Our Day in Court & Forced Annexation Hearing

Contributed by Brian Irving

The LPNC lawsuit against NC's restrictive ballot access laws is scheduled for a summary judgment hearing this Wednesday, January 30, at 9:30 a. m. in Wake County Superior Court. A good presence in the courtroom will be useful. Please make it, if you can.

For additional information, email Barbara at chair@lpnc.org or give her a call at 919-690-1423 (home) or 919-475-2371 (cell).

Regardless of the outcome of this case, we still need money to pay our legal fees. Any and all donations are welcome.

Go to https://lpnc.org//donate.php and give what you can.

Forced Annexation Hearing

At the same time the LPNC will be in court, forced annexation opponents will be out in force at the NC General Assembly. The House Select Committee on Municipal Annexation will meet Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. in room 544 of the Legislative Office Building.

StopNCAnnexation urges everyone who opposed forced annexation to attend this meeting. It is also important that everyone who can attend be seated in before the meeting begins. The NC League of Municipalities will surely have an organized effort to fill the room with their supporters and lobbyists.

At the same hour, Americans for Prosperity NC and the Pinewild gated community in Moore County will hold a press conference to announce a lawsuit filed in Federal court by the Pinewild community, challenging their annexation into Pinehurst. The news conference will be in front of the legislative building.

In the lawsuit, the Pinewild community asserts that the annexation is seizure of their streets and common infrastructure without the just compensation required by the Fifth Amendment.

Winning this lawsuit will be helpful to all gated communities across North Carolina. If other aspects of the Pinewild legal challenge advances the cause of defining and requiring "meaningful services" to be provided in a forced annexation, this would be helpful to the entire cause for every property owner under the threat of annexation.