FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Iredell County Board of Elections on Friday dismissed a challenge to the voter registration of Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education member Abby Trent.
The challenge was brought by Jill Schooley, who claimed Trent had permanently vacated her residence and moved to another precinct.
The Elections Board ruled at a preliminary hearing on November 17 that Schooley had met the probable cause burden to hold a full evidentiary hearing on the matter.
But after hearing testimony from Trent and her mother, Angela Matthews, on Friday morning, theElections Board voted 4-0 to overturn the challenge. Board member Bob Crosswhite recused himself from the matter.
After the 60-minute hearing in the Iredell County Government Center, Trent said she was glad to put the matter to rest.
“I want to thank the members of the Board of Elections and the county staff who took time today to attend the voter eligibility challenge,” she said. “I was appreciative of the time I was given to present facts regarding my temporary residency situation. This is why it is important to listen to both sides before making decisions.
“My hope now is that we as a county can move forward and get back to addressing the needs of the children and the residents of Iredell County,” she added.
Trent testified that she moved temporarily from her home at 811 N. Mulberry Street in Statesville in late July after a contractor advised that the home had mold issues and that living in the house could be harmful to herself and her unborn child.
She provided documentation in the form of letters from the contractor, from her grandfather, who owns the home, in her defense.
Schooley claimed that Trent’s intent was to permanently move. She cited as evidence the fact that the home had been put up for sale and that she and her son, Micah Phelps, had driven by the home on Old Mountain Road and saw Trent’s vehicle was parked there late the night before the preliminary hearing. A photograph showing the vehicle, which was provided by I-SS Board member Mike Kubiniec, was also introduced as evidence.
Trent testified that her grandfather is in the early stages of dementia and mistakenly listed the property for sale with two other properties he owns. The real estate listing was terminated after Trent found out it was for sale. Her grandparents have since added her to the property deed.
Matthews corroborated Trent’s testimony about her grandfather, and said Trent always intended to returned to the Mulberry Street home
Trent claims that Kubiniec, Moms of Liberty members and others began harassing her in October after she voted with three other I-SS Board members to remove Kubiniec as vice chair. Kubiniec aslo faces a likely censure vote by the Board.
“I have been repeatedly stalked and harassed,” Trent told the Elections Board.
Phelps sent Matthews a text message warning her to prepare for “anarchy” after it became clear the I -SS Board would vote to oust Kubiniec as vice chair.
Trent is in the trimester of an at-risk pregnancy.
Kubiniec has been served with a summons to appear in court in January on a misdemeanor stalking charge after Trent made a sworn statement to a magistrate about his conduct.
Trent is also seeking a no contact order against Kubiniec and Phelps. A court hearing on that matter, which was scheduled for Thursday, was continued to December.
The hearing was attended by about two dozen people, including Moms for Liberty members and by Kubiniec and I-SS Board members Brian Sloan and Anita Kurn.
Kurn and Kubiniec raised questions about Trent’s eligibility to serve on the I-SS Board during its November meeting. If she permanently moved out of her district, they said, she shoulw be removed from the board.
Trent notified I-SS officials that she was temporarily moving in August. Kurn and Kubiniec, she said, did not raise the issue publicly until after Trent voted to remove Kubiniec from his position as vice chair.
Finally, some common sense and decency is shown. The school board members (Kubiniec, et al) and their so-called “puppet master” who pursued this action against Trent are bullies. If they were in school, they’d likely be suspended for the way they’ve behaved. As for the local Moms-For-Liberty crowd, they might want to take a look at the news re the behavior of others in their organization. They might be for “liberty” (dubious, or apparently just for themselves), but many of them also seem to be for violence, assault, pedophilia, and much much more [although none more disgusting than the pedophilia thing (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/21/moms-for-liberty-sex-offender)]. Are these the folks we want making decisions about our schools and the children in them? Maybe, stop with the book ban nonsense and pay attention to the behavior of the people pushing it.
If Trent’s grandfather put all three of his houses up for sale, why couldn’t she temporarily live in one of the other two houses while renovations and mold removal were ongoing on her residence and thereby remain in the district that elected her to the school board?
Edward: What would she do if the other house sold before hers was completed? Please put your thinking cap on before commenting!
Do you and your wife not have anything better to do than worry about what someone less than half your age is doing? Sounds like you both need a new hobby!
