Johnathan Wall vs Raleigh, NC Bar Discrimination: 21st Century Racism in NC Is Nothing New!

On June 16, a BLACK, Harvard-bound College Student named Johnathan Wall and several of his friends tried to enter a prestigious PUBLIC Raleigh, North Carolina Sports Bar.

Instead of being allowed access they were told they HAD to be Members in order to gain entry.

This occurred as Johnathan and his friends watched WHITE Patrons allowed Entry with NO Membership Cards, etc.,

Johnathan and his friends were ONLY allowed Access AFTER the Bar's Bouncer noticed a Police Officer standing nearby.

After entering the Bar, Johnathan and his friends were immediately approached by another Bouncer and several Hostile Bar Employees who made it clear, that BLACKS were NOT welcome at that establishment.

To make a long story short, Johnathan & his friends were eventually Physically Forced out of the Bar.

How Sad.

I am so happy to live in the 21st Century where this type of stuff NO longer occurs right?

Wait a Minute!

When this did incident take place?

June 16, 2012 in Raleigh, North Carolina!

That's right!

In the 21st Century!

Just another day in Extremely Racist North Carolina with a Democrat, Klan-loving Governor.

And Yes since Gov. Bev Perdue's Election back in 2008 Mistreatment of BLACKS in North Carolina has increasingly grown WORSE.

Bev Perdue tricked North Carolina's BLACK Voters into supporting her, than after her Election she put her foot on Our Necks.

It looks as if We Have NOT overcome YET!

At least NOT in the State of North Carolina.

So Yes Its True!

That in the 21st Century many BLACK Customers are still NOT welcome at many North Carolina Bars, Clubs & Restaurants.









Patrons allege discrimination at North Carolina sports bar

A sports bar in Raleigh, North Carolina has sparked outrage for repeatedly denying entry to black customers, with no apparent consequence from local law enforcement.

The most recent instance occurred June 16th when Jonathan Wall, a 21-year-old Harvard-bound college student from Raleigh, North Carolina,
arrived at Downtown Sports Bar and Grill.

Wall and his two friends were first hassled when the bouncer told the group they needed a membership to enter the bar.

The bar is known to be a causal sports bar so the assertion that it was members-only club was the first indication that there might be a problem. According to Wall, when the bouncer noticed a police officer outside the bar, he allowed Wall and his friends to enter the bar.

Once inside the bar Wall was confronted by a hostile employee, who he later learned was the bar’s manager, and was identified as Todd Chriscoe. As Wall tells the story, Chriscoe approached him in a rather aggressive manner and demanded that he buy a drink immediately or leave the bar. Wall was waiting for his friends to return form the bathroom and told Chriscoe he would be drinking but was only waiting for his friend to return. After a few moments, when Wall’s friend hadn’t returned form the bathroom, Chriscoe allegedly attacked Wall and began to physically remove him from the bar.

“After staring me down for about 30 seconds, he walked back over and said “Are you going to buy a drink, or are you going to leave?” I replied, “As soon as my friend comes from the bathroom.” Before I cold utter another word, he grabbed my right wrist and my left arm and threw them behind my head in an effort to constrain me, although I was speaking to him [in a] calm and non-aggressive tone and didn’t once even gesture. He then used excessive force to push me through the crowd and out of the club while I was still in this “headlock” of sorts, before pushing me out of the front door. As soon as he grabbed me, I let my body go limp because with the degree of force he was already using, I didn’t want him to think I was trying to fight back. I accepted that he was on an ego-trip, and let him guide me through the club in this position before pushing me out.”

Once outside, Wall found a police officer standing outside and tried to explain what had just occurred. The officer spoke with both parties, but encouraged Wall to overlook the episode, telling him she knew something like this would happen once he entered the bar.

“She explained that this happens all the time, and that if she approached the bartender about it, he’d have witnesses that would corroborate whatever story he made up as to why he kicked me out in such an aggressive manner. She then explained that my options were limited because if she proceeded with getting statements from both of us and conducted an investigation, the end result could be worse for me: either it would get dismissed in court, or we would both be charged with what is the equivalent of “fighting” and both have a misdemeanor. She said “He probably has a few charges already, but you’re young with a bright future ahead of you, and you don’t want that on your record.”

What disturbed Wall most was the officer’s casual response to the incident and “that she seemed to assume the worst case scenario in every possible solution to my encounter. She kept talking about how much paper work would be involved,” Wall explained to friends after the encounter.

