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Request a DemoThe official interpretation of an altercation related to a bill being considered by the General Assembly has changed, but a group representing victims in the alleged assault say the recent response by police is too little, too late.
On June 23, a group of Indigenous people gathered near a field in the Bridge View neighborhood of Carteret County’s Cedar Point. Organized by the Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina, the gathering was described as a prayer ceremony related to archaeological finds — including human remains — that developers discovered while clearing the site for home construction.
That discovery halted construction to give the state archaeology office time to determine what to do about the site, which it describes as historically significant. In June, the legislature made headlines and faced immediate backlash when it proposed a change to coastal development rules that would make holding up development projects such as Bridge View more difficult.
Against this backdrop, the prayer ceremony was scheduled and Indigenous people from central North Carolina and other places headed to join the Tuscarora on the coast.
What happened next was an altercation between some of the people who had come to the ceremony and some of the residents of the part of Bridge View that has already been developed, including an off-duty deputy.
A video shown during a news conference on Wednesday shows some of the altercation, including a man wrestling a woman to the ground and holding her down as others try to pull him away.
Original reports from the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office said two residents had been injured in the altercation — one stabbed in the arm with a pocketknife, and that an arrest warrant had been issued. By the next day, the incident was being described in the media as a violent clash between protestors and residents.
That story has changed.
On Wednesday, Maj. Derek B. Moore, of the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office, said the off-duty deputy involved in the altercation — James Gilbert De La O Jr. — has been arrested in connection with the June 23 incident. He was charged with communicating threats, assault on a female and filing a false police report. The case is still under investigation and further charges could follow, Moore said in a news release. De La O was released on a written promise to appear in court.
The charges and the altercation are from Carteret County, while De La O worked until Friday as deputy in neighboring Onslow County.
De La O (referred to as Deputy J. Delao is a written statement from Onslow County Sheriff Chris Thomas) was employed from May 5, 2014 to July 12 of this year. “I am aware of the incident that occurred in Carteret County involving an off-duty deputy who is no longer employed with the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office,” Thomas said. “The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office is not involved in the criminal investigation related to this incident.”
De La O was working as a bailiff at the time of his separation from employment, Thomas said.
The change in narrative is no surprise to the Indigenous groups that have argued since June that reports had it backward, but Crystal Cavalier-Keck, an Alamance County activist and co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, said during a news conference on Wednesday that charging one person fails to get at the core issue.
“We celebrate the win of our innocence, being declared two weeks too late, after the media has already painted a biased and racist imagery of our culture, with some imaginary stabbing and knife carrier,” she said. “We do not accept this display of justice as it belittles our value and experience. We take it as the current reflection of the status quo …”
Cavalier-Keck said the incident amounts to a hate crime, with women and children being terrorized while law enforcement and the media conveniently interpret the event in a way that matches their expectations.
She said the purported stabbing injury was likely the result of De La O grabbing in a headlock a woman wearing feather-shaped earrings made of metal. A teenage girl was punched in the face and a resident who carried a pistol also drove around the site with the pistol visible on his dashboard.
“I am sorry that in North Carolina, Onslow and Carteret counties, you do not get a pass in 2024,” she said. “The secretary of interior and assistant secretary of [the] Bureau of Indian Affairs, along with many other Congress and Senate leaders around the country, as well as North Carolina Statehouse representatives and senators have been alerted. The Department of Justice hate crimes specialists have already been brought into this investigation.”
Cavalier-Keck said her group would be working with an attorney and looking into civil rights charges, but that a larger solution related to Indigenous burial grounds needs to be found.
“We’re going to need our elected leaders to step up,” she said. “They’re going to have to come to terms with this.”
Meanwhile, the Carteret County News-Times reported that commissioners on Monday approved a contract for an archaeological survey of portions of the site of a long-planned boat-launching facility on a 67-acre parcel off Highway 24. The project, as planned, includes six ramps, a transient floating dock, a 159-space boat trailer parking lot and an access channel to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
For questions or comments, or to pass along story ideas, please write to Clifton Dowell at [email protected] or contact the NC Insider at [email protected] or @StateAffairsNC on X.
Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday announced a $26 million investment for 33 infrastructure improvement projects tied to the state’s highway systems.
The locales, ranging from small towns to Wichita, the state’s largest city, were selected for funding via the Kansas Department of Transportation’s City Connecting Link Improvement program. The program, bankrolled by state and federal funds, improves state highway systems routing into the limits of a town or city. The program’s categories include surface preservation, pavement restoration and geometric improvement.
