Haywood Community College trustees cited leadership, community rapport and deep local roots as key factors when naming Dr. Barbara Sue Parker the next college president last week.

The Haywood Community College Board of Trustees has decided not to release the names of its finalists for president of the community college — even though it did so during the first round of searching last year.

Three finalists have been chosen, but only the person who is ultimately chosen as the next president will be publicly named, said Chairman Bob Morris Monday.

The Haywood Community College Board of Trustees have apparently rejected five finalists in its search for a new college president and will now cast a wider net by selecting five additional candidates.

In a split vote earlier this month, the Board of Trustees decided to expand their search for a new president after interviewing its five finalists. The board will meet at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 20 to discuss the process for going forward.

In the five years since the terrorists attacked us on 9/11, it has seemed that President Bush could get away with virtually anything, from falsely connecting the attack on 9/11 to our pre-emptive war on Iraq to completely ignoring the Constitution (which he took an oath to defend) in various and egregious ways, including warrantless wiretapping and the seemingly endless detainment of so-called “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay.