1
00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to

2
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,640
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon

3
00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,519
to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you

4
00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,719
want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,

5
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,239
my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,

6
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,600
go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the

7
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,160
subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your

8
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,719
smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for

9
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,119
your support. Okay, So, as I said in the last

10
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,799
segment there in the last hour, I know it is

11
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:39,799
the honeymoon period for the new chief of Charlotte Mickleburgh

12
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:45,719
Police Estella Patterson. I say again, I wish her all

13
00:00:45,759 --> 00:00:49,439
the best. I want her to be successful. I want

14
00:00:49,439 --> 00:00:57,200
her to to be able to reduce the vacancies. Right,

15
00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,079
these are the things that she said. She's going to

16
00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:05,920
focus on, getting recruitment up, reducing the number of vacancies

17
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:11,120
on CMPD staff, working with the community to basically convince

18
00:01:11,359 --> 00:01:14,920
members of the community to help police. That's a big deal.

19
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,920
She also wants to implement technology solutions to help with

20
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,959
the crime fighting. I like all of that and I

21
00:01:27,079 --> 00:01:30,120
want I want that to work. I want cops happy.

22
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,000
I want them trained, I want them compensated, I want

23
00:01:34,079 --> 00:01:38,000
high morale. I want them to have the support of

24
00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:43,959
the local court system when they arrest particularly repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,

25
00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:49,280
repeat offenders. I want those offenders to stay in jail.

26
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,719
I don't want cops demoralized because they are still doing

27
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,959
the paperwork on an arrested offender and then the person's

28
00:01:57,959 --> 00:02:02,799
already walking out the jail house door. Right now. That

29
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,920
being said, I have some questions, and I feel like

30
00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:14,280
these questions should be answered. I'm not making these as accusations.

31
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,599
I am just asking questions. I am I'm just kind

32
00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:24,360
of curious about the timing, and I feel like the

33
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:34,840
City of Charlotte should explain what occurred here. So Number one,

34
00:02:35,039 --> 00:02:40,759
there was a story back in well, actually this thing

35
00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:46,199
dates back years, okay, years and years ago. There was

36
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,360
a dispute in twenty eighteen, so seven years ago, a

37
00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:56,560
legal dispute between Battalion Chief Lance Patterson of the Charlotte

38
00:02:56,599 --> 00:03:03,960
Fire Department and this of Charlotte. Lance Patterson is Estella

39
00:03:04,039 --> 00:03:13,520
Patterson's husband. Okay, he sued the city and that case

40
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:21,639
has been going on for seven years. And at the website,

41
00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:27,199
Law three sixty dot com story dated October twenty seventh

42
00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:33,080
of this year. So like a week ago headline, NC

43
00:03:33,319 --> 00:03:39,120
fire chief settles race bias suit for real this time.

44
00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:48,400
So they settled the case like a week ago. Now,

45
00:03:48,439 --> 00:03:50,680
far be it for me to suggest that the City

46
00:03:50,719 --> 00:03:56,560
of Charlotte, maybe Charlotte leadership, city manager, mayor, and council.

47
00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:58,759
I don't know who would be involved in that. I

48
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,319
do actually it would be Yeah, it would be the

49
00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:04,479
city attorney, the city manager, and the mayor and council.

50
00:04:04,719 --> 00:04:07,719
If they're going to enter into a settlement, they would

51
00:04:07,759 --> 00:04:10,120
have to sign off on this, perhaps in a closed session,

52
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,599
and by perhaps, I mean definitely in a closed session.

53
00:04:12,599 --> 00:04:16,040
And then they should be releasing that vote. They should

54
00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:20,160
be releasing that information after the settlement is agreed upon.

55
00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,079
And is it weird that that settlement happened a week ago?

