Credit: Tammy Joyner
Credit: Tammy Joyner
Fayette County Board of Commissioners' first meeting of the year could be marked by fireworks - and not the sparkling celebratory kind.
A group of residents are expected to attend tonight's meeting to protest the board's continued pursuit to recoup the county's old voting system. The county was court-ordered to scrap its centuries-old at-large system for district system to give blacks a chance at being elected to the commission and the school. Last November, Pota Coston was elected the first black to serve on the commission. Tonight will be her first board meeting.
Officials from the local NAACP along with community residents are expected to attend tonight's meeting in force in response to an appeals court ruling Wednesday which calls for taking the case to trial.
"They need to drop the appeal and move on. It's a waste of taxpayers' money," said Alice Jones, one of the plaintiffs in the case and the wife of the head of the Fayette NAACP branch. "The've had enough people - whites and blacks - who've stated move on."
To date, both side - the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the county which includes the commission and school board - have spent in excess of $1 million on the case.
