17 minute read
DA will not press charges in Sylva Zoom bomb
State laws inadequate to address online meetings, prosecutor says
BY HOLLY KAYS S TAFF WRITER
After a July 23 Town of Sylva meeting was cut short following a barrage of racial slurs and other offensive disruptions from some attendees, the Sylva Police Department was quick to issue a press release stating that it was investigating the incident with the goal of identifying and charging the people responsible.
However, it now appears that no charges will be filed in the case, simply because nobody was able to identify a specific law that the Zoom bombers had violated.
“We’ve involved everybody we could involve to try to find a way to file a charge on that, but so far we don’t have anything to work with as far as statutes go,” said Sylva Police Chief Chris Hatton.
The meeting in question was held via Zoom, and commissioners were planning to vote on a resolution to request that the county move the Confederate solider statue currently occupying the steps of the historic courthouse to a location outside of town limits. However, commissioners didn’t even make it through their reports at the top of the agenda before an account named Adira Sahar broke in with a string of disjointed sentences, making liberal use of a racial slur targeting Black people and claiming to have “25 child Black slaves” and proclaiming that “Black lives don’t matter,” among other insults, slurs and profanities.
Two other accounts named Katy Kenz and iPhone also broke in occasionally, and though all three users were soon ejected, attendees endured another round of intimidation when an account that named itself after the town attorney began making lewd comments in the chat and a female voice under an account named Town of Sylva began saying the names of various people in attendance in a creepy, sing-song voice. Commissioners ended up adjourning the meeting and rescheduling it for a different day.
Reconcile Sylva, a group that has been vocal in its opposition to the statue, called the incident an act of “egregious overt racism.”
“While we are proud of the outpouring of love we have received from community members, we cannot allow ourselves to pretend that this means hate is not present here in Sylva,” the group posted on Facebook Aug. 4, together with a clip from the July 23 meeting. “It is. Our community members of color experience hate regularly and it has only increased as talks of removing the statue have grown.”
Both Hatton and Assistant District Attorney Christina Matheson said that they were extremely motivated to press charges and bring the perpetrators to justice but that state laws simply do not address an incident like the one that occurred last month. While there is an applicable federal law, “the federal government is not going to get involved in every case where there’s a Zoom bomb unless it’s a serious threat,” said Matheson.
Had the outburst occurred during a physical, in-person meeting, the protocol would be clear, said Matheson. After such an outburst, the person in question would be asked to leave. If they refused to do so, they would be charged, likely with disorderly conduct — unless the speech in question threatened somebody with bodily harm, in which case different statutes could be applied.
However, the disorderly conduct statute requires that the incident occur in a “public place.”
“’Public place’ has never been defined as a Zoom meeting or as a meeting that may be public but is online,” said Matheson. “And our statute is not really designed to speak to that situation.”
So, she next looked to statutes dealing with computer-related crimes, but that was a dead end too. The Zoom bombers did not hack into a public computer to gain access, because the meeting and link were available to the public. They also did not
— Assistant District Attorney Christina Matheson
physically harm or disable a government computer in any way, and they did not access a government computer for the purpose of fraud, as required by other statutes prosecutors considered.
Finally, the content of the speech, “horrifying” as it was, did not meet the legal definition of a threat, said Hatton.
“If you say that (n word) out loud or you call somebody that name, it feels like it should be a crime, but the truth is you can say that word and you can say it in public, and it’s not a crime,” said Hatton.
It only becomes a crime when the speech contains threats of bodily harm.
“There was no threat to anyone, even when taken at its worst,” said Matheson. “It was awful, and it was horrible, but the threat to harm someone just wasn’t part of it.”
Another issue at play is the fact that you can’t charge a computer.
“You have to charge the person who was utilizing the computer,” said Matheson. “So even if you’re fortunate enough to get the computer, it’s hard to know who was on the other end.”
The investigation was not able to determine the identity of the individuals in question or even the location of the computers. Part of the issue, said Matheson, was that because the investigation could not identify a crime, it could not obtain a warrant to conduct the necessary searches to find that information.
The incident will not result in a criminal case, but both the Town of Sylva and Jackson County have taken steps to ensure that something similar doesn’t happen again. Both entities are now limiting Zoom participants, and those wishing to observe can do so by watching the meetings on YouTube, where they are livestreamed and archived.
