PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribal Council voted 12-8 to defund a $10 million project to build low-income homes in Prospect.
Pembroke police and Robeson County sheriff’s deputies were outside the council chamber that was filled with about 60 people.
The project called Dream Catcher was presented to the board about a year ago, Housing Committee Chair Annie Taylor said. The project called for the construction of 15 low-income houses in Prospect.
Voting to keep the project funded were Larry Chavis, District 6; Alvin Mercer, District 7; Corbin Eddings, District 8; Dewey McNeill, District 9; Frank Cooper, District 11; Ricky Burnett, District 14; Terry Hunt, District 14; and Douglas Locklear Jr., District 6.
The approved defunding ordinance also prohibits the tribe from establishing any other Dream Catcher project or housing-based project in District 5, of which Prospect is a part, without the knowledge and consent of District 5 residents.
The decision was made after the council members heard comments on the matter from several District 5 residents.
“Please hear the people of District 5. They are saying ‘no,’” Jordan Deese said. “District 5 is politely refusing.”
Kent Chavis called for members of the crowd to stand if they are from Prospect and don’t support the plan. About half of the room stood.
Following suit, Terry Locklear, another District 5 resident, asked the crowd to stand if they supported the project. No one did.
“How would you like to look outside your back door and see those houses going up,” Teresa Bryant said. “Consider our feelings on this tonight.”
Bosco Locklear, a District 5 resident, cited a resolution approved by the council in 2009 when they first bought the land.
“It says ‘therefore be it resolved that the Tribal Council of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina does support and agree to allow tribal administration to begin the process of purchasing one track of land for the establishment of a community center and Boys and Girls Club in District 5,’” Locklear read. “Did anyone hear anything in that therefore about housing? The answer is no.”
District 5 representatives Wendy Moore and Jarrod Lowery also called for the board to kill the project.
“The descendants of our ancestors are asking us to listen to them,” Lowery said. “I’m asking my fellow tribal members to listen.”
“This has been an issue that we have been battling back and forth the past month since I came to the Tribal Council,” Moore said. “I just want to say to all my co-councils, walk in my shoes and understand my people.”
The public comments took an emotional turn when Maxton resident Emma Andrade blamed the tribe for the deaths of Tiffany Goines, Anastacia Locklear, and Danielle Locklear.
They died when the Dodge Avenger they were in ran off a washed-out section of Maxton Pond Road near N.C. 130, southeast of Maxton. There were no signs warning motorists of the danger.
“On Sept. 10, I lost my best friend and I lost two other friends,” Andrade said. “Because of the negligence, incompetence, lack of care, it just seems like you just don’t care. I feel like you took my best friend, you took three mothers, you took 15 years of friendship because of incompetence. I feel as if the blood is on you guy’s hands.”
The property was turned over to the Lumber Tribe in 2013 and the tribe is responsible for its maintenance, Andrew Barksdale, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said recently.
Also at the meeting, the council swore in Lamari Mitchell as a member of the tribal Election Board. Mitchell will represent tribal districts 1, 2 and 12. Rhonda Dial and Kenny Berry were referred back to committee for review of appointments as alternates to the Election Board.
Kenny Be Ima Oxendine was sworn in to the Administrative Court as a representative of districts 1 and 7.
