WHY I CANNOT SUPPORT BRIAN SHIPWASH FOR DAVIDSON COUNTY CLERK OF COURT

Let me first start by saying that I do not have the time or the inclination to write this article, but I feel that I am forced to do so due to events over the past week.

I have been outspoken regarding local politics only one other time in my life when, in 2010, disgraced former Sheriff Gerald Hege decided to run for Davidson County Sheriff against incumbent Sheriff David Grice.I felt that is was my duty to speak out as a citizen to prevent what I perceived as a very corrupt person from holding a very important local elected office. I am speaking out today for the same reason.

Fast Forward to the Summer of 2017

For the past year or so, I could not help but to take note of the increasing divisive tone displayed in Brian Shipwash’s Facebook posts related to disagreements that he had been having with other local elected officials. Up to the point that I noticed this, I had never taken issue with Brian and even then it wasn’t worrisome, just peculiar. After a while it became a topic of conversation with some of my friends. We started visiting his Facebook page to see what and/or who he was going to “whine about and chastise” next. The reason I say “whine” is because that was the prevailing tone of his posts. Then he started posting announcements for his Facebook followers stay tuned for big news regarding corruption a the highest levels of our local government. Finally the “big news” hit the front page of our local newspaper. Brian filed suit against a couple of county officials and two county commissioners. For the sake of time, click this link for details.

It was serious, but sort of comical at the same time when I realized that Brian had been setting the table for this vendetta on Facebook for months. Hence the divisive and whiny posts mentioned previously. The first thing I thought after reading the article detailing his lawsuit was, “WOW! Brian has become such a drama queen that nobody else in local government wants to deal with him in meetings or otherwise”.  Come to find out, that was the gist of it. Brian dropped his lawsuit as fast as he filed is. Click this link for details.  After reading this article, It is obvious why I am no longer a Shipwash supporter. I know Attorney Charles Frye to be an honest forthright individual with nothing to gain or lose with his assessment of Brian’s frivolous lawsuit.

Fast Forward to Today

Brian is running for re-election on May 8th. Obviously I am supporting his opponent and have been volunteering to do what I can to help this lady defeat Brian.  He is skirting the edges of corruption at this point. Apparently he  has convinced several of his cronies to contest three incumbent county commissioner seats up for re-election May 8th.  He has surpassed “simple drama queen” and graduated to full on “vindictive drama queen with cat claws” and judging by the events of this past week that I will explain in the following paragraphs, his core supporters share the same vindictive nature.

This Past Week Recap

I need to lay out some history to put this past week in perspective. About a year or so ago, Mt long time friend, Steve Shell added me as an Administrator on a Facebook community group that he and a mutual friend, Todd Yates administer called Concerned Citizens of Davidson County (CCDC) so that I could help streamline the page a bit. I am a website developer and Social media marketing professional. As such, I have a lot of experience dealing with Facebook features that ordinary people may not know exist. One such feature is a Facebook Group Topics feature that streamlines group posting much like a discussion forum platform integrated with many websites. This feature was being beta tested and I tried unsuccessfully to convice Facebook to apply it to the group.  I am not a moderator, and have very little interaction on the page. I do, however, read some of the discussions when I have time.

Regarding Steve and Todd, I have known both of these men for many years and know both to be upstanding, honest individuals. Both are Davidson County Commissioners and both are campaigning for re-election this May 8th. Todd was one of the target of the lawsuit filed by Brian Shipwash mention earlier in this article.

Now that we have some important history established, I will get straight to the point. After reading the CCDC discussions related to Todd Yates and Leigh Truelove and the incredible level of nastiness, I posted the following message on my personal page.

It should be apparent to any reasonable person that read the nasty messages on CCDC before they were deleted that these people were intentionally trying to get banned from the page so they could cry foul and play victim and illicit sympathy for the Shipwash campaign on similar forums. The CCDC Group has just under 11,000 members, and all are local, so this tactic’s intended effect was successful, but only temporarily. Fortunately most people are smart enough to figure it out the longer it goes on.

So after I post my rant above (on my personal Facebook page), Brian posts the following reply on CCDC and apparently even posted this message to another group prior to posting to CCDC. Yes. overkill. This is further proof that he is using a sympathy tactic. He is fully complicit in this entire escapade. Is there any wonder why so many people in the county government do not like to deal with this guy.

