It was just two months ago that the Robeson County Board of Commissioners was in full sprint to buy the Angel Exchange building, enough so that they voted to potentially spend millions of dollars with one commissioner absent and without the item being listed on the Jan. 22 meeting agenda.

Chairman Raymond Cummings, who made the motion to buy and advocated in favor, was practically breathless. He had heard word that the building, where the school’s central office was temporarily located, was on the verge of sale, which could make homeless the central office staff, and the county needed to show its love of education by rushing in and saving the day.

More dishonesty followed, with Cummings knocking aside any proposal that the schools move into the county administrative offices when the BB&T building was ready by saying that work would not be done for years, and that the county was having trouble finding financing.

Cummings was all in, as were Commissioners Berlester Campbell, Roger Oxendine and Jerry Stephens, and then, on Feb. 5, Noah Woods, with a little help from his friends, raised his hand, and it was 5-3 to continue to negotiate to buy the building. That night the commissioners’ hostility toward the people they are sworn to serve was on full display, with anyone questioning the decision in for a snarky retort, and an extra dose of animus for those in the Public Schools of Robeson County who were accused of being more concerned with building a Taj Mahal than a new school.

Since that night, there has been silence concerning the Angel Exchange building from the county commissioners, with not a word uttered at the retreat in Raleigh nor the regular meetings since. But the public has remained vocal, lining up against, and the outrage has been evident from all colors and corners of the county.

We are happy to report to you today that the county will not buy the Angel Exchange building.

The public uproar, we believe, was critical as there is an election looming and Campbell has a two-person tussle on his hands, and Angel Exchange will be a part of his opponents’ campaigns. But the deal-breaker was when the commissioners were advised by their attorney, Patrick Pait, that they could not order the schools to use the Angel Exchange building as a central office, raising the probability that if the building were purchased, it would become a multi-million-dollar monument to a handful of commissioners’ contempt for process and overall incompetence.

Thankfully, someone among Commissioners Oxendine, Stephens and Campbell regained a willingness to think this thing through, understand that it was time to fold a bad hand, and walk away. We know where the credit belongs, but until the board is willing to publicly acknowledge that negotiations have ended, we see no reason for a public pat on the back.

The only question is when or if the county government will acknowledge publicly that negotiations have ended, but we are sure all the permutations of how it might affect the May 8 primary first must be calculated. The step is more than a formality because is frees up the Board of Education to go hard in whatever direction its decides. The school board, which was never consulted in advance of the Angel Exchange debacle, would have faced tremendous public pressure to pack up for Pembroke had the building been purchased, so a public declaration would be a courtesy and liberating.

And therefore unexpected.

We said early on that the commissioners had overplayed their hand, and we believe today we can declare ourselves correct. It was unnecessary and damaging, especially to east-west relationships that are vital to progress in this county.

The healing, if it can be achieved, will take time.