A woman was ejected from last night’s Hoke County Commission meeting last night (seen in video here), bringing the total number of constituents expelled from the legally required, open-to-the-public gatherings up to three in the past 12 months. While being escorted from the room she was even threatened with misdemeanor charges. The treatment of another voter in attendance who—due to hearing loss—requested commissioners to speak closer to their microphones, has also drawn widespread criticism on social media.
In May 2024, a woman was escorted from another commission meeting. That gathering addressed the county’s legal maneuver to prevent The News-Journal from reviewing public documents. Officials begrudgingly turned them over after the issue later went to court.
The next month, after a contentious rezoning hearing, the mics at commisioners’ desks were left open. Statements caught on video include, “They’ve lost their minds” and “Theyz crazy,” before Leach cleared the room with a loud command to get them out of here.
Then last summer, a volunteer fireman—during the 3-minute public comment period allowed before the commission—expressed concern that Hoke County’s water pressure was so low that it was endangering homes and lives. When Commissioner Leach’s loud response was, “You have no relationship with the truth at all,” Rockfish resident Ryan McClymonds came to the first responder’s defense from the audience. Officials recorded McClymonds’ name and threatened him with permanent expulsion from any meetings in the future. He has subsequently attended, however.
Last night’s incident began when the woman expressed displeasure that an official Hoke County video, supposedly addressing the multiple day water outage in Rockfish, turned into political rhetoric at a time when residents needed leadership most. Commissioners Southerland and Leach were speakers in the controversial video (captured in part below before Hoke County removed it from its social media channels).
*Here’s the link to the county’s official video of the meeting last night, which is public domain. Our crack team trimmed the video above to a more condensed highlight real.
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