I am not sure of the reasoning for mentioning me by name, except that he may think that I am deleting posts and banning people because I am a CCDC Admin. I am not, but I do support the reasons for other admns decision to remove people and posts that are guilty of relentlessly piling on. I’m sure these people feel like they are winning something by forcing admin action, but reasonable people are watching and understand exactly what these nasty people are up to. Regardless of that, does Brian not realize how stupid and irresponsible it is for a sitting elected official to call out a private citizen by name on a public discussion forum? On Facebook? My God, what a moron!!

Congratulations to Brian! He is officially a power abusing, corrupt politician. He is, at this moment not fit to hold any public office. The potential liability that he just brought to the State, County, and to himself is astronomical.

Why is this a liability? Shortly after Brian posted the message in the image above, I received a friend request from the wife of one of his supporters posing as a would be Facebook friend. This lady is also the wife of Shipwash supporter and County Commissioner candidate, Chris Elliott. She wanted to spy (in other circles, it is referred to as stalking) my page, so I let her. I have nothing to hide. Over the past two days, i have had five other Shipwash supporters that are on CCDC to do the same exact thing.

This is problematic for several reasons. Number one, I consider it an attempt to harass and intimidate. Number two, it shows a high level of potential corruption if these people are privy to the perks and power of holding public office. What else are these people capable of? How will they treat private citizens that oppose them if they are re-elected, in Brian’s case, or in Chris Elliott’s case, elected?

I will conclude with a couple of posts I published to my personal page that outline my concerns.

…and this response to a reply to my post

Please consider this article when you vote May 8th. I will definitely be voting for Leigh Truelove and Todd Yates because I know without a shadow of a doubt from my experiences over the past few days that their opponents are in fact corrupt as the day is long and grossly unfit to hold any kind of public office.

Regards,
Steve Williams

steve.williams7368@gmail.com

Don't Let a Rogue Web Developer Rip Off Your Brand

By Steve Williams

Let me first start by clarifying the title of this blog article. The vast majority of web developers are straight ace business people that take pride in their craft and their reputation. With that said, there a small percentage of web developers out there that will rip off your brand.

How can this happen, you ask? Its quite easy. Most people do not understand the process of domain registration and rely on an their web developer to secure the domain for them. Basically, the registrant is the legal owner of the domain name. This is usually not a big deal. Like I said most web developers are honest people. It is a normal practice for a developer handle the registration domain process along with web hosting services. If the client at some point decides to seek the services of a different developer, the domain is almost always transferred without issue. In the rare event that a web developer refuses to transfer a domain registration, get ready because you and your business are about to get screwed.

Consider the case of The North South Shootout™, an annual asphalt modified racing event that was founded by North Carolina entrepreneur Charles Kepley and his Son Chad in 2003 under the C&C Racing Promotions™ (formerly C&C Racing Souvenirs™) banner. Prior to the inaugural event, the Kepley's hired a web developer to design a website and secure a domain name that reflected their product brand. The developer secured the domain--northsouthshootout.com--then designed and hosted the site. A few years later, the Kepley's decided to switch to a new website designer. The original developer transferred the domain without issue and the new developer Bobby Everhart of Sunset Graphics (sgionline), designed a fresh site. Sounds innocent enough, right? Not so much. A seemingly normal business transaction can go bad rather quickly, as noted in this article: Is Bobby Everhart, Owner of Sunset Graphics, Guilty of Hijacking a Client’s Domain and Posting Unauthorized Content?

Fast forward to 2014

The 11th annual running of the North South Shootout is in the books and it time to prepare for the 12th annual running of the event. The elder Mr. Kepley passed away a few years earlier, and his son Chad is doing his best to keep the family business, C&C Racing Promotions, profitable and growing. Chad decides to freshen up the North South Shootout site and requests Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics to transfer the long standing branded domain so the new developer can get to work publishing a fresh site design. No problems, right? After all, this is common practice in the web development community. In fact, several years prior, the Kepley family, requested that Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics (sgionline) receive a domain transfer from the original North South Shootout website developer so they could get to work publishing a new site design. As stated earlier in this article, that domain transfer was honored without issue as is typical in the web development industry.

How can something so simple turn into such a nightmare?

Yes, I said nightmare. Mr. Everhart refused to relinquish the domain, then proceeded to hijack the actual website and publish content not authorized by the Kepley family related to the North South Shootout. Leading up to the 2014 event, the North South Shootout suddenly does not have its long standing website available for event promotion, ticket sales, and participant registration. Imagine the adverse financial repercussions this caused, not to mention the damage to the reputation and viability of future runnings of the event. Read more to put the ramifications of such an unethical business practice into perspective.

