They still call it “lying” in a lot of places. Don’t they?

For 18 months, the local yellow rag has printed frequent scathing editorials against some commissioners, while they have printed multiple exceptionally complimentary stories and photos about the two/three they support (depending on their decisions). It’s gotten to be such a concerted effort that it’s become hard to tell who’s running the game and who’s just the players in this one by now.

The stories have helped nothing but only reflect division within the board. They’ve exaggerated divisions on the board, and who’s caused them. They’ve exaggerated almost all of their contents. All along, the mayor has denied any knowledge or involvement in the articles before they are printed. The editor of the local yellow rag has offered her advance notice though, according to emails. For instance, we published a story about at least one email exchange a few weeks back. https://hopemillsbee.com/grade-this-shady-or-not/

So which one is it? Does the mayor know about the articles, or does she not? Is she instrumental in fanning the division flames, or is she just a misunderstood cheerleader for the town? It’s not that hard to ferret out the truth.

Clearly, someone is misleading someone. Some people say that Bowman might be misleading the mayor, that he is just an opportunist looking for revenge for the Hope Mills Initiative being ended. To them, Warner is just a pawn trapped up in his political wake, and is only going along with his overall plans. Like the exaggerated descriptions he gives of Warner and Edwards, he says his paper has always been “on the right side of issues” in Hope Mills, which either shows an overactive imagination, or an exaggerated memory.

Some say Warner is just “doing her job as mayor” and responding as a mayor should to a board that is mostly bent on destroying her and knocking her from her “no vote” position for the sake of (“no vote”) power. Some say she does everything she’s ever done perfectly, though, so you have to watch out who you listen to. Nobody’s perfect.

Here’s something that’s easy to figure and doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination: the mayor is lying to the citizens. Bowman might also be misleading the citizens, and that’s scandalous coming from the Fourth Estate in this “fake news” world, but realistically he’s not that big a concern, because he’s not up for election by the citizens, they can just ignore his local yellow rag. Citizens will have to decide how to vote for the town leaders in November.

Warner has said all along that she doesn’t have any input or knowledge of stories before the local yellow rag prints them. She said as much after the local yellow rag published an article by her husband that slammed the board. Emails show that’s not factual, accurate, or true. In addition to the “Mouse That Roared” article above from February 2018, Warner was privy to at least one other Bowman screed before it was published in July 2018. She even replied and offered edits to a rough draft for the July one, which was published a day or two later https://www.upandcomingweekly.com/local-news-briefs/5216-hope-mills-commissioners-reject-veterans-retreat-center

Is this “just what mayors do” or “how mayors operate?” Apparently, it is, but it shouldn’t be.

These are just things to keep in mind when you go to vote for mayor. Maybe you still trust the mayor and will believe that this email evidence is just manufactured by some disgruntled people who want to destroy everything Jackie Warner has ever stood for, or to make a name for themselves or their favorite candidate. Maybe you trust some other candidate more and will vote for them instead. This is just information that most people won’t see. It’s evidence that backs up what some people have said. Yet some people will see it and deny it, but denying the truth never changes the truth. It only facilitates more lies.