After Wall’s former professor at the North Carolina Central University, Philip Christman, posted Wall’s account of the incident on his blog yesterday, other African-Americans began to post comments on Christaman’s blog relaying similar experiences at Downtown Sports Bar and Grill in Raleigh. There are now more than a dozen posts telling tales of racial discrimination at the same bar and others in the area.

Now, Wall and others have embarked on an social media campaign to have the bar shut down and are demanding action on the part of local law enforcement and the City of Raleigh.

The incident has spawned a Facebook page, ‘Stop Race Discrimination at Downtown Sports bar NOW’ and has over 3000 followers. On the page, followers tell tales of similar experiences, share legal advice and seem to be building a ground swell of support that may result in serious consequences for the bar and law enforcement for allegedly overlooking these accounts of racial discrimination.



Bar manager accused of racial discrimination at another Raleigh club

Allegations of racially discriminatory practices at a downtown Raleigh bar are nothing new to the man who allegedly put a 21-year-old black patron in a headlock and removed him from the bar last weekend.

Todd Chriscoe, general manager of The Downtown Sports Bar and Grill on Glenwood Avenue, was the subject of a 2001 WRAL Investigates story, which looked into membership and dress code policies at a private Raleigh club on West Street.

At the time, Chriscoe co-owned The Office, which billed itself as an upscale dance club with a strict dress code policy. One thing expressly prohibited by the club: FUBU clothing, a fashion line targeted primarily to African Americans.

Four months after The Office opened, WRAL Investigates sent one white couple and one black couple, both wearing identical outfits, to try to get into the club, which closed in 2009.

The white couple, who said they didn't have a membership, were admitted and told by the doorman that they could get a membership inside the door. The black couple, however, was told that they couldn't come in and that memberships could only be obtained during daytime hours with three full days required for processing.

When confronted about the disparity, Chriscoe said it had nothing to do with race.

"You guys are trying to make it out to be a racist thing and we're not racist at all," he said in 2001. "What we are is an extremely private club, and we hammer people on the dress code because we want to have a very upscale, nice environment."

The Office later released a statement saying their club was a "virtual melting pot of members."

"What we tell our door people is to not let anyone in that their wife or girlfriend would not feel comfortable standing next to at the bar," the statement said. "Is this discrimination? Possibly it is."

Fast forward to the early morning hours of June 17, 2012, when a 21-year-old graduate assistant at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill claims he had a run-in with Chriscoe at The Downtown Sports Bar and Grill.

Jonathan Wall alleges that he and a friend went to the bar early Sunday morning and that they were initially told they couldn't go in because the bar required a membership.

Once inside, Wall says, he was quickly confronted by Chriscoe, the bar's general manager, who told him he had to "buy a drink or leave."

Wall says there were no other black patrons in his vicinity. When he explained that he was waiting for his friend to use the restroom, he says, Chriscoe put him in a headlock and forced him out of the bar.

"It was shock, more than anything," Wall said in a news conference Friday. "It was like one of those feelings, like, 'Is this really happening?'"

Wall said the experience was "demoralizing" and that it underscores the need for dialog about racial discrimination in the 21st century.

His allegations have sparked email and social media campaigns, and even prompted several other people to come forward saying they, too, were treated differently at the sports bar because of their race.

The bar issued a statement Friday, denying Wall's claims.

"Mr. Wall was not roughed up or improperly treated. Mr. Wall was not the subject of racial discrimination," the statement reads.

It continues, saying that Wall "took advantage of a crowded door situation" after being told he could not enter without being a member or the guest of a member.

William Potter, the bar's attorney, says that because of its liquor license, by law, the bar is a private club that limits access to members and their guests.

Plans for a protest at the bar Saturday night have been put on hold because of safety and security concerns due to the high number of people wanting to attend.

The state NAACP has gotten involved to help Wall's supporters organize a larger protest, possibly next weekend, with thousands of expected attendees.

WRAL News spoke with Chriscoe Friday, but he declined to comment on Wall's allegations. He referred all questions to Potter.


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Sources: ABC News, The Grio, WRAL, Google Maps

Dan Clodfelter Opposes New ABC Board Ethic Rules & Privatization

N.C. Senator Clodfelter: Guts New Ethic Rules For State ABC Stores


N.C. Lawmakers on Wednesday stripped out some of the toughest measures from a package of new laws governing the state's liquor store system.

