Playing with house money – Pt 6 (6 of 10)

It seems that all of a sudden, the walls are talking in Cleveland County.  From the looks of this federal investigation of the new Two Kings Casino in Kings Mountain has attracted a lot of attention from the  National Indian Gaming Commission.  Some local individuals, who are former leaders of the county have been under scrutiny due to a few issues.  The NIGC claims that the problems lie with the fact that the Native Tribe isn’t benefitting as fully as it should, because of the way the leases, land, payments, etc have been carried out.

One of the persons happens to be former Cleveland County manager David Dear.  Dear is said to have stock in the corporation that supplies the gambling machines to the casino.  He was also on the board of  MJ Holdings, according to Market Screener, but has since resigned, right after the news of the investigation into the casino was reported.

Just before David Dear “resigned/retired” as the Cleveland County manager, he gifted his brewery partner and others with the old Dover Mill property and building, under the guise of economic development that would demolish part of the building, and then have a data center, a business school from Godbold (Gardner-Webb) and also a distillery.  Much planning and advertising were done, but, the only people who benefitted from this charade were Dear and Holland and their partners.

Of course, The Project Cirrus folks had to have a couple of extensions, because it was more important to get the wood out of the old mill, and repurpose it for the brewery that Dear and Roger Holland and another partner owned.  Plus, Dear had already acquired a building and a corporation, Phoenix Hudson!  But, what brought one of the first red flags out was the letter that Roger Holland wrote to David Dear, from Project Cirrus.   Holland stated that now, they were going to keep the original three-story structure because he realized the value.  The value would be seen with this wood now being used in the brewery, owned by Holland, Dear, and company.

At the time, Dear was not employed by the county.  He was now the Special Projects Director for the Cleveland Chamber Economic Development Partnership.  So why was Holland writing his partner, asking for help?  This was January 2015, and Dear was still with the CCEDP.   Actually, Dear and Holland were already partners in this brewery that would showcase the old wood from the old mill.  Even though Roger Holland was the mouthpiece for the brewery, Dear was indeed a partner.  As a matter of fact, a little beach trip was where the idea was conceived.

FINDING THE MUSIC, PART 3: ‘A 38-YEAR OVERNIGHT SUCCESS STORY’

Notice in the above screenshot how the old Hudson building is described as “it was caving in”.  Just as the same article describes the museum at the old courthouse as being neglected.  You’ll also notice that this realization took place during a retreat.  Retreat, beach…entertaining!

Bold?  Give away the old mill and property, take the wood and profit from it, and use it in a brewery you own; abandon and neglect the mess you allowed to be made at the old Dover Mill and property and no responsibility for taxes on the property for a few years.  Indeed, that is bold!  Could it be collusion?

As seen in the documentation above, this plan did not happen overnight.  The campaign on January 6, 2015, was the one that raised even more red flags.  And in the next part of this series, you will become acquainted with them,

We’ll get into the deal with the old Hudson building that is now the home of the Newgrass Brewery, and how it garnered the status of being historical, etc.  After 38 years of being amongst the movers and shakers and taxpayers-money-takers, what better way is there to manipulate your friends in high places?

Stay tuned for Playing with House Money – Pt 7