To the Editor:

Monday, January 23, 2012 will be a historic day in Bertie County and the State of North Carolina. For the first time in North Carolina (that we can tell) a group of concerned citizens will hold their county government accountable to work according to the law of the land as it relates to transparency and public records. This case could be a catalyst for the General Assembly to refine our laws to make government more accountable to the public it serves.

If you are sitting in that courtroom you will not have to depend on the papers, or the Friends of Bertie, or the Bertie County Government to present you with what is true. You will hear the complete story for yourself and you can decide where the truth lies. That sounds pretty American does it not?

Participation is a right and a responsibility. Just remember, you will have that chance to be in the courtroom and hear the complete story, because concerned citizens (just plain ordinary folks) all across Bertie County stepped up and said enough is enough. For that, we are eternally grateful to all the supporters of the Friends of Bertie. We also ask for your continued support in the courtroom on 1/23.

A few have said this was only about Mr. Lamb’s raise. However the secretive and untimely raise was only “the straw that broke the nontransparent camel’s back, ridden too long and hard by the current Board of Commissioners”.  Many citizens understand we have been living under a county government that can only communicate with “no comment’ and “We will take your comments under advisement” without giving the citizens, who pay their salaries, an opportunity to be rightfully informed of the decisions under consideration. Transparency and communication is a two way process. The process here is broken. We are only asking that it be fixed.

This case will demonstrate the level of transparency the citizens of Bertie demand from our elected officials. Two versions of transparency and openness will be debated in the Bertie County Superior Courthouse. One version will win. Every concerned citizen needs to be in that courthouse on 1/23.

John Davis

Merry Hill

Tim Phelps

Windsor

Fen Rascoe

Windsor

Ron Wesson

Windsor