Madison County Graft and the ongoing political gaslighting, which churns and churns with no ending of the common man’s blood.
Technically, corruption covers a host of abuses, of which graft is one. Graft and corruption are charges that are typically leveled at highly-placed government officials who can use public funds to improve their own fortunes.
When an official uses the access, influence, knowledge, or power that comes with an elevated position and engages in graft, they abuse public trust and may be charged with a crime.
The latest, which is becoming so common in Madison County.
Hoffman and Harwood on the hot seat! Rod Honeycutt Commissioners and Planning Board implicated in more political graft in Madison County…
Buddy Harwood’s new hire has been removed from the Madison County School System…
Letter: Fired police chief sought a relationship with officer’s wife, improperly stored guns
by Kimberly King & Kelly Doty Mon, January 8th 2024
Letter: Fired police chief sought relationship with officer’s wife, improperly stored guns | WLOS
MARS HILL, N.C. (WLOS) — A letter from the Mars Hill town manager detailed accusations of misconduct that led to former Chief of Police Jon Clark’s firing last fall.
In the letter dated Oct. 16, 2023, Town Manager Nathan Bennett accused former Chief Jon Clark of soliciting a relationship with an officer’s wife, lying, insubordination, improperly storing firearms in his office, and driving a town-owned vehicle for personal use.
Bennett said he commissioned an independent investigator to look into concerns regarding Clark’s performance with the town.
Bennett accused Clark of telling “untruths” to him and the investigator, as well as trying to communicate with members of the police department and the misconduct victims after leaving Bennett’s office.
The letter also claims Clark did not secure firearms in his office in a “locked and safe place,” “totally contrary to all concepts of gun safety, particularly for a law enforcement officer.”
Bennett claims Clark used his town-issued car for “personal enjoyment and convenience.”
The letter ends with Bennett saying he had “no choice but to notify the Criminal Justice Standards Commission.”
Neither the sheriff nor the county manager would answer questions regarding the circumstances around Clark’s hiring following his firing from the police department.
Are you surprised that the County manager, Rod Honeycutt, and Sheriff, Buddy Harwood, had no comment?
They don’t want to answer any questions or produce timly public record requests.
Why?
In fact, are you surprised about anything this professional Grafting Company disguised as Madison County Government does?
Good job to Kimberly King and Kelly Dotty in their reporting.
I have to take issue with Nathan Bennett Town, manager for Mars Hill, though. His and his town alderman’s statements of piety and morality are laughable with this illustrious Mars Hill Police Department.
Your conduct in attempting to pursue a romantic relationship with the wife of one of your officers is reprehensible,” Bennett said.
Town Manager Nathan Bennet
Were you not aware that your new hire for Chief of Mars Hill Police Department had an affair with a fellow law enforcement deputy’s wife while he was deployed overseas in Iraq?
It is not like you are batting a thousand in morality and dignity with this bunch of aldermen you have ruling over the town.
- John Chandler
- Nick Honeycutt
- Bill Zink
- Stuart Jolley
- Larry Davis
No wonder Mars Hill keeps picking the bottom of the barrel at the police department. Who in their right mind would want to work for this town and its greasy aldermen?
Speaking of greasy and very concerning, we have new information on this very serious graft by the Madison County Planning Board, Madison County Commissioners, and the two attorneys for Madison County, Donnie Laws and John Noor.
I have three Public Record requests that have been ignored by Madison County Employees, which include these two licensed attorneys in NC, Madison County Building Inspection Offices and Madison Planning and Zoning headed by a guy named Brad Guth, and their Military handler, County Manager Rod Honeycutt.
These requests have been made three times. The building inspection records have been attempted five times, including phone messages.
See Below
Pursuant to the state open records law, N. C. Gen. Stat. sec. 132-1 to 132-10, I write to request access to and a copy of :
- Copy of the salary study commissioned by Madison County Government
- Name of company hired to perform the Madison County salary study
- Amount paid to the company commissioned for the salary study
If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian’s name and address.
