INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. — A controversial Facebook group and its alleged connection to a town council member in Indian Trail may lead town leaders to silence him for the second time.
The Facebook page, called Indian Trail Weasel Report, has been a contentious issue among council members and for the community for months. The Facebook page has more than 1,400 followers and claims it’s not affiliated with the town or elected officials. It features a combination of daily updates, spotlights on local businesses, and rumblings about local government actions. There has been speculation that council member Todd Barber is behind the page.
Mayor David Cohn, of Indian Trail, said, “A lot of the content is one-sided – a lot of things are completely untrue and a lot of things are just twisted … The fact behind it all. Is that it’s embarrassing to our town?"
Cohn says they hired the outside attorney to look into Barber’s involvement with the page. The attorney’s 9-page report, released in April, lays out Barber’s involvement with the Facebook page.
It says the page was previously titled “Todd Barber Indian Trail Town Council” before it was changed to ‘Indian Trail Weasel Report’ in August 2024.
The report also mentions the weasel mascot. It said councilman Barber has attended public functions with his pet weasel. The report concluded that “Councilman Barber has a degree of responsibility for content creation on The Weasel.” It said he violated the social media and ethics policies.
Cohn said the attorney said he didn’t interview Barber for the report because he had enough evidence against him. “…he said that all the evidence he visual saw. He watched the meetings. He said I didn’t need to talk to him.”
A post on the Indian Trail Weasel Report responded to the town’s report, claiming a “lack of evidence” or “proof that a single post was made by council member Barber.”
In an email to Channel 9, Barber said, “The current administrator of the Indian Trail Weasel report removed me as an admin of the page on Sept. 25, 2024. I have no editorial control or administrative privileges of the page. I am not a manager of the page either. No post since the page has become the Indian Trial Weasel Report has been posted by me.”
Cohn said a big concern is that the page does not allow anyone to comment on its posts.
“Everybody is titled to their opinion but as a politician, you’ve got to let someone else tell their side of the story, and you can’t and do that on the weasel report,” said Cohn.
Cohn says that at the next town council meeting, council members could vote to censure Barber. The action doesn’t require Barber to remove the page, however.
“… But maybe it draws the attention to say he this is not right,” said Cohn.
Councilmember Barber has the opportunity to respond to the report at the council’s May 13 meeting. That’s also when the council could motion for the attorney to draw up a resolution of censure. If that happens, the town council would likely vote on it at a later meeting.
Channel 9 learned this isn’t the first time the town council voted to censure Barber. In 2023, councilmembers voted, 3-2, to censure Barber over an alleged false post he made on social media regarding another town employee.
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