This report was initially published by WECT and is being shared with permission. You can find the original here.
Christopher Vargo, who worked for the Battleship Memorial for 12 years before his termination in January, filed the lawsuit. It names the Battleship Commission, Executive Director Jay Martin and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees the commission. The suit seeks compensatory damages of more than $25,000, the reinstatement of Vargo’s position and the removal of Martin from his position as executive director.
“The Battleship North Carolina has been a treasure to the whole state,” Vargo told WECT in a Zoom interview. “It’s so important to have people with integrity, transparency, ethics and who will follow the law. If that’s not going to happen, then someone needs to stand up and call it out. And that’s what we’re doing.”…