Guardrails, Guardians, and the Future of Rocky Mount

In my impatience, waiting for the State Auditor’s action, a Mainstreetrockymount.com reader left a comment reminding me, “these things take a long time.”

At the State level, we wait for the slow churn toward answers while Rocky Mount’s immediate future is blowing in the wind.

The Auditors already have the background material from the Beth Wood investigation. Plenty of people burned up the road between Rocky Mount and Raleigh to provide evidence. Yet, the results: Nothing.

Now we add the missing millions to our ever-lengthening résumé of troubles, it feels like we’re running out of time. What if we miss this train, will another one ever arrive?

Our city’s current mantra from the Apollo 13 mission, “Okay, Houston, (Raleigh) we’ve had a problem here.”

In the meantime, the beat goes on. The rigged system prevails. The suspects deflect blame and seem genuinely shocked that anyone would suspect any wrongdoing.

Jobs lost. Taxes raised. Projects stalled. The list is long and costly. Don’t misunderstand me: no outside force is responsible for our circumstances that we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

It feels like the schoolyard bully is sitting atop a kid who is crying out, “Uncle, Uncle!” Rocky Mount is crying “Uncle,” too. We’ve turned to the State Auditor’s Office to step into the play yard and pull the bullies off.

What I’m circling around is this: guardianship is not punishment. It is duty. A guardian steps in when someone cannot, for whatever reason, protect their own well-being. In civic life, that means oversight, watching the books, asking hard questions, shining a light into the shadows.

In Rocky Mount’s case, we need that light. We need the steady hand that says, “Enough. This is not about politics or personalities. It’s about protecting the public trust.”

When local systems become tangled or complacent, guardianship isn’t meddling. It’s mercy.

The State Auditor exists for this exact purpose. Their office is the guardrail when the road gets slick. The referee when the rules aren’t followed. The adult who steps into the playground when the pushing has gone too far.

Rocky Mount is asking for help to reinstate accountability, clarity, and truth. Call it guardianship, call it stewardship, call it simply doing the job. Whatever we call it, we need the State Auditors office guardrails.

PS: A Stepheny Reflection – Maybe the real lesson tucked inside this waiting is that every community, sooner or later, must face the truth about its own stewardship.

We build, we falter, we learn, and sometimes we need a steadier hand, like now, to help us stand upright again.

Even in the uncertainty, there is a quiet kind of faith like mine and others, faith that right can still be done, that accountability can still win the day, and that the people who love this city will prevail with justice.

Perhaps guardianship isn’t just the work of an office in Raleigh; it’s the work of all of us who believe Rocky Mount can rise out of our mess. We must believe, pray, and stand firm for change.

This moment must be seized while a train is available to take us where we need to go.

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