"We gutted it," said Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat who was critical of the changes.

He cast the lone "no" vote on the legislation approved by a special committee focused on the Alcoholic Beverage Control system.

The committee cut a requirement that members of local ABC boards must follow the state ethics law, even though a primary task assigned to the group was to craft a bill establishing consistent ethical standards across the state.

The committee was created in the aftermath of embarrassing revelations of the Mecklenburg ABC board's chair and some employees accepting a lavish dinner from a liquor company and six-figure salaries paid to the father and son team that ran the New Hanover County system.



Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat, said the state ethics law provision would put local ABC boards on different footing from other local boards and commissions that are subject to local ethics policies.

"It doesn't make sense to have mixed messages and mixed standards," Blue said.

The committee also sliced out a measure that would empower the state ABC Commission to take steps to improve an unprofitable or minimally profitable liquor store.

"If you want to have any teeth in this law to fix problem stores, this language does it," said Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Hickory Republican.

The committee instead voted to put county commissions and city councils in charge of fixing the problems. Starnes said those groups are "too close to home," because they appoint the ABC boards.

Rep. Pryor Gibson, a Wadesboro Democrat, led several of the efforts to delete provisions from the bill, including a requirement that a community must have 5,000 registered voters before it could vote to create a local ABC board, which then can open a liquor store.

Gibson has repeatedly criticized such a restriction as discriminating against small towns.

The restriction grew out of criticisms, including in a report by legislative staffers, that the existing threshold of 500 registered voters to create an ABC board and subsequent store created unnecessary competition and inefficient stores.

More than 100 of the state's 169 ABC boards operate one store.

Brunswick County, for example, has nine ABC boards. Last year 10 ABC boards had a profit margin of 2 percent or less. Nine boards lost money.

State ABC Commission Chair Jon Williams said the bill still would provide "important new powers" for the commission.

The legislation approved Wednesday afternoon mirrors several provisions that Gov. Bev Perdue's budget reform commission recommended to her just an hour earlier, including:

Giving the state ABC Commission the authority to audit local boards.

Establishing a mission and performance standards for liquor stores.

Limiting the compensation of ABC board members and store operators.

The general manager and other top employees of a local ABC board could not be paid more than the local clerk of superior court.

That's currently $113,000 in both Mecklenburg and Wake counties.

Current ABC compensation would be grandfathered, but four Mecklenburg County ABC board employees' pay exceeds that limit:

The CEO ($159,000), Chief Financial Officer ($130,000), Director of Operations ($120,000) and Director of Human Resources ($115,000). Wake County's General Manager's compensation is $142,000.

The legislation was amended, though, to let the county commission or city council approve higher salaries if the ABC board requested them.




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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, WCNC, WRAL, Youtube, Google Maps

Park Helms Resigns From Charlotte ABC Board...NC Corruption

Park Helms Steps Down From Mecklenburg ABC Board


Charlotte-Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman Parks Helms has resigned after fallout from a holiday dinner paid for by the liquor company Diageo.

Helms has been under fire since the Nov. 18 dinner.

Earlier this week, he rejected a request from fellow ABC directors to resign.

On Thursday, Helms sent a letter to Mecklenburg County Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Roberts, saying that he would step down. In Helms' resignation letter, he says he violated no policy, procedure or law.

The move comes one day after the North Carolina ABC Commission banned all gifts from the liquor industry to ABC staff. The ban is a result of a NewsChannel 36 I-Team investigation that found Helms and dozens of local ABC staff were treated to wine, drinks and dinner that cost more than $300 per person.

On Wednesday, the state's top liquor regulator lambasted Helms, highlighting him as an example of a "culture of entitlement" in the alcoholic beverage system.

Jonathan Williams, chair of the state ABC Commission, said that Helms told investigators from the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division that he had expected the Mecklenburg board would pay for the lavish dinner in November. The event was bankrolled by a liquor company, and state alcohol agents have accused both the board and liquor company Diageo of breaking the law.

"In other words, Parks Helms' statement is that he assumed the citizens of Mecklenburg County would pay the bill," Williams said the state commission meeting Wednesday. "Every dollar that comes into the ABC system in this state is a dollar that belongs to the public. The public's money is not what is left over at the end. It is public the moment it is handed over the counter. There is no way the public should be expected to foot the bill for select employees and family members to have a party of seemingly unlimited price and extravagance."

