Separating Facts

from Rumors

2nd Edition - July 2026

Election season is in full swing—and it’s hard to miss. The volume of misinformation from the left

has arrived earlier and more aggressively than ever before. As long as the pronoun party continues

twisting words, inventing scandals, and spreading lies, we’ll be here to set the record straight with

cited facts and data. Our goal is simple: equip you, the voter, with the clarity needed to make

informed decisions. But don't take our word for it- research yourselves.

Please keep forwarding us the rumors you find. The more we receive, the more effectively we can

address them head-on. Regrettably, it appears debunking nonsense will remain the central focus of

this newsletter between now and November.

CLAIM #1: THE BOARD MOVED THE REVALUATION UP A YEAR TO GENERATE MORE TAXES

ASSESSMENT: 100% FALSE

We are increasingly discovering that people are unaware that property revaluations are mandated by

state law. According to North Carolina General Statute § 105-286, property reappraisals are mandated at least every eight years, and the Board of Commissioners is given the legislative leeway to move that

timeline up.

The previous Democrat-majority board made the decision to move the revaluation up one year. The

meeting minutes below from July 8, 2024 shows that Whit Gibson made the motion to move the

valuation from 2027 to 2026, and B.J. Gibson seconded it. So, if anyone is upset about the revaluation being moved up a year - that frustration belongs squarely on the shoulders of the previous

board.

Having said that, we DO BELIEVE MOVING THE REVALUATION UP WAS THE CORRECT DECISION for several reasons (see our last newsletter). In fact, we would suggest that it be moved up to every 4

years to prevent the problem we just endured. Not only to prevent the “sticker shock” of the new

valuations, but also because it allows wealthy property owners off the hook for “paying their fair share”

and places a larger burden on regular homeowners.

So that raises the question - could the new Republican-majority board have reversed the previous

board's decision when they were sworn in December 2024? Technically yes. Under North Carolina

law, a subsequent board can legally rescind a previous board’s resolution to accelerate a revaluation.

So why didn’t they?

Besides the obvious fact that several members of the new board were on the board that made the

decision, and that the current board agreed that advancing the timeline was the correct fiscal decision - by the time the new Republican majority took office on December 2, 2024, the revaluation process was

already well underway.

On May 22, 2024, Tax Assessor Miki Butler reported that the revaluation work was well underway and

warned of significant increases in property values. Work was actively progressing by mid-2024, six

months before the Republican-majority was sworn in. Remember the core promise of the three new

Republican commissioners was to STOP THE WASTE of taxpayer dollars. Reversing course would have

meant flushing months of taxpayer-funded work directly down the drain.

Also, postponing would not have canceled the revaluation; it would have merely kicked the can 12

months down the road (to 2027) while leaving local taxpayers with the bill for the wasted effort as well as our usual high tax rate.

BOTTOM LINE: The new Republican-majority board chose not to reverse the previous board's decision because stopping a project that was already six months underway would have wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars. Instead of playing politics and kicking the can to 2027, the current board made the fiscally responsible choice to finish the job and protect regular homeowners from future sticker shock.

CLAIM #2: THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD LIED ABOUT BEING MANDATED BY STATE LAW TO

CONDUCT THE PROPERTY REVALUATION

ASSESSMENT: 100% FALSE

There are numerous false and misleading claims in the

recent rambling campaign flyer (right) distributed by Commissioner candidate Ronnie Nicholson. We've already addressed and debunked most of them, and we have no interest

in rehashing every point. However, one claim deserves

particular attention.

In the statement circled, Mr. Nicholson asserts (without

providing any evidence) that Bo Frizzell's statement "has

been proven to be absolutely false."

Let's look at the Chairman’s statement and the actual law. The statement made by the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the special meeting on June 11th, 2026 can be found at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jab_HH2FHyE

He stated the following: “We had the tax reevaluation that jacked up everybody’s taxes and I want

everybody to know that that was state-mandated. The county-commissioners had nothing to do with that from any point.” He then went on to explain the situation the county found itself in regarding SB 889 and SB 474.

BECAUSE THE PREVIOUS BOARD VOTED TO MOVE IT UP A YEAR - under N.C.G.S. § 105-285(d), once January 1st, 2026 arrived, the new valuations officially and legally took effect. Once that January 1st deadline passes, property values cannot be 'rolled back' or changed by the county. Therefore, when the Chairman made his statement on June 11th, 2026 as noted by Ronnie Nicholson in his graphic— nearly six months after the legal point of no return—any attempt to reverse, pause, or roll back the valuations would have been a direct violation of state law.