56
00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,600
After seven years in the court system? Now it is

57
00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,519
kind of coincidental in that the timing of the case,

58
00:04:36,879 --> 00:04:38,759
and I'm going to go through this because the timing

59
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,480
of the case ended up they were going to trial

60
00:04:42,519 --> 00:04:46,959
in like I think December second was when they were

61
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,839
expected to go to court. December ninth, jury selection was

62
00:04:50,879 --> 00:04:54,319
set to begin December ninth, so they still had a

63
00:04:54,399 --> 00:05:02,879
month's six weeks, all right. So this first from July

64
00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:09,279
twenty ninth this year over at fire law blog dot

65
00:05:09,319 --> 00:05:13,519
com and it focuses on fire department, firefighters and stuff

66
00:05:13,519 --> 00:05:18,480
like that, lawsuits and such piece by Kurt Varone. A

67
00:05:18,519 --> 00:05:22,839
long running employment discrimination case involving the Charlotte Fire Department

68
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,040
is heading back to trial after a federal judge ruled

69
00:05:27,079 --> 00:05:33,839
that enforcable settlement was never actually reached between the City

70
00:05:33,879 --> 00:05:37,600
of Charlotte and Captain Lance Patterson, a twenty year veteran

71
00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,839
of the department. So this is why I say, like

72
00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:45,079
this could be completely coincidental and the timing just fell

73
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:50,160
this way. It just landed like this, okay, Because Patterson,

74
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:56,639
along with a co plaintiff, Captain Sylvia Smith Pfeiffer. These

75
00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,319
two Charlotte Fire employees alleged that the city engaged in

76
00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:07,519
systemic race and gender discrimination in violation of Title seven

77
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,000
forty two USC. Nineteen eighty one, nineteen eighty three and

78
00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,519
the North Carolina Constitution. Both plaintiffs claimed that they were

79
00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:22,120
denied promotions, special assignments, and training opportunities due to race, gender,

80
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,439
and prior protected activity so I'm not sure what that

81
00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:33,279
amounts to. So this again goes back to a complaint

82
00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:39,199
from twenty eighteen. That's when this dispute first arose. Fast

83
00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:44,160
forward four years November twenty twenty two, Captain Smith Peiffer's

84
00:06:44,199 --> 00:06:48,680
trial was underway, but her case was resolved through a

85
00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:53,240
written settlement Captain Patti And by the way, that happens

86
00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:57,279
all the time. Okay, like a lot of lawyers, you know,

87
00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,319
they try to avoid going to court if at all

88
00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,399
possible because it's expensive and so if you can avoid

89
00:07:02,439 --> 00:07:05,079
the trial, best to do so. And a lot of

90
00:07:05,079 --> 00:07:10,199
times that happens, like during jury selection, even as you

91
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,199
know you're you're like, oh, yeah, well we'll see you

92
00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,839
in court. Okay, that's fine, Yeah, that's fine, that's fine.

93
00:07:14,879 --> 00:07:17,040
Everybody talks real tough. And then when you get to

94
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,279
the courthouse and you're sitting through jury selection, it's like,

95
00:07:21,439 --> 00:07:22,920
you know what, maybe we'll go ahead and just settle

96
00:07:22,959 --> 00:07:26,000
now because you don't feel as confident as you've been saying.

97
00:07:26,959 --> 00:07:32,399
So while their trials underway, the co or coplaintiff in

98
00:07:32,439 --> 00:07:37,600
this case, she settles, but Captain Patterson's case was scheduled

99
00:07:37,639 --> 00:07:41,000
to start a couple weeks later, and so he entered

100
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:46,759
into settlement talks and they that appeared to result in

101
00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:51,839
an agreement. This is twenty twenty two. So a mediator

102
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:57,160
circulates the terms of this agreement, including a one hundred

103
00:07:57,199 --> 00:08:01,560
and eighty thousand dollars payment, of which seventy nine thousand

104
00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,000
goes to Captain Patterson and one hundred and one thousand

105
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:10,839
goes to the attorney, plus twenty two one hundred hours,

106
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,480
so two two hundred hours of sick leave, which would

107
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,439
bridge him to retirement at twenty five years. To get

108
00:08:19,519 --> 00:08:23,800
him to the retirement period, the city responded with what

109
00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,920
Patterson viewed as a confirmation of the deal. So the

110
00:08:26,959 --> 00:08:30,720
mediator sends the terms around. Patterson sees the reply from

111
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:35,919
the city. He thinks, okay, we're good. But when the

112
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,960
city sends over its draft legal agreement, it cuts the

113
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,519
twenty two hundred hours down to thirteen seventy five of

114
00:08:46,639 --> 00:08:49,559
sick leave, a difference of about eight hundred and twenty

115
00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,399
five hours, and they say that's all that's required to

116
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,240
get him to the twenty five year retirement mark. The

117
00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,399
city also contended that the seventy nine thousand dollars payment

118
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:05,840
to him would not be pension eligible and that Captain

