protecting children in Rutherford and McDowell Counties by giving longer sentences to child predators. On it he names three cases. If he is truly concerned about protecting children why is he supporting programs that take their parents away from them, deny them a home, and potentially place them in foster care becoming wards of the state?

Next Tuesday we have an opportunity to change the “status quo.” This primary election will decide the District Attorney’s race. As much as Ted Bell can afford a million dollar property the majority of us cannot afford his policies to continue. We need empathy, understanding, transparency, and a willingness to look beyond self. That is not something we have ever seen with Ted Bell in his seven years in office.

The golden rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Remember how Ted Bell interpreted this by protecting Judge Randy Pool. Vote for change, vote for helping people in our communities to help themselves. Vote for what is really best at protecting our children…. transparency.

Early voting is going on through this week with the final day of primary voting being Tuesday May 17^th. All unaffiliated voters can vote in the Republican primary. Take back your communities. Vote!

WCAB-Jim Bishop To Not Air District Attorney Candidates For 2022 Primary

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Deborah Keller

April 16, 2022

The District Attorney race is heating up for the 2022 Primary on May 17, 2022. Current District Attorney Ted Bell is running for re-election against Marion criminal attorney Krinn Evans.

There has been much controversy about how incumbent D.A. Ted Bell has not condemned or charged former Judge Randy Pool for his sexual misconduct while in the courthouse, Pool’s lying to authorities as well as extraordinarily long trial wait times (6 years in several cases).

Attorney Krinn Evans decided that after encountering the obvious issues in the current D.A’s office, along with Judge Pool’s transgressions, that he was inspired to leave his lucrative practice and run for district attorney.

This has caused quite a quandary in the Republican party itself as the majority of the old guard who previously supported Ted Bell continue to do so as the incumbent. In his seven (7) years in office, Bell has made many advantageous contacts in the political world of Rutherford and McDowell counties.

One of the issues that seem to be brought up at every candidate forum is the apparent “protection” of former Judge Randy Pool by current DA Bell. It is an issue that many people in the community have questions about. People also want to know why high profile trials have been languishing six (6) or more years without being heard or resolved.

It used to be that people could hear both candidates’ platforms in the WCAB interviews with Jim Bishop. Bishop has been doing these for many years at his radio station. I was trying to find the time and date of the D.A. interviews when I was told there would not be one.

I felt sure this was incorrect as this was such an important race to not only the citizens Rutherford, but McDowell County as well. I knew Jim Bishop was very involved in the Republican party so I sent him a message about this as follows:

Q: “DA is one of the most important races in both counties and you have always done interviews before. Do you have a particular statement about not doing them”?

A: “Due to the lack of available time during this primary and the number of candidates running in the local election we opted to concentrate on the Rutherford County election. The DA race and the NC house race and NC Senate races are important races and deserve attention but with limited time for interviews I had to make a decision on what to cover with the time I have so the multi-county races were the ones I chose to leave out. I regret it, but it was a decision I had to make. If any of the other candidates feel slighted I apologize, but they can always request paid political ads to boost their campaign.” –Jim Bishop

So basically it seems that Mr. Bishop is saying that the D.A. race is not as important to the citizens of Rutherford County as School Board, Clerk of Court, or Commissioner races. Interesting take on it considering the issues, and that the winner of this primary will be the final and only candidate on the ballot for district attorney in November.

The “good ole boy” network does seem to be alive and thriving in Rutherford County and as usual are protecting their own.

Do your own research about the district attorney candidates. Look closely at Ted Bell’s record for the past seven (7) years. What has he done and what has he NOT done and why do the “powers that be” not want you to hear about it? Attorney Krinn Evans want to bring back not only speedy trials, but also actual transparency to the D.A.’s office. Why are “they” trying to silence him?

It seems the “keep quiet” mentality about Ted Bell’s record in office has reached the local media. However, we are ALL aware of media slant at this point when it comes to politics.

Ask questions, be informed, and vote not just for yourself, but with concern for the citizens of Rutherford and McDowell County. Vote for justice. Vote for our future!

Remember the May 17th GOP primary will decide the office for November.

Unaffiliated registered voters may choose to vote in the GOP primary.