Helms addressed the statements in his resignation letter, writing, "I take issue with his use of my name as a scapegoat for the troubled North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control system which those in power have condoned for generations. I was particularly troubled by Governor Perdue authorizing the Chairman to trample on my name and my reputation for political gain."

Helms and Mecklenburg ABC CEO Calvin McDougal and other staff members repaid more than $9,000 of the bill after the I-Team broke the story.



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Sources: WCNC, Google Maps

Park Helms Refuses To Resign, Will Jennifer Roberts Remove Him?

So Charlotte-Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman Park Helms refuses to step down even after an investigation conducted by NC Alcohol Law Enforcement Officials proved he violated state Alcohol laws for basically "bribing" a liquor company.

Here lies the $64M question: Does Jennifer Roberts (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Chairperson) have enough guts to remove him?

Don't forget Helms (also a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioner) was once Roberts' Mentor.

Let's see....

Jennifer Roberts had NO problem refusing to allow Nick Mackey from serving as Charlotte-Mecklenburg's First Black Sheriff ever.

In fact she made a big stink about it all the way to the NC Democratic Board State Officials until they overturned Mackey's election.

Don't misjudge me on this one because after the local Media exposed all of Mackey's dirt including how he'd wronged his clients (Mackey is a Licensed Attorney), I too agree he should NOT have been allowed to serve as County Sheriff.

However my point is how quickly Roberts moved to act on ensuring Mackey would NOT serve.

Due to the Racial backlash Jennifer Roberts suffered over Mackey, it doesn't take rocket science to see that's why she refuses to remove allegedly Corrupt Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones who also happens to be Black, from his job.

Here's a little secret Jennifer, if you remove Harry Jones from his job it would be an Asset to Charlotte and would probably save your Political career.

Park Helms refuses to step down.

Jennifer Roberts has yet to remove both Harry Jones and Park Helms after proven evidence surfaced showing that both Men deserved to be relieved of their duties.

Has anyone forgotten that Charlotte-Mecklenburg DSS (which Jones oversees)is under investigation by a Grand Jury?

Of course not!

The Partisan Charlotte Observer (Community Nickname: "Charlotte Disturber") doesn't want to go there anymore for fear of perhaps losing Democrat advertising dollars.

Jennifer the ball is in your court.

Either way I think your finished because Charlotteans are tired of Corruption both Public and Political.








Park Helms Rejects Call To Resign From ABC Board


Mecklenburg County ABC Board chairman Parks Helms on Monday rejected a request from fellow ABC directors to resign "in the best interests of the Mecklenburg County ABC system."

"I have carefully considered your request that I resign as Chairman of the ABC Board so that you could '...begin to restore trust in the system and its management by the public,'" Helms wrote in an e-mail. 'I respectfully disagree... and will not resign."

But pressure for his resignation continued to rise Monday as Mecklenburg County commissioners chair Jennifer Roberts suggested he give it "serious consideration."

"I would hope that Parks would give it serious consideration to remove himself... so we can all focus on the issues going forward," she said.

A former Mecklenburg County commissioners chairman, Helms has been under fire since a Nov. 18 dinner hosted by the liquor company Diageo.

Diageo spent $12,700 on the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse for 28 ABC Board employees and their guests. The $4,900 bar tab included $1,000 for four bottles of Dom Perignon.

After news accounts, ABC employees and Helms repaid $9,334. The company picked up the bill for its two employees and their spouses as well as the $2,032 tip.

Last week Alcohol Law Enforcement agents issued a report alleging that Diageo, its N.C. marketing director and the Mecklenburg ABC Board violated laws on giving and accepting anything of value.

Based on their findings, the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has since launched a statewide probe into possible violations of liquor laws in Asheville, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and at least four other cities.

The local ABC directors sent Helms a two-line e-mail Sunday night asking him to resign "effective immediately."

"I guess what we wanted was to basically start over," director Elton Shoemaker said Monday. "We just felt like a change should be made, and if the county commissioners wanted to appoint a new chair they could."

Shoemaker signed the request with directors Mary Richardson, Angeles Ortega-Moore and Jim Polk.

Helms declined to elaborate on his reply.

In the each of the past three years, records show, the board chairman was paid $6,000 a year. Board members earned $5,000.