119
00:09:05,879 --> 00:09:09,799
Patterson would retire. So that's what the city thought the

120
00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,480
mediator had worked out. So when the city drafts its agreement,

121
00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,879
it sends it out. The negotiations then break down. That

122
00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,600
prompts Patterson to seek enforcement through the court of what

123
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,200
he argued was a finalized agreement. He's like, hey, the

124
00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,919
mediator sent this agreement around. Look at the city. It

125
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,080
seems like they said yes and then they come back

126
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,879
with something else. So the court needs to enforce the

127
00:09:30,919 --> 00:09:34,440
original agreement. You know, stories are powerful. They help us

128
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,200
make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us

129
00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,159
to the people of our past while transcending generations. They

130
00:09:41,159 --> 00:09:44,039
help us process the meaning of life, and our stories

131
00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,840
are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with

132
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,960
Creative Video. Started in nineteen ninety seven in mind Hill,

133
00:09:51,039 --> 00:09:53,720
North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this

134
00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:58,039
valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality

135
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,120
produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and

136
00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,840
dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of

137
00:10:04,879 --> 00:10:08,840
the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed.

138
00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,000
Drop them off in person or mail them they'll be

139
00:10:11,039 --> 00:10:13,279
ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your

140
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:19,120
loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays,

141
00:10:19,159 --> 00:10:23,000
or just your family stories, all told through images. That's

142
00:10:23,039 --> 00:10:26,320
what your photos and videos are. They are your life

143
00:10:26,399 --> 00:10:29,039
told through the eyes of everyone around you and all

144
00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,240
who came before you. And they will tell others to

145
00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:36,320
come who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Okay,

146
00:10:36,399 --> 00:10:40,639
so where we left off here? Twenty eighteen complaint filed

147
00:10:40,639 --> 00:10:44,720
by two members of the Charlotte Fire Department. One is

148
00:10:44,799 --> 00:10:49,360
Captain Lance Patterson, husband of now the CMPD, newly appointed

149
00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:55,120
newly hired chief Estella Patterson, twenty five year veteran of

150
00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:59,120
the CMPD and former police chief of Raleigh, most recently.

151
00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,840
Lance Patterson one of the complaint one of the plaintiffs,

152
00:11:04,879 --> 00:11:10,720
I should say, twenty years in Charlotte Fire his co plaintiff,

153
00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:19,759
Captain Sylvia Smith Pfeiffer. Her case goes to trial. First,

154
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:27,840
they allege bias due to race and gender and prior

155
00:11:27,919 --> 00:11:32,559
protected activity quote unquote, So they both go to or

156
00:11:32,639 --> 00:11:37,519
she goes to trial, and then it gets settled. They

157
00:11:37,879 --> 00:11:42,639
so the trial ends with a settlement. Captain Patterson has

158
00:11:43,279 --> 00:11:46,399
a settlement agreement drawn up with the city where apparently

159
00:11:46,399 --> 00:11:49,879
the city agrees to pay one hundred and eighty thousand

160
00:11:49,919 --> 00:11:52,960
dollars in November of twenty twenty two. We're going to

161
00:11:53,039 --> 00:11:55,399
pay you the money you're asking one hundred and eighty

162
00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,639
k seventy nine thousand to go to Captain Patterson, one

163
00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:02,639
hundred one thousand to the low. And then there was

164
00:12:03,279 --> 00:12:07,600
a chunk of sick leave that would be used to

165
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,840
basically get Patterson to retirement eligibility, twenty two hundred hours

166
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,840
of sick time that would bridge that gap that would

167
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:21,360
get him to retirement. So the mediator sends out the

168
00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,080
terms of this agreement. Patterson thinks the city has agreed

169
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,480
to it. But the city then sends out like a

170
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,120
draft of its agreement and it doesn't have the twenty

171
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:38,360
two hundred hours. It has thirteen seventy five. And they

172
00:12:38,399 --> 00:12:40,720
in the city says, well, that's all that's needed to

173
00:12:40,799 --> 00:12:43,879
get you to the retirement Oh and also your seventy

174
00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,679
nine thousand dollars would not be pension eligible. So they

175
00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,519
go back to court and they go to the district court.

176
00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:58,120
Captain Patterson files a motion to enforce the mediator's agreement.

