Sampson County Board of Commissioners: the Veterans Year in the Minutes

The board. Allen McLamb, Chair (District 1); Eric Pope, Vice Chair (District 2); Houston Crumpler III (3); Lethia R. Lee (4); Thaddeus L. Godwin (5); County Manager Allen Vann; Stephanie P. Fulton, Assistant County Manager/Clerk to the Board. Agendas and minutes post whole on the county's Agendas and Minutes page - the accordion tables carry every meeting back to 2013, agendas and minutes as PDFs with a YouTube live stream per meeting; the window's 18 minutes sets and 14 agendas (October 2025 - October 2026) were downloaded through the Chrome session and read whole (the February 2, 2026 "minutes" link serves the agenda packet containing the prior minutes; the May 12, 2026 agenda is an image PDF, OCR'd). The county site is Akamai-fronted and answers a 403 to automated fetch. The opening. Every meeting's minutes record the same line: Chairman McLamb "called upon members of the Sampson County Veterans Council to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and provide the invocation" (the September 14, 2026 meeting added "Boy Scouts of America Troop 80 to join them"). The veteran items, in order: - October 6, 2025: "Approved late disabled veterans property tax exclusion requests for Dillon Seth Chabot and Ronald Davis." Public comment, Bob Graczyk of Parkersburg: "On November 8, a Saturday, between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 at Veterans Park the Veterans Council will be having their annual sale of pork butts, Boston butt fundraiser. The tickets are $50 each. Ms. Ann has tickets, also there's four American Legion posts, they're selling tickets and the VFW post is selling tickets. Veterans Day is on November 11 so the veterans will be there all day Saturday at Veterans Park... they cook and they bag up these Boston butts." - November 3, 2025: "Adopted a Proclamation Recognizing November 2025 as Veterans Appreciation Month"; "Approved a late disabled veterans property tax exclusion request for David M. Matthews." - December 1, 2025: "Approved late disabled veterans property tax exclusion requests for Harry Wayne Naylor and Gary E. Naylor" - the 1.5.26 agenda's refund schedule records the amounts: Naylor $346.50 and $443.25, "LATE DISABLED VETERAN APPICATION APPROVED BY BOC." - January 5, 2026: "Approved a late disabled veterans property tax exclusion request for Lonzie Faircloth" ($405.00 on the 3.2.26 agenda's refund schedule); the FY2026 budget book's "Key Community Contacts" lists Ann Knowles for "Sampson County Veterans Services / Military Veterans." - February 2, 2026: "Approve a late disabled veterans property tax exclusion request for Miguel Vigo [Silva]"; the packet's "Late Disabled Veteran Exemption Applications" agenda item records the route: "The disabled veteran exclusion application was received after June 1" (the G.S. 105-277.15 late-list procedure the State entry carries). - March 9, 2026 (pre-budget workshop): the strategic plan's "Healthy Community" goal 1 is "Provide sufficient staffing and facilities for Veteran's Services." - April 6, 2026: public comment - Sharon LaBoda "thanked the Board for its support of the county's veterans." - April 30, 2026 (budget session #1): the Board received updates "from the Sheriff's Office, Information Technology Department, Veteran's Services Office, Register of Deeds, Tax Office, Libraries, Animal Shelter, Sampson Area Public Transportation, and Economic Development Office." - May 4, 2026: Director Ann Knowles' invitation to Memorial Day: "I want to extend an invitation from the Veterans Office for all of you to attend Memorial Day. It's out at the old armory, the little tip end of it. Jerry Hobbs gave us that years ago. And we have bricks when names of people who have purchased we put out there... But Memorial Day is a day set aside to recognize every period of service... And this year we're going to call out Revolutionary Veterans from Samson County. We've been working with the archives and we have a great list on that... 23 people from Sampson County were in the Revolutionary War." County Manager Allen Vann "noted that county offices will be closed on May 25 for Memorial Day and encouraged the Board to attend the celebration at Veterans Park." (The same minutes carry Sharon LaBoda's Memorial Day statement asking that the context of Confederate names be included before names are called.) - July 13, 2026: "Approved late disabled veteran tax exclusion requests for Phachita Moore and Oren Keith Cockman, Jr." - August 3, 2026: "Approved late disabled veteran tax exclusion requests for Aleema S. Wilson, Wayne Thomas Brewster, Chad Curtis Wiram, and James Guilford Daughtry." - September 14, 2026: "Approved late disabled veteran and elderly tax exclusion requests for Arthur D. Nuss, Merlowese Devane Bradley, Celestine A. Wright, Tammy Newman, Rebecca Lynn Carter, Dixie O. Jordan, Roger Clarence Wells, Otis Beasley, James N. Ragland, Jr., Daiien Anthony Pittman" - the 10.5.26 agenda's release schedule records Wells at $351.00, "LATE DISABLED VETERAN EXCLUSION APPROVED BY BOC." No veteran benefit was adopted, narrowed or repealed; the exclusions are the G.S. 105-277.15 late-list approvals the Tax Administration routes through the Board, and the rest is recognition and reporting. The county's meeting archive also carries a standing "Veterans Day" holiday listing (the 2027 holiday schedule in the 10.5.26 agenda) and the county's procurement policy's veteran-owned-business consideration (8.1).