Bringing you up to speed, Greensboro has been front and center in the debate over police cam videos. The latest case involves Jose Charles, the teenager who was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer following a July 4 incident. Local activists have called for the release of the police video, which can be viewed on a limited basis only by a court order.
The Greensboro City Council was allowed to view the video via court order, and at Tuesday night’s meeting protesters showed up en masse expecting the council to pass a resolution asking the police department to drop the charges against Charles based on what they saw. Unfortunately the meeting descended into chaos because Mayor Nancy Vaughan failed to maintain order. If that’s not bad enough, Vaughan presided over an awkward press conference where she and three other council members voiced their support for the police officer. As the Rhino Times reports, fellow council member Mike Barber–who was not at the press conference, said that “in his opinion the mayor’s statement was skating too close to violating the judge’s order.”
Taking all this into consideration, Rhino editor John Hammer has called for Vaughan to resign:
It is time for Vaughan to resign as mayor and allow someone who is willing and able to conduct City Council meetings take her place so that the business of the city can be done at public meetings.
Vaughan has been been repeatedly warned by friend and foe alike that if she did not take control of the City Council meetings they would only get worse…..For the good of Greensboro, Vaughan needs to resign…..Of course another option would be for Mayor Vaughan to start doing her job.
Something tells me neither one of those things is going to happen, so the only other option is to vote Vaughan out of office come the November municipal election. As we know here in Gboro, outsiders are in short supply—the last outsider to take the mayor’s seat was Bill Knight, a good man who was unfortunately ineffective. However, another outsider is waiting in the wings—John Brown, owner of a local electric and plumbing company. Brown–and anyone else who decides to throw their hat into the ring–needs to hammer away at Vaughan’s lack of leadership during the campaign.