177
00:12:59,879 --> 00:13:05,480
The district court grants that motion to enforce. The city

178
00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:10,639
then appeals. Now we're into twenty twenty four. The Fourth

179
00:13:10,759 --> 00:13:14,679
Circuit vacates the order, so this is now in federal

180
00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:19,799
court right. The Fourth Circuit vacates the order so gets

181
00:13:19,879 --> 00:13:23,159
rid of it, saying the factual disputes existed over whether

182
00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,960
a binding agreement had been reached and whether the parties

183
00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,639
intended to be bound absent assigned writing. The case was

184
00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:34,159
then remanded for a full evidentiary hearing. Now we're into

185
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,720
June of this year, they have a hearing. Captain Patterson's

186
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:45,039
council argues the mediator's email and the city's response constituted

187
00:13:45,159 --> 00:13:50,080
mutual agreement or assent. The city counter that all parties

188
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,759
understood the settlement would be contingent on assigned written agreement

189
00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:58,080
and city approval. Testimony from the city's attorney confirmed that

190
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,480
approval by the city and a full executed document were

191
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,559
prerequisites to any final deal. Then in July of this year,

192
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:12,919
a couple months ago, Judge Timothy Raith denied Captain Patterson's

193
00:14:12,919 --> 00:14:15,320
motion to enforce the settlement on the terms that he

194
00:14:15,399 --> 00:14:19,399
sought concluding the email exchange represented only a preliminary agreement

195
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,639
in principle, not an enforceable settlement. The court emphasized that

196
00:14:23,679 --> 00:14:29,279
the absence of assigned written agreement and unresolved material terms

197
00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,600
meant that there was no meeting of the minds necessary

198
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,200
to form a binding contract. As a result, the court

199
00:14:35,279 --> 00:14:39,759
returned the matter to the trial calendar, setting jury selection

200
00:14:39,919 --> 00:14:44,879
to begin on December ninth, so in like six weeks

201
00:14:44,879 --> 00:14:55,879
from now until October twenty seventh. A Charlotte, North Carolina,

202
00:14:55,919 --> 00:14:57,840
fire chief says he has reached the settlement with the

203
00:14:57,879 --> 00:15:00,679
city over his claims of racial bias, years after he

204
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,559
thought the deal was done the first time. Battalion Chief

205
00:15:03,639 --> 00:15:06,320
Lance Patterson of the Charlotte Fire Department was headed for

206
00:15:06,399 --> 00:15:09,360
trial in December after a federal court found the twenty

207
00:15:09,399 --> 00:15:13,679
twenty two settlement he tried to enforce was never fully finalized,

208
00:15:14,679 --> 00:15:18,159
but he told the court last week the parties have

209
00:15:18,279 --> 00:15:22,679
reached another deal. The settlement ends a dispute from twenty

210
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,120
eighteen in which Patterson and a colleague claimed they hit

211
00:15:26,159 --> 00:15:29,320
a glass ceiling in the fire department because they are black.

212
00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:35,120
In November twenty twenty two, they allegedly reached separate agreements

213
00:15:35,159 --> 00:15:38,279
with the department that included early retirements, but claimed the

214
00:15:38,279 --> 00:15:41,559
city wasn't honoring their deal by deducting retirement funds from

215
00:15:41,559 --> 00:15:45,679
their settlement payouts. And then this is from Law three

216
00:15:45,759 --> 00:15:48,440
sixty dot com where it goes through sort of the

217
00:15:49,879 --> 00:15:56,840
lengthy process that led to here. Okay, twenty twenty, so

218
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:03,039
this goes back to twenty eighteen. I don't know. I

219
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,639
wasn't here in twenty eighteen, so I don't know all

220
00:16:05,679 --> 00:16:07,919
the ins and outs of the case. I haven't seen

221
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,399
what the evidence they had to support this. I just

222
00:16:12,919 --> 00:16:19,559
note the timing that this settlement finally gets done after

223
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:25,240
all these years. It gets done just as Patterson's wife

224
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,559
is selected to be the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police chief. And again,

225
00:16:30,759 --> 00:16:33,799
like I cannot speak to the merits of the claim

226
00:16:34,559 --> 00:16:36,759
of the court case or anything like that, I have

227
00:16:36,879 --> 00:16:41,320
no idea. What I do see, though, is the City

228
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:47,279
of Charlotte once again doing a settlement with somebody in

229
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,480
there soon to be employee, much like the Chief Johnny

230
00:16:51,559 --> 00:16:59,559
Jennings settlement. And that makes me pause. I think, I

231
00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:06,279
think we need some additional information from this, and I

232
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,880
know it's Chief Patterson's honeymoon. I understand that, not like intermarriage,

233
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,160
but like with the city. So right now, everybody's feeling

234
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,319
good about it, everybody's like happy and all of that,

235
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:24,160
but the timing of yet another settlement it raises questions.

