From correspondent Virginia Bridges

A shakeup in the Department of Social Services has split the Durham County Board of Commissioners, with the chairman accusing a colleague of dishonesty and another calling the chairman a liar.

Chairman Michael Page says Commissioner Ellen Reckhow was dishonest about her knowledge about the new DSS interim director.

Page says he also heard Commissioner Joe Bowser sought to oust former DSS director Gerri Robinson because she wouldn't hire one of his friends. He would not name who told him and said he could not prove it. “But I have to go by that when people bring me information,” he says.

Bowser calls Page a “liar.”

“It takes an ignorant person to make comments that are not true,” Bowser says. Although he introduced a potential job candidate to Robinson, he says it was a “recommendation only.”

Page’s concerns start with a June 27 county commissioners meeting where Bowser, Reckhow and Becky Heron voted to put Gail Perry on the DSS board.

Page and Brenda Howerton, the fifth commissioner, voted for Gloria Green, whose first term on the board had just expired. Page had served on the board with Green, a former DSS employee, and said the county had no reason to end her tenure.

Heron and Reckhow said Bowser, the commissioners’ liaison to the DSS board, contacted them before the vote, saying Robinson’s leadership had been divisive. She says she consulted County Manager Mike Ruffin, who indicated a change needed to occur, “which carried a lot of weight with me.”

Ruffin woould not comment.

Look for more on this developing story in tomorrow's N&O and in Wednesday's Durham News. If you'd like to speak with the reporter working on it please call Virginia Bridges at 919-564-9330 or email virginiabridges@gmail.com 

District court judges Elaine Bushfan and Nancy Gordon, along with other court officials, stopped by the Department of Social Services' monthly board meeting this morning to build a stronger rapport between the county's drug court program and the agency.

Peter Baker, Durham's drug court director, said both entities work for the best interest of children and families. There are times when children are taken out of a home by DSS due to a parent's substance abuse. Some people end up in drug court as a requirement to get their children back.

Durham's drug court, one of 43 across the state, had 30 referrals in financial year 2008-09 and admitted 15 people into the program, according to drug court numbers. All but one was African-American. The majority were in their 30's with no high school diploma or GED.

About 80 percent of those in the program were kicked out for not following the rules. The majority of those who were not forced out had high percentages of remaining in treatment and court attendance (both 89 percent) along with over 360 hours of community service. 

Five people graduated from the program by the end of June. The program graduated three more last week.

"That is what makes the job bearable," Bushfan told the board. "You get a chance to see people broken and you get a chance to see them whole." 

Court officials stressed the court's focus on treatment and reuniting families. DSS plans to create a document defining how the two entities can better work together. The board plans to revisit the partnership in March.

"It needs to be a community priority," said Newman Aguiar, board vice-chairman. "How the agencies respond will determine if this is a community priority."