‘Privilege’ raised in Jetton speed enforcement discussion
Sheriff McFadden
March 19. By Dave Yochum. The gauntlet was thrown down Feb. 18 at the Cornelius Town Board meeting when Commissioner Kurt Naas demanded that Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden come to Cornelius because he “has some explaining to do.”
“The Sheriff owes the town some answers,” said Naas, a first-term commissioner.
Depending on your point of view, it could be that the sheriff and his officers threw down the gauntlet first.
The day before, on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon in Cornelius, sheriff’s officers enforced speeds on Jetton, ticketing drivers exceeding the 35 mph speed limit by 10 or more miles an hour. The officers operated out of Jetton Park, a county-owned park where pedestrians cross Jetton with the help of an often-ignored pedestrian flashing cross light.
NAAS
It’s a long block from Naas’ home in The Peninsula.
The following Monday night, when Naas summoned McFadden to the next town meeting, it all could have ended right there.
Cornelius Police Chief Kevin Black said he and McFadden talked and agreed there would be more advance communication next time there is a “LIDAR,” for Light Detection and Ranging, operation in Cornelius.
Black, the new Cornelius chief of police, and Mayor Woody Washam acknowledged that the new Mecklenburg sheriff has every right to enforce the law in Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville and points south.
It didn’t end there, of course. Two weeks later, at the next Town Board meeting, Sheriff’s officers attended the Town Board meeting and answered questions from Naas and other commissioners.
But this past Monday, McFadden himself attended in what could have been a courtesy meeting, with Mayor Pro Tem Michael Miltich presiding.
The scene reminded some people of Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings almost 30 years ago: An eminently qualified black man defending his record.
To begin with, the optics weren’t good.
McFadden said so himself: “I thought I came to be welcomed to Cornelius, not this.”
He almost immediately called it an adversarial situation.
“I think this is a staged event…I wasn’t welcomed here,” he said.
“It’s an African-American sheriff making a difference in this city and county,” McFadden said, explaining that the dynamics here were all about “privilege” among those that have it and those that don’t.
He came to office last November, winning 30,000 votes vs. 15,700 for Antoine Ensley and 11,700 for incumbent Irwin Carmichael.
Naas garnered 2,017 votes in the November election. His margin of victory over the sixth-place finisher—and therefore a loser—was 127 votes.
WASHAM
The scene this past Monday night included four white commissioners and one black commissioner up on a dais, looking down on the public, including McFadden.
Naas asked this question: “Are you aware this is a town-owned road?”
McFadden said, “Young men came out to do their jobs.”
To describe the exchange as awkward is an understatement. Confrontational and embarrassing is more like it, elected officials said off the record.
Mayor Woody Washam, who missed the meeting because of a previously planned vacation, said he has reached out to Sheriff McFadden to mend fences and plan a meeting with the town manager and Chief Black.
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We never did get answers to what triggered the need for Sheriff traffic enforcement on Jetton Road or why CPD wasn’t notified or engaged with prior.
We should expect professional courtesy and coordination between agencies with overlapping duties when our tax dollars are used.
Sheriff made a lot of accusations that were incendiary and unnecessary.
McFadden is clearly playing to his base with this blatant move. First time we’ve seen politics and class warfare play out in the Sheriff’s Office. Shameful!
Condidering the contentious nature of this meeting, I think this story warranted a bit more than the few exchanges that were quoted, and more in depth coverage.
McFadden, as soon as he went into Office
he stated that Mecklenburg County Jail
would no longer cooperate with ICE.
Told me all I want to know about him.
The law is the law not dependent on where you live or what car or home you own. Whether in the Peninsula or anywhere else in any town in these United States we either choose to abide by the law or pay the consequences .
If you don’t speed like a maniac up Jetton- I don’t know why anyone would care if they were there- Sheriff’s dept & Cornelius Police seemed to handle it and had already decided that better communication & heads up would be given-
What we think about it as citizens’ is irrelevant- as it stated, county owned Park is where they had set-up. It is truly as simple as that- as a property owner off of Jetton- it did not bother me one bit-sorry
I’d rather McFadden explained his position on disregarding federal immigration laws. It appears that the deputies now have more time to patrol LKN roads since they don’t need to spend time enforcing 287G.
This is junk. This was a slap in the face to Cornelius PD and basically telling them they can’t do their job and I promise you that the Meck County Sheriff’s department has a lot more to be concerned about than speeding in Cornelius. They had almost 14 officers up here. They can’t do better than that in the areas where crime is??? This was totally political on his part and he made it so stating that This was about a black sheriff. What a joke, its about a sheriff going to Cornelius and operating in an area that is policed well by Cornelius PD and their officers. This was completely a political move. I personally know officers that were baffled by why they were up here and no one had a clue. What reason? Reports of speeding in Jetton? Our team of officers are more than able to take care. Is that the best use of tax dollars and strength of officers needed in areas of Charlotte???? Come on.
Sheriff McFadden is the most powerful man in Mecklenburg county. He can and will run his dept as he sees fit as long as he is within the guidelines of the power of the position he holds. Cornelius PD is well understaffed. They do not have the manpower to patrol the streets of Cornelius for traffic violators along with the duty of suppressing the amount of criminal activity within Cornelius which is steadily increasing. Kurt Naas is well aware of the deficit of Officers but he refuses to admit one very large issue – they leave and go to other departments due to very low pay here. He refuses to believe the results of a professional study confirming why Officers leave. It amazes me how poorly Officers and most city employees are paid here in Cornelius. Stand up Woody and pay these people what this city needs to so we will return to having a highly respected police dept.Sherriff McFadden, bring your Officers to Bethel Church road and write all the tickets you can. People will continue to violate the law without enforcement. Even the high and mighty Lake Norman residents. In addition to speed enforcement we need attention to stop light violations and texting while driving violations. Had I not looked both ways before proceeding I would have been t-boned this morning had I pulled into the intersection from Bethel Church onto Catawba Ave when my light turned green. A white woman driving a large black SUV ran the red light on Catawba as she was texting as she drove down the road. She never slowed down until she pulled into the Marathon convenience store.
This wasn’t about traffic enforcement. This was about a narcissistic sherrif riding a high because the Charlotte city council had just instructed its own police department NOT to conduct speed/DUI checkpoints in non-affluent parts of Charlotte out of concern that it might frighten residents in those parts of town because of ICE—a fear which he himself had helped create. He saw an opportunity to score political points with his base by “doing to others what his base believes has been done to them.” In other words, an eye for an eye. I find that sort of logic dangerous. It is designed to inflame and divide rather than unite.
This activity by the Sherrifs Dept scared a lot of people here, even those who didn’t live off Jetton but heard about “a raid” by the Sheriff’s office. With so many vehicles in one location the concern was were they looking for a criminal in the loose? Sunday’s are pretty quiet, what the heck was going on? Mayor Pro Tem Miltich explained at the board meeting that when the town commissioners and police got calls from citizens they had no answers as to what was the need for so many sheriffs. The sheriff seemed incapable of grasping that point.
The sheriff said some good things but he clearly has a chip on his shoulder. He brought race and privilege into the picture when it didn’t seem to be the issue at all. I think he owes the town an apology for that bigotry of his. And when he comes back I hope he leaves his bigotry at home.
Because he mentioned domestic violence and I’m sure there can be some good work that can be done on that issue, but not from arrogance or force, but from education and help. The actual footage of the meeting can be found on the Cornelius website for the last March Townhall Board meeting. Citizens comments start about 15:30 and then the Sheriff speaks. Watch him through to his conclusion and see what you think.