236
00:17:24,759 --> 00:17:26,599
All right, if you're listening to this show, you know

237
00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,680
I try to keep up with all sorts of current events,

238
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,759
and I know you do too, And you've probably heard

239
00:17:30,759 --> 00:17:34,839
me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well,

240
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,559
because it's how you detect media bias, which is why

241
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,799
I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app

242
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,240
and it's a website and it combines news from around

243
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,680
the world in one place so you can compare coverage

244
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,640
and verify information. You can check it out at check

245
00:17:49,839 --> 00:17:54,079
dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link

246
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:57,240
in the podcast description too. I started using ground News

247
00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,920
a few months ago and more recently chose to work

248
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,519
them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly

249
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,240
how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot

250
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,119
feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left

251
00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,400
and the right. See for yourself check dot ground, dot news,

252
00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:16,880
slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen

253
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,000
percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to

254
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,480
get unlimited access to every feature your subscription then not

255
00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:26,519
only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground news

256
00:18:26,559 --> 00:18:31,440
as they make the media landscape more transparent. From the

257
00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:38,359
WBT text line, this is from Happily Retired, who says, Pete,

258
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,160
I am a retired firefighter, and I knew both of

259
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,559
the plaintiffs in these cases, one of whom is the

260
00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:52,759
husband of the new Charlotte Mecklinburg police chief. He says,

261
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,759
or she says. It was I don't know who this

262
00:18:54,839 --> 00:18:58,000
person is, but it was not discriminatory practices. It was

263
00:18:58,039 --> 00:19:01,720
their abilities. Neither one should have made chief. They're both

264
00:19:01,759 --> 00:19:06,359
great people, but were not battalion chief qualified. They used

265
00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,519
the race card to get the positions that they wanted, right,

266
00:19:10,559 --> 00:19:13,759
And so that's going to be the accusation, of course,

267
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:18,680
because that's you know, they were suing over this in Charlotte,

268
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:20,599
and like I feel the need to point this out,

269
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,559
Charlotte has had for quite some time now a black

270
00:19:25,599 --> 00:19:33,480
police chief. Right before Jennings at Rodney Monroe, black city manager,

271
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,680
black city attorney, black mayor, majority black council like this,

272
00:19:38,079 --> 00:19:42,119
So now I don't know what the racial makeup of

273
00:19:42,279 --> 00:19:46,519
the Charlotte Fire Department was in twenty eighteen and may again,

274
00:19:46,799 --> 00:19:51,440
I cannot speak to the merits of their complaints, but

275
00:19:51,559 --> 00:19:56,920
the settlement that was arrived at a week before the

276
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,519
announcement of the new police chief being hired, and that

277
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,359
settlement is with her husband. And this case had been

278
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,920
going on for a very long time since twenty eighteen,

279
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,160
but it had been working its way up and down

280
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,559
through the court. So they were fixing to go to

281
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:17,440
trial in December. And you know, his co plaintiff had

282
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:22,119
settled when she went to trial, So it seems like

283
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:27,240
they were close to terms three years prior. And I

284
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,240
don't know what the nature of the agreement. I don't

285
00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,839
know what the terms that they eventually did settle upon were.

286
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,039
I don't know what they were, but I feel like

287
00:20:35,079 --> 00:20:39,680
the city needs to provide that information now. Especially. Look,

288
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,640
and here's the thing. If we hadn't just come through

289
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:47,440
the Chief Johnny Jennings settlement, if we hadn't just gone

290
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,359
through that whole scandal, then this would not be landing

291
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,480
the same way. It just wouldn't. But it is. It's

292
00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:59,000
landing this way now because you had a Charlotte City

293
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:04,279
Council within the last six months that gave three hundred

294
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,720
thousand dollars to the police chief on his way out

295
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:09,799
the door, and then didn't want anybody to know the

296
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:16,480
terms of the deal. So yeah, then there's this from Jason.

