Time to stop annexation efforts

It appears that the attorney representing the city of Rocky Mount in the annexation lawsuit agrees that the city made several mistakes in its attempt to annex the communities now identified as Oak Level. If no mistakes or errors were made in the original annexation, why is there an agreement to redistribute paperwork?

Oh, they forgot to distribute maps and other items required by the 1959 Annexation Statute.

The whole fiasco was done in a rush. I received the notice of the information meeting scheduled Sept. 30, 2008 on October 7, 2008. Oh, by the way it was postmarked on Oct. 6, 2008; I still have the letter and envelope.

Why the rush? There are many different viewpoints and many different opinions that can be conjured up to explain it. Only the city management and the City Council can explain why the rush, and I doubt that they would be willing to share such with the public.

The city of Rocky Mount failed to follow the letter of the law so the annexation should be declared null and void on its face.

I could also give you many more reasons why it should be declared null and void, but the fact that the city of Rocky Mount failed to follow the law should be enough.

For those of you who continue to complain about those fighting the annexation, you need to stop and consider what will happen to you if your freedoms are ever trampled on, as the citizens’ of Oak Level have been.

I, for one, believe that there is no democracy in the current annexation laws of North Carolina, but that, too, will change with time.

City management and City Council, it is time that you did the right and honorable thing. Council, it is time to terminate this annexation attempt. A termination would stop the further embarrassment that has been brought to you and the city of Rocky Mount.

Ray Shamlin

Rock Mount