This letter written by Steve Banks and sent to the Canton Papertown Association Board of Directors this week.

March 27, 2005

Dear Members of The Board Of Directors,

The scandal that has broke is heartbreaking to all of us. It is my intention to offer you an explanation and to identify exactly what transpired. We all have worked so hard and somehow everything fell apart. I intend to show you just why and how this happened.

Most of you are business owners. I ask you, if your daily receipts were $2,000 and the drawer came up seven dollars and fifty cents short, would you call a press conference and have the police arrest your employee for felony embezzlement before speaking to that employee? Surely you would not. This is exactly what has happened this last week. You see, I have raised nearly $20,000 in recent months and the till is $75 dollars off, yet I have been lambasted and arrested for three counts of felony embezzlement. This is ludicrous, to say the least. The worst of it is I can offer you proof the money was spent on one of our functions, supported by all of you.

Jim Weatherman, our Board Chairman, has said to me many times this past week, “We have been torpedoed by FOCUS.”

I will show you absolute proof that we were indeed targeted, but not by FOCUS, rather by a member of our own Board Of Directors.

The targeting has led to me being charged with three counts of Felony Embezzlement , facing a long prison sentence, and the Canton Papertown Association losing credibility. We can get this back, I believ, by taking simple action.

My actions should not be excused; I have made some decisions in poor judgment in recent days, but nothing felonious or criminal. Unfortunately, we were indeed targeted. The only thing that can be said of me, is that I have a poor driving record in North Carolina.

Allow me to begin with my proper explanation of events that have led to this alleged scandal since I was coerced by one of our own Board Members to NOT offer you all an explanation at your recent emergency meeting, which was staged and contrived by that same member of our Board in order to discredit Papertown.

Last week I spent the better part of the week raising money for the Pisgah Bear Ceremonies that were to take place last Friday night. I made a deposit of $725.00, specifically for the Bears ceremony. I still had much more money to pick up and deposit. I collected two checks late Thursday from Smather’s and Norwood, each for $25, and held them in my possession, as depositing would have meant driving to Clyde and visiting Pat Owen. Pat informed me she would be out of town on Friday; I informed her that I would need access to money for the Bears Ceremony for supplies. She said Jim Weatherman would have to pick up the checkbook. Apparently, this never happened. In my view, the show must go on!

Friday night, just hours before the Bears Ceremony, things began to crop up. I needed rope, buckets, specialized paper and many other supplies. My petty cash is kept in a strong box at my home office, 15 miles away. Driving home to get the cash and returning would have meant a loss of nearly 45 minutes. I could not afford a loss of this much time. The ceremony was to take place shortly. I had no choice but to reach into my own pocket and spend $82 on last minute supplies. Friends, I earn about $75 dollars a week at my other job. The $500 dollars I earn per month at Papertown barely covers my expenses in travel and other costs. This $82 dollar expense left me flat broke.

At some point Jim Weatherman showed up at the firehouse and gave me a small amount of cash and another $25 dollar check, from AT Wood Chiropractic I assumed meant for the Bears Ceremony, as he showed up and handed me the check and cash at the Bears venue saying, ‘Here’s more money for the Bears.”

I gave my wife the cash, to put in a strong box at home where I keep Papertown’s petty cash, and to keep it safe. The three checks, now totaling $75, I put in my binder, in my car, to be deposited Monday.

The Pisgah Bears Ceremony went off without a hitch. We had a wonderful attendance with an excellent turnout from the press and by local, state and national officials. Most of all The Bears were honored in a grand way.

After the ceremony, I spent two hours cleaning the firehouse without support from any of the Board of Directors. In fact, Skeeter Curtis, Jim Weatherman and Ronnie Mills were the only ones to show up at the ceremony, but they promptly left at its completion.

Being late and realizing that I had not eaten all day, I went directly to No 81 Main Street, one block away, and ordered dinner. To be quite honest, the elation of the grand ceremony left me with such a good feeling; I plum forgot I had liquidated all my cash earlier in the evening on the Bears ceremony. I remembered I had no cash after I ordered my dinner and felt quite embarrassed. I went to my car to see if I had a credit card or other way to pay, only to find my auto had a flat tire. This compounded a bad situation. I attempted to reach my wife to no avail. I had spent all my cash on the Bears Ceremony, an ordered dinner in a restaurant that we have already had problems in the past and now had a flat tire. I saw embarrassment and problems for me and Papertown if I were to tell the owners of 81 Main Street I could not pay for my dinner. I made a judgment call.

I took into account the fact that no one has ever questioned the former Executive Director’s right to produce and cash checks on the Papertown account. She wrote her own paychecks for many years and no one ever questioned her right to do so. She paid all the bills from the Papertown checking account and even wrote petty cash checks to herself. This has never been an issue. The only issue has been the TDA money and its allocation for brochures never printed.

I made the decision to turn over checks made out to Papertown for the expressed purpose of honoring the Pisgah Bears in order to reimburse myself for expenses I incurred that day at that Bears Ceremony. I felt that I was acting as an agent for the Canton Papertown Association and as Papertown currently owed me money for the same purpose as these checks were intended, I had the right to do so as the Association’s executive director. My assumption was that it would all work out in the end when I met with Pat Owen, our treasurer, the next week.