297
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,480
Not that it matters, but this new chief of police

298
00:21:19,599 --> 00:21:23,039
will get my support until proven otherwise. Right, I'm in

299
00:21:23,079 --> 00:21:29,319
the same like, I am cautiously optimistic. I'm giving her

300
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,480
a wide berth let like wide lanes to run down.

301
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:36,599
We'll see how she does. Right, The proof will be

302
00:21:36,599 --> 00:21:39,640
in the pudding, he says. I do cringe a little

303
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,680
with her getting such high praise from this city council,

304
00:21:43,319 --> 00:21:45,240
but that's just me not being a huge fan of

305
00:21:45,279 --> 00:21:49,880
the council say the best. Yeah, that's that's the Yeah,

306
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,319
that's that's. Part of the problem is that you're being

307
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,160
hired by this city, this city manager of this city council.

308
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,880
And it's kind of like, mmmm, I do take some

309
00:22:01,039 --> 00:22:08,000
solace in the FOP endorsement because they would know. Now

310
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:19,440
another issue. This was from local blogger Cedar Posts, and

311
00:22:20,079 --> 00:22:25,119
this was from September eleventh, twenty twenty five years ago.

312
00:22:25,319 --> 00:22:29,279
There was apparently an event held at the YWCA Central

313
00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:35,960
Carolina and the YWCA. According to them, they are quote

314
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:41,400
on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom,

315
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:46,680
and dignity for all. They held a panel discussion focusing

316
00:22:46,799 --> 00:22:52,119
again this is September twenty twenty. They held a panel

317
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:58,000
discussion on ending violence by law enforcement, also fearing deportation,

318
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:02,720
slash detainment, keep being safe from mass shootings and gun violence,

319
00:23:03,319 --> 00:23:07,000
ending sexual harassment at work or sexual assault and domestic

320
00:23:07,079 --> 00:23:11,920
violence at home, and fearing consequences of white nationalism and

321
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,000
hate crimes. That was the panel discussion, although they were

322
00:23:16,039 --> 00:23:18,400
going to cover all of those topics, and one of

323
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:24,119
the panelists was then Deputy Chief Estella Patterson. She spoke

324
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:29,599
at this event and according to the YWCA Twitter account

325
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,000
that posted her comments, she is quoted as saying, when

326
00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,880
solving white nationalism, we need to look at the places

327
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:43,000
where this exists, especially people's places of work, to see

328
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,519
some hidden or overt biases and racism. People may have

329
00:23:48,759 --> 00:23:51,799
you start where you are, You start in your home

330
00:23:51,880 --> 00:24:00,000
and your work and determine white nationalists and expose them.

331
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,079
So I would like some further clarification about that is

332
00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:06,920
this a big problem. Are there are the white nationalists

333
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,759
in the room with you right now? Where are these

334
00:24:10,759 --> 00:24:14,359
white nationalists? Do you encounter them often? Are they in

335
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:19,839
the police department? Were they in the fire department? How

336
00:24:19,839 --> 00:24:22,440
big of a problem do you think this is? Like

337
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,599
I would just I have some follow up questions. Again,

338
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,920
not an accusation. Don't know the context that this was

339
00:24:30,319 --> 00:24:36,240
spoken in, except that it was this panel discussion. But like, yeah,

340
00:24:36,599 --> 00:24:40,359
like Cedar Post points out, like what crimes of white

341
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,440
nationalism is she speaking of? How many have there been

342
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,160
in Charlotte? How many hate crimes have been committed by

343
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,200
groups like the Proud Boys or the White Arian Nation

344
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,640
or something? Are these groups active in Charlotte? Because I've

345
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,839
not heard that that would be a big deal. No,

346
00:24:58,079 --> 00:25:01,559
So again, just some follow up questions there. Here's a

347
00:25:01,559 --> 00:25:04,440
great idea. How about making an escape to a really

348
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,720
special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina? Just a

349
00:25:07,799 --> 00:25:10,400
quick drive up the mountain and cabins of Ashville is

350
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,359
your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe

351
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,720
you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family

352
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,400
and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of

353
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,240
Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can

354
00:25:22,279 --> 00:25:25,519
reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter.

355
00:25:25,759 --> 00:25:28,720
Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the

356
00:25:28,759 --> 00:25:32,599
Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in

357
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,440
the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between

358
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,240
Ashville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

359
00:25:38,519 --> 00:25:42,559
It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all

360
00:25:42,599 --> 00:25:47,319
the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs,

361
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,079
Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables and your own private covered porch.

