The Daily Herald also ran a separate story on the withholding of the financial reports about the theater:

Two Roanoke Rapids City Council
members say the public has a right to see financial statements
submitted by The Randy Parton Theatre because public money is being
used to fund the venue. However,
Reggie Baird and Jon Baker also contend the fact that the first quarter
report came to the city marked as proprietary and containing trade
secrets represents a legal hurdle they can’t ignore.

Baird said
in a telephone interview Tuesday he did not know at the time council
approved the financing package for the theater, which was in the form
of a $21 million bond issue, that the financial information the venue
would send the city would be labeled as confidential….

Baird said, ?We didn’t rule them as trade or
proprietary, but that’s what they are.?

?That’s not our call to make,? Baker said. ?We’re required to keep them confidential.?

The documents could have arrived marked “radioactive;” that doesn’t mean that they are.