Hey Edward, maybe you should mind your own dang business pal. Stop worrying about what other people are doing. Don’t you have some books to worry about?
Yep, crying Brian showed his true colors by being there with Kurn and Captain Krazy. Puppet Master and Mommy Puppet Master are some fine citizens (sarcasm)
Shows you what kind of people they are. If you go against them they will try to destroy you.
The puppet master told everyone he was quitting Facebook in protest. Now, he’s back with that so called preacher with a new podcast or whatever. Hope they come up with some good content and more “Foy-yuh” requests! Lmao.
Their first guest will be the old Navy bloke, Captain K.
Moms for Liberty have been deemed a terrorist organization. So who’s liberty are they for?
Hopefully the Moms crowd will back off after this.
Has the scope of the work needed in Trent’s former residence been assessed? If so, then has work begun to remediate? If not, why not, especially if she vacated the home months ago? How long should the Board consider this a temporary move? And when would it be considered indefinite? If this remediation takes months and months, could this situation be reevaluated? This was an unprecedented situation for the Board.
Maybe you should have attended the hearing yesterday and you’d know 😂
From what I’ve been told, Alan Carpenter asked Trent about a remediation plan, and she had no answer. I think the Board failed to ask a number of pertinent questions, including what renovations are planned to be done and what is the timeline? This “temporary” status can’t go on indefinitely. Also, why didn’t she find another place within district 3 to live?
To the Minaughs, Kaptain Krazy K, Kooky Kurns, Krying Brian, Moms for Liberty, Puppet master and his Mommy Silly Skooley,
The jig is up. We see you for what you are. We know what you have been doing. Book bans, stalking, wishing and pushing for harm to all people who do not agree and buy into your crazy ideas. Ed instead of just vomiting out words stop and rub two brain cells together for a moment. Why would Ms. Trent move into another house that could be sold out from under her? Moving is hard anytime, but a pregnancy would make it much harder. I am sure her doctors advised Ms. Trent to reduce stress during a high risk pregnancy. However, you and the aforementioned group of ding-a-lings have done everything you can to harass this woman. This is rich coming from a group that proclaim they are pro life. Let’s face facts all the people named and their supporters have no real moral compass. In case you haven’t kept up the husband of the co-founder of Moms for Liberty is under investigation for rape. This does not seem to be group that adheres to Christian principles at all. Check out the New Testament where Jesus tells us how to treat others. Better still study what he said will happen to us when we don’t treat others as we should.
Voters of Iredell County wake up before take 2024 elections and get to know who the candidates really are and what they stand for. Your vote is priceless. Cast your vote as if Jesus is watching you, because he is. Just sayin.
👏👏👏👏👏
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the woman who led an ultra-conservative movement in Florida education that sought to put gays back in the closet was having a long-term, three-way lesbian relationship with a lover she shared with her husband, the state’s GOP chairman?
That’s the allegation being made about Bridget Ziegler — co-founder of far-right Moms for Liberty and a Sarasota School Board member — by an unnamed woman accusing Christian Ziegler of rape and sexual battery.
Hypocrisy on steroids, if true.
Your level of immaturity is on display when you resort to name-calling, Melinda. And you even referred to how Jesus tells us how to treat others. I would think that a grownup wouldn’t do such childish behaviors. Is this what you teach your children? As for your statement regarding Ms. Trent “moving into another house that could be sold out from under her,” apparently her grandfather “didn’t mean to” put the house(s) on the market. But twice? Wouldn’t the grandmother have played a role in this because she had joint ownership of the property and would have had to also agree to sell the property? And what kind of relationship does Ms. Trent have with her own grandfather since she said she didn’t know the house was put up for sale in the first place (twice)? As for your comment regarding Moms for Liberty and the husband of the co-founder, you name one organization that doesn’t have its rotten eggs or bad actors. You can’t equate one person’s behavior (which I am NOT condoning) with everyone else in an organization. Look at the BLM organization and the allegations of some of its members. And there’s no way I’d allow the SPLC to be the ultimate judges of hate. They are in the business of politicized fearmongering and silencing any opponents whose viewpoints are different from their own. Perhaps you should note that Jesus is also watching you!
All of this craziness hurts because it is our own community but stay informed at the state and national level as well as these sorts of people are vying for more and more power while taking money from public education,