The maximum totals provided by the Kansas Department of Transportation for the three categories range from $400,000 to $1.5 million. For the projects, $5.5 million is earmarked for fiscal year 2026 and $20.5 million for fiscal year 2027.
A sliding scale is used to determine a match required from local municipalities for the projects. Towns with populations under 2,500 are not required to provide a match. At the other end of the spectrum, cities with populations of 100,000 or greater must match 25% of the project’s total cost.
“This popular program makes it possible to improve the safety and accessibility of our local highways that are local centers of community life,” Kelly said in a news release. “Thanks to our increasingly solid financial footing at the state and federal levels, Kansas is finding ways to solve problems and bring resources to various regions of the state.”
The projects target pavement resurfacing, intersection enhancements and lane configuration modifications, such as the construction of additional turn lanes. A dozen locations are slated to receive $1.2 million to $1.5 million for pavement restoration — while numerous other municipalities were awarded the maximum $400,000 for surface preservation and geometric upgrades.
Department of Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed touted the program as an investment in infrastructure on the local level.
“By investing with our local partners in our infrastructure framework, we are delivering economic opportunities across rural and urban parts of the state,” he said in the news release. “These projects will address problems, so Kansans have more local transportation choices.”
Matt Resnick is a statehouse reporter at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected].
Democrats boasted about their fundraising numbers during the second quarter today. According to an Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee news release, Democratic legislative candidates in swing districts outraised Republican opponents by 4.62 times for Senate candidates and 3.95 times for House candidates. “Legislative Republicans have failed to protect the rights and freedoms of Arizonans, and it’s clear that voters are ready for change,” said ADLCC Chair Sundareshan. Some of the fundraising comparisons are LD16 Senate candidate Stacey Seaman outraising Shope nearly $31,000 to $5,000. Schwiebert raised $166,000 to Bolick’s $47,641 and Republican Josh Barnett’s $2,000 in LD2. GOP consultant Barrett Marson said money matters in legislative races. “When you have money, you can both get your positive message out and attack your opponent,” Marson said. “Having good messages though is just as important as spending the money to get that message out.” He said it’s too early too see how candidates’ messages will play out since general election campaigning hasn’t got underway yet. Democratic consultant Gaelle Esposito pointed out Willoughby’s fundraising in LD13. “This is certainly a wider gap than we’ve ever seen in AZ,” she wrote in a text to our reporter. “Willoughby only raising $5,000 is an absolute nightmare scenario for their dreams of maintaining control. Expecting outside sources to make up that gap is a real high risk, and if I were institutional players who normally invest in Republicans simply because they’ve always had the power, I’d be looking hard at hedging my bets.” LD13 House candidates Brandy Reese and Nicholas Gonzales raised $75,000 each while Willoughby and Republican Jeff Weninger raised $23,500 combined. Esposito also credited Hobbs’ effort in trying to flip the legislature. “Napolitano never did this level of work to help others. Hobbs understanding her fate is tied to the success down ballot is refreshing,” Esposito said.
Democrat Andrei Cherny led the way in fundraising during the second quarter among candidates in the crowded CD1 primary race. Cherny brought in nearly $371,000 in net contributions during the period. After spending $872,000, he still ended the quarter with $693,000 of cash on hand. Marlene Galan-Woods wasn’t that far behind and raised $347,000, ending the period with $548,000. Conor O’Callaghan raised $173,000 during the quarter and spent $592,000, leaving him with $813,000 and $922,000 he owes in debt. Amish Shah raised $157,000 and ended the period with $414,00, with a debt of $3,000. Andrew Horne and Kurt Kroemer both trail the other candidates, as both didn’t cross $10,000 in net contributions during the period. Meanwhile, Schweikert raised just under $380,000 in net contributions and has $1.5 million as he’s gearing up for his likely general election bid.
Rogers significantly outraised Cook in the second quarter – but he finished with slightly more cash on hand. In the Republican primary battle for Roger’s LD7 seat, Cook raised $26,069 between April and June, while Rogers raked in $112,660. Rogers also spent over three times what Cook did this period. She depleted $321,290 from her fund while Cook spent only $95,866. In June, Rogers spent $110,000 on consulting and campaign management from Go Right Strategies – her single largest expense in the second quarter – which is owned by her nephew, Spence Rogers. In total, Rogers has spent $543,693 on consulting services from Go Right Strategies this election cycle. Most of Cook’s highball purchases – each around $10,000 – went to mailers. While he spent far less than Rogers during the second quarter, a group called Arizona First spent $261,617 in June for ad attacks against Rogers for Cook.
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