362
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,400
Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a

363
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,480
great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville

364
00:25:59,519 --> 00:26:02,400
has the eye ideal spot for you for any occasion,

365
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,000
and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call her text eight

366
00:26:06,039 --> 00:26:09,519
two eight, three, six seven seventy sixty eight or check

367
00:26:09,519 --> 00:26:12,079
out all there is to offer at Cabins Offashville dot

368
00:26:12,079 --> 00:26:16,400
com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Again. I

369
00:26:16,519 --> 00:26:22,079
bring these issues up regarding Charlotte's new police chief only

370
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:29,440
because they require further examination and follow up questions. There

371
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,079
may not be anything to them. That's why you need

372
00:26:32,079 --> 00:26:35,920
to do the follow up questioning, right, That's why people

373
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,519
need need to explain some of these decisions and comments.

374
00:26:39,599 --> 00:26:45,279
That's all, and then we move on. But again, like

375
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,519
I want this chief to be successful in you know,

376
00:26:48,599 --> 00:26:55,599
reducing crime, in filling the vacancies CMPD, improving morale, hiring

377
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,680
more police, all of what she said she wanted to do.

378
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:03,400
And I I support that. I think everybody should support that. Well,

379
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:09,880
not everybody, Shirley the lefty over on the WBT text

380
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,079
line driven by Liberty Buick gmc. Well, the text line

381
00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:19,839
is driven by Liberty Buick GMC, not Shirley. But this

382
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,680
is typical of how Shirley engages. In fact, if I

383
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,240
were to scroll back through, I could see all of

384
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,319
her comments and they are all basically the same, which is,

385
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,799
we don't care, move on, talk about Republicans crawling at

386
00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:36,160
the feet of King Trump. See, this is how broken

387
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,039
of a brain Shirley has when it comes to Donald Trump.

388
00:27:41,799 --> 00:27:46,400
A new police chief in the city of Charlotte will

389
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:52,839
have more impact, more direct impact on your life than

390
00:27:52,960 --> 00:28:00,400
Donald Trump. But Shirley's a hate listener. She loves to

391
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:05,759
hate listen. It's sort of along the lines like some

392
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:12,279
people aren't happy unless they're miserable. You know, they discovered

393
00:28:12,279 --> 00:28:15,599
this a long time ago with Howard Stern, right, it

394
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,200
was in the movie Private Parts I believe was the

395
00:28:18,279 --> 00:28:21,359
name of the movie based on the book written by

396
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,960
Howard Stern, And what they found was that the people

397
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,480
that hate Howard Stern listened for longer than the people

398
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,359
who liked him. I don't know why that is. I

399
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,119
don't generally like I will not listen to people that

400
00:28:34,319 --> 00:28:35,880
I don't like. I'm not going to sit there and

401
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,160
listen to I'm not going to sit there and be

402
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,640
outraged and just keep listening to it over and over

403
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,359
and over again. Not going to do it. But surely does.

404
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:50,000
She sends me these messages periodically. Oh I missed this

405
00:28:50,079 --> 00:28:55,640
earlier when new police chief overqualified. That's how get the

406
00:28:55,759 --> 00:29:01,240
big jobs overqualified, like pilots, et cetera. I don't know

407
00:29:01,279 --> 00:29:04,960
what that means. And then here's another one cheaters talking

408
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:12,680
about cheating. Move on? Move on? Yeah, so anyway, doesn't

409
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,279
want me talking about the police chief. Doesn't want us

410
00:29:16,559 --> 00:29:19,519
looking at, you know, her record and qualifications and these

411
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,359
outstanding issues. Move on, I don't want to talk about this.

412
00:29:23,759 --> 00:29:26,759
I want to be mad about Donald Trump. That's what

413
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,119
animates me, and that's all I want to talk about,

414
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:40,759
those dastardly Republicans crawling at the feet of Trump. Like, why,

415
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,559
I don't even know what you're talking about there? I

416
00:29:43,599 --> 00:29:46,240
don't like, I don't even know, Like that's just. And

417
00:29:46,559 --> 00:29:49,799
also when you tell me to talk about something, especially

418
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:52,319
as nebulous as that, I'm not going to talk about it.

