Still looking for answers
Petitions ask for reinstatement of Conaway, termination of Dearmin
(The Stokes News) - Angry, upset and looking for answers describes the mood outside the Walnut Cove Public Library last Friday when more than 50 residents packed into the small meeting room looking for reasons for the firing of Police Chief Barry Conaway.
(The Stokes News) - Angry, upset and looking for answers describes the mood outside the Walnut Cove Public Library last Friday when more than 50 residents packed into the small meeting room looking for reasons for the firing of Police Chief Barry Conaway.
posted by BP News Bureau | 1:50 PM
12 Comments:
From The Stokes News:
Homer Dearmin, town manager of Walnut Cove, age 25, legally drove for the first time nine years ago when he turned 16 and drank his first legal beer four years ago at age 21. The minimum age laws protected him and the community from a perceived lack of judgment.
Does Mr. Dearmin’s decisions and actions indicate that he now possesses the judgment and character required to act on behalf of a community?
Mr. Dearmin has brought a great deal of attention to Walnut Cove with the following decisions.
o Moving public comment to the end of town meetings thereby changing it to public reaction;
o Limiting public comment to 5 people and comment time to 3 minutes per person for a total of 15 minutes for all issues;
Mr. Dearmin's support for limiting the public involvement in meetings includes his desire for increased process efficiency.
Mr. Dearmin’s recent firing of Chief Conaway devastated a family, divided a community and lost the town a dedicated public servant. Mr. Dearmin did not meet as a group with the elected town officials. He contacted each person in a separate phone call eliminating the insight provided by a group discussion.
Decisions should reflect the combined judgment of the community and elected officials, not that of one individual. Communication, discussion and open forum may be inefficient but they are a valued part of the democratic process.
Four years ago, the law protected us from his potential lack of judgment; what will protect us now?
From The Stokes News:
I feel that it is my duty to the people of Walnut Cove, who elected me Town Commissioner, to respond to the statement made by Mayor John Hodgkin in last week's issue of The Stokes News. Town Manager Homer Dearmin did contact me on Monday morning, but I most certainly did not give approval for him to fire Police Chief Barry Conaway. In fact, I explicitly warned him against doing that because the incident that started all the controversy was not a firing offense. I reminded him that Barry works hard for this town and has probably done more for the people here than anyone else. To fire him would destroy his career and reputation. My last remark was that the people would be extremely angry because they love and respect Barry.
Mr. Dearmin said he was in agreement with all I had said and that they had a meeting scheduled later that morning to work things out. The next thing I heard was a call from Fox 8 News wanting my reaction to the Walnut Cove Police Chief being fired.
I was elected to serve the people, which I will do to the best of my ability, but please bear in mind that I am only one vote. In my opinion, we could not have a better Police Chief than Barry Conaway. He works hard for this town because he loves it, and it was a huge mistake to fire him.
I for one believe something happened between the Manager speaking with board members and the actual firing. He didn't have say MAY I before he took care of the matter. We all know why some people praise the EX CHIEF so much, they won't come out and say why but they know. As long as Ms Carter was a town clerk, she should know more than anyone else how our town is set up with the Manager in Charge. As to the first letter Get a Grip. The Board evidently felt the manager is old enough and smart enough to handle the operations of the town. I for one think he is a very inteligent man. When things happen you don't just allow them to fester and grow into a bigger problem. That is what we have had for the past 17 years. These people need to stop complaining about a black mark on the town, when problems happen they should be dealt with so they don't cause a black mark. Now maybe we can get a real police department and have force we can be proud of. Have officers and the chief that will stop and actually talk with people and be at the office instead of hiding in the fire department all day. People would like to have a chief go in businesses and say Hi how's it going. Have officers that actually get out of the car and get to know the people they serve. Private Citizens can be the best back up officers have and when they feel like they can speak with the officers. Most of us do no even know the names of the officers we have and most have never even seen them. We see more County Patrol cars in our neighborhoods than Town Patrol cars. I agree completly that We do need another election to get people that care and are intelligent enough to make honest decisions to make our town the best possible place to live and raise our family's, and a place to be proud to call home. Not a place where a few like to just sweep things under the rug. Is that a way to raise our Children. I say NOT! I am going to be Anonymous as these same people like to make things miserable for those of us that like to be honest.
I think they should give these idiots what they so richly deserve: the fox guarding the hen house.
They should give any remaining sane individuals the opportunity to move out of town first, though.
This town is so interesting when it comes to 1) the people who like to be heard and 2) one of the people who represent it on the Board. None of the "citizens" quoted in the recent Winston-Salem Journal article live in town. Helen Montgomery, Fulton Tuttle, and Yvonne Rutledge all live outside the Town limits. Stay where you are and throw your support behind your own Police Chief! Don't have one? Incorporate and hire one! I also love the fact that Mrs. Carter now serves on the Town Board. This woman lives in an apartment last time I checked, and has never owned property in Town. She is the former Town Clerk, and was Conway's coworker! Don't you think she'd be a little bit biased when it comes to Conway? I agree with the post above. In over 22 years of living inside the Town of Walnut Cove, Conway has never spoken to me. Maybe now, our Town can have a police department it can be proud of, and officers we know and respect. Add that to a progressive mayor, a competent manager, a good board (with the exception of Carter), and good town employees and officers, and a town that is becoming more and more progressive overall (we now have a website!), and Walnut Cove is quickly becoming a town to be proud of! We never had that under Conway as Police Chief, and we have been a revolving door for town managers since David Epperson was here. I say that the new manager has done something that others haven't had the courage to do, and it is clear to me that Walnut Cove is becoming a better place! Conway must have done something to deserve what happened to him, and I hope that other citizens will open their eyes and realize that!
