L
EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • Dec. 23, 2015
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INSIDE
UR student on black life - 4 Civil unrest & the youth - 11 NCLB vs ESSA scrutiny - 12 Sentencing reform laws - 17
Richmond & Hampton Roads
LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE
Board member puts others on notice
13 Bankruptcy Petition which allows us to reorganize our It may be an uneasy Christmas holiday for several people in outstanding debts through an affordable repayment plan,” said Richmond. Pinkney Eppes. “Under the plan, we will be able to honor all of Richmond School Board member, Tichi Pinkney Eppes (9th our financial obligations.” She added that the filing is a means for District), is on the war path following a recent report by the CBS her and her husband to gain a fresh affiliate station in Richmond, that she says was laden with lies start. and innuendoes to embarrass and discredit her. The report zeroed Pinkney Eppes takes umbrage in on Pinkney Eppes’ personal bankruptcy and on specific board at a fellow board member’s move expenditures. to “defame and belittle” her on Pinckney Eppes claims the “irresponsible” report failed to give the expenditure issue as a way the repayment particulars of the bankruptcy, which names her of allegedly retaliating for a vote and her husband. Instead, the report sought to give viewers she cast against renewing the the impression that the couple was looking to shirk their contract of Richmond Public Schools responsibilities as related to debt repayment. She also claims that Superintendent Dana Bedden. scrutinizing a $7,000 out-of-town expense to help set up parental Pinkney Eppes The television report questioned involvement in the district she represents, gives the impression the legitimacy of the project that it was never approved by the school board and could have and whether it was a legitimate been used to help solve more pressing student issues. expenditure of taxpayer money. In a lengthy statement released before the weekend, Pinkney “Board member Jeffrey Bourne Eppes is demanding apologies from fellow board members, the [3rd District] ...allowed himself to television station and certain staff, as well as demanding their be used by telling a boldfaced lie, terminations. She is also reserving her right to legal action when he said he was not aware of following consultation with counsel. the price tag for the project,” said “To make it perfectly clear, the … actions that I will be taking do not preclude me from exercising my legal rights,” she said. “After -Pinkney Eppes Pinkney Eppes. “As evidenced by the videotape [of a March 2, 2015 I have had sufficient time to consult with legal counsel, my list of board meeting], he was present ...when the project, including its actions may well increase.” price tag, was revealed and discussed. Pinckney Eppes has faced scrutiny — both personal and “Yet, when Bourne [was asked by a television reporter] whether otherwise — since her election to the board. From alleged he was aware that the project’s price tag was several thousand heated verbal feuds with fellow board members to being dollars, he responded, ‘No, No.’ Not only did this response make publicly admonished and censured over a breach of confidential Bourne him as a liar, it also exposed Bourne as both incompetent and a student information, facing reckless driving charges that were fool because it is inconceivable that anyone... votes to approve a subsequently amended and facing backlash over personal financial project that clearly has a price tag and later claims ignorance regarding the hardship and bankruptcy, the former Richmond City PTA president wants price tag.” the public to know that she is ready to fight for her reputation. Pinckney Eppes says that is “interesting” to note that since the airing of the Court documents indicate that Pinkney Eppes, along with her husband, news report, no fellow board member or legal counsel has taken issue with filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection last April. It is the third filing for the the accuracy of the broadcast or Bourne’s statements. board member who helps direct a city schools budget of over $300 million. “Their silence strongly suggests to me that they were part of the Public filings indicate a trustee in the joint case filed a motion to dismiss conspiracy ...to defame and belittle me. Perhaps, this was their way of it because of alleged failure to make required plan payments, which were retaliating against me for my vote against the extension of the contract of supposed to come from Pinkney Eppes’ husband. If the bankruptcy case is Superintendent Bedden,” she said, adding that she is ditressed by the fact dismissed, Eppes and her husband could lose their protection and be subject that Bourne is employed as a deputy attorney general for the commonwealth. to further collection efforts directly from their creditors. “I am not ashamed to confirm that my husband and I filed a Chapter (continued on page 2)
“I did not run for political office so that my reputation, my efforts and my intentions could be put on the chopping block... ”
Join the Capital City Kwanzaa Festival, Dec. 26, 1 p.m. at Altria Theater