Since today's hearing with Titus was cancelled, has anyone heard anything on when the first hearing with the new judge will be?
-- This lady is on today's court calendar- five years later and still waiting.....
Durham's loan lessons (Editorial/Opinion)
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC), March 23, 2006
Charges lodged against four people in a small-business loan scandal in Durham signal a possible end to the embarrassing saga,* for City Hall and for Durham taxpayers. Anita Fenner Bennett of Raleigh, hired by Durham (and once, by Raleigh) to help manage a public loan program for low-income people, was the only person arrested by Tuesday, but her husband, a sister and a loan recipient are also charged after an investigation by the Durham police.
The four of course are presumed innocent and will have a chance to contest the allegations in court. But while the investigation was ongoing, city leaders properly put accounting and auditing safeguards in place to make it less likely that any fraud like the one alleged here could take place in the future.
As reported in this newspaper and elsewhere at the time, the loan program saw a large amount of money that seemed to evaporate. Durham was allocated $828,000 in federal funds, and much of it was spent. But by 2001, reports began trickling out that many of the 24 businesses that received loans didn't even exist. Others were listed under false names or addresses. Some recipients didn't meet eligibility requirements.
Bennett was paid -- under a no-bid contract -- to find businesses that needed a leg up, but the police say she took kickbacks for arranging loans. And legitimate businesses that could have used the money didn't get it.
City Council members seem intent that such blatant mismanagement won't occur again. The financial safeguards will help, but constant vigilance by the council is needed to keep things on the up and up.
* One saga after another.....Yes, Durham is a colorful town. Very criminal friendly, too.