Mayor refuses to discuss police leader’s dismissal before a packed meeting
LATTA, S.C. — About 100 residents of this small Dillon County town showed up for a special meeting of the town council Thursday night, all with one subject on their mind: Crystal Moore’s firing from the police chief post by Mayor Earl Bullard.
Bullard made it clear before the meeting that Moore’s firing wasn’t on the agenda, and he wasn’t going to talk about it.
But that didn’t stop Councilwoman Lutherine Williams and other council members. When the official meeting adjourned, they simply moved it outside.
“All of these citizens came out tonight to be heard,” Williams said after Bullard refused to hear from anyone on the Moore matter.
“You did not have to be standing in corners and out in the hallway,” she said to the standing room-only audience, many of which were forced to listen to the meeting via loud speakers outside the town hall. Those who did make it inside had to show proof of residency.
“We came to him (Bullard) early and asked to have the meeting changed to another location so each of you could attend and be comfortable. He said no, we couldn’t do that. When I called Columbia to talk to them, they’d never in their life heard of people having to sign some form to come and say something in the town they live and work in and pay taxes. This is so wrong. This is so not right.”
Bullard fired Moore on Tuesday but has refused to comment on why he fired her. Councilman Jarret Taylor said Moore was fired because she refused to sign seven written reprimands. Taylor said Moore simply asked to talk with her attorney before signing, but Bullard demanded that she sign the reprimands immediately. When she didn’t, he fired her.
The reprimands were tied to Moore’s investigation of the town’s new Parks and Recreation Department Director Vontray Sellers, who was hired by Bullard in February. The Latta Police Department began looking into Sellers’ background after it was reported that Sellers was driving a town vehicle despite having a suspended driver’s license.
Williams, Taylor and several other council members and local residents said Bullard has been intent on getting rid of Moore because of the former police chief’s sexual orientation.
In a recorded telephone conservation with Taylor that made its way to media outlets and online earlier this week, Bullard said:
“I would much rather have — and I will say this to anybody’s face — somebody who drank and drank too much taking care of my child than I had somebody whose lifestyle is questionable around children. … I’m not going to let two women stand up there and hold hands and let my child be aware of it. And I’m not going to see them do it with two men neither.”
Bullard tried to go into executive session to discuss the Moore firing Thursday night, but council members refused to make a motion to do so. Several said they felt the matter should be discussed in the open.
During the meeting, council members approved second reading of an ordinance that would allow town residents to vote on a referendum that would change the town’s form of government from strong mayor-weak council to strong council. Williams and other councilmen said the change would be the first step in stripping the mayor of some of his powers.
“He doesn’t think he has to follow any rules,” Williams said. “We have a town hall that’s become a Town Hall Burger King. Everything is have it his way. But we’re gonna change that. Everything with him is ‘I, I, I’ but we don’t live in an ‘I’ town. We live in a ‘we’ town. I love each and every one of you, and my intention is to do what’s right. If I’m never elected to sit in this chair again, I’m going to do what’s right.”
Williams requested that a special meeting be held to discuss Moore’s firing. She said she and others will continue to fight for Moore until she is reinstated.
Moore, who has worked for the town since she was a teenager, said she’s overwhelmed and touched by all the support and encouragement she’s received.
“I’m going to fight for my job,” Moore said. “I haven’t ever done anything but uphold the law and the policies of the town of Latta. I’ve tried to live a quiet life and do what’s right.”
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