They all hope to leave a mark on the state’s political landscape. Yet, the six candidates for Alamance County’s legislative delegation don’t seem to have made much of an impression on North Carolina’s court records.
Aside from some minor traffic violations and a few lawsuits, which are generally of a rather aged vintage, there isn’t a whole lot to find for these six contenders in North Carolina’s eCourts database – an online repository of court documents that the state’s court system debuted in April.
The state’s database, which currently contains records for 38 of the state’s 100 counties, is particularly quiet on Dennis Riddell, the incumbent state representative for the North Carolina’s 64th state house district. Aside his role as the administrator of a late family member’s estate, the database makes nary a mention of the Snow Camp Republican who, as a retired merchant marine, spent much of his career out in international waters.
The legal footprints of Alamance County’s other legislative hopefuls aren’t nearly as inconspicuous. Even so, there’s nothing in way of high crimes to find for Riddell’s Democratic challenger. Nor, for that matter, do the state’s court records have much to reveal about the candidates for 63rd house district. It’s much the same story for their counterparts in the race the state’s 25th senate district, which encompasses all of Alamance County and a portion of Randolph:
Below is an inventory of each candidate’s court record, as gleaned from their appearances in the eCourts database as parties to both civil and criminal actions:
Amy Scott Galey
A Union Ridge Republican and one-time county commissioner, state senator Amy Scott Galey makes several appearances in the state’s eCourts database in her professional capacity as an attorney. But the state’s database also contains a few cases in which she surfaces as a defendant.
Galey’s court record includes a speeding citation that she received from the Carrboro police department on June 16, 2013. According to the case file, Galey was pulled over for going 42 in a 25-mile-an-hour zone, although she ultimately pleaded “responsible” to a lesser charge of improper equipment on August 30 of the same year.
The eCourts database also contains another citation from August 18, 1993 that appears to date back to Galey’s days as a law student at UNC-Chapel Hill. A state trooper in Alamance County issued this ticket for an expired registration sticker or card to an Amy Dianne Scott, who at the time resided at an address in Chapel Hill. According to the court record, the state voluntarily dismissed this charge on September 10, 1993.
Meanwhile, Galey found herself among the defendants in a civil lawsuit that J.D. Wooten, her one-time Democratic rival for the state senate, lodged on September 15, 2020. This case concerned a series of political ads that the state’s Republican party launched when Wooten, who originally ran against Galey in 2018, challenged her for the second time in 2020. These flyers and mailers excoriated the former Air Force officer for obtaining a VA-subsidized mortgage to purchase a home outside of Galey’s state senate district even as he appeared to be prepping himself for a rematch with Galey. The mortgage came with a one-year residency requirement that Wooten was unable to fulfill when he finally decided to make another bid against his Republican rival.
Wooten took issue with the GOP’s spin on this episode – and in particular, with its characterization of his actions as mortgage “fraud.” Then, with less than two months to go until the election, he filed suit against Galey, the advertising campaign’s tacit beneficiary, as well as various GOP functionaries and organizations. Wooten’s suit nevertheless went nowhere in the courts, and he abandoned the effort on November 6 – mere days after he suffered his second electoral defeat to the incumbent state senator.
Donna Vanhook
A one-time contender for Burlington’s mayor who now serves as one of the county’s elected soil and water conservation supervisors, Donna Michelle Vanhook has emerged as the Democratic party’s latest contender to oust Galey from the state senate. The long-time Burlington resident also has a number of legal entanglements on her court record that predate her career as a candidate.
The state’s eCourts database contains three traffic citations for Vanhook, the earliest of which she incurred in 1995. On September 4 of that year, a state trooper in Alamance County ticketed the future state senate hopeful for an expired registration sticker or card. The charge was ultimately dismissed on October 2, 1995 after Vanhook came into compliance with the state registration requirement.
On May 5, 2011, another state trooper in Guilford County gave Vanhook a speeding ticket for going 73 in a 55-mile-an-hour zone. Court records indicate that the charge was reduced to improper equipment on August 25, 2011.
Vanhook received her final citation on March 6, 2016 when a High Point police ticketed her for speeding inside of a school zone. Court records show that the charge was dismissed on July 11.
Vanhook also found herself on the civil court docket on several occasions – most of which seem to trace back to a real estate dispute which occurred more than two decades ago.