If you decide to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial, including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(S) that you rely on. Also, please give all segregated portions of otherwise exempt material.
Please be advised that I am prepared to pursue whatever legal remedy necessary to access the requested records. Violation of the open records law can result in the award of reasonable attorney fees, for which you may be held personally liable.
Pursuant to the state open records law, N. C. Gen. Stat. sec. 132-1 to 132-10, I write to request access to:
- Access to all building permits since 2010. This will be an on-premise public record request. Please notify me through email of the dates your office will be available.
If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian’s name and address.
If you decide to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial, including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(S) that you rely on. Also, please give all segregated portions of otherwise exempt material.
Please be advised that I am prepared to pursue whatever legal remedy necessary to access the requested records. Violation of the open records law can result in the award of reasonable attorney fees, for which you may be held personally liable.
UPDATE
Late this afternoon, Danny Allen of the Building Inspection office for Madison contacted me to review the building inspection records.
You can’t make this one up folks…
Why did Alan Wyatt, a sitting county commissioner, contact one or more Planning Board members before the vote to remove a protective ridge ordinance setback? According to my sources, he told them to vote for Blevins’s requested setback amendment.
And they did!
Alan Wyatt is related to Anthony and Jimmy Willis, who filled out the below application for Ms Toole. These boys marked this application as not being on a protected ridge when it was.
Alan Wyatt, when he sat on the planning board before being elected County Commissioner, altered Madison County ordinances (setbacks).
Alan Wyatt owns Air B&B’s up on Bear Branch. Alan Wyatt profited from this removal of setbacks in our county. John Noor, attorney for Madison County Planning, was working for Madison County taxpayers when Alan Wyatt committed this graft; in other words, Noor was the planning board’s oversight.
Why wasn’t Noor watching out for the taxpayers who pay his salary?
Alan Wyatt is not only related to Willis but does business with them. He sells them drywall for their building projects. I bet Toole’s house is lined with Woodpiles drywall.
Are you catching on. Would it not be a reasonable assumption to believe that Wyatt and the other Four Republican Stooges who vote together on every issue before them are working behind the scenes to remove all protective restrictions?
Do you see how all of these Republican Commissioners who by the way beat the Jesus Fish at every opportunity can be implicated in criminal graft?
I have been informed that the Willis’s have been running around saying they have never heard of the Ridge Protection ordinance until they were caught with the Toole application.
They are licensed contractors; are they not supposed to know the rules? If true, this is lame, shocking, and very concerning.
Here are some facts the County may not have realized.
You cannot get any emergency vehicles or fire trucks to these ridges. These homeowners developers or Ridge Rappers will be the first to cry like babies when their land and homes catch fire. God forbid this catches all the mountains on fire. I wonder if the banks who have given liens on these properties realize the developers may not have properly disclosed that these are protected ridges.
Look at it from an underwriter’s perspective: if these ridges are not accessible by emergency vehicles, then how can they- (the bank) properly insure their investment into this homeowner?
If these builders intentionally lied on a Federal State Municipal document, it is punishable by law…
How do we know these developers are not purposefully doing this? I can’t believe licensed contractors could possibly say they didn’t know about the ordinance, which has been on the books for the last 14 years. If they did know, then they violated the Madison County Ordinance and committed fraud.
Why are our county officials and Donnie Laws even talking to these developers about their possible lawsuits?
Let them sue. They should be more afraid of the suits that will come from the county residents. It seems to me, by looking over all of these facts, that it is the common men and women in Madison County who are doing the right thing, paying their taxes and working while other nefarious good ole boys are possibly committing fraud and other crimes.
Either way, the County and these builders have screwed the pooch on this, which opens the door for anyone to litigate against all.
I have a simple remedy for this: Adopt the Fire Access codes onto the books in Madison County. They were not adopted by these five commissioners below years ago. The reason these are available to be adopted is to protect lives and property. Remember, Blevins and Parker want NO RESTRICTIONS, which speaks volumes to their real intent.
