| 112th Year, 48th Issue | Thursday, July 12, 2001 | Sparta, North Carolina |
Attorneys for the Alleghany County Board of Education last week filed a motion to dismiss Barbara Halsey's lawsuit.
Halsey, a former fourth-grade teacher at Piney Creek Elementary School, is suing the board over its June 2000 decision not to grant her career status, effectively dismissing her as a teacher in Alleghany.
Papers filed July 5 at the Alleghany County Courthouse by Jonathan A. Blumberg of Raleigh, one of the board's attorneys, stated, "Defendants respectfully move the Court, pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."
The papers also ask for a hearing on the motion in Alleghany County Superior
Court on Oct. 8, or as soon afterward as the matter can be heard.
Halsey's suit claims the board's action was a political retaliation for her
husband James Halsey's candidacy for a seat on the board in last year's
election. Mr. Halsey was one of two candidates who received more votes than
then-chairman Bobby Irwin in the May Democratic primary, thus ending Irwin's
bid for re-election. Halsey then lost in the November general election.
The board's attorneys have denied the political-retaliation charge.
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