Helms was the only Mecklenburg ABC director at the dinner. Richardson, Polk and Ortega-Moore told the Observer last week they didn't know about it. Shoemaker declined to comment.

Helms faces scrutiny over the dinner from the two groups that could remove him: the Mecklenburg County commissioners and the state ABC Commission.

Agnes Stevens, spokeswoman for the state ABC commission, said Monday the commission is in touch with Mecklenburg commissioners. Conversations, she said, are ongoing.

Roberts said the controversy has become a distraction.

"Sometimes we all recognize there comes a point when we as officials may be more of a distraction than a support to whatever issue it is we need to move forward with," she said.

"I respect Parks, he has been a tremendous public servant. We all make mistakes sometimes and it takes a big person to admit that. I'm sure there will be other things we can turn to him for service in other ways."

Republican commissioner Karen Bentley has said the county board should remove Helms.

Mary Richardson, the ABC Board director, hinted at the board's decision to write Helms last week.

"If you're doing wrong and you know you're doing wrong, you should suffer the consequences," she said.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, NC General Assembly, Charmeck.org, Google Maps

Bev Perdue, NC Officials Have Their Eyes On Charlotte's ABC Board

Tightening The Reins On North Carolina's ABC Boards



North Carolina's patchwork system for selling liquor grew out of the days after prohibition, when the powers that be worried about controlling who could buy liquor.

Today's state leaders, from Gov. Bev Perdue to top legislators, say that what's needed now is tighter control over who is selling booze.

Local Alcoholic Beverage Control boards, which run the liquor stores across North Carolina, find themselves under state officials' magnifying glass because of embarrassing episodes involving boards on opposite sides of the state: a lavish dinner for local ABC board members in Charlotte paid for by a liquor company and eye-popping salaries for top ABC administrators in Wilmington.

n the most immediate response, Perdue plans to ask the 163 local boards to agree to the ban on gifts and tighter ethics rules that she has imposed on state agencies under her control. She has also commissioned a special budget reform task force that is looking at more fundamental changes in the system and installed a new alcohol chief at the state level with directions to rein in the local boards.

The local boards that don't comply with the gift ban, she said, will get star billing on a state Web site that will list the boards and whether they have signed on to the new rules.

"We're going to know who has agreed to come along on transparency and accountability," Perdue said last week. "I'm going to go forward with the belief that every board will come along."

Joe Wall, executive director of the N.C. Association of ABC Boards, said he didn't expect many objections.

"In general, the boards are willing to accept a strengthening of the rules in that area," Wall said.

Perdue's efforts to provide more transparency and accountability follow the liquor company Diageo's bankrolling a $9,000 dinner in November for the Mecklenburg ABC board's chairman and a variety of employees and the disclosure of New Hanover County's ABC board parceling out more than $330,000 in salaries and $50,000 in bonuses to the father and son serving as top administrators.

"Something is not working in the system," said Perdue, herself a former member of the Craven County ABC Board. "And though many of us for years have believed in local control and local ABC boards, who would have thought this kind of stuff is going on?"

North Carolina has a conservative history with spirits. The state banned liquor even before national Prohibition and didn't allow public bars and restaurants to sell mixed drinks until the 1970s. Local communities, from the tiniest hamlets to urban hubs, decided for themselves whether and in what form to sell alcohol. It's a legacy that leaves a byzantine mix of liquor stores, rules and availability from one county to the next that frustrates newcomers to the state.

The state ABC Commission operates the warehouse through which local boards buy liquor and adjudicates liquor law violations, but it has little authority over the local stores. A 2008 legislative report described the system as lacking a clearly defined mission and needing more muscular state control.





Next steps

Perdue's pressure is only the latest steps in her administration's effort to reshape the commission.

Perdue plans to ask her state budget director, Charles Perusse, to examine salary data for the local boards that is being compiled by the state ABC Commission. Perusse will report on how those paychecks stack up against comparable private sector jobs.

ABC boards, which runliquor stores in North Carolina, are local government agencies, giving the state limited authority over them. The staff works for the local board, not the state. Perdue, however, said that if she needs to get directly involved to straighten up the system, she will.

"If I find out I need the authority to let people go," she said, "I will ask the General Assembly for that authority, and I have every reason to believe the people of the House and Senate will go along."