Furthermore, the Board of Commissioners also held a scheduled public hearing regarding the property

revaluation schedules on December 1, 2025. During this meeting, Board Chairman Bo Frizzell and

county officials clarified that under North Carolina state law (G.S. § 105-286), the county was legally

bound to move forward with the process after January 1st. That statute can be found here and once

again – the Chairman was absolutely correct.

https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_105/GS_105-286.html

That hearing on December 1, 2025, was an open forum specifically designed for citizens to voice

concerns regarding the upcoming property revaluations. By law, the county must publish official public

notices and host a formal public hearing before adopting the new schedules of values—which they did.

Yet, despite these public postings, not a single member of the public showed up to speak. With no public

opposition voiced, the Board formally approved the values at the special meeting on December 11, 2025.

Now, here is the one part of the Chairman’s statement that we can actually pick apart: the part of his

statement where he says that the commissioners had nothing to do with it "FROM ANY POINT." As

stated earlier in CLAIM #1, the new Republican-majority board had roughly one year to reverse that

decision at a loss to the taxpayers. But by law, since the new board chose not to reverse the decision

from the previous board, the board was 100% mandated to follow through with the timeline established.

BOTTOM LINE: Democrats stayed completely silent during the public process but are now trying to exploit property tax anxiety for cheap political points – the same property tax anxiety INITIATED BY THEIR OWN ELECTED OFFICIALS. Here is the legal reality: The Board of Commissioners does not determine property values. Valuations are set independently by the County Tax Assessor and it is against the law for a commissioner to influence the assessment. The Board’s authority is limited to setting the tax rate in response to those values, while managing the timelines locked in by past boards.



___________________________________________________________________

Ronnie Nicholsonr rejects our free and fair elections

Ronnie Nicholson "at war" with non-Black people

(complete with hate group symbol) ¹

SIDE NOTE:



It's one thing for regular citizens to repeat a false rumor because they are unfamiliar with NC property tax law or have personal axes to grind.

But it is completely inexcusable for Ronnie Nicholson, a candidate running for Commissioner, to grab this lie and run with it.

It raises two serious concerns about Ronnie Nichols’ readiness to govern:

1. Is he genuinely unable to comprehend basic North Carolina tax statutes?

2. Or does he know the law, but chose instead to intentionally mislead voters to secure a political

advantage?

Scotland County deserves better than a candidate who is either functionally illiterate when it comes to the law, or deliberately deceptive. Neither trait belongs on the Board of Commissioners.

And let’s be honest - look at these photos (left). Does anyone believe this candidate is prepared to represent ALL citizens of Scotland County—or just the radical leftist fringe?

Scotland County is facing a rough financial road ahead. We need bold decisions and leadership by officials with a proven track record of business and financial success. Scotland County does NOT need a return to the racial divisions and bitter politics of its past.

1. Both the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center have officially designated the New Black Panther Party as a hate group.

CLAIM #3: THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PURPOSELY WAITED UNTIL AFTER THE PRIMARIES TO REVEAL THE HIGH PROPERTY TAX VALUATIONS

ASSESSMENT: 100% FALSE

This is another ludicrous claim and easily disproven with a simple Google search.

The primaries were held on March 3, 2026. North Carolina law requires that new assessed values reflect

the true market value of properties exactly as of January 1. This means the county and its outside

appraisal firm must complete data collection, neighborhood analysis, market studies, and rigorous quality control after that date.

Across nearly all NC counties, notices are mailed in February or March (Scotland County began mailing

notices in February 2026 and continued through March 2026). This is not an anomaly — it’s the norm.

Sending them earlier would have been premature and legally risky. The county followed the standard,

state-aligned workflow used by other North Carolina counties to ensure valuations were complete and

defensible before notifying citizens.

The timing is deliberately structured to provide property owners with a full 30-day window, or as close to it as possible, to examine their new valuations and exercise their right to appeal before the Board of

Equalization and Review convenes.

Why is there only a 30-day appeal window?

