Lillington Police Chief Demands Apology from Commissioner Gary House
February 14, 2013
Lillington Police Chief Demands Apology from Commissioner Gary House
Daniel Glover
The Harnett Dispatch
February 14, 2014
Harnett County Board of Commissioners P. 0. Box 759
102 E Front Street
Lillington, NC 27546
Dear Commissioners:
Given the recent incident with Commissioner House that occurred at the recreational fields in Lillington and Commissioner’s Houses subsequent statements in that regard, I feel compelled to write to you. It is not my intention to delve into Commissioner House’s use of the ball field. Commissioner House has been informed multiple times of the proper procedure for using the Lillington ball fields. If he needs further information in that regard, he can call the Lillington Parks and Recreation Department. I am writing to address Mr. House’s abusive behavior towards our officers, his attempt to use his position as County Commissioner to threaten our officers and the false statements he has made about the incident.
On the date Mr. House was using the fields, the officers were simply responding to enforce Town rules about the use of the fields. Mr. House was made aware of the rules and asked to follow those rules. Officer J.D. Smith and Officer K.L. Byrd informed Mr. House that he would not be able to practice at the field at that time because he had not complied with those rules. Mr. House was advised to contact the Lillington Parks and Recreation Office if he wanted to use the field in the future.
Immediately following this initial encounter, Commissioner House, instead of complying with a simple and easy rule about use of the field, decided that he would drive to the police station. Once there, Commissioner House acted in an abusive manner to our Town officers. He berated the officers and made threats about using his power as a Commissioner to affect the officer’ salaries and threats about using his power as a Commissioner to reduce County funding for the Town. His behavior towards the officers was not only unacceptable behavior for any citizen but certainly not behavior that is expected from a County Commissioner.
Upon the release of the police reports, Mr. House responded with allegations that these two officers had lied about what happened. He asserted that he had not made virtually any of the statements noted in the police report. This claim by Mr. House is simply false. The officers compiled their reports based on what Mr. House said and did. They did not know Mr. House personally and had no grudge against Mr. House. They were simply doing their job. It was bad enough that Mr. House was abusive to them and used his position as commissioner to threaten
106 West Front Street • P.O. Box 296 • Lillington, North Carolina 27546
Phone: (910) 893-2654 • Fax (910) 893-3693 • www.lillingtonnc.com
Town of Lillington 2
their livelihoods but Mr. House took this to another level when he accused the officers of making a false report in order to hide from what he had done and said.
I am very proud of the job our officers do in the Town of Lillington. Like other local law enforcement they work hard, are paid little and receive very few thanks. They work overtime, nights and weekends. They put their own safety at risk in order to protect ours. And they do their jobs with a level of professionalism that allows them to respond calmly and politely in the face of abusive and threatening behavior such as that displayed by Commissioner House. I certainly hope that the other Commissioners have a much greater respect for local law enforcement than does Mr. House.
Lastly, I firmly believe that Mr. House owes officers Smith and Byrd an apology for his behavior, threats and false statements and I call upon Commissioner House to do so publicly. I Would also ask that you join me in my request for Mr. House to make that apology.
Chief Frank Powers Lillington Police Chief
I cannot wait to see Gary House attempt to lie his way out of this one. He tried today in the other paper but it was crap. He is a piece of crap and needs to return to being a day laborer instead of a CPA and surely he does not need to be a county commissioner. He must have a lot of bad stuff on Burgin and Springle or they would stand up a like a man and admonish him for his stupid actions. Maybe they all three have cut more than a piece of pipe with county money and Randy Rogers and Gary House must have been looking. Guess some of use need to find out what that is.