Commissioner House Responds to Letter from Lillington Police Chief
February 15, 2013
Commissioner House Responds to Letter from Lillington Police Chief
Staff Reporter
The Harnett Dispatch
Gary House
In an attempt to resolve an ongoing issue with the Lillington Police Department and Commissioner House, Chief Powers requested that Commissioner House apologize to the office for accusing them of filing false report. In a response email sent by Gary House he gives no indications of apologizing but instead tells them not to contact him anymore. Read below for email sent.
From: Gary House <gary@ghousecpa.com>
Date: February 14, 2013, 5:34:58 PM EST
To: Bill Summers <BSummers@lillingtonnc.org>
Subject: RE: Lillington Police Chief Powers Letter to Harnett County Commissioners
Reply-To: “gary@ghousecpa.com” <gary@ghousecpa.com>
Mr. Summers,
I respectfully request that you do not contact me in any manner in the future whether if it be by phone, email or mail.
Gary A. House, CPA
phone 910-292-2060
fax 910-292-2098
To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
From: Bill Summers [mailto:BSummers@lillingtonnc.
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:23 PM
To: jimburgin@charter.net; gary@GHouseCPA.com; joemiller59@charter.net; cgspringl@gmail.com; jburgin@cdinsnc.com
Cc: Tony Buzzard; ‘JJeffries@harnett.org‘; Dianne Johnson; gmcfadden@harnett.org; jbreeden@centurylink.net; Marshall Page; pjphillips@embarqmail.com; tmsteph@gmail.com; Vickie B. Wilson
Subject: Lillington Police Chief Powers Letter to Harnett County Commissioners
Attached is a letter that I received from Frank Powers, Lillington Police Chief, in response to Commissioner Gary House’s behavior and subsequent comments from the incident on February 2, 2013. I have reviewed the letter and agree with Chief Powers assessment of the situation.
Please feel free to contact Chief Powers or myself if you need any further information.
Bill Summers | Town Manager
Town of Lillington
P.O. Box 296
106 West Front Street
910.893.3693(f)
Pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 132, Public Records, this electronic mail message and any attachments hereto, as well as any electronic mail message(s) that may be sent in response to it may be considered public records and therefore are subject to public record requests for review and copying under the Public Records Law.
So typical!!!
Dear Commissioner House,
As you are likely aware I am the town attorney for the Town of Lillington. I am in receipt of an email you sent to Lillington Town Manager Bill Summers as a follow up to a letter he forwarded you from Lillington Police Chief Frank Powers. It appears that you are requesting that Mr. Summers not contact you in the future for any reason. For the reasons outlined below, we cannot honor your request that Mr. Summers not contact you for any reason. However, rest assured that Mr. Summers does not have any personal desire to contact you. In fact, I am not aware that Mr. Summers even knows you personally or that you have ever met.
Mr. Summers forwarded you the letter from Chief Powers for two reasons. First, the letter was sent specifically to you since you were the person involved in the incident. It was only fair that you receive a copy and I instructed Mr. Summers that you should be sent a copy. Second, since you are a member of the County Board and we were copying all Board members, you would have been copied for that reason as well.
As a County Commissioner, there will likely be occasions when the Town of Lillington may need to contact you concerning official Town business. This contact will likely be from the Town Manager. If Mr. Summers is the Town Manager, then it will likely be from Mr. Summers. The Town is not required to comply with your special request about the particular person who will contact you about Town business. And we certainly cannot comply with your request that you not be contacted about Town issues by the very person who is responsible for managing the Town.
In addition, since this issue involved you personally, it was necessary that you be notified of the position of the Town in regard to your unacceptable behavior and your follow-up statements. Given that the letter requests an apology for your behavior, the letter would have to be sent to you. And since the request came from a Town Department, it only makes sense that the Town Manager send you the letter. This would be standard practice in such an incident and that standard practice would likely remain the same in the event of future incidents.
If, for some reason, you prefer not to be contacted by Mr. Summers then I would recommend several courses of action. First, I would recommend that you simply comply in the same manner as anyone else with Town rules and regulations. Second, I would suggest that you not be argumentative or berating of law enforcement officers. Third, I would recommend that you not attempt to use your position as a County Commissioner to try to extort special privileges or to threaten others. Lastly, if you truly desire for some reason that Mr. Summers not have any contact with you, even about official Town business, then you would have to resign your position as County Commissioner. Short of these things, the Town Manager (whether it is Bill Summers or someone else in that position at the time) will likely be the person contacting you about Town business.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office. If you prefer, please feel free to do so through your own private counsel.
Sincerely,
Robert A. “Tony” Buzzard
BAIN, BUZZARD & MCRAE, LLP
Lillington Town Attorney
It’s hard not to laugh. In Gary House’s letter to the Lillington Town Manager requesting that he not be contacted in any way in the future………………he closes with his e-mail address and phone number!
If GH hadn’t spent the last few years ruining so many people’s lives this would all be very entertaining. Unfortunately, the county has lost tons of money, several people have lost their jobs, many have been slandered, and now he basically calls members of the police force in Lillington liars, tries to use his position as a public official for personal gain/revenge, and accuses the Mayor of Lillington of singling him out unfairly. He is a dangerous man. Hopefully someone with common sense will run against him during the next election cycle and the county can be rid of him in any public capacity in the future.