Leaders of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina are threatening to shut down government operations in a dispute with Chairman Paul Brooks.

The council believes Brooks used housing funds to buy a $36,000 acre lot. But he has refused to turn over the check ledger so they say there is no way to know for sure.

"I say, 'No ledger. No budget,'" council member Terry Campbell said at a meeting on Tuesday, The Fayeteville Observer reported.

Brooks used funds from an economic development account to buy the lot, tribal administrator Tony Hunt told the council at the meeting. Hunt also said Brooks already sent the tribe's Indian housing plan to the Department of Housing and Urban Development without the council's approval.

"The chairman is using this as his personal piggy bank," said council member McDuffie Cummings, the paper reported. "It's got to stop. If we don't get that ledger, we will not fund this Indian Housing Plan."

Get the Story:
Council threatens to shut down Lumbee tribal government over budget impasse (The Fayetteville Observer 7/24)
Council miffed with tribal chair (The Robesonian 7/24)

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Chair of Lumbee Tribe questioned over use of housing funds (7/23)