The 30-day window is not a local rule; it is strictly enforced by North Carolina law (N.C. General Statute §

105-317.1) for budget security and municipal planning. The state's 30-day limit is designed to create a

"hard stop" so local governments have a 100% accurate count of their tax base before they start

spending your tax dollars. Without it, School and County budgets would be in a constant state of chaos

while appeals are being worked out.

The idea that Tanya Edge, Duke Williams, Tim Ivey, Jeff Shelley, Clarence McPhatter, Ed O’Neal, and Bo Frizzell secretly met behind closed doors and unanimously agreed to delay appraisal notices until after the primary — all to boost three of their political prospects — is simply absurd. There is zero evidence to support such a conspiracy theory. Moreover, it completely ignores that the appraisal process and notification timeline are governed by state law and follow long established procedures.

This is the exact same schedule the county has used for every previous revaluation, and to our knowledge, no prior board of commissioners was ever accused of manipulating it for political gain. The people pushing this story are spreading flat-out misinformation, and doing so is both dishonest and deeply divisive to our community.

BOTTOM LINE: Whether we agree with state law or not, the current Board of Commissioners had

absolutely nothing to do with the timing of the 2026 property appraisal notices. Anyone claiming

otherwise is either uninformed about how the process works, or is deliberately trying to create

controversy.

_____________________________________________________________

SIDE NOTE:

Throughout this entire revaluation process, our Democratic opponents have lobbed constant allegations—yet NOT ONE of them has offered a single alternative solution, or admitted that these decisions were theirs to begin with. The next time you hear their criticisms, demand that they answer these three simple questions:

1. Would you have postponed the revaluation for another year?

Would they throw away the taxpayer dollars already spent by overriding the previous board's decision to move the valuation up a year? And if so, to what effect? Would they prefer we kept Scotland County at the highest tax rate in the state for another year, actively killing potential new business investment and local job growth? Has that been helping anything over the past two decades?

2. Would you have lowered the tax rate below 69.9 cents per $100?

And if so, which department would they cut? The Sheriff’s Office? Parks and Recreation? Social Services? EMS? Make them explain WHY they would make cuts to those departments.

3. Would you have kept the tax rate higher than 69.9 cents per $100 to rake in more revenue?

Would they have barely lowered the rate at all, using the revaluation as a backdoor tax hike to pad the county budget on your dime?

It's easy to criticize. It's much harder to offer solutions. So far, the opposition has done plenty of the former and none of the latter.

CLAIM #4: THE COUNTY DOES A POOR JOB OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC

ASSESSMENT: 100% TRUE

Those who regularly attend our monthly GOP meetings knew this "sticker shock" was coming for well

over a year. Commissioner Jeff Shelley, in particular, spent months warning the public that property

valuations were going to rise significantly, mirroring trends across the rest of the state.

We also believe the County Manager has done an excellent job giving updates on the radio and

answering questions from the public. And while our Commissioners are committed to transparency, they are citizen-legislators with full-time jobs—they cannot personally reach every single household.

As citizens, we also share a responsibility to stay informed by attending meetings, reading the published minutes, or watching the sessions online. To dispel another rumor: meeting minutes ARE published in a timely manner on the county website. However, citizens must understand that minutes cannot legally be posted until they are formally approved at the next 'like-meeting'. This is a standard legal process, not a cover-up, and is simply another example of someone rushing to judgment instead of taking a moment to ask why.

However, the minutes only cover what was discussed during that particular meeting. What we believe the public is missing is WHY certain decisions are made and all the other work board members do OUTSIDE of established meetings (you will see an example of that below regarding the jail overcrowding issue). There is no mechanism currently to capture that work.

To help get information out to the community, the previous Democratic majority board established a paid Clerk to the Board/Public Information Officer (PIO) position. We don't have any issue with having a PIO on staff - as long as they do the job!

Some recommendations:

• County Website: The county website is underutilized. While we completely understand not

wanting to open the floodgates to every crazy comment online, the PIO could easily gather the

most common questions from the public and set up a Frequently Asked Questions page. By

getting direct answers from the commissioners and publishing them, they could easily answer a lot of the community’s questions and really explain the 'why' behind the board's decisions.

• SMS/Text Alerts: We should allow citizens to sign up for text notifications for important

announcements, critical updates, emergency declarations, or high-profile public hearings. If we

had this in place before the December 1, 2025 open forum on property revaluation, a lot more

people would have known about it and had the chance to come out and voice their concerns.

