Revisiting Wilson One Year Later

Last year around this time the town was all up in arms. The atmosphere was very different then than where we are today. How so, well, we had just come through a heated contest concerning the Sheriff’s race here in Wilson County. Getting poised to have another one. The Chair of the Wilson County Democratic Party refused literally to back the Democratic party nominee.  There was no acknowledgement from the local Dem Party for the nominee. No endorsement and no cooperation from the Party Chair.

He was in non-compliance with the NC Democratic Party Plan of Organization. The guidelines that governed the Party.  And to infuriate the matter even worse, the Party Chair wasn’t talking to citizens who wanted to ask him why he was not supporting the party nominee. 

He wasn’t taking their calls, let alone answering their calls. When you tried to pay him a visit over at the Sheriff’s Office, he was always either in a meeting, away from his desk or out of the office. Needless to say that was growing old fast.

The 2010 May primary resulted in challenger Calvin Woodard beating the incumbent Sheriff Wayne Gay. Woodard won the right to have his name placed on the November ballot to run for Sheriff of Wilson County. Un-opposed I might add.

But that didn’t sit so well with some folks around town and especially Gay who got a bit indignant about the situation and swore he’d find the “right person” to run for the job. So he recruited his second in command at the sheriff's office at the time Johnny “Come Marching Home Again” Farmer. Gay convinced him to change his party affiliation from democrat to unaffiliated and to run against Woodard in the 2010 November elections. 

Well, Wilsonians know the end of the story very well. It's one to tell the grandkids and share witha neighbor from time to time. Woodard was throned as the “new” Sheriff in town. He was sworn in on a cold winter’s day in early December.  Johnny packed his bags. Gay worked out the end of his tour of duty and said goodbye to 28 years in the WCSO and the Dem party chair resigned. It was a happy time in Wilson, NC........... The End.

NOT!  Hold up, not so fast. We’ve got more to say about how we got from there to here and where we are today. This journey from 28 years of bondage in this county was not a picnic in the park and it didn’t come without some heated exchanges, sacrifices and hard people by the citizens of this county who wanted change and committed to having it. 

In our next blog post, we’ll be talking about some of the folks who helped to make a difference around here. We'll take a look at the political process, some familiar faces and the  changes in the local Democratic Party. Y’all come back now, you hear.