Dearmin's age is not a factor. At eighteen, he could have been in Iraq or Afghanistan fighting with our military, and perhaps even leading a unit. Yet Patti Bennett is saying that at 25, he is not responsible enough to run a town like Walnut Cove? I disagree. Dearmin has put himself in a position that I would bet he does not want to be in, and I'm sure he had a good reason for doing it. Conaway has been reputed to be corrupt for years, and I would imagine that this is a result of him becoming "fat and happy" in his position over the years. Dearmin did something that probably needed to be done years ago. I hope the citizens of Walnut Cove that support Dearmin will stand up and speak out as loudly as those who support Conaway. Leadership is a lonely position to be in, and i am sure he is catching a lot of grief. Those who are on the other side of the issue need to step up and be heard.
Conaway has been enabled over the years by those who do not care about he Town, and who simply "live" there. There is a difference. I hope the citizens of Walnut Cove will remember this quote with regard to Conaway:
"The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference".
I agree with concernedcitizen, Mr. Dearmin is of age and can make decisions that are called for in his job. I don't know where Patti Bennett has been but the way meetings are beening conducted by limiting time for speakers and number of speakers has been place for several years. But as usual there never have been many people that cared enough to be at meeting. We need people to be involved and see what is going on. I am so proud of Mr. Dearmin for taking care of the problem when it happened and not let it fester. That has happened in regard to Mr. Conaway so many times and things just got worse. Give somebody an inch and they will take a mile. The town needs to start doing more budget amendments so all departments will have to account for what they spend. I remember no amendments for the Police department, and with the different fund raiser's it makes one wonder where the money went. Mr. Conaway was given money several times to work on getting the firehydrants tested so we could get a better fire rating and insurance would be lower. Guess what after about 4 or 5 years they are still not done, and we still have higher insurance rates for homeowners. He has been asked numerious times and never could give a time for it to be done. Even was given money to hire a consultant and software to get the job done, but where is it now. Maybe that could be a good project for the board to look into.( that is just a joke cause they only work when they come to the meetings) That board is a JOKE, including the Doc that won the election and does not reside in the Town. She says she does but she in fact lives near Belews Creek. Oh and she is milking the town of monies for her feel good events that never have many people attending, with the exception of the 4th of July fireworks. sorry for getting so long winded and rambling. The things that go on in this town just make me so mad. Now with Mr. Dearmin and the new Mayor looking after things maybe just maybe we are on the right track and can bring Walnut Cove back to being a place we will be proud of, and not hear people joking about us all the time. Steve hope things straighten out but if not is there property near you for sale?
It's high time someone in Walnut Cove stood up for what is right! I am gald to see that there is someone down there now who isn't persuaded by political "cronyism" and can do the right thing. Conaway has gotten away with many things during his tenure as Police Chief, and I think now that he has been put in his place, Walnut Cove can repair its image and continue making progress. Dearmin has done a good thing for the citizens of Walnut Cove. Now we jsut have to hope that Conaway doesn't run successfully for Sheriff--God help the citizens of Stokes County!
Regarding the comment about the Town events, at least someone is getting involved and trying to do something positive. If you don't like the way Town events are run, tell someone in the Town office or voice your opinion at a Board Meeting! For some reason the events other than the July 4th event haven't been well attended, but with others' input, I'm sure they can be better!
Conaway's lack of comment regarding the reason for his firing ought to show everyone that there's more to it than meets the eye. Dearmin is simply doing his job. I applaud the Mayor and Board for sticking behind him and allowing him to do his job as Town Manager!
I have to agree with the above poster that Conaway's lack of comment does seem to show that there is more to it than meets the eye. It is so funny that they people yelling the loudest are people that don't even live in Walnut Cove Town Limits. I keep wondering that it they want to know so bad why don't they go to Mr. Conaway and ask him to go to the town and sign a waiver and allow them to release the information. Right now they are doing exactly what they are supposed to do by not releasing any information. I am so proud of the Manager for not being intimadated by the bully's. This is the first guy that has the UMPH to stand up to the Chief since he has been Chief. Guess everybody thought the Chief was so special because they never saw him. He was never in the office and always hiding at the fire department. I to applaud the Mayor,Manager and most of the board for handling this as it should have been handled. And if the rumors are true that are floating around the manager did exactly what he should have done. And remember the manager does not have to ask the board if he can take care of personel matters, but he was nice enough to let them know what was going on so they would not be blindsided.
I know that a lot of these people would like for Barry, his wife, friends, and supporters to shut up and quit talking about his unjustified firing, so that perpetrators can get over their guilt.
As with any injustice, the victim should not shut up and go along with the system, but should continue to bring their injustice to the table every chance that they can regardless of what these few bad apples are saying.
Every since this new Town Manager Homer Dearmin has come to Walnut Cove, he has done nothing good for this town. He has gotten rid of anyone he hasn't liked and hired his friends in their places. It has not stopped with Barry. Anybody that has been associated with Barry has been gotten rid of. You cannot run a town on cronyism. Homer is no good for this town.
I would like to encourage everyone with any common decency in Walnut Cove to keep bringing the injustice of Barry Conaway's firing to the table until Homer answers why he fired such an outstanding Police Officer with over 15 years of impeccable service to this community. I will always remember when Walnut Cove had a bad ice storm, and Barry went to all the elderly people's homes to make sure that they had heat and were doing OK. He actually cares. When some say that people don't know the police officers names, I will say they are liers when it comes to Barry Conaway, because Barry has cared more than anyone that is in the town hall now. Sharon keep standing up against this corruption. We are supporting you and Barry all the way.
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