Editor’s note: Looking back on all of the stories and issues that have filled the pages of The Laurinburg Exchange over the past 12 months of 2021 is a daunting, but important task. It reminds us of those things — both positive and not so much — which have continued to shape our communities. The editorial staff of The Exchange recently took time once again to establish its annual list of the year’s top stories and have presented it today. That list, as well as the order, are each subjective. But we hope it will capture some of the bigger goings-on in Scotland County during 2021.

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1. Just like last year’s top story of the COVID-19 pandemic, this pick was a no-brainer.

The town of East Laurinburg will cease to exist as an incorporated municipality after June 30, 2022.

That decision came Dec. 7 with a unanimous vote by the Local Government Commission, It is the first time in history the LGC exercised new statutory power to revoke charters of local governments that are in fiscal distress and unable to sustain operations.

Initially, the General Assembly was to decide East Laurinburg’s fate but had not put that issue on its agenda. Under state law, the General Assembly could veto the LGC’s decision.

“It is with deep regret that we must take this action, which we tried to avoid for many years by offering every assistance possible to East Laurinburg to correct numerous financial, budgetary and operational deficiencies,” said State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who chairs the LGC, in a press release. “In the end, they did not fully avail themselves of our staff’s expertise or demonstrate the resolve to make the tough choices that were necessary to be a viable municipal government.”

The resolution stated, in part, the LGC “determined … that the city’s financial affairs are not sufficiently stable to continue operations” and that “it is in the best interest of the city and state to transfer the assets, liabilities and other obligations of the town to local government partner(s) and hereby dissolves the town of East Laurinburg” pursuant to Senate Bill 314. That legislation was signed into law by the governor on Aug. 30 and expanded the LGC’s power to repeal local government charters.

The treasurer said maintaining taxpayers’ confidence that their elected leaders are serving as good stewards of their money is of paramount importance. That public trust has been tarnished by ineffective governance, lack of transparency and little accountability.

“I’ve been a motorcycle mechanic figuring out repair solutions for most of my life,” Folwell said. “But I have no tools in my tool kit to fix the problems in East Laurinburg.”

Since 2017, East Laurinburg failed to file required annual audits or to establish and maintain a proper accounting system needed to track finances and operate under a balanced budget ordinance. A state audit found apparent embezzlement by a former town finance officer whose mother, a Town Council member, co-signed illicit checks. In the recent election the mayor, Gail Chavis, and all three Town Council members — Judy Huggins, Terry Godwin and Glenda Locklear — were write-in candidates. Only one candidate had filed to run for office.

The LGC voted in November to impound the town’s books and assume full control of its finances due to major bookkeeping, banking and auditing deficiencies.

Although East Laurinburg provides no essential services to its citizens, it does operate streetlights and administers a contract for trash pickup. The LGC is in discussions with Scotland County officials to assume control of these services.

The town was first incorporated in 1903 as Scotland Village after timber cottages sprang up in the area. It was renamed East Laurinburg and its charter was amended in 1909. It was once a thriving textile town.

“East Laurinburg will retain its character, charm, sense of history and community pride whether it is incorporated or not,” Folwell said. “Many such vibrant, unincorporated communities exist throughout the state.”

2. County investigation

After months of an internal investigation, the Scotland County Board of Commissioners have put safeguards in place so there are no more issues like the loss of a $575,000 grant for the Edwards Wood Product project.

The Industrial Development Funds Grant Committee — made up of commissioners Whit Gibson, Tim Ivey and Clarence McPhatter — met between October and December to figure out what actually went wrong, not once but twice, on the same grant project.

The first project goes back to 2017, when Edwards Wood Products entered into an agreement with Scotland County to apply for a grant to help purchase a new fire system (water tower). The agreement was made and Edwards Wood Products promised to create 70 more jobs at their plant. However, work was begun prior to the completion of the necessary paperwork and the grant was nullified.

In efforts to correct the issue, the county entered into another agreement for a grant which would allow Edwards to install a railroad spur, but once again work began early and the grant was pulled back.

In a press release from the IDF Committee that was released Dec.17, it stated, “the committee reviewed hundreds of documents and emails that were able to be recovered over the course of a couple of months. The committee focused on the time-frame of May 2018 to the present.”

The committee shared a timeline about what had been found and concluded that the North Carolina State Auditor’s Office “found no fraud, malicious intent or any personal gain derived from this project.” Instead, it was found there had been mismanagement and that the event could have been avoided.

