Southern Pines Town Councilman Mitch Lancaster will not seek reelection to a second term and plans to resign from his elected position this summer. The decision coincides with his family’s
A Moore-County based group led by Pinehurst Village Councilwoman Lydia Boesch and Southern Pines Town Councilman Mitch Lancaster has gone to court to overturn statewide face covering mandates and other COVID-19 related restrictions.
Freedom Matters is the lead plaintiff in a case filed in Carteret County Superior Court on Friday that seeks to curtail Gov. Roy Cooperâs power to issue executive orders related to the pandemic.
The other plaintiff, Michele Nix, is a Carteret County resident and former Vice-Chair of the North Carolina Republican Party who ran in the Republican primary for North Carolinaâs 1st Congressional District in March 2020.
The easing of COVID-19 socioeconomic restrictions in North Carolina had several Triad business owners and operators expressing gratefulness, but also longing for more.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Carteret County Superior Court.
Plaintiffs Danielle Bull owns Bull s Tavern at 408 W. Fourth St., while Tiffany Howell owns Burke Street Pub at 1110 Burke St.
The plaintiffs claim that Cooper s executive orders affecting bars and certain private bar permit holders has made it unprofitable to operate and that each plaintiff has suffered financial damages due to the closing of their business.
The plaintiffs want a judge to issue a declarative judgment that Cooperâs executive orders related to bars are a violation of the state Constitution.
They also want a three-judge panel to declare unconstitutional an element of the state s Emergency Management Act, claiming they do not have an adequate remedy for how Cooper has issued his executive orders.
Bar owners from six counties across North Carolina are going to court to challenge the governor’s executive orders shutting down their businesses. Their lawsuit seeks to have a key piece of the state Emergency Management Act declared unconstitutional.
The suit filed in Carteret County Superior Court arrives the day after a similar complaint filed on behalf of a Greenville bar. Plaintiffs in the new suit own and operate bars in Guilford, Forsyth, New Hanover, Buncombe, and Wake counties, in addition to Carteret.
“The Governor has been issuing his Executive Orders since last March with no checks or balances,” said Chuck Kitchen, the Raleigh-based attorney representing more than a dozen individuals and businesses. “The Plaintiffs’ argument is that the Governor cannot unilaterally make what has the effect of law without the procedural check of the Council of State. Otherwise, the Legislature should be passing laws relating to the pandemic.”