Matheson said the incident reveals a need for action at the state level too, in the form of updated statutes. North Carolina is not the only state where prosecutors have found the laws wanting when it comes to addressing the ins, outs and implications of moving previously in-person government meetings online.
“I think our legislature is going to have to look at that, because I don’t believe that Zoom meetings are going to completely go away, even if the pandemic somewhat settles down. I think this is our new norm and there will be more of the Zoom meetings,” said Matheson. “I do think the legislature is going to have to look at what they can do to stop this.”
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Best in the West
Local news outlets to host two-day NC11 candidate forum
Republican Madison Cawthorn and Democrat Moe Davis, candidates for the North Carolina congressional seat left vacant by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have both agreed to appear at a two-day joint forum hosted by three of the district’s largest media outlets.
On the evenings of Friday Sept. 4, and Saturday, Sept. 5, candidates will join moderator Smoky Mountain News’ Cory Vaillancourt and a diverse panel of guests for “Best in the West: North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District forum.”
The first event, to be held at Western Carolina University’s Biltmore Park instructional site, will feature questions by Lenoir-Rhyne University Equity and Diversity Institute program developer Aisha Adams, former Asheville Citizen Times political reporter and current Mountain Xpress contributor Mark Barrett and Pete Kaliner, longtime N.C. political reporter, radio host and podcaster. Topics will include international, national, state and urban issues.
The second event, to be held at WCU in Cullowhee, will include WCU political science and public affairs department chair Chris Cooper, WCU professor of economics and director of WCU’s Center for the Study of Free Enterprise Edward Lopez and Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Topics will include rural issues, native issues and education.
Due to venue capacity limits currently in place, events will not be open to the public, but will be livestreamed. Specific times and instructions on how to watch will be published in the coming days.
South Main buildings to be demolished
Three run-down properties in front of the Hazelwood Ingles were recently purchased by a firm called Hazelwood Corners LLC for just under $1 million. They had been for sale for nearly four years, inviting speculation as to the future of that area.
Brian Noland, the Realtor for these properties, believes that the new owners plan to demolish the buildings as soon as possible. The buildings were formerly occupied by Jim’s Drive In and Smoky Mountain Billiards.
“Then they’ll probably just sit on that land,” he said.
He feels that this may be in anticipation of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plans to make major improvements and changes to the South Main Street area in the coming years. Notable in these are general aesthetic improvements, widening parts of South Main and the construction of a roundabout at Maynor Tire. As per the DOT plans, these unseemly properties are scheduled for eventual demolition anyways. Noland said that it wouldn’t surprise him if the properties were bought to be sold when the DOT begins construction.
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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
The window for the public to provide input on an important planning document is drawing to a close, but given the initial response to the Waynesville 2035 plan, there may not be much more to say.
“I think as always with big plans, there’s areas that could be improved, but I think as a whole, it’s a very good representation of what the town needs to be doing,” said Anthony Sutton, a Waynesville alderman who was formerly the chairman of the town’s planning board.
In that previous role, Sutton spent more time on the document than almost anyone outside of the planning department.
Sutton’s planning board got ahold of the draft plan about a year ago, after a year’s worth of planning and public presentations.
Titled “Waynesville 2035: Planning with Purpose,” the 179-page document covers everything from agriculture to zoning and plots the path of future development in and around the town.
Its predecessor, “Waynesville: Our Heritage, Our Future, Town of Waynesville 2020 Land Development Plan,” had served the same role for almost two decades, as its title suggests, however such master planning documents require regular updates and revisions to maintain relevancy.
Such plans are usually a prerequisite for
Be heard
The Town of Waynesville Board of Aldermen will accept public input on the proposed Waynesville 2035 Planning with Purpose comprehensive plan at its regular board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8. For those who can’t make it on that date, there is also a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25, where public input on relevant topics can be given to aldermen. Those wishing to comment by phone or email may do so by contacting Development Services Director Elizabeth Teague at 828.456.2004 or eteague@waynesvillenc.gov. Both meetings will take place at 6:30 p.m. in town hall, 9 South Main Street, Waynesville.
municipal financial transactions like grants and loans, as funders want to be sure future projects and developments are part of a well thought-out long-term plan that has significant community support, as opposed to frivolous fast-track flights of fancy.
