By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

The Columbus County Board of Elections met Tuesday to hear testimony in a residency challenge.

The Aug. 14 hearing was to determine if Fair Bluff municipal candidate and incumbent James “Jack” Meares Jr. is eligible to vote in the municipal election and hold a commissioner’s seat on the town board.

The board is expected to render a decision at a recessed meeting to be held Thursday (today) at 7 p.m. but has until Aug. 22 to render a written decision.

Two candidates filed affidavits on July 25 challenging the residency of Meares. Chris Scott and John Wayne Phillips alleged Meares lives in Whiteville, not in Fair Bluff.

Scott was not there but sent word that a medical emergency prevented him from attending and he was in New York with his wife. Scott is expected back today but the board told Meares’ attorney, Butch Pope, no further testimony would be taken.

Both Scott and Phillips affidavits were read into the record at the beginning of the hearing.

The board decided on Aug. 6 that records would not be subpoenaed, although the board or challengers had the right to request that records be obtained.

While many questions were asked, few of them came from the board.

Pope asked most of the questions.

“You have asked all the questions or more or better than I could ask,” Board Secretary Leo Mercer told Pope after he finished questioning Meares.

“The law defines that place as where you intend to return,” Pope said. “It may not be as nice as another residence you have.

“He is involved in that community there, he loves Fair Bluff, Fair Bluff is home.

“If he had a house at Lake Waccamaw or White Lake we probably wouldn’t be here,” Pope declared. “If there is some question that he spends too much time at night somewhere else –well, that’s what the voters decide.”

Meares conveyed to the board that he unseated Phillips eight years ago and ran unopposed in the last election.

Phillips later said Meares would not have ran unopposed if Phillips had not “had his hands full” with Fair Bluff Elementary School.

Meares said prior to his marriage he lived at the 305 Conway Road address, a home that his father resided in until he passed away recently.

No one asked Meares where he lived after his marriage and it was a point brought up by Phillips when he testified. Phillips said Meares lived at a home on Railroad Avenue with his family before moving to his Whiteville home.

“That was my wife’s home through a prior marriage,” Meares testified.

Phillips said his mother lives two houses down from the Fair Bluff home where Meares says he resides.

“I never see Mr. Meares residing there,” Phillips said. “I don’t believe he stays there due to my observation.” He said the home on Conway Road is deeded to Meares and his sister, not Meares and his wife.

During his cross examination of Phillips, Pope pointed out Phillips couldn’t say under oath exactly how much time Meares spent at the Fair Bluff home.

“I can’t say exactly – I won’t lie,” Phillips said.

At that point, board member Margaret Roland was the first to ask any question of Meares. “How much time do you spend at your Whiteville house?” she asked him.

“I don’t know,” Meares said.

“You don’t know what percentage?” Roland asked.

Meares said it was easiest just to divide his time between his three homes but he wasn’t sure. “I don’t keep a tally.”

Mercer pointed out the law doesn’t say anything about how much time you spend in a place.

Roland pointed out newspapers reported that he spent 33 percent of his time there.
“It was put in the paper that way,” Meares said, implying he had not said that.
“It was in more than one,” Roland pointed out.

“We know how newspapers are,” Pope interjected.

Meares told a reporter with The News Reporter over the phone on Wednesday Aug. 1 he had made no modifications to his living arrangements and that he spends about 33 and one-third percent of his time at the Fair Bluff address.

In his defense, Meares and Pope presented a binder full of documents showing his driver license, pharmacy license, bank statements, voter registration, and tax forms that show the Fair Bluff address.

Pope asked Meares a series of questions about where his business is, if he had a pet at the Fair Bluff home, if he would keep the home if he had to sell the two other homes he owned in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Whiteville.

Questions about where he paid taxes, had a boat, and got his mail all were answered with: “Fair Bluff.”

“It’s the home where I grew up,” Meares said of the Conway Road home.

Meares says although he owns a home in Whiteville, he considers a home he owns in Fair Bluff to be his official residence and that when his son graduates from high school he plans to sell the Whiteville home in Timber Cove. He said his son now attends Williams Township School.

Becky Enzor asked to testify. She pointed out she does not live in the town limits of Fair Bluff. She said she had concerns about when “someone is misrepresenting himself or herself.”

She discussed her understanding of the law and the fact that she too owns property in multiple states.

She said she had “asked around town” and was interrupted when Pope objected to her brining hearsay into to testimony.

County Attorney Steve Fowler then suggested the complete striking of her testimony.

She followed up with that from her observation Meares didn’t live in Fair Bluff.

At 8:47 a.m. today (Aug. 16) the transcript of the meeting was not available and it is unclear which portions of Enzor’s testimony are redacted.

Enzor said today she was disappointed with how the hearing was handled.

“I had no idea he (Meares) was going to get to answer any questions he wants and that’s it.

“I thought it was very one sided,” she said. “It was a presentation of selected truths – obviously the board only wanted to hear what his attorney had elected to produce.”

Enzor said Roland “seemed to be interested in getting more information.” It appears the board can make a decision “even if there is not sufficient evidence”, Enzor added.

Enzor said it is “nothing personal against” Meares and since she lives outside the town limits she can’t vote for any of the candidates.

At the hearing Pope suggested it was personal but did not elaborate.

County Attorney Steve Fowler said the board followed procedures set forth in the general statutes.

When asked why Meares’ attorney was given the opportunity to cross examine witnesses but no one was given the opportunity to cross examine Meares, Fowler was slow to respond.

“Its my understanding (pause) that the challenger and the candidate can be represented by an attorney,” Fowler said. “In my opinion it was a very fair hearing.”

During the hearing he requested the record reflect both challengers were given proper notice and that no one was there to represent Scott.

Scott, reached by phone Wednesday, said he would be back in town for the hearing today (Thursday).

He said he could not comment on the hearing as he was not there, but he would be requesting transcripts. He said he was not aware someone other than a lawyer could represent him.

“Regardless of how this carries out, I’m not going to let it die,” Scott said. He added that, depending on the outcome of the case, he would appeal if the board sides with Meares because he still believes Meares’ domicile is in Whiteville, not Fair Bluff.

Once the board makes its decision, the challenger or candidate may appeal to the board. The appeal must be made within two business days of the board’s written decision being served upon the parties.

The hearing follows a Monday meeting in which the board agreed to keep the hearing and process open to the public. Board of Elections Director Carla Strickland had prepared a written statement that Deputy Clerk Gina Ward read to the board. In that statement, Strickland pointed out that the board had never gone into closed session for anything but personnel and recommended the hearing process be kept in the open.

A special meeting called the week before, in which The News Reporter was initially denied access to but permitted to enter after the meeting was nearly finished, involved discussion of what questions would be asked at the hearing, according to the draft minutes of the meeting.

Those minutes do not specify which questions would be asked of 19 proposed questions suggested in an opinion written by State Board of Elections counsel Don Wright.

Under state law, the burden of proof lies with Meares to show that he is qualified to be a candidate for the office.

N.C. General Statutes 163-57 address residency for registration and voting. A candidate must be eligible to vote in that district.

The law defines residency in various ways but clearly states that the residence of a person is where the “person’s habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever that person is absent, that person has the intention of returning.”

A key issue the board will have to decide is if Meares did in fact lose his Fair Bluff residency when he purchased a home in Whiteville that his challengers allege is his permanent residence.

The law notes three points must be concluded:

(1) An actual abandonment of the first domicile, coupled with an intent not to return to the first domicile.

(2) The acquisition of a new domicile by actual residence at another place.

(3) The intent of making the newer domicile a permanent domicile.