Conclusion

Your website's domain name is incredibly important to your brand. As I stated several times above, only the dirtiest and most unethical web developers would ever consider withholding your domain from you. Fortunately rogue developers are a rare breed in an otherwise honorable profession, but you still need to protect yourself by registering your domain yourself. If you didn't register your domain in in your name and chose to trust your developer to handle it, make sure you have a contract that includes specifics related to your domain registration in the event that you separate from your developer.


Good luck and happy web developing :-)


Update, 12/18/2014:  Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics has agreed to transfer the northsouthshootout.com domain to C&C Racing Promotions.. I will publish another update when the domain transfer is official.

Update: As of 6/6/2015, almost six months after agreeing to transfer the Northsouthshootout.com website domain, Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics FINALLY transfered the domain to the rightful owner. The mind boggling thing about this whole episode is that Bobby Everhart still claims that he did nothing wrong. He had the audacity to request that I apologize for writing about the incident. As a stakeholder in CCRP, the parent company that owns the North South Shootout brand, I lost income related to his actions. He wants an apology, well ok.

To Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics,

I am sincerely sorry that you are so delusional that you think it was ok to claim personal ownership of a client's website domain that you, without a shadow of a doubt, knew did not belong to you. I am sorry that you are so delusional to think that it was ok to hijack the domain prior to the 12th annual running of the event, dismantle the website, and publish unauthorized content. I am sorry that this is the way you treat clients that trusted you to be an honest, ethical, website developer.

The End

Steve Williams

Is Bobby Everhart, Owner of Sunset Graphics, Guilty of Hijacking a Client’s Domain and Posting Unauthorized Content?

By:  Steve Williams

Say it isn’t so! No web developer worth their salt would do such a thing. The overwhelming majority of web developers know that hijacking a client’s domain is a HUGE no-no. Surely Bobby Everhart of Sunset Graphics understands that only the dirtiest, most unethical developers engage in this kind of business practice.

I am willing to give Mr. Everhart benefit of doubt on this one. The domain and website in question has been used since 2002 for an annual racing event in North Carolina. The domain and website for the event was originally established the same year as the inaugural event by a developer in New York. A few years later the client decided to seek the web development services of Sunset Graphics to build a fresh site for the event. The domain was readily made available by the original developer so that Mr. Everhart and Sunset Graphics could develop and host the new site.

Fast-forward to 2014. After the 2013 event held in November, the client decided to enlist the services of a different web developer for the event website.  Mr. Everhart and Sunset Graphics refused to transfer the domain to the client, and to add insult to injury, posted unauthorized content on the site leading up to the 2014 running of the event.

I will attempt to put this issue in perspective. The web domain for this event is exactly the same name as the event’s brand name. Both had been in use since the inception of the event 11 years previously. The destructive impact of not having a long standing branded website domain available is incalculable. Not only was the web domain inaccessible to the client, the website was also not available for patrons and participants of the event. Mr. Everhart and Sunset Graphics instead chose to publish a one page opinion article on the domain in place of the original site design. Up to this point the website had been used for event promotion, ticket sales, and event registration.

The actions outlined above are worst case scenario for any business that has their website hijacked by a rogue developer. Can you imagine the damage that the event suffered as a result of Mr. Everhart’s actions?

The lesson here is that if you are the owner of a small business and are thinking about hiring a developer to design a website for you, please take precautions when it comes to your domain. If possible, register the domain yourself. As I stated at the beginning of the article, the vast majority of web developers are honest business people that take pride in their craft and understand the importance of engaging in ethical business practices.  

At the time of this writing, Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics still refuses to relinquish control of the domain to the client--the original promoter of the event.

Update: As of 6/6/2015, almost six months after agreeing to transfer the northsouthshootout.com website domain, Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics FINALLY transfered the domain to the rightful owner. The mind boggling thing about this whole episode is that Bobby Everhart still claims that he did nothing wrong. He had the audacity to ask request an apology from me for writing about the incident. As a stakeholder in CCRP, the parent company that owns the North South Shootout brand, I lost income related to his actions.

Mr Everhart wants an apology, well ok.

To Bobby Everhart and Sunset Graphics,

I am sincerely sorry that you are so delusional that you think it was ok to claim personal ownership of a client's website domain that you, without a shadow of a doubt, knew did not belong to you. I am sorry that you are so delusional to think that it was ok to hijack the domain prior to the 12th annual running of the event, dismantle the website, and publish unauthorized content. I am sorry that this is the way you treat clients that trusted you to be an honest, ethical, website developer.

Steve Williams,

The End