Restaurant manager says Parmon campaign owes him money

(By John Hinton, Winston-Salem Journal) - James Douglas, the general manager of King's Crab Shack and Oyster Bar in downtown Winston-Salem, says state Rep. Earline Parmon's campaign for N.C. Senate District 32 owes his business and two other local restaurants $722 for food they provided for a fundraising event that Parmon staged in late April.

Douglas said he received a phone call from Parmon's campaign on April 25, saying that its original caterers had backed out of an arrangement to provide food to feed 200 people who would attend a fundraiser later that day at the Rhodes Art Center on Spruce Street.

Douglas said he agreed to provide the food for the event, which Gov. Bev Perdue attended. King's Crab Shack, Willow's Bistro on South Liberty Street and Finnigan's Wake Irish Pub and Kitchen on Trade Street prepared the food.

"We dropped off the food, and apparently there was a miscommunication because they thought it was a donation," Douglas said. "That wasn't the case."