On November 20, 1996, Vanhook and more than a half dozen others were named in a “partition” action that Helen Godfrey Gant, Mary Alston, and Doris O. Alston filed in Alamance County. Court records indicate that the county’s clerk of superior court issued a judgment on this partition on August 24, 2000. A day later, two of the plaintiffs appear to have obtained liens at Vanhook’s expense in the amounts of $110.83 and $32.74. Then, on January 5, 2001, Helen Godfrey Gant obtained a judgment in Durham County for $1,664.54 against Vanhook and co-defendant Doris J. Alston.
The only other civil case in Vanhook’s court record is a small claim that the Graham police department filed for an unspecified sum on September 28, 2000. The police department dropped the action on October 25 of the same year.
Stephen Ross
Stephen Miles Ross, the incumbent representative for North Carolina’s 63rd house district, has been embroiled in a handful of civil cases that are cataloged in the state’s eCourts database.
The Burlington Republican and one-time Burlington mayor was drawn into one of these cases while he was serving as a rank-and-file member of Burlington’s city council in 2002. On September 10 of that year, the N.C. Court of Appeals took formal action against the city and each member of its council over some matter related to court costs – the details of which aren’t currently available for download.
Ross has also wound up in court as a byproduct of his day job as a financial advisor – which included a stint with the brokerage house Merrill Lynch. On July 7, 2004, Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith sued Ross and three over defendants over a contractual dispute, which ended with the suit’s voluntary dismissal on September 29 of the same year.
The eCourts database contains several other court actions that Ross initiated himself. These include a small claim that he lodged against Assadour Antressian on January 17, 1989 and which was disposed by a Alamance County magistrate on March 2 of the same year.
On March 20, 1998, Ross filed another small claim over money he was allegedly owed by Mike and Shanon Turner. The case apparently ended with a judgment in the favor of the future state representative on April 4 of the same year.
Ross makes two more appearances in the eCourts database as a party to a pair of family court actions. Ross filed one of these actions on July 6, 1993 to obtain a divorce from Andrea L. Munson Ross. Court records indicate that the divorce was finalized on August 11 of the same year.
The future state representative also filed another family court action against Linda P. Munn on June 13, 1986. Ross dropped this case, which was lodged “without [a] claim for absolute divorce,” on October 15 of the same year.
Robin Wintringham
Robin Still Wintringham, the Democratic Party’s contender for the state’s 63rd house district, makes appearances in two civil cases that are available through the state’s eCourts portal.
The Burlington resident, who recently waged an unsuccessful campaign for Burlington’s city council, was serving as a manager at the Alamance Walk-in Medical Center when she filed an unspecified small claim against Debra Benham on December 12, 1989. This case was ultimately thrown out by the court on January 3, 1990.
Wintringham appeared on the docket once more on December 11, 2017 when she filed for a divorce from her then-husband Charles David Wintringham. The divorce was formally granted on February 7, 2018.
LeVon Barnes
Although a late family member’s estate may be the totality of the court record for state representative Dennis Riddell, there are a couple of entries in the state’s database for LeVon Ivan Barnes, Riddell’s Democratic rival for the state’s 64th house district.
A Durham public school teacher and coach who recently relocated to Mebane, Barnes made unsuccessful bids for Durham’s city council and Durham County’s board of commissioners before he emerged as the Democratic party’s standard bearer for the state’s 64th. Over the years, the professional educator has also appeared in the court system’s roll call – albeit for minor traffic violations in each case.
Barnes was still in his teens when he entered the state court system’s records on September 18, 2000 after a state trooper in Harnett County stopped him for going 64 in a 55-mile-an-hour zone. Court records indicate that Barnes pleaded “responsible” to a less serious speeding offense on October 24, 2000.
It was déjà vu all over again on December 31, 2003 when Barnes received another citation from a state trooper in Harnett County for going 64 in a 55-mile-an-hour zone. In this case, the future candidate pleaded “responsible” to a lesser offense and received a deferred judgment on February 10, 2004.
More recently, on September 17, 2022, Barnes was pulled over by a state trooper in Lee County for going 70 in a 55-mile-an hour zone. This time, a Lee County court dismissed the charge when it came up for a hearing on March 23, 2023.
See previous coverage of the criminal and civil court cases against candidates in other local races:
School board: https://alamancenews.com/school-board-candidates-have-variety-of-criminal-civil-cases/
County commissioners: https://alamancenews.com/commissioner-candidates-and-the-law-criminal-civil-court-records-reveal-past-infractions-cases/
Judicial candidates: https://alamancenews.com/judicial-candidates-have-occasionally-been-on-the-other-side-of-the-bench-in-criminal-civil-court/