Change may be slow

Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, who said he is looking at a range of proposals that include privatization, highlighted problems such as counties with multiple ABC boards - Brunswick County has nine - and the low bar of 500 signatures to get a proposal on the ballot to create another ABC board. He said the system needs fundamental change.

"It's obvious that has to occur," Basnight said, referring to the Mecklenburg and New Hanover incidents. "We've seen and read about the mismanagement of certain districts."

Basnight and Rep. Pryor Gibson, an Anson County Democrat and vice chairman of the House ABC committee, cautioned that change will be made incrementally. Gibson said this year's "short" legislative session, which starts in May and likely ends during the summer, will allow little time to address such a complex issue.

"We will probably try," Gibson said, "but it's so complex. I'm not sure we can get a solution that's completely logical in a 45-day session."

Wall, at the North Carolina ABC boards association, said the Mecklenburg and New Hanover cases are aberrations. The association favors increasing the oversight by the county boards and city councils that appoint them but also stands by the state's record as one of the highest in liquor tax revenue but lowest in liquor consumption.

"That's a good indication," Wall said, "that the current system is sound and doing what the citizenry of the state wants it to do."

Perdue has been pushing for reforms of the ABC system for several months, though it has not been a top priority for an administration consumed by a constant budget crisis. She is using her Budget Reform and Accountability Commission as a vehicle for proposing broad changes, such as strengthening the state ABC Commission's ability to enforce minimum standards for stores and consolidating competing, unprofitable boards.

Norris Tolson, who heads the budget reform commission, would not predict recommendations but made clear that the commission sees problems that need fixing in the ABC system.

"It has been run with a sort of laissez faire attitude, just let it go. You get into the sort of problems that manifested themselves [recently]," said Tolson, president of the N.C. Biotechnology Center. "One has to ask oneself, why do you need that much bureaucracy to run a system of selling liquor?"

Perdue's other major step was to appoint Jon Williams, a former deputy secretary for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, as the new chairman of the state ABC Commission.

"She made clear that she wanted some fresh eyes here in this office," Williams said, noting the last major ABC law changes were in the 1970s. "We've not had a thorough discussion of the system in 30 years."

He wasn't slow on the draw. After news reports that New Hanover's ABC board refused to release their managers' salaries, Williams asked all boards to supply salary data for their top staff, and he then released it to the public. After the Mecklenburg dinner paid for by international distiller Diageo, Williams asked the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division to investigate. Both steps sent clear signals to other boards about accountability to the public.

"It's clear to everybody, including the boards, that Chairman Williams is going to enforce the rules, whatever the rules may be," Wall said. "The boards want clarity on what the rules are."



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, Google Maps

NC Officials Widen Probe Into Serious State Alcohol Law Violations

NC residents don't believe the hype!

Before you proceed with viewing the contents of this blog post (from NC newspapers), please beware that NC Officials will more than likely do absolutely NOTHING about ABC Board Violations.

In fact the only reason why local NC newspapers publishers have begun printing these type of articles lately is because they realize nationwide Democrats are in trouble politically.

Which is why each time I read a newspaper article about NC Officials proclaiming to "investigate" Public and Political Corruption running rampant in this state, I just throw some salt over my shoulder.

This Corruption stuff has been going on for years because North Carolina is one of the most crooked states in America!

If you or I were committing such CRIMES we'd be thrown in jail tomorrow but NC Politicians can commit crimes, walk away free and still remain in office.

Let's not also forget NC is run by Democrats who in this instance seem to be concerned only about keeping their Political seats warm by any means necessary.

Some of these NC Politicians will probably even kill to keep their seats.

Yes I too am a registered Democrat however....

Although I'm not perfect, I can still say without blinking that NC Politicians (Dems) are extremely Notorious for Public Corruption in the worst way.

Historically Federal Officials are the only ones who have actually done anything to help fight real crime and corruption in North Carolina i.e., FBI.

Therefore I suggest if you are aware of any serious crimes being committed related to Fraud, Embezzlement, Illegal Wiretapping, Alcohol law violations, etc., instead of contacting NC Officials who will just retaliate against you, instead contact Federal Officials or Federal Agencies to report your concerns.








NC State Officials Looks At Wining, Dining Of ABC Execs


The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has widened a probe into possible violations of liquor laws across North Carolina in the wake of a company's lavish holiday dinner for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ABC Board.

