Pender County newspaper editor sues county, three commissioners

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Andy Pettigrew, editor and owner of the Pender-Topsail Post & Voice, has filed a lawsuit against Pender County and three of its commissioners.

Pettigrew says the county pulled legal advertising and public notices from his paper in retaliation for editorials and political cartoons he published.

“We have been the only paper in the county since 2012,” Pettigrew said.

He says his newspaper is the only one based in Pender County that meets the legal qualifications to publish government notices.

“We are the only paper in the county. We are the one that is authorized to run legal announcements — the ones that have to be run by attorneys and by the government,” he said.

Pettigrew argues that the county’s decision violates his First Amendment rights.

“We have the right to criticize the government if we want to and we also have the right under the First Amendment not to be punished for that,” he said.

The decision to remove ads from the Pender Post passed in a majority vote. Commissioners Randy Burton, Vice Chair Brent Springer, and Jerry Groves supported the move. The remaining two commissioners opposed it.

“The other two were very vocal about speaking out against what was happening — but three commissioners… that’s all you need. You can run the county with three people,” Pettigrew said.

The legal ads and public notices will now be published in the Wilmington StarNews. Pettigrew says that change could be devastating to his small business — and believes it also impacts residents.

“I believe it hurts the people of the county. They’re not getting the government information they used to. We ran county news starting 15 years ago — because the county wanted transparency,” he said.

Pettigrew hopes to restore the county’s previous relationship with the newspaper.

“We certainly want to see everything restored — the advertising and the relationship with the county. Prior to this, we had a wonderful relationship. I’ve been there since 2008, and we never had a problem… until these three commissioners, who have a bone to pick with us,” Pettigrew said.

WWAY reached out to a spokesperson for Pender County but has not received a response.

All five commissioners were also contacted for comment. Several did not respond. Commissioner Randy Burton replied and said he could not comment on pending litigation.

You can read the full complaint here: Pender Post lawsuit