The Pinehurst Hot Mess: ‘Parachute Pat’ and his gang jumping back into court

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John Strickland, ‘Parachute Pat’ Pizzella and their allies got BUSTED using village government resources to perpetrate political vengeance against their political foes just prior to the November 2021 election.  Assisted by the village manager and the village attorney, the cabal launched a political sabotage sortie aimed at hurting the reelection of Strickland critic Kevin Drum and the reputation of Strickland critic Lydia Boesch.  State Open Meeting laws appeared to have been stomped on and spat upon repeatedly.

There have been up to six attempts to get Strickland, Pizzella and the village team to go to mediation to resolve the dispute. The Strickland-Pizzella cabal insisted on hiring four expensive lawyers to fight a lawsuit brought by Drum and a government transparency organization. ( ‘Parachute Pat’ has reportedly been overheard doing his best Marie Antoinette impression: “Let them eat cake!”  “Let them sue!”)

*Liberal use of lawyers is a lot of fun when you’re not paying the bills YOURSELF.*

The Drum complaint got tossed thanks to some Carthage ‘home cooking’  and a questionable ‘statute of limitations’ ruling by elderly lame duck Judge James Webb.  However, that move was met with a unanimous 3-0 vote by a state court of appeals panel declaring Webb’s dismissal to have been wrongheaded.

Well, the Drum complaint heads back to Moore County Superior Court on September 25. The village legal team has shifted away from a ‘statute of limitations’ argument to a strategy declaring that the e-mail conversation involving a trio of council members and at least two village staffers forming and implementing the political sabotage strategy was NOT A MEETING.

Let’s see.  A quorum of council members and two staffers discussing village business and making decisions via private emails is NOT a meeting??? What’s to stop THESE people from just doing all of their work via private emails and chats, if that turns out to be true?

On the 25th, the Strickland-Pizzella cabal will seek to again have the Drum complaint dismissed. If that effort fails (and it should), the next decision is whether to go to mediation or full-blown court.

Thumbing their noses at state law and their neighbors. Assaulting private property rights. Twisting Pinehurst’s image into the very negative stereotype that so many outsiders have of this community and its people.

These ugly, vile, hateful people need to be defeated in court AND at the polls.  Their concern is not bettering Pinehurst. It’s about finally transforming The Village of Pinehurst into their wildest fantasy: a totalitarian nightmare run by a small rabid pack of oligarchs.

This is OUR community too.  (Interaction with your local government should not require the retention of a lawyer. But it often does.)  Our local government and our tax dollars are not the personal playthings of these Old Town-based thugs.