Since our last post, there have been several important rulings in Royal Oak Concerned Citizens et. al v. Brunswick County:
- On September 13, 2012, Judge Thomas Lock denied Defendant’s Motions to Dismiss Mark Hardy and ROCCA's Complaints.
- On November 14, 2012, the Court denied Defendant’s motion seeking to prohibit Plaintiffs from taking the depositions of a County Commissioner and the Assistant County Manager.
- On January 18, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Compel Defendant to produce complete responses to a number of discovery requests, in part because Defendant had not produced an entire category of important documents: emails and other internal communications.
- On February 18, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Compel the production of two more fact witnesses whom Defendant had refused to produce on the same “legislative immunity” grounds it had asserted last fall.
- On February 28, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a Motion in the Cause for Costs on grounds Defendant was in willful non-compliance with Judge Tally’s February 7, 2013 Order.
- On March 5, 2013 , Judge Tally denied Defendant's motion seeking to prohibit Plaintiffs from deposing former County Commission Chair Bill Sue and County Manager Marty Lawing.
Finally, on March 8, 2013, Judge Thomas Lock will hear, Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Superior Court in Smithfield, North Carolina.
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Posted by Elizabeth M. Haddix on Thu. March 7, 2013 2:50 PM
Categories: Brunswick County, Community Inclusion, Environmental Justice, Fair Housing, Race Discrimination
On December 18, Managing Attorney Mark Dorosin submitted a letter
to Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board regarding the upcoming 2012-2013
student reassignment plan.
"Racial or socio-economic isolation is a known barrier to securing the prerequisites
to a quality education . . . Moreover, the idea of “community schools” not
only ignores the continuing legacy of residential racial and socio-economic
segregation in housing opportunities, but also takes a shortsighted and narrow
view of what constitutes a community."
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Posted by Mark Dorosin on Wed. December 19, 2012 8:11 AM
Categories: Community Inclusion, Education, Fair Housing, Orange County, Race Discrimination, Segregation
Rogers Road citizens rally for their community
The Center for Civil Rights continues to advocate for the
Rogers Road Neighborhood, a 150-year-old, majority African American community
divided between Chapel Hill and Carrboro that has hosted Orange County’s landfills
for over 40 years.
In 1972, the county sited an unlined landfill near the
community upon a promise to residents that it would close the landfill within
10 years. In 1982, the county instead extended
the life of the landfill and has since expanded it to include two municipal
waste landfills, two construction and demolition debris landfills, a leachate pond, a hazardous
waste collection site, a materials recovery facility, facilities for mulching
yard and clean wood waste, and facilities for managing scrap tires, old
appliances, scrap metal, and salvaged construction materials.
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Posted by Bethan R. Eynon on Mon. December 3, 2012 2:14 PM
Categories: Community Inclusion, Environmental Justice, Orange County, Race Discrimination, Segregation
The first month of my first year in law school, the Center held an interest meeting for students about the Wills Project, where even first semester law students were encouraged to write advanced directives for low-income clients. I had found law school to be dry and passionless, and saw this as an opportunity to take the sort of social justice action that I had envisioned when I applied to law school.
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Posted by Bethan R. Eynon on Tue. September 4, 2012 10:32 AM
Categories: Community Inclusion
Land Value Increases in Brandy Creek
Residents of the Brandy Creek and Wallace Fork Road Community have opened the newest chapter in their struggle for justice against the harms caused by the failed plan to develop Carolina Crossroads entertainment district and the Roanoke Rapids Theater in their neighborhood. Residents of the community filed a lawsuit today in Halifax County Superior Court against the county, the City of Roanoke Rapids, and Weldon City Schools seeking a refund of illegally inflated property taxes collected in 2007, 2008 and 2009. After the 2007 property revaluation, their land values and property taxes went up an average of over 800%, and as high as 1400%, an intense hardship which decimated the community.
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Posted by Peter Hull Gilbert on Fri. August 24, 2012 3:57 PM
Categories: Community Inclusion, Halifax County, Halifax Taxes
Center attorneys speak with ROCCA Clients at August 13 hearing in Brunswick County Superior Court
On August 13, 2012, CCR attorneys Elizabeth Haddix and Peter
Gilbert, with co-counsel Jack Holtzman of the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid
of North Carolina on behalf the Royal Oak Concerned Citizens Association
(ROCCA), Curtis McMillian and Dennis McMillian, defended against Brunswick
County’s motion to dismiss the ROCCA and McMillian claims filed over a year ago.
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Posted by Elizabeth M. Haddix on Wed. August 15, 2012 1:54 PM
Categories: Brunswick County, Community Inclusion, Environmental Justice, Fair Housing, Race Discrimination
Last summer, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill to reduce the number of district-based seats on the Pitt County School Board from 12 to 6, and to add a new at-large seat. Because of its long history of race discrimination in voting, Pitt County is one of 40 counties in the state subject to Section Five of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 requires covered jurisdictions receive preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice of any proposed voting changes, to ensure that minority voting rights are not harmed by the change.
On April 30, 2012, the Justice Department rejected Pitt County Schools' preclearance submission, specially citing the retrogressive impact and discriminatory effect of the voting changes.
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Posted by Mark Dorosin on Fri. May 18, 2012 4:42 PM
Categories: Community Inclusion, Pitt County, Voting Rights
Peter with NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber on the NC Poverty Tour
I became a lawyer to help individuals as a public defender
and had little hope that lawyering could produce significant systemic change.
During law school, I interned at both a public defender office and at the UNC
Center for Civil Rights. Although I found my criminal work rewarding, I was captivated
by the effectiveness of the Center’s approach to challenging entrenched
systemic racism, the legacy of de jure segregation that is the greatest
obstacle to progress in the U.S. South.
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Posted by Peter Hull Gilbert on Mon. May 14, 2012 12:24 PM
Categories: Community Inclusion, Law Students, Professional Development