Raeford, N.C. – After 16 months of fighting for access to public records, and nine months after filing a lawsuit against Hoke County to obtain them, The News-Journal newspaper in Raeford, North Carolina last week finally received the last of the information it requested and voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit.
The News-Journal, an independently-owned community newspaper, announced this week that it was successful in its bid to obtain public records from Hoke County.
When The News-Journal filed the lawsuit, a Hoke County Commissioner claimed that it was “a planned attack on Hoke County government.” Then, Hoke County allegedly retaliated against The News-Journal when the county stopped publishing some legal notices in the newspaper that, by law, must be published for citizens to see. The notices are instead being sent to a newspaper in a neighboring county.
The legal notices that citizens are guaranteed by law to see published, which currently are not being published in a local newspaper in Hoke County, include county zoning and planning public hearings, and Board of Health meeting notices. They have not been published in The News-Journal since the newspaper filed the lawsuit in April 2024.
The News-Journal filed the lawsuit after it tried, unsuccessfully, for seven months to obtain public records from county staff. Between September 2023 and April 2024, The News-Journal filed seven records requests under North Carolina Public Records Law.
The records sought included documents related to: 1) multiple public building construction projects; 2) the stipends, travel expenses, and any other monies paid to Hoke County Board of Commissioners members; 3) purchasing or constructing electronic and static billboards and taking in revenue from selling advertising space on the billboards; 4) installing, and removing Hoke Area Transit Service bus stops in Hoke County.
The records obtained last week showed how much money Hoke County’s five elected commissioners receive for serving on the commission ($37,388 in 2024), and how much they have received in Christmas bonuses (ranging from $541.42 to $766.17 in various years). The documents showed commissioners have also been receiving $500 monthly travel checks, extra money for attending additional meetings and events, as well as reimbursement for travel and meals for attending conferences. The county has spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel expenses in each of the past several years.
The records were the final ones sought. The News-Journal previously obtained in July 2024 over 1,800 pages in documents in response to its records request, but continued pursuing the final documents until they were turned over January 7, 2025.
The lawsuit was made possible with financial support from the North Carolina Press Association Foundation, donations from members of the community and money invested by the newspaper itself.
The News-Journal owner and Publisher Jessica Hendrix Brown said that the newspaper pursued the lawsuit on behalf of citizens’ right to public records.
“Most of the record requests that The News-Journal has submitted have been directly related to relevant concerns that have been brought to our attention by members of this community. We aren't asking for answers for our own benefit, we're asking because the people that work, live and spend their money here in Hoke County want to know how their tax dollars are being spent,” she said. “When these requests are ignored and disregarded, it is not a reporter or journalist that government officials are ‘sticking it to.’ It's the people. The taxpayers. The voters.”
“We didn't file this lawsuit because we believe it's just The News-Journal's right to know, this lawsuit is because it is the public's right to know,” Brown said.
The News-Journal Editor Catharin Shepard thanked attorney Mike Tadych of Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych, PLLC in Raleigh for his legal counsel, and the NCPA Foundation for its assistance.
“We’re a small news operation, and we’re grateful to the NCPA Foundation and Mike for helping us fight a good fight and deliver results to our community,” she said. “The News-Journal is a member of the North Carolina Press Association, which does great work for journalism and journalists in North Carolina.”
“The News-Journal stands today as a 120-year-old fixture in Hoke County. This lawsuit is proof that we are concerned enough about what happens in this community to take financial risks, endure public criticism from elected officials and stand firm against alleged retaliation, all for the sake of stubbornly enforcing the kind of transparency that North Carolina’s public records law requires, and which our role as watchdogs demands that we safeguard,” Shepard said. “That is why we’re here, and that’s why we will continue to fight for citizens’ right to know.”
Attorney Mike Tadych said in a statement:
“The North Carolina Public Records Act’s only enforcement mechanism is to bring suit to compel public records from custodians of records who refuse to provide them.
Hoke County ignored seven public records requests from the News Journal made over a period of about seven months. The News Journal sued Hoke County on its own in April 2024. Instead of providing the requested records or even some of them, Hoke County moved to dismiss the suit because the News Journal did not have an attorney and Commissioners asserted there was no merit to the suit and declared that they would stop the County from publishing certain notices in the paper which are required by law to be published.
The News Journal engaged our firm and we appeared in the case and filed an amended complaint in June 2024. Hoke finally delivered a box of documents to the paper (some 1,872 pages) on July 10, 2024, but refused to provide electronic copies of those records until mid-October despite an acknowledgment that they were available electronically months before. While both productions had many of the requested records, they did not contain records of the stipends and Christmas bonuses paid to Commissioners over the years.
On the eve of trial, Hoke County produced the remaining records – another 10 pages of reports – this week. The News Journal elected to dismiss its suit rather than spend more resources to fight over an attorneys’ fees award.
The whole tale can be boiled down to the importance of keeping good records of public records requests made and not taking “crickets” for an answer.”
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A full story about the lawsuit is available here: http://www.hokenews.com/index.php/2025/01/15/not-taking-crickets-for-an-answer-news-journal-receives-info-on-commissioner-salaries-dismisses-lawsuit/
The documents are available to view and download at http://www.hokenews.com/index.php/publicrecords along with other coverage of the lawsuit. The website does not have a paywall.
Please contact owner and Publisher Jessy Brown at jessica@thenews-journal.com or Editor Catharin Shepard at cshepard@thenews-journal.com with any questions, or call (910) 875-2121 during business hours Monday-Thursday. You can also text Catharin Shepard at (919) 394-4695.