Moore County supports Green Beret Memorial Park, changes public comment rules

During the Jan. 20 meeting, Moore County Commissioners approved sending a letter of support for the National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial Park to Ret. Lt. Col. Kirk Windmueller, changed public comment rules and recognized the Lumbees.

The park will be near the Moore Regional Airport as a unique and enduring tribute to U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret soldiers of every era, their families.

“It’s a big deal,” Chairman Nick Picerno said, and added that he wished they could gift the land.

Legal teams are negotiating issues with the Federal Aviation Administration and the airport on land restrictions.

“The National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial Park is honoring the legendary elite U.S. Army Special Forces “Green Beret” Soldiers of every era, Special Forces Medal of Honor Recipients and the legacy of the Regiment.

The National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial Park will stand as a shining, enduring tribute, unique in the world, to honor our Green Beret Soldiers of every era and their families, and will be a premier tourist destination to all Americans and visitors from around the world.

Our Foundation team Leadership is very excited to bring our world class National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial Park to Moore County, N.C,” wrote creative director and artist Rebecca Clark.

Learn more about the park details here.

The board changed public comment rules to allow commissioners more control.

Considering these new rules, Sandhills News invites citizens to submit brief comments free of slander, accusations, or information related to upcoming hearings for publication consideration within board meeting articles in correlation with meeting dates, because freedom of speech is for all citizens. Submissions may be edited for brevity and grammar. Submissions must arrive prior to the board’s meeting time. For example, for the meeting scheduled on Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m., submit before 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 3. Send to editor@sandhills.news.

The last time changes were made was in 2017.

Instead of “allowing” public comments, the board now “provides” the opportunity. This legal terminology switch means they may deny speakers.

Speakers must be a resident of Moore County, pay property or sales tax in Moore County, or use a service connected to Moore County government, or conduct business connected to Moore County government.

“Speakers will be courteous and respectful in their language and presentation and must refrain from personal attacks and the use of profanity,” reads the new document.

It is not clear whether the rules pertain only to the public, or if they include board members.

“Pursuant to NCGS 153A-39 and 153A-52, the Chairperson will provide for the maintenance of order and decorum in the conduct of the Public Comment Period and the entire meeting. Pursuant to NCGS 143-318.7, a person who willfully interrupts, disturbs, or disrupts an official meeting and who, upon being directed to leave the meeting by the presiding officer, willfully refuses to leave the meeting is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.”

The chairperson may designate a single speaker to represent groups supporting the same topic.

Speakers are not allowed to applaud until after the public comment period and are not allowed to engage with the audience during this period or the entire meeting.

Speakers with documents to share should leave them with the clerk, but this must be done prior to the start of the meeting. Speakers may not approach the commissioners without permission.

The commissioners do not allow speakers to share information on quasi-judicial matters, public hearings, or candidates for elected office, or topics outside of Moore County government.

It is no longer standard to open meetings with the public comment period, which allowed speakers to leave after speaking. The period is now at the sole discretion of the board, which means the board may make citizens wait until the end of meeting. This cancels the courteous act of having speakers go first, so they may leave directly following the public comment period. Instead, it acts as a deterrent to public speaking because often the public does not want to sit for four hours or more to hear topics that are not of personal interest.

The public comment period’s dynamics changed after the Jan. 6 tumultuous meeting.

Read about that meeting here. Read Picerno’s interview and the sheriff department’s statements afterwards here.

At the Jan. 20 meeting, Picerno was the only commissioner to comment on the rule changes and said it was due to the Jan. 6 meeting. He then asked the board if they agreed to hold the comment period at the beginning of the meeting because there was only one speaker, and they knew the man and knew he was staying until the end of the meeting.

John Mesiac, who frequents the public comment period, spoke about leaked credit card information on credit cards and park funding and compared it to northern tourism. He asked them to contact legislators about using sales taxes generated from electricity sales in unincorporated areas to pay for enhancements in sixth through twelfth grades.

The East Moore Water District directors approved an amendment to solicit support for state and federal funding for the Wadsworth Road Project.

County Manager Wayne Vest reminded the board they had already approved a resolution seeking state and federal funding, and the county was now being asked to amend that resolution to commit to a $1.5 million local match for the project.

The East Moore Water District Phase 5 project cost was estimated at $6 million to install about 64,200 feet of water lines along Wadsworth, Torchwood, Manor, Red Branch and McCrimmon roads to serve a rural area of Moore County.

The area has inadequate well water, which prompted petitions from property owners and reports of residents regularly hauling and storing water.

Moore Commissioners presented a plaque to the leader of the Lumbees, John Lowery, who invited them to tour the Town of Pembroke.

After 137 years of trying to prove an indigenous bloodline to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the federal government lumped the federal recognition of Lumbees, the state-recognized people of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland and Cumberland counties, into the Dec. 2025 National Defense Authorization Act without requiring indigenous proof.

Famous for making lucrative deals, President Donald Trump promised them federal recognition during his campaign, and a chunk of the Robeson County Democrat population turned Republican.

The federal recognition assists Robeson County, one of the poorest in the state, with the town of Lumberton known as the most dangerous in the state, as it talks about opening a casino.

During the Jan. 14 Moore County Commissioners’ meeting, Senator Tom McInnis said he wanted to push a bill to collect taxes on gambling winnings.

Paying taxes on gambling winnings is a timely and profitable idea because the looming federal budget cuts to the BIA will likely strain allocations to all tribes, while the largest tribe in the nation, Lumbees, with roughly 65,000 members, enters the federal system.

The strain on distributed funding allocations is one of the many reasons other federally recognized tribes, which proved their indigenous roots through generations to the BIA, are petitioning against the Lumbees keeping their federal recognition.

Compare to consider the casino and tax possibilities.

Caesars Virginia has a hotel, entertainment, hundreds of gaming machines and makes hundreds of millions in yearly revenue and tens of millions in tax revenue for Danville. A similar Robeson County casino, with help from the tourism bureau, would attract Moore County visitors and its residents.

While the impact of federal recognition of the Lumbees raises concerns about fairness, sovereignty and funding among Native nations in North Carolina, it is poised to trump Moore County’s tax revenue through a possible gambling tax on winnings.

Learn more about the federal recognition here.

The next meeting is Feb. 3.

Jan. 21, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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