Pritchett Pushes Back on Lake Lure Criticism

Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett used a discussion on Aug. 26 at a public meeting about the town’s dispute with Paul and Cara Brock to defend the community’s response to Hurricane Helene, while sharply criticizing residents who have questioned the town or characterized Lake Lure as uncaring.

The remarks came against the backdrop of a broader dispute over Lured Market, a business operated by the Brocks in a town-owned building. The town has pursued legal action involving the property, while the Brocks and their supporters have publicly challenged the town’s handling of the matter.

The disagreement has increasingly spilled into public meetings and social media, creating a politically and emotionally charged debate over the town’s responsibilities, the use of public property and the role the Brocks played in helping residents after Helene.

WCAB News was the first to report the story on Aug. 6. 

For taxpayers, those issues are separate but connected.

The town owns the property at the center of the dispute. That means residents have a financial interest in the lease, any unpaid amounts, legal expenses and the eventual outcome involving the public asset.

Pritchett said the town cannot resolve those legal questions simply by taking a vote at a public meeting.

When asked whether an eviction notice could be rescinded while the attorneys work toward a resolution, Pritchett said the council does not have that authority.

“A legal document like a lease or a lawsuit, that is not something that can be decided by people sitting in a room like this,” Pritchett said. “It has to follow a legal process.”

She said the town’s attorney will contact the Brocks’ attorney.

“That is all that we can say in this situation,” Pritchett said.

Pritchett recounts Helene experience

Pritchett also pushed back against suggestions that the Brocks’ assistance following Helene demonstrated that the rest of Lake Lure failed to help residents.

She specifically acknowledged Paul and Cara Brock for helping support people after the storm.

But she said the Brocks were not alone.

“I know how many people have given their stories about they didn't have food, they didn't have that,” Pritchett said. “I can certainly appreciate that.”

Pritchett said she experienced similar hardships.

“I live in Firefly Cove,” she said. “We were totally cut off in Firefly Cove.”

She said roads were impassable, residents had no services and there was no temporary bridge.

“We could not get in or out,” she said.

Pritchett said residents responded by sharing whatever resources they had.

“Our neighborhood got together and supported each other,” she said. “Whoever had a generator, they used that. Whoever had water, they used that.”

She described neighbors helping keep her generators operating and said residents gathered at homes where generators and internet access were available.

Her broader point was that the Helene response was a community effort.

“The Lord did a wonderful job,” Pritchett said. “So did every church in this community.”

She said churches, residents and neighbors throughout Lake Lure stepped up.

“The need and the responsibility and the willingness to help our neighbors in time of need and time of disaster is not limited to just one person,” Pritchett said.

Mayor challenges residents' narrative

Pritchett’s comments became more pointed when she addressed the growing conflict over the town and the Brocks.

“But to characterize the rest of Lake Lure as being uncaring, okay, would be unfair,” she said.

Pritchett said Lake Lure survived the immediate aftermath of Helene because residents worked together.

“We are where we are after this disaster because it's a community,” she said. “We banded together.”

She then criticized what she described as “acrimonious” language circulating online.

“We have sort of squared off, I guess, is the way I would characterize it,” Pritchett said. “And there's been so much acrimonious language, whether it's all over Facebook, that doesn't help our community.”

The mayor also questioned residents who accept what they read online without knowing the full circumstances behind the town’s decisions.

“Many times you don't know all the details,” Pritchett said. “You know what you hear.”

She criticized what she described as “duplicitous, negative statements” posted on Facebook. Taxpayers' ability to criticize their government is protected by the First Amendment. Public figures cannot use their official status to silence opposing viewpoints under federal law.

“If you think that helps attract people to come to Lake Lure, you're absolutely wrong about that,” Pritchett said.

“You are wrong.”

The comments put Pritchett in the position of defending both the town’s broader record and the community itself against what she considers an unfair narrative.

The taxpayer question

The emotional disagreement over Helene assistance, however, does not answer the underlying questions surrounding the Lured Market dispute.

The town is dealing with a legal matter involving a town-owned building. Residents have a legitimate interest in understanding what happened, what the town’s contractual rights and obligations are, how much money is involved and what the dispute could ultimately cost taxpayers.

Pritchett emphasized that those questions must be addressed through the legal process.

She rejected the idea that the council could simply decide the matter by a public vote.

“That's not how it works,” she said.

The town’s attorney is expected to communicate with the Brocks’ attorney, but Pritchett said there was little more the council could say publicly about the matter at that point.

“So we have said that our attorney will reach out to Paul and Cara's attorney,” she said. “And that is as much as can be done right here in this situation.”

That leaves taxpayers waiting for the legal process to determine what happens next.

The dispute has also exposed a larger question for Lake Lure: How can a community that depended on neighbors helping neighbors after the worst natural disaster in its history address legitimate disagreements over public property and government decisions without turning those disagreements into a battle over who cares more about the town?

Pritchett said that Lake Lure’s recovery belongs to the entire community.

Her warning, however, was aimed directly at residents whose views she believes are making that recovery harder.

For taxpayers, the focus remains more concrete: protecting public property, following the law, limiting unnecessary costs and ensuring residents have enough information to hold their elected officials accountable.

The Brocks’ post-Helene assistance and the town’s legal dispute are two different questions. One concerns what residents did for one another during a disaster. The other concerns how a local government manages an asset belonging to the public.

Both are now part of the increasingly contentious debate over Lake Lure’s future as recovery from Helene continues 23 months later.