From the Asheville Citizen-Times (1/24/12): The Asheville Citizen-Times filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Sheriff Rick Davis, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners and the county's insurance carrier in an effort to force them to release details of a settlement involving the sheriff and a female employee.
The newspaper took the action after unsuccessfully pursuing settlement details through open records requests for more than three months.
The county in November approved payment of a $5,000 insurance deductible in a claim involving a female employee in the Sheriff’s Office, but county officials and commissioners maintain they have not seen details of the case, and Davis will not disclose details.
Citizen-Times Publisher Randy Hammer said the paper is suing because public money, derived from taxes, lies at the heart of the matter.
“This isn’t the county’s money or the sheriff’s money,” Hammer said. “We are going to court because this is money that belongs to people who live, work and pay taxes in Henderson County. It’s their money. And they have a right to know how it’s being spent, especially if the county is having to pay extra money because the sheriff mismanaged his responsibilities as a public servant.”