The liquor company Diageo spent $12,700 on the Nov. 18 dinner for 28 ABC Board employees and their guests at Del Frisco's, a high-end steakhouse. The bar tab alone came to more than $4,900, including $1,000 for four bottles of Dom Perignon.

Andy Iredale, Diageo's marketing director for North Carolina, told investigators he had bought meals for ABC employees in many cities and counties.

In a report released this week, state Alcohol Law Enforcement agents charged the Mecklenburg board with accepting illegal gifts. It charged Diageo and Iredale with providing the gifts and unlawfully entering an ABC store for reasons other than conducting business.

Michael Herring, chief administrator for the state ABC Commission, said these are the most serious accusations leveled in years.

Herring said his agency has sent Diageo and Iredale violation notices stemming from the Charlotte dinner. They face a fine of $140,000 or a year's suspension of theirliquor permit. They couldappeal.

After news accounts of the dinner, Mecklenburg ABC employees and board chairman Parks Helms repaid $9,334. The company picked up the bill for its two employees and their spouses, as well as the entire $2,032 tip.

The state ABC Commission's chairman, Jon Williams, ordered the investigation in November. The state commission, which adjudicates allegations of liquor law violations, did not issue any comment beyond the agents' report.

Attempts to reach a Diageo spokesman were unsuccessful. The London-based company's brands include Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray, Guinness and Crown Royal.

Iredale told Alcohol Law Enforcement agents he'd also bought meals for local board employees in Asheville, Lenoir, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and in Carteret, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

Iredale said he offered to treat Craig Pleasants, general manager of Wake County's ABC Board, to meals, but Pleasants refused.

Pleasants confirmed that Thursday night. "He just said, 'I'd like to take you out for a meal,' and I said, 'I don't think that's a good idea right now,'" Pleasants said.

Pleasants said that for the past several months, he has been turning down offers of meals - two in the past two days. Typically, someone offers a free meal every couple of weeks, he said, though these are hardly invites to lavish blowouts. "Mostly what we're talking about is a meat and two vegetables somewhere, and it's really talking business," he said.

Pleasants said such meals are allowed under state ABC guidelines.

The N.C. ABC Commission this week gave Iredale 10 days to provide receipts for other dinners provided to ABC employees. Among those are receipts from a Nov. 17 lunch at Charlotte's Ritz-Carlton hosted by Jim Beam Brands for Helms, the Mecklenburg board chairman, and ABC Board CEO Calvin McDougal.

Neither Helms nor McDougal could be reached Thursday.

North Carolina maintains a state ABC Commission that operates a central liquor warehouse, the sole source of products for the stores. The state commission, though, can intervene at a store only when there is a major problem, such as corruption. The local ABC boards that run the stores are appointed public panels with their own bureaucracies.

Critics are using the controversy to renew calls for the state to get out of the liquor business.

Controversies prompted the commission to issue ethics guidelines in 1996 and 2003.








Charlotte-Meck. ABC Board Caught In Another Lie



The distiller that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board got a $9000 dinner from and the board then claimed it had “no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.” Yeah, not so much.

WCNC reports that the board only routinely writes six-figure checks to Diageo each month. During 2009 the board has had $11m. worth of business relations with Diageo.

Still, this has not pushed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners to remove the board and its chair Parks Helms and start over. Instead the Republicans on the board remain narrowly focused on whether board violated any ethics law by accepting the $9000 gift. This is staggeringly beside the point. Helms and fellow board members are presumed to be held to a higher standard than petty thieves.

They are in a position of trust, given immense power with little direct, day-to-day public oversight. If we can’t trust them to do the right thing, then we need to find people we can trust.





ABC Officials Repay Pricey Holiday Dinner


The Chairman of the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and top staff members have paid back $9,000 to an international liquor company that treated the local officials to a holiday dinner last month.

The payback comes as state officials are conducting an investigation into the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse in Charlotte, where a hostess said the cheapest steak is $32.95. State ABC Commission officials said last month that they have the authority to remove local board members and employees who violate state laws against accepting gifts.

“We shouldn't have done it,” ABC board Chair Parks Helms told the Observer Monday. “We made a mistake.”

He said that the dinner for 28 people may have appeared improper and that the board will revise its policies to ensure that guidelines about accepting gifts are clear in the future. The Observer's news partner, WCNC-TV, first broke the story in November.

State ABC Commission Chair Jonathan Williams, who ordered an investigation by the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, commended the board.