The owner of 81 Main Street, upon learning of my flat tire, kindly offered to do so. I have never willingly or underhandedly taken money that did not belong to me. In fact, the records show that I have given more than I have ever earned here at Papertown and wholly wish to continue doing so. I love my job and would never think of acting in a manner that would hurt us. Have I not proven this in the past?

Sometime in the next few days, the tire that was fixed again went flat and I was again stuck in Canton with no access to cash. No. 81 Main offered to help me again and this time I bought a new tire from Bill Walker Tire. All told, I cashed 3 checks totaling $75 dollars and that left Papertown owing me about $7 dollars from the original $82 I spent at the Pisgah Bears Ceremonies. Again, I felt that since I put out the money for the Bears, I had the right to act as an agent for Papertown and reimburse myself without question. Again, my intention was to work it out with Pat Owen at a later day. The checks were expressly for the Bears Ceremony and the cash I spent from my own pocket went just for that purpose.

Early the next week, Jim Weatherman called to say he wanted to see me. I stopped by my office at Papertown to find it had been completely ransacked. Files were missing. My computer had been compromised. My telephone unplugged.

I stopped at Hometrust Bank and gave Pat Owen the cash Weatherman had given me the previous week. I did not have all the receipts from the Bears Ceremony with me, so I told her I would be back to get all the books right.

I went to see Weatherman. He informed me that the owners of 81 Main were concerned that I had cashed three checks for $75 cash. I offered my explanation and told him I would return the money immediately if this was a problem. He said this was a bad judgment call on my behalf and that I should return the money. I was able to round up $45 immediately and within twenty minutes offered it to the owners of 81 Main. They accepted. I then proceeded to go home in order to get some more cash, the other $30 and found the police were following me all the way. Before I could get home, I was stopped and charged with failure to appear on an unrelated traffic warrant. I was hauled in to post bond.

This is the time that everything began to go haywire.

Jim Weatherman, our Board Chairman, upon learning that I was in custody on a traffic violation came to the Canton Police Station and made a complaint about the checks to Lt Brian Whitner. He did this without consulting the Board, and without allowing me to offer any explanation. He claims the police took the checks, but I say to you he came to the police department while I was there and gave them to the Lt. Whitner, ordering an investigation on me without consulting any of you. I heard him do so with my own ears. He had no right to do so without an action from the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors should have voted to order an investigation first, according to our by-laws.

He and Lt. Whitner of the Canton PD then began notifying the press. Weatherman called for a press conference. This can be easily confirmed. I have many associates that work in the press, and I have been informed of this. Again, he did this without consulting any of you, without action from the Board as dictated by our by-laws.

Finally, later in the day, he called all of you and called for a special meeting after learning that I was leaving town for a few days. I don’t know why Jim Weatherman called for a press conference, except to say that he planned and orchestrated the downfall of Papertown. He told me to go ahead and get out of town and turn my phone off. He said I should not speak to anyone. I obliged and turned my cell phone off, as I really had no idea he was orchestrating a major defeat for Papertown.

I paid the remaining $30 dollars to 81 Main immediately.

I don’t know what transpired at the special meeting, but seeing how I was underhandedly offered up as a sacrifice, I can only imagine.

I was arrested two days later for 3 counts of Felonious Embezzlement.

I say to you friends, we were indeed “torpedoed,” as Mr. Weatherman puts its, but not by FOCUS. We were underhandedly compromised by our own Chairman in taking actions and notifying authorities and the press before consulting with the Board of Directors. He did not allow you to know the truth by making sure to get me out of town and making sure I was un-reachable when calling all of you together. He compromised you as well by inviting the press to your special meeting. He took actions against all of us, without consulting any of you.

Please don’t think for a minute I am not claiming any responsibility in this. I say to you that yes, I utilized some bad judgment in my dealings, and my driving record is certainly not the best.

But friends, we were indeed torpedoed and now I face three felonies and a lengthy prison stay. Is this what I deserve? Is this what we deserve after all our hard work?

I think not.

I beg of you, do not dissolve Papertown. Do not be concerned about the negative press. Our future is still bright. We have indeed been ‘torpedoed,” only by one of our own and that is what we must now deal with.

I do not feel I deserve a prison stay for my actions. I was already in the Haywood County Jail while my family scrambled to come up with the five-thousand-dollar bond it took to get me out Friday from these charges of Felonious Embezzlement our Chairman put forth against me without consulting the Board. I have been suspended from the Papertown and dragged through the mud by the press. Is this not enough?

I sincerely apologize for may part in this terrible set of circumstances, but I do not feel I brought this wrath upon us alone.

I have been there for you friends, and we have had some good times in these last six months. I was able to begin the process of restoring honor and dignity to our organization. We were beginning to make a difference. Now I must face a humiliating court trial on Felony Embezzlement charges. This could end in a lengthy prison sentence. Do I deserve this?

I beg of you, for my family’s sake, don’t allow this to go any further. I have humbly served you for six months. Now I need you there for me. Please, take action today. May God be with you friends.

Regards,

Steve Banks, Executive Director

Canton Papertown Association