• E-Newsletters: Citizens could opt-in to receive regular email updates summarizing board

decisions, upcoming votes, and community initiatives. For people who don't want to sign up for

emails, we could easily archive these newsletters right on the county website so they're still

accessible to everyone.

• Social Media: The County needs to make better use of platforms like Facebook, X, and

Nextdoor. Other county PIOs heavily rely on these spaces to share real-time updates and break

down board meetings into quick, bite-sized formats that are easy for the average resident to read

and understand.

BOTTOM LINE: Taxpayers fund the PIO position for one reason: public transparency. We insist that

the person in this role step up and keep ALL voters informed. If they are unable to or refuse to do

the job, the County must replace them with a qualified professional who will.

CLAIM #5: NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE ABOUT THE OVERCROWDING OF THE JAIL

ASSESSMENT: PARTLY TRUE

As most people know, the Scotland County Detention Center has struggled with a severe, systemic

overcrowding crisis for over a decade. Designed to hold just 109 inmates, the jail routinely operates at

nearly double its capacity, housing anywhere from 150 to 190 individuals daily.

Let’s be clear: neither the Sheriff’s Office nor the Board of Commissioners has the authority to fix a

bottlenecked court system. They are simply forced to manage the costly and dangerous repercussions.

This overcrowding crisis is the direct result of a broken judicial pipeline. It is fueled by a glaring lack of

urgency from the District Attorney’s office to clear cases, combined with a chronic slow-rolling of

paperwork by the County Clerk of Court’s office. To be fair, there are great people working on the

frontlines in those offices—but they are plagued by mismanagement.

The Clerk of Court leadership has stubbornly refused to embrace the technology rolled out by the state to modernize operations - a failure that was called out by the Democrat primary candidate.

In the case of the DA’s office – here are the stats.

Backlogged cases have increased over 68% since Jamie Adams took over. Remember that Jamie

Adams was never elected. She was appointed as District Attorney - hand-picked by Roy Cooper, a

governor with one of the worst track records in the nation for letting repeat offenders back onto our

streets.

Democrats claim the Scotland County jail was already overcrowded before Jamie Adams became DA.

Again - they conveniently leave out the numbers. Immediately after Roy Cooper appointed Jamie Adams as DA in October 2024, the jail had 116 inmates for 109 beds—a modest 6.4% over capacity. Now, less than two years later under her watch, it’s exploded to an average of 184 inmates—a massive

68.8% jump.

Numbers matter. Every inmate who remains in the county jail instead of being transferred to a state

prison is being housed at SCOTLAND COUNTY TAXPAYER EXPENSE.



• 37 inmates have been in the county jail for more than one year
• 13 inmates have been in the county jail for more than 1,000 days (2 years and 9 months)
• 1 inmate has been in the county jail for more than 2,000 days (5 years and 6 months)

** THIS COSTS THE TAXPAYER MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!

While the court system stalls, the current Republican-majoirty Board of Commissioners has taken more action in the past 18 months than previous boards did in a decade.

September 2025 to March 2026:

• The Board initiated serious discussions with Richmond County leaders to build a state-of-the art Regional Jail facility. Heavily championed by Commissioner Ed O'Neal, this plan would have allowed both counties to pool tax revenues to solve a mutual crisis. When Richmond County ultimately backed out, preferring to pay out-of-county housing fees, the Board pivoted to solve the problem in-house

January 2026:

• Board reached out to State Auditor for support for major infrastructure needs
• Legislative funding request sent to Senator Britt and Representative Pierce to build new jail

February 2026:

• The Board directed the Public Buildings Director to explore renovating an unused portion of the jail’s fourth floor

March 9 - April 10 2026:

• RFP for renovation of current jail published and received

March 31, 2026:

• Commissioner O'Neal and DA Adams visit Smithfield NC to obtain jail design

July 2026:

• Commissioner O’Neal made the motion to fund a feasibility study to expand the current jail capacity to 125 beds – the first step to secure any help from the state for the renovation
• Added 4 new, fully funded positions directly to the jail to handle the increased population safely
• Approved funding for two part-time bailiffs, purposefully freeing up fully sworn court deputies to assist at the jail when needed
• Directed the exploration of the use of electronic ankle-monitoring systems to keep non-violent offenders securely tracked without taking up physical cell space

While these renovations are not the permanent regional facility they originally hoped for, they are necessary steps to ease the massive burden on our Sheriff’s Department. Our law enforcement officers are doing their jobs; now we need competent judicial officials who will do theirs.

