News
Issues led to defeat of Yadkin officials
Two on board ousted over decisions on jail, prayer
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 11, 2008
YADKINVILLE
Yadkin voters booted out incumbent commissioners Kim Clark Phillips and Joel Cornelius in the Republican primary last week as part of a backlash over the board's decision to drop sectarian prayer from meetings, residents said.
Phillips and Cornelius were part of the majority on the Yadkin County Board of Commissioners who made changes that they said were long overdue, often with support from residents. They pushed to replace a run-down jail and build new middle schools. And they voted with two other commissioners to raise taxes to pay for those improvements, which angered their opponents. Two other commissioners, Chad Wagoner and Tommy Garner, were not up for re-election but supported the sweeping changes.
Of all the changes, last year's vote to limit prayer brought on the strongest attacks.
And when Republican voters went to the polls Tuesday to choose three candidates from a pool of nine, they picked Kevin Austin, whose company sued Yadkin over the jail; incumbent Brady Wooten, who supports sectarian prayer; and David Moxley, a retired Forbush High School teacher who coached the hunter-safety team to many state and international titles.
Voters began organizing against Phillips and Cornelius more than a year ago after a prayer rally in Yadkinville that drew more than 2,500 people in support of opening meetings with Christian prayers.
"Once we realized that we had some commissioners who were going to basically ignore a major conservative voting bloc, we began from that day to let our voice be heard at the voting," said Bruce Freeman, the pastor of Peace Haven Baptist Church. "I think they paid the price for not heeding the concerns of the voters."
Days before the primary, advertisements ran in newspapers in Elkin and Yadkinville that promoted Wooten as the only commissioner to stand up in support of sectarian prayer. The ads said that they were paid for by Concerned Citizens of Yadkin County.
Phillips and Cornelius complained to the State Board of Elections because the citizens committee was not registered as a political-action committee, and the ads had been paid for by Ron Baity of Winston-Salem, who heads the conservative-Christian organization Return America.
It was Baity who organized the prayer rally in Yadkinville in April 2007. Baity said earlier this week that he collected money from several people to pay about $2,100 for the ads.
Wooten said he also gave money for the ads, but he didn't say how much.
He said he plans to keep fighting the other commissioners about prayer.
"It is the right thing, the right issue and the right reason," Wooten said. "There's ways to do it where it's legal and it's not unconstitutional."
But some people in Yadkin County say that voters also had the jail issue on their minds when they went to the polls.
Andy Anderson of Yadkinville supported some of the changes that Phillips and Cornelius voted for, but he disagrees with the plan to move the jail away from downtown Yadkinville.
"I admire people who have researched something and feel like they're making the right decision for the general public," he said. "On the other hand, the general public doesn't understand it -- they just don't understand it."
Commissioners have been working for more than a year to build a $7 million, 150-bed jail. For months, Wooten has fought four other commissioners who want to build the jail on Hoots Road. Last month, the commissioners reviewed additional costs associated with building a jail in downtown Yadkinville and again decided to build on Hoots Road.
The county moved ahead with plans for the jail after Judge John O. Craig ordered the commissioners to court in December 2006. Craig said he would begin monitoring the plans for a new jail because the current jail has no air conditioning.
The state closed the jail last August after temperatures inside reached the 90s. In September, county officials spent about $27,000 to install air conditioning, and the jail was reopened.
On Monday, after Wooten told voters that the county was not under any order to proceed with building a new jail, Craig issued a written court order that reiterates what he told commissioners in December 2006.
In December, a group of residents filed a lawsuit against Yadkin County for situating the jail on the Hoots Road property, which they say was bought with the intention of putting an EMS office there.
Austin, who won in Tuesday's primary, is part of the group who filed the suit. His family owns the Austin Co., one of the largest employers in Yadkin. It is on Hoots Road.
"I get linked pretty closely on the jail issue," he said. "I didn't campaign on the jail issue at all. But everywhere I went I talked to people, and that was a key issue -- the jail issue. I think they underestimated the support or lack of support for the jail being located out there."
On May 19, a judge will hear arguments for and against a preliminary injunction in Yadkin.
■ Sherry Youngquist
can be reached in Mount
Airy at 336-789-9338 or at
syoungquist@wsjournal.com
.
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
Advertisement
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details