Brevard, North Carolina

I have a couple of places to live with my wife, one in Houston, Texas where she works and one in Brevard, North Carolina where we hoped to retire someday.

In addition to these places, I have spent a lot of time in Chattanooga, Tennessee over the past several years as I have a business there. I lived in Cobleskill, New York for many years and grew up in South Hadley, Massachusetts. With this wealth of experience in actually having current and past homes in such diverse places, I decided to write about the differences in America, both good and bad.

One thing I know now that wasn't apparent when we were looking for somewhere to retire is that small towns can have big problems. Brevard North Carolina is such a town. In my opinion, there is so much corruption in law enforcement, including the Sheriff's Office in Brevard that the citizens are not safe from the people sworn to protect them. The City Manager had to resign because he was fondling young girls at the local bars and the police chief was fired for reasons that could not be made public.

In Houston or Chattanooga, there are about 3.1 law enforcement personnel for each 1000 citizens. You aren't going to get in trouble with the law unless you deserve it, they don't have time for petty things. In Brevard and Transylvania County North Carolina, there are about 8 law enforcement people for each 1,000 population. The excessive law enforcement presence puts a real burden on taxpayers and the police and sheriff's have entirely too much time to find things to simply harass the citizens about.

I recently went to a Jury Trial in Brevard relating to a black man who was stopped for driving while intoxicated. The policeman was angry because the subject didn't stop his car until he came upon a crowd. Turns out, that was the best thing the suspect could have done, the police officer argued that the man was drunk. Everyone in the crowd claimed that the suspect did everything the policeman asked and more, he walked the line, then he walked it backwards. His crime was that he made the policeman look stupid and ultimately, he was exonerated. To be exonerated, he had to pay a lawyer and waste a lot of time. The police officer got paid for going to Court. Justice wasn't served.

I had to wonder if they would have ever carried it so far if the “suspect” had been a white man. I have to wonder why District Attorney Jeff Hunt allowed that case to go to trial. In Hampshire County, where I grew up I knew the son of the DA, that DA took his responsibility very seriously, he told me that Lawyers were to defend both the guilty and the innocent but District Attorney's were bound to serve justice. The statements I find on the website of Jeff Hunt speak only of prosecuting for the state, no mention of serving justice. That difference can be seen in the Court as they prosecute people who should never have to stand trial.

I had occasion to be in the Sheriff's office in August of 2008 during the height of the political campaign. I was being arrested at the time for a charge that was so bogus that it was dismissed without there ever being a hearing on the matter. There is a certain Detective Brian Kriegsman who for some reason known only to himself and to God, seems to desire that I be punished for something.  Plastered on the walls of the Sheriff's Office were bumper stickers proclaiming” “I'll keep My Guns and My Freedom, You Keep The Change.” David Mahoney, the Republican Sheriff had the right to support John McCain, but it was patently illegal to allow this partisan political activity in the office where taxpayers money was being spent. The Sheriff or Deputy who posted it and all that allowed it to be are criminals in their own right and shouldn't today be drawing salaries from the taxpayers. In this small town, the standards for behavior by law enforcement personnel are far different than they would be in a larger community.   One example is that while larger communities may be plagued with drive by shootings, Brevard has drive by death investigations like the one described in this website:  http://southernjusticewanted.blogspot.com/2010/02/press-release-to-transylvania-times.html

More on Brevard and the other communities in the coming days. There are more good things than bad about each community but I do believe that Brevard does need to get its house in order with regard to the police state that exists for far too many residents there.