- Dwight Smathers- Republican
- Debbie Ponder- Democrat
- Elsberry Wyatt- Democrat
- Billy Roberts- Republican
- Vernon Ponder-Democrat
Statements made to Johnny Casey on November 8, 2022 from Alan Wyatt and Jeremy Hensley
I don’t remember the people of Madison County being told during the election that you two men would remove protection ordinances in Madison to help your friends.
I don’t remember you two men disclosing to the public that you would grow government and pad the pockets of your friends over in Mars Hill.
Your own numbers from the last budget provide all the evidence. Budget Revenues have outpaced population growth, so in essence, the County manager and commissioners are building more government.
There is more government than there has ever been in Madison County Government. These five Einsteins need to explain how that is Conservative Republican principles.
But hey, Fried Chicken Matt Wechtel spelled it out in his statements to the News-Record.
3 challengers to face incumbent Madison Board of Commissioners chair, vice chair in ’24
By Johnny Casey, Asheville Citizen Times,17 days ago
In an email to The News-Record & Sentinel, Wechtel, a Weaverville resident, said “it has been an honor to serve the taxpayers of Madison County for the past 8+ years.”
“I have decided to file to run for another term as County Commissioner in order to finish what we’ve started,” Wechtel said in the email. “We have made a tremendous amount of progress over the past year.”
Wechtel highlighted a number of key areas he hopes to continue to build on, including the Marshall-Mars Hill Highway 213 water and sewer project, which Wechtel listed as a top goal for his tenure as chair in a News-Record article in January 2023.
Wechtel also pointed to the county 911 radio system overhaul, which is set to enter Phase 2 soon, in which it will choose between Motorola and Zetron for its simulcast VHF system overhaul.
“We are nearing completion of significant repairs to the Historic Madison County Courthouse and are in the beginning stages of designing a new County Courthouse (and more importantly, determining how it will be financed),” Wechtel said. “We will soon begin significant improvements at the Ag Extension Office and the County Fairgrounds (including covering the arena). Funding has been secured to build a beautiful Veterans Park. We have worked with the school system to make substantial improvements and we are currently working to make many more significant improvements countywide.”
Wechtel said the county is also working on a number of economic development projects, and will begin working soon on a plan to expand the parks and recreation program.
“I am hopeful that the voters of Madison County will share our vision and give us the opportunity to see these projects through to conclusion,” Wechtel said.
News Record Johnny Casey
This is more gaslighting by Wechtel. These Commissioners spent all the money that was to go to a new courthouse. They are allocating money we don’t have to fund things we don’t need now, like RECREATION. This is laughable! They act like Democrats.
All Wechtel stated above was that these commissioners plan to grow the government. Where are they going to get the money? Remember, folks, the Reval is next year.
Congress and the Federal Reserve are currently using this type of math.
There is not one commissioner on this board who has a background in finance. Matt Wechtel and Michael Garrison are behind hiring that idiot Brad Guth, the zoning administrator. Guth has no experience in what he does; he is a complete fraud! Matt Wechtel’s mommy got him his job at the Farm Bureau. He and Guth are very similar.
They lie to you and preach the gospel, trying to make you believe in their Emperor’s New Clothes. This is to get you to back off from your convictions.
This is multi-generational brainwashing, and both political parties in Madison have been doing it for years.
Wait till you see your new tax bill. These Republicans and Democrats of Madison act like overlords; they have led the people of this county to believe they have no right to improve their situation. They have conditioned Madison County people – (Common Men and Women) to believe they are of such little value that they can’t possibly speak out to effect meaningful change. Larry Leake once asked me, “Why do you help these minions?”
His statements reflect how these overlords who have profited off the backs of Madison County’s Common Man over the years truly feel about you and me. Shine the light of truth on them, and they scurry away like roaches.
Below is the agenda for tonight’s commissioner’s meeting.
Never Forget…
There is more good than evil in this world, and when good men and women fight for what is right, evil will disappear into the darkness where it belongs.- CH