“Many missteps happened during this time,” the press release stated. “There was a lack of supervision of the project from several levels of government … proper authority to issue the check is not documented in any system, email, manually or any other form has been found. The issues found have been addressed, and safeguards put in place so it will never be a problem moving forward. The board is committed to stronger oversight of the operations of the EDC and other departments, to ensure compliance with all county policies and state laws.”

Commissioners would not comment further and taxpayers remain on the hook to repay a $575,000 state loan over 10 years.

3. Elections

North Carolina’s highest court in December pushed back the March 2022 election primaries for legislative, congressional and judicial seats to give state courts time to review lawsuits claiming the Republican-controlled legislature illegally gerrymandered some districts.

The order includes the rescheduled municipal elections as well.

The decision by the state Supreme Court comes after a state Court of Appeals panel initially blocked filing for legislative and congressional candidates, only to have the decision reversed when the full 15-member intermediate appeals court was asked to weigh in on the matter.

The court order suspends all candidate filing in the state until the litigation is resolved and delays the March 8 primary for two months. The Supreme Court says three trial judges hearing a pair of lawsuits must rule by Jan. 11. The ruling will then likely be appealed.

Those who had filed in Scotland County included:

— Bo Frizzell for county commissioner in Springhill Township

— Garland Pierce for NC House of Representatives District 48

— Phillip Gregory for Board of Education at-large

— Carol McCall for county commissioner in Stewartsville Township

— Mary Evans for Laurinburg City Council District 1

— Drew Williamson for Laurinburg City Council District 2

— Donald Anderson Jr. for Laurinburg City Council District 2

— Ralph Kersey for Sheriff

— Tim Ivey for county commissioner Stewartsville Township

— Scott Sellers for clerk of Superior Court

4. State budget

When Gov. Roy Cooper signed the first state budget in three years in November, Scotland County received funding for three major projects.

There is $500,000 that is in the state budget for the I. E. Johnson community center; $920,000 for the North Fire Department; and the Laurel Hill Community Center also received $500,000 in the budget.

In addition, a fourth entity, the Scotland County Literacy Council, received $25,000.

“That money was a very necessary shot in the arm for us,” said Betty Barrett, the chairman of the Literacy Council Board. “We couldn’t have fundraisers during COVID and donations have been lagging for the same reason.”

State rep. Garland Pierce said, “I was honored to be at the table when the budget was being negotiated. That rarely happens, that someone from the opposite party is allowed to be there, but I voted for the budget the first time and it allowed me to be one of the very few Democrats to be involved — and it helped my district get the things it needed.”

5. Scots football

For years, Scotland football had served notice in the state’s Class 4A that it would be a force to reckon with. The Fighting Scots just finished doing the very same thing in Class 3A.

After a deep run in the playoffs, a run that lasted four road games and took them across 1,182 Tar Heel State miles, Scotland fell to J.H. Rose in Greenville on Friday — one win short of the East Regional finals — to finish the season 8-5.

“I’m extremely proud of our kids and the way they bounced back after losing the last three conference games,” coach Richard Bailey said. “Lesser teams may have quit. It showed great resilience to bounce back and go on a very good playoff run.”

RJ Nicholson rushed 240 times for 1,737 yards and 22 touchdowns — 916 of those yards and 11 of the TDs came in the playoffs; quarterback Carter Revelle finished the season 129-of-239 for 1,970 yards and 21 touchdowns; Izeem Graham had 42 receptions for 805 yards and nine touchdowns; and Cadyn Graves had 39 catches for 647 yards and nine touchdowns.

6. McColl/Alford

The Scotland County Board of Commissioners found itself with members resigning over the course of 2021. At the end of June, Chairman Carol McColl announced that she would be resigning as chairman due to medical issues, but would remain on the board as a commissioner.

Whit Gibson was elected to take over as chair for the remainder of the year.

In October, Commissioner John Alford announced his intent to retire from the board after 17 years. The resignation would have taken effect on Dec. 31.

Alford was re-elected in 2020 and told WLNC that when he ran in the last election he did not believe it would be to serve out the entire four years but to try and serve two. However, he decided he was not going to wait any longer.

In late November, however, Alford had a change of mind announcing that he was rescinding his resignation and planned to finish out his term. Alford was rewarded for this decision by being elected vice-chair of the board for the first time in the December meeting.

7. Pension spiking

At the start of 2021, Treasurer Dale Folwell shared that a bill for $406,425.12 was going to be coming to the Scotland County School system from the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System in reference to reported pension spiking.

Some contributing factors to this can be anything from a substantial increase in compensation — including significant late‐career promotions, conversion of benefits into compensation and leave payouts at retirement.

