PEMBROKE — Two elected officials in Robeson County firmly deny an implication by county board Chairman Raymond Cummings that they had a financial interest in the Public Schools of Robeson County buying a warehouse in Northeast Lumberton for use as a central office.
Cummings made the implication during a telephone call in which he solicited support for his bid to be Lumbee Tribe chairman. The call was recorded, without Cummings’ knowledge, by the person with whom he spoke. The recording was emailed to The Robesonian in four segments that are sequential.
The Robesonian agreed to provide anonymity to the second person on the phone call because that individual is fearful of retaliation.
In the wide-ranging conversation Cummings said it was school system’s plan to buy a warehouse on N.C. 41 for between $17 million and $22 million. He goes on to imply the building is wholly or partly owned by county Commissioner David Edge and surrounding property is owned by Board of Education member Steve Martin. Cummings claims Edge’s wife showed the building to school leaders.
“We have nothing to do with it,” said David Edge, who is running for a third term on Tuesday in the general election to represent District 6. “My wife has never owned a key to it and has never set foot on the property.”
Herschel Edge, owner of the building, is a distant cousin, Edge said. The Edge family came out of the White Oak community.
He met Herschel Edge once, years ago, when he bought a lawn mower from him, David Edge said.
Steve Martin, the District 7 representative on the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County, didn’t hold his fire.
“That’s a total lie. I have never owned any land on N.C. 41. I’ve never owned any land out that way,” he said.
Danny Martin, a cousin, is married to one of the women who inherited some land along N.C. 41 after the death of Dr. H.M. Baker, Steve Martin said.
Martin said he spoke with the property’s owners and learned the school district could have bought the 110,000-square-foot warehouse and 60 acres of land for about $2.8 million. He presented the information to the school board and Board of Commissioners early in discussions about finding a new central office site.
The central office complex on Caton Road in Lumberton was destroyed by floodwaters generated by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.
It is unclear if the N.C. 41 property was seriously considered as a central office candidate, but the listed price of the warehouse structure is $963,800. According to state Treasurer documents, the warehouse is owned by Stout & Co. LLC, the managing member of which is Herschel S. Edge and the member is Mary Beth Edge, both of White Oak.
A reporter for The Robesonian called Cummings on Wednesday, and he denied making the comments about the Edges and the warehouse, and said he did not remember the telephone conversation. The reporter tried later to call Cummings a second time, but the call was not answered.
Cummings earlier this year led an effort to purchase the Angel Exchange building at COMtech for the central office, but the school board and administrators said they didn’t want it. The motion to negotiate to buy came with David Edge absent from the meeting, prompting him to accuse Cummings publicly of perhaps receiving a kickback on the buy.
Cummings in the audio recording took a few shots at The Robesonian.
“The Robesonian ain’t going to tell you the truth,” he said. “The Robesonian won’t print the facts.”
The school district bought 48 acres along N.C 711 at Deep Branch Road for $168,000, and the cost to construct facilities to house all public school operations may cost as much as $22 million, but no architectural plans have been put forth. Talk of building a central office appears to have given way to an effort to build a school.
The wide-ranging conversation that lasted about 23 minutes also covered the possible hiring of Cummings’ wife as administrator of the county Tax Office, Metcon Construction Company, Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation, and tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr.
The call begins with Cummings asking the voter’s support in the tribal election.
Cummings goes on to support the hiring of his wife as the next county tax administrator. The job’s annual salary is more than $100,000.
“I met my wife in the Tax Office,” Cummings said, explaining the meeting took place after his first wife died. “She has worked hard and has all her certifications.
“I don’t want to penalize her because she is my wife. I will not vote on it.”
Cummings went on to say that when “white men controlled the county” hiring relatives was a common practice.
He said, “I am an old Indian fighter who has fought for his people.
“I am very much hated by The Robesonian because I have been successful. I am going to fight for the issues.”
Cummings supports Metcon, a Pembroke-based construction company, but, he says, the county must accept the lowest bids. He disparaged the work of Home Builders Service, which built many county buildings in the past, saying they did “the most shoddy work in the county.”
Regarding the controversy between the Board of Commissioners and the public schools over a central office location, Cummings said the county would have paid $4 million for Angel Exchange and offered it to the school district.
The Robesonian reported in numerous articles that the county was set to pay $6.2 million for the building that is located in COMtech just outside Pembroke. School leaders refused the offer and relocated to the former BB&T service center on Kahn Drive in Lumberton.
“They’ve spent $500,000 on that white man’s building and it flooded,” Cummings said, referring to the cost of furnishing and moving into the rental property owned by Steve Branch.
School district leaders have said about $250,000 was spent getting the Kahn Drive building suitable for use as a central office site.
Returning to COMtech, Cummings said the land that LREMC obtained from the business park was given to the utility company at no cost or “it may have been $1,000 an acre.”
“We (the county commissioners) don’t control LREMC. They have a board,” Cummings said. “I have no problem with it. We’re trying to attract industry in the county.”
Cummings didn’t address the fact that LREMC’s headquarters was already in the county.
Very little of the recorded conversation pertained to Lumbee Tribe affairs.
Cummings claims that Godwin fired 45 tribal employees and other employees resigned. During this portion of the conversation Cummings says first 17 employees and then says 13 employees resigned.
“You can’t come in here and fire people without giving them due process,” he said. “I’ll restore benefits and give people due process. They were sent home for nothing.
“Harvey fired so many people they can’t build homes for senior citizens.”
Godwin responded to Cummings’ claim in a written statement sent to The Robesonian.
Godwin wrote, “It’s no secret I made personnel changes when I first arrived as chairman of the Lumbee Tribe. I had a different vision for the role of the Lumbee Tribe in our members’ lives than the administration that came before me. I made changes, sometimes painful, that I felt were necessary to carry out my vision for the Lumbee Tribal Government.
“Today I am confident that the current employees of the Lumbee Tribe share my vision for our tribe and are working each day for the betterment of our Lumbee people.”
At one point during the conversation, Cummings, not in response to any question, says this: “Let me tell you, Indians in this county have gotten too much. We’ve gotten out of our place, we’ve gotten out of our lane, and if you don’t knock them down they’ll be too much in charge. You’re involved in stuff. I’m sure you know this.”
He then goes on to talk about allegations of mold on a school bus. Cummings, who recently announced he would resign as PSRC’s director of transportation and retire, said the event was fabricated for social media.
“That was Gerome Chavis and Donnie Douglas, a ploy to make me look bad,” Cummings said. “That bus was extremely clean.”
The bus was at Magnolia school, and Cummings said it was “immaculate.” He said a video by Chavis during which Chavis said mold was present actually showed where Pepsi-Cola had spewed. The Robesonian did not report anything regarding the Magnolia bus.
Chavis is the frontman for the We the People movement and uses social media to make his cases. On Tuesday night, he confronted Cummings and Commissioner Roger Oxendine, but both men walked away and refused to answer any of Chavis’ questions.
Douglas is editor of The Robesonian.
