news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Responding to allegations that files related to the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings had been destroyed, a city spokeswoman said Tuesday that officials are unaware of anything being missing.

Three Greensboro ministers say police disposed of about 50 boxes of files, which they say were tossed into a trash bin.

That came, said the Revs. Cardes Brown, Gregory Headen and Nelson Johnson, after the city had received a request for information about the shootings.

But Pat Boswell, a city spokeswoman, said there is nothing to indicate that files were destroyed.

"We're not aware of any information missing," she said.

Police Chief Tim Bellamy would not say Tuesday whether anyone has checked to see if files are missing.

Police said in a statement that the department is consulting with the district attorney's office to determine whether any laws were violated.

State law requires that some records be kept for specific amounts of time. For example, records of felony cases must be kept for 20 years. Other types of records involve shorter time spans.

During a press conference at New Light Baptist Church, Brown, Headen and Johnson released a statement saying a police officer contacted Johnson about the files in September.

Johnson said the police officer was present when the files were thrown out but would not provide the officer's name.

The files, the ministers said, included information on the surveillance of members of the Communist Workers Party, which was involved in the shooting.

The files, which were in possession of the police department's Special Intelligence Division, were separate from other police files, the ministers said.

The ministers said Headen and Johnson met in October with Keith Holliday, then the mayor, and City Manager Mitchell Johnson to tell them about the files with the idea of starting an investigation.

Soon afterward, they said, Bellamy contacted Nelson Johnson to ask who the source of the information was, but Johnson declined, saying he had agreed not to reveal the officer's name.

Brown said the ministers have come to the conclusion that the city is not pursuing the matter. "It appears there is no intent to find out," he said. "We hope the media will assist in getting to the bottom of this."

Nelson Johnson said the files were destroyed in 2004 or 2005.

Boswell said the city had received a request for documents related to the shootings in either January or February of 2004.

Boswell said it's hard to provide specific answers about the files when it's not clear what they were or if they even existed.

"We don't know what these are," she said. "That's the problem."

The city has files relating to the shootings, she said.

According to the ministers, their source told them that Lt. Craig McMinn knows what happened with the files.

The source said he believed McMinn would be willing to discuss the issue with city officials, the ministers said.

Boswell said Tuesday that to her knowledge, officials have not talked to McMinn about the records.

Bellamy refused to say whether McMinn has been asked about the files.

McMinn did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Although the ministers made a point of noting that the alleged disposal of the files took place under former Chief David Wray's administration, Brown said they had no information that Wray knew about them.

Wray's attorneys, Ken Keller and Locke Clifford, released a statement Tuesday saying Wray "is unaware of any disposal inconsistent with law, and he is unaware of any deliberate effort or plan to destroy any document that could be a part of the historical record of November 3rd, 1979."

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jason.hardin@news-record.com