“I am pleased to learn the Mecklenburg ABC is taking steps to ensure that this situation is not repeated in the future,” Williams said in a prepared statement, “and also has taken action to address some of the specific questions surrounding the propriety of receiving a gift of this nature.”

He said the investigation is ongoing and that he couldn't comment further.

The state ABC commission runs the central warehouse through which local stores buy their liquor and handles liquor law violation cases but has rarely exerted authority over liquor stores. Those are run by the local boards that are appointed by county commissions and city councils.

Helms, who attended the dinner with his wife Eleanor, is paying $1,000. He was the only board member in attendance. Among the staff, CEO Calvin McDougal, who was accompanied by his wife Portia at the dinner, is paying $4,000. Both men are covering the tab for staffers for whom repayment would be a financial hardship. Other staff must pay $330 each.

A statement issued by the Mecklenburg board suggested that London-based Diageo, which makes brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch, wouldn't gain much by picking up the bill: “The Mecklenburg County ABC system has no business relation[sic] with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.”

The state ABC warehouse essentially serves as storage for the local stores' liquor and sets prices. The distillers still own the liquor until the stores buy it. The local stores determine what is ordered for the warehouse and then pay for it.

Helms said a steady stream of government scandal stories had caused an overreaction to news of the dinner.

“In the business world, you have meetings and dinners with the people whose products you sell,” he said. The Mecklenburg board's statement also said that, in the past, the state commission exempted unsolicited meals from state laws prohibiting distillers from giving gifts to retailers.

In a recent interview with WCNC-TV, Williams said: “In the sales and commercial world, wining and dining is part of how business is done,” he said, “but we're public servants.”

Local board members from Mecklenburg and other jurisdictions have been criticized in the past for annual conferences where liquor companies and others who do business with the state provided drinks, subsidized golf and other freebies. Organizers dropped the golf game from the schedule in 2007 after an Observer story about one of the conferences.



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Sources: WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, WCNC, Google Maps

Park Helms Breaks NC's Alcohol Laws! Where's Jennifer Roberts?

NC State Law Enforcement Agents Says Charlotte- Mecklenburg ABC Board Violated Rules


NC State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ABC Board and the liquor company Diageo broke state alcohol laws during a November dinner for the board at which Diageo paid the $9,000 tab.

The agents' report also details several other dinners and lunches for Mecklenburg board members or employees that were paid for by liquor companies. Board Chair Parks Helms and CEO Calvin McDougal went to lunch at the Ritz Carlton the day before the Nov. 18 dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse.

The agents charged the board with accepting illegal gifts and charged Diageo and one of its representatives with providing the gifts and unlawfully entering an ABC store for reasons other than conducting business.

The state ABC Commission's chair, Jon Williams, ordered the investigation in November, and the commission adjudicates allegations of liquor law violations. The state commission did not issue any additional comment beyond the agents' report.

Helms and McDougal and other employees attending the dinner, originally reported by Observer news partner WCNC, have since repaid Diageo. There were 28 employees and spouses at the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse.

Helms and McDougal have both said that the state commission has previously left it up to local boards to decide whether to accept gifts from distillers. A 1996 memo from the state commission offers unclear guidance, highlighting state law banning gifts but then saying that local boards can decide whether to accept them.

The Mecklenburg board did more than $11 million worth of business with Diageo last year.

Diageo's representative who organized the dinner said he has previously offered to treat Craig Pleasants, general manager of Wake County's ABC Board, to meals but has been refused.





Fire Parks, County ABC CEO Now!


OK folks.

Here’s your smoking gun. State liquor board investigators say that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board violated state law by accepting a $9000 steak dinner from a distiller the board did $11m. worth of business with last year. Plus investigators also uncovered other liquor-seller free lunches, including a Ritz-Carlton feast featuring good ol’ Parks Helms and county ABC CEO Calvin McDougal the day before the $9K dinner.

In all these weeks of chatter about the big Del Frisco’s dinner Parks and McDougal never saw fit to mention that Ritz-Carlton swag. Imagine that. Wonder what other freebies are out there that we don’t know about.

As we’ve said before, it is down to trust. I want to hear Jennifer Roberts stand up and say she trusts the current ABC leadership to do the right thing. If she can’t or won’t do that, then Roberts needs to get a vote out of the county commission to remove Parks and McDougal. Now.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, Google Maps