While the Treasurer’s Office could not legally confirm the identity of the retiree, but sources outside the office told The Exchange it was former Superintendent Ron Hargrave.

It was not discussed when or how the school system would pay this bill.

8. Crimestoppers

After many years of talking about bringing Crimestoppers back into the county in November, the tip line went live again. The Scotland Crimestoppers originally began in 2008 but ended in 2012 due to reasons beyond law enforcement control.

With the Crimestoppers tip line, tipsters can receive up to $1,000 if their tip leads to the arrest of those responsible for the crimes.

The tip line is completely anonymous and when callers place the original tip they’re given a specific identification number, similar to a PIN number. That number is used for after an arrest is made, the tipster calls back and uses that number to identify themselves as the original tipster then they’re able to move forward in receiving the money.

The Scotland Crimestoppers tip line is 910-266-8146.

9. I. Ellis Johnson

I. Ellis Johnson Elementary closed in 2020 but many in the community wanted to know what was going to happen with the former school. The IEJ Restoration Committee was formed from officials representing the county, schools and city of Laurinburg along with various other entities in the community.

The school system agreed to sign the property over to the county commissioners at no charge and the committee met to decide a plan for the property.

“We want to preserve and produce, it is evident by those who are here that the IEJ building is a monumental site and we want to preserve the history that is there,” said Commissioner Darrel “BJ” Gibson. “While at the same time providing resources that we’re hoping will help the economic, educational and social levels of the low-income families of Scotland County. We cannot turn a blind eye that that particular part of our community is in devastation. If we don’t pour some resources there we can do all we want to other parts of town but when you’re coming into Scotland County you’re going to come in on the north side of town.”

It was agreed that the historic school would be turned into a multi-use facility focusing first on the gym area to create a recreation center for the youth in the community.

When the state budget was passed, there was money allocated for the project included.

10. Library celebrates

Scotland County’s library system is 80 years old, but there are always innovations here that rival bigger systems in the state.

Back in August, Director Leon Gyles told The Laurinburg Exchange, “When you look at the services we provide you can go over to Charlotte-Mecklenburg library and we provide almost the same services just to a lesser degree. We provide databases, we provide computers, we provide e-books, print books, digital material. You can find bestsellers, we have a place for people to come in and tutor students, for groups to meet, we have outreach with the bookmobile, we provide some computer training. We provide almost the same services, granted on a lesser scale, as the major metropolitan libraries.

“My state librarian rep was amazed when he came down here and saw what we were providing our citizens,” Gyles added.

On Aug. 28, 1941 — the Scotland County Public Library was opened on the second floor of the former Goodwin home at the corner of Cronly and Atkinson streets.

The library then moved again on Dec. 11, 1950, to the Ed Guest Building at the corner of Atkinson and West Church streets, right next to the First United Methodist Church. The move had taken community members six years of planning and work to see through. It was during the dedication ceremony that the name of the library was officially changed from the Scotland County Public Library to the Scotland County Memorial Library — the first memorial library in North Carolina dedicated to the men and women who fought in World War II.

The library reopens from the holidays on Monday.

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Honorable mention

— COVID-19 continues. The pandemic kept many students out of school in the spring, played havoc with athletics and, for the second straight year, canceled the annual Laurinburg/Oban, Scotland, students exchange from happening.

— Mark Schenck, a well-known Scotland County resident and his wife died after a reported murder-suicide in late July. The couple was active for years in the county’s Republican Party, with Mark serving as chairman for many years.

— WLNC radio in Laurinburg turned 60 years old on New Year’s Eve.

— Students return to school: After more than a year of online instruction because of COVID-19, Scotland County students returned to classes in August — unless their parents chose to keep them home to learn online.

— Dave Wells goes to school: After a second stint with WLNC radio, the most recent as news director, Wells was hired by the Scotland County Board of Education as its new public information officer. He replaced Meredith Bounds, who went to Hoke County in the same position.

— County vs. schools: The school district and the county commissioners were at odds over the budget. The liaison committee had agreed on $10.44 million, but the commissioners agreed to put $9.85 million in the budget. In the end the two entities came to an agreement for $10 million.

— South Johnson payment: It was announced during the September Scotland County Board of Education meeting that the payment for South Johnson Elementary will be more than $1 million a year. The number came as a shock to the board, which had not heard the number until after the payment was made. A $1.5 million payment will have to paid in June 2022 and the lease agreements are set for another 14 years.

— Mass exodus from SCS: Since the start of 2021, Scotland County Schools began losing numerous teachers and department heads — many moving on to other districts in the area.