BOTTOM LINE: Our sheriff has been rightfully frustrated by the lack of action on jail overcrowding over the past decade. As he prepares to leave office, he has made his solution clear: Elect Dr. Ralph Carter as State Representative to fight for every available dollar in Raleigh, Todd Scott as District Attorney to tackle the judicial backlog, and Jason Butler as Sheriff to get this problem under control and protect the men and women who serve in our jail.

CLAIM #6: REPUBLICANS TOOK AWAY SUNDAY VOTING

ASSESSMENT: 100% FALSE

Recently, the local Democratic Party circulated this graphic claiming: “For the past 12 years, Scotland County voters have had the opportunity to cast ballots during one Sunday of the early voting period.”

That is exactly wrong.

At the Scotland County Board of Elections meeting on July 7, 2026, the Director of the Board of Elections could not have been more clear. She stated on the record that historically, there is NO Sunday voting during mid-term elections. That has been the established precedent for over a decade in Scotland County—even under Democrat-majority election boards, including when Dr. Purcell served as Chairman.

Therefore, the issue is not that Republicans tried to take away Sunday voting. The reality is that Democrats tried to ADD a Sunday to the mid-term elections.

Now that the false narrative has been cleared up, here are the actual arguments presented at the meeting.

________________________________________

THE REPUBLICAN ARGUMENTS:

1. The Fiscal Argument: It is a blatant waste of taxpayer money. At a time when Scotland County must watch every single dollar—and when voters specifically elected leaders to cut government waste—it makes no sense to fund extra overhead, pay for additional poll-worker salaries, and overtime for county staff just to open the polls on a Sunday.

2. The Access Argument: There is absolutely no lack of access in this county for any voter. Scotland County voters already enjoy extensive, highly flexible opportunities to cast their ballots, including:

• 14 days of early voting

• 30 extra hours specifically added to accommodate voters before and after work

• Saturday Voting for those with hectic weekday schedules

• 60 Days of no-excuse mail-in voting where any voter can request a ballot for any reason and never even leave their house

3. The Staffing Argument: It is already incredibly difficult to recruit and retain the dedicated workers and volunteers needed to run our elections. Forcing these citizens to work on an additional Sunday—a day traditionally reserved for family, rest, and worship—will only make it harder to staff our precincts and ensure smooth, secure elections.

__________________________________________

THE DEMOCRAT ARGUMENTS:

1. The Access Argument: Democrats cited past voting numbers—but used data from high-turnout Presidential election years, which is completely irrelevant to this mid-term election. They claimed that in those past elections, 3% to 4% of voters cast ballots on Sundays. However, they portray this statistic as if these individuals could only vote on a Sunday for some reason.

** Remember this was the same “lack of access” argument Democrats used when NC mandated voter ID. Three years later they can’t identify one single person that has been denied access to vote.

2.The Staffing Argument: In today's world, people do virtually everything on Sundays, so the notion that Sunday must be set aside solely for rest and religious observance is no longer necessary.

We encourage citizens to do their own research and examine the facts for themselves rather than simply taking our word for it. At the same time, it's important not to rely on rumors, gossip, or social media claims from individuals who either lack access to the relevant information or are motivated by politics or personal grievances. Informed opinions should be based on verifiable facts and credible sources—as we have tried to do here.

We also encourage citizens to attend the Board of Commissioner meetings the first Monday of each month at 6:00pm at the EOC (1403 West Blvd, Laurinburg, NC). The meetings are also posted to YouTube.

Every month, a County Commissioner attends our monthly GOP meeting to directly answer questions

from the public. While we expect respectful decorum, these sessions are informal, discussion-based, and have no hard time limits. These meetings are 100% open to the public, regardless of political affiliation. Commissioners speak first so anyone who would like to leave after their portion may do so.

Our meeting on July 27th 2026 will highlight Chairman Bo Frizzell and Candidate for Sheriff, Jason Butler.

Meeting Details:

When: Every 4th Monday of the month

Where: Scotland GOP HQ (1040 Salem St., Laurinburg)

Time: 7:00pm. Doors open at 6:30pm for free hot dogs and refreshments.

We hope you can join us!

The Scotland County Republican Party provides this information solely to assist residents in understanding important local issues.

All content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by any candidate or political committee.