Last night's Mecklenburg County Commission meeting got so heated, commissioner Vilma Leake told NBC Charlotte's Dianne Gallagher that she felt unsafe around fellow Democrat George Dunlap:
Leake: This is not the first time he's been violent with his behavior toward women, and I don't know what else we can do but ask for protection for us at that building.
NBC Charlotte: Do you mean physical protection?
Leake: Yes. I'm saying we need police at that building.
NBC Charlotte was unable to contact Dunlap last night, but this all sounds a lot like an episode from 2005, when both Leake and Dunlap were members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board. At a meeting that December, Leake asked for extra security, saying then-member Larry Gavreau made her feel unsafe. Former NBC Charlotte reporter Tiffani Helberg questioned her after the meeting.
Leake: You were sitting here. You heard him.
Helberg: I didn't see anything harassing.
Leake: Well, that's a matter of opinion.
Helberg: So explain it to us.
Leake: I don't have to explain. Kaye McGarry didn't explain. This man hollered at me. He continued to talk when I was given the right to speak and he interrupted me on several occasions as he did other people at the board.
Gavreau's reaction: "That's absurd."
At an earlier meeting, then-member Kaye McGarry asked for extra protection from Dunlap, saying he made her feel unsafe. She later dropped her request.
You can watch NBC Charlotte's coverage of that 2005 meeting above, and watch Tuesday's coverage from the meeting here.
