What Should We Do, Appomattox County? (Part 6)

Published: 2025-07-22

The facts are clear, the timeline is damning, and the legal exposure is severe. We’ve seen how a bad deal spiraled into a governance crisis, leaving a valuable public asset hanging in the balance, at the mercy of a federal bankruptcy court. Simply pointing fingers is not enough. The critical question now is: What must be done to protect our community’s interests and salvage the future of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center?

The current path leads to a federal trustee auctioning off our school to the highest bidder. That is an unacceptable outcome.

Here is a clear, actionable, and transparent plan for our Board of Supervisors to fix this. It is a path to restore public trust, mitigate the County’s legal liability, and, most importantly, get back to the original goal: getting people welding, fixing cars, cutting hair, and learning CPR.

Step 1: Demand an Immediate, Independent, and Public Review

The Board of Supervisors must immediately commission an independent, third-party review of this entire transaction, from the signing of the original lease in 2022 to the unauthorized sublease consent in 2024 and the illegal amendment in 2025. This cannot be an internal review. It must be conducted by an outside legal firm with no ties to the County or the parties involved.

The mandate for this review must include:

  • A complete timeline of all contract actions.
  • A full accounting of every public hearing, board minute, and recorded vote—or the lack thereof.
  • A clear identification of which officials acted, when they acted, and under what authority.

The full, unredacted findings of this independent review must be made publicly available to every citizen of Appomattox County. This is the first and most essential step to rebuilding public trust.

Step 2: Formally Engage with the Federal Trustees

Our County officials must stop hiding from this problem. The Board must direct the County Attorney to make immediate, documented contact with both the Chapter 7 Trustee for Bruce Boone’s estate (Lawrence Katz) and the Acting U.S. Trustee for the Department of Justice (Matthew Cheney).

The purpose of this communication is not to be adversarial, but to be honest and seek a resolution. The message should be clear:

“The County of Appomattox acknowledges the gravity of the situation and the unauthorized actions that have occurred. We wish to open a formal dialogue to seek a global resolution that achieves the following goals:

  1. Preserves the Carver-Price property for public educational use.
  2. Permanently and irrevocably removes Bruce Boone and Appomattox Christian Academy from any current or future path to ownership or control.
  3. Allows the County, CVCC, and Appomattox County Public Schools to move forward with the CTE center as intended.”

Step 3: Begin the Work of a Real Solution

This situation was created by a bad deal. The only way out is through a better, legally sound one. A settlement with the Trustee is possible, but it may require the County to “buy out” the value of the purchase option from the bankruptcy estate. While this is a painful pill to swallow, it is infinitely better than losing the property entirely.

This is not a partisan issue; it is a community crisis that demands transparency, accountability, and a focus on the public good. We can still save our CTE center, but it requires our leaders to stop digging, admit the mistakes that were made, and start the difficult but necessary work of climbing out of this hole. It’s time to get this done.

Something Must Be Done About Appomattox County

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