Perhaps most importantly, the plans lay out geographical zones where the community has decided it wants growth, and where it doesn’t want growth. The 2035 plan also spells out what kind of growth the community would like to see – residential, commercial or industrial – and what density that growth should aspire to.
For more than a year, a number of public meetings and comment sessions were conducted in all quarters of the community, from which decisions expressed in the plan originated.
A steering committee, in conjunction with consultants Stewart, Inc., JM Teague, and Chipley Consulting, compiled the input for presentation.
“We came up with a consensus of what was to be put into the plan,” Sutton said. “One of the areas that we can continue to improve is where we put smart growth and how we help revitalize different areas.”
Smart growth principles promote infill development at the expense of sprawl, and the preservation of spaces that make communities like Waynesville unique.
At the regular Waynesville Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11, the plan was presented to the public by lead consultant Jake Petroskey of Stewart, who discussed major concepts included in the plan and answered questions. Aldermen also entertain public comment about the plan, which was minimal.
At the Tuesday, Sept. 8 regular Waynesville Board of Aldermen meeting, public comment will again be heard, and aldermen can decide to vote on adopting the plan at that time or F
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The Town of Canton has made an offer to purchase the west end of a parcel on the northern
border of the Chestnut Mountain tract. Haywood GIS photo
Land deal could bolster Canton’s Chestnut Mountain project
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
Acritical piece of the Chestnut Mountain puzzle could soon come under control of the Town of Canton after town officials voted to make an offer on a small tract of land adjacent to it.
“It’s a good pickup for us,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. “It has great commercial development potential, and there are many opportunities for businesses to be part of it. I think the most important issue is that this gives the Town of Canton control of the entrance not just to the Chestnut Mountain property, but to the town as well.”
Back on June 5, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy purchased a substantial parcel located just east of Canton’s town limits, on U.S. Route 19/23 near the Buncombe County line. Totaling almost 450 acres, it was originally planned as an 8,000-seat motorsports park, but that never came to fruition.
The parcel’s acquisition by SAHC means it will be gifted to the Town of Canton, and soon become a substantial new addition to the list of regional recreational assets.
Some of the funding for SAHC’s acquisihold off if they feel changes are warranted.
But it’s not a stretch to say that the robust public input period — followed by planning board study — may have resulted in the plan meeting public expectations.
“I haven’t been contacted by one single individual,” Sutton said. “I do know that whenever we were in the planning session of this, when I went to all the community meetings that were held in each community and got lots of feedback, that was incorporated into the plan, but I’ve not gotten any pushback or actually even a single conversation from anyone.”
Likewise, Alderman Jon Feichter said he’s happy with the result.
I couldn’t be more pleased,” Feichter said. “I think that the steering committee aided by the members of the community really did an outstanding job. The thing that is most impressive to me is how well thought tion was provided by the Clean Water Management Trust fund, with the idea of protecting the forested tract and the nine miles of Hominy Creek that runs through it.
Several properties not part of the project remain under private ownership – mostly frontage along Route 19/23. One of those, owned by Stephen Westmoreland of Oxon Hill, Maryland, consists of 8.3 acres.
On Aug. 13, the Canton Board of Aldermen/women voted in closed session to make an offer of $15,000 for the westernmost 3.3 acres of Westmoreland’s parcel.
An email from Assistant Town Manager Nick Scheuer says the parcel will be used “for the purposes of providing the frontcountry area of the park, including parking, creek access, potential event lawn and other amenities.”
Scheuer also said that the space could serve as parking for the future share-used path project, as well as for potential development conducive to the project – outfitters, bike shops, coffee shops or even taprooms.
“Given the topographical constraints, this acquisition is incredibly important to the successful development of this amazing
multi-use park,” Scheuer said. out the plan is. It’s very thorough and I think that that’s necessary. What comes out of these plans, the ordinances and the building and zoning board really impacts virtually all aspects of the community. I really like how they considered comprehensively how this is going to impact the community.”
And even if issues crop up in the future, Sutton stressed that the plan is always open to adaptation.
“It’s very expansive, but it’s a living document,” Sutton said. “It’s a working document that gives the planning board and the town something to look forward to and work toward and strive towards. So it’s not like tomorrow the zoning and the whole town is going to change. That’s not how that works. People will always have input on zoning changes within the districts.”
To view the plan, visit www.waynesvillenc.gov.
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