419
00:29:52,359 --> 00:29:55,039
That's just I got a bit of a contrarian streak

420
00:29:55,079 --> 00:30:01,799
to me. So, but if you have any uh, I

421
00:30:01,839 --> 00:30:07,279
was going to say links, but I don't open the links. Oh,

422
00:30:07,559 --> 00:30:12,079
she just responded, I not miserable. You are bashing people

423
00:30:12,119 --> 00:30:18,920
on a daily basis for money. I'm good. You might

424
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,839
want to work on the texting, Sureley, Like there's a

425
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:27,240
lot of grammatical mistakes there. Again, did I thought I've

426
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,640
been pretty clear? Have I registered an opinion about the

427
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,240
new police chief and whether or not I hope she's successful,

428
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,160
and whether I think she's qualified for the job? Oh?

429
00:30:36,279 --> 00:30:39,559
I yes, I did. Actually, I've said it repeatedly. She

430
00:30:39,759 --> 00:30:44,319
is supremely qualified for the job, and she has the

431
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,559
endorsement of the FOP. She has a lot of support

432
00:30:47,599 --> 00:30:51,480
among rank and file cops. She made the right decision

433
00:30:51,519 --> 00:30:56,119
in the Keith Lamont Scott investigation. I hope she's successful.

434
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,039
I've said all of these things repeatedly, but to Shirley's ear,

435
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:05,759
that doesn't register. None of that registers. That's why I say,

436
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:11,359
you're not happy unless you're miserable. I've not bashed anybody.

437
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:17,319
I didn't bash the fire Captain Lance Patterson. I didn't

438
00:31:17,319 --> 00:31:20,640
bash him. I didn't bash his co plaintiff. I didn't

439
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:25,759
even bash the city council or the city manager. I

440
00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,839
haven't bashed anybody. I pointed out that because of the

441
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,839
settlement with Chief Jennings that people now have questions about

442
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:38,559
this settlement to Patterson's husband, that just coincidentally lined up

443
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,000
with her hiring as the police chief. Now, I also

444
00:31:42,039 --> 00:31:44,759
made it very clear it's possible that the timing was

445
00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:49,119
simply coincidental, because if you look at the timeline, it's

446
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,440
been going on since twenty eighteen, it's going back and forth,

447
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,279
it's been going up and down in the court system.

448
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,720
So yeah, see, surely just here's what she wants to hear.

449
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:06,039
You might call it a dog with right. Jim says

450
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,039
the CMPD chief hiring topic is fair game. Sureley should

451
00:32:11,079 --> 00:32:14,880
go pound sand and focus her wrath on King Donald. Also,

452
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:16,839
I loved here are the white nationalists in the room

453
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:24,759
with you now, President. I thought Shirley was an important person. Yeah,

454
00:32:24,759 --> 00:32:30,960
I don't. Everybody is important in some way. Okay, Now

455
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:36,359
there is one other one other interesting note here is

456
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:41,319
that the same firm, the City of Charlotte used Ralph

457
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:47,000
Anderson and Associates to do this nationwide search to find

458
00:32:47,039 --> 00:32:50,240
the woman that worked here for twenty five years and

459
00:32:50,279 --> 00:32:52,960
then went to Raleigh for three and a half years.

460
00:32:53,599 --> 00:32:57,400
A nationwide search, and like, it does make you wonder, like,

461
00:32:57,519 --> 00:33:00,240
how how many times like we keep hiring these national

462
00:33:00,279 --> 00:33:02,240
search firms and then they end up finding the guy

463
00:33:02,319 --> 00:33:06,200
who's like or gal who's you know who worked for us? Oh,

464
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,319
look at that, a nationwide search and they happened to

465
00:33:08,319 --> 00:33:12,160
be in house the whole time. But the same firm

466
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:18,519
is the one that brought Johnny Jennings in and apparently

467
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:27,599
the city attorney Andrea Leslie fight and the placement of

468
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,480
Shahid Reina as Director of Economic Development in Charlotte, who

469
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:36,640
came from Mecklinberg County. Ath so there's that too, all right,

470
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,039
that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much

471
00:33:39,079 --> 00:33:41,119
for listening. I could not do the show without your

472
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,920
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on

473
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,759
the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too

474
00:33:46,799 --> 00:33:48,480
and tell them you heard it here. You can also

475
00:33:48,519 --> 00:33:51,079
become a patron at my Patreon page or go to

476
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,960
thepetecallnershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening,

477
00:33:55,039 --> 00:34:04,400
and don't break anything while I'm gone.