Havelock City Commissioner — November 2026

Bear
for Havelock.

A lifelong native. A taxpayer. A CDL-A truck driver who knows these roads. Running because nobody else will say it out loud.

81 Noise complaints filed
6 Enforcement actions taken
7.4% Enforcement rate
18+ Months fighting alone
Why I Have To Run →

Who I Am

A Havelock native.
Not a politician.

I was born here, raised here, and I intend to stay here. I am not running because I wanted to be a politician. I am running because after 18 months of documented, evidence-based requests to city and state agencies, the people responsible for protecting this community have chosen not to act.

Bear with his mother, MSgt. Joan R. McGillem, USMC (Ret.)
Everything I am, I owe to her — MSgt. Joan R. McGillem, USMC (Ret.). I call her Mama Bear. She still substitutes at Havelock Elementary and Havelock Middle, two of the schools on the corridor I am fighting for. Her students walk these roads.

Background

Lifelong Havelock native and taxpayer. CDL-A license holder with Hazmat and Tanker endorsements. AAS Cybersecurity & Networking student at Craven Community College, where I consistently rank among the top competitors in the National Cyber League. 20+ years construction. Former CNA and current family caregiver.

What I Bring

I have spent years running crews and teams on construction sites — coordinating people, solving problems on the ground, and getting the job done right. That work built an analytical mind that breaks problems down to their parts and works them in order. And I bring something no hired consultant can: I actually live here. Havelock is my home, and I will live with the results of every decision — right alongside my neighbors.

My Commitment

I will respond to every constituent email within two weeks, barring unforeseen life events. Beyond that, my commitment is a more peaceful and prosperous Havelock — making sure public allocations are spent appropriately with clear, itemized accountability, and making sure taxpayers receive every service they are already paying for.

Standing

I am not asking Havelock to trust my word. I am asking Havelock to read the record. Every claim on this site is documented. Every number is sourced. Every letter is in my sent folder.

Why I Have To Run

Because nobody else will.

"We did not buy a home in a construction zone. NCDOT is now saying it is one. Nobody asked us. Nobody told us. Nobody answered when we called."

When the US 70 Havelock Bypass opened in December 2025, commercial truck traffic was quietly redirected onto McCotter Boulevard — a residential road with no sidewalks, no shoulders, and five schools within walking distance. At this time last year, McCotter saw roughly 13–20 commercial vehicles per week. We now document that volume in a single hour.

I did not go looking for a fight. I filed complaints. I sent emails. I made calls. I submitted FOIA requests. I purchased a calibrated Type 2 sound level meter and learned to use it specifically for this purpose, and took over 100,000 calibrated measurements. I recorded conversations. I contacted FHWA, NCDOT, the City, HPD, the DA's office, state legislators, and three members of the U.S. Congress.

The noise ordinance enforcement rate on my street over 18 months: 7.4%. The most recent documented periods: zero enforcement. Same officers who cited speeding and drug offenses in the same window. Noise was the one category left untouched.

FHWA confirmed in writing that McCotter Boulevard was never included in the bypass noise study. NCDOT says they see no safety issue — yet on June 3, a commercial dump truck struck a civilian SUV on SR 1824 (McCotter Boulevard). The road is so narrow that the collision closed it entirely to all traffic for roughly an hour, and commercial trucks were diverted onto an even smaller, tighter residential lane while an HPD officer managed the scene. A road where a single accident shuts down the whole corridor and forces trucks onto a smaller residential street is not built for routine commercial traffic. The geometry is the problem.

A word about the sound of freedom.

Havelock exists because of MCAS Cherry Point. The jets are loud. They are proud. And every single person who lives here signed that contract the day they moved in — the sound of freedom is non-negotiable, and it is welcome. I would not trade it for anything.

What is not in that contract is inconsiderate civilian vehicles with modified exhausts, booming audio systems, and jake brakes echoing down a residential corridor at all hours. What is not in that contract is a police department that can hear a fighter jet from miles out but somehow cannot hear a bass-rattling vehicle fifty feet from an officer's own window.

"We accepted the sound of military service. We did not accept the sound of willful indifference."

I am running because I have tried everything else. I am running because this is a beautiful town worth fighting for. I am running because the people on McCotter Boulevard — and every residential street in Havelock — deserve a commissioner who has actually read the ordinances, knows the statutes, and will not stop asking until somebody answers.

I am not running to start a political career. I am running to end 18 months of willful negligence.

The Issues

What this campaign
is actually about.

CMV Traffic on Residential Roads

McCotter Boulevard is a school walking route and bus corridor with no sidewalks, no shoulders, homes within 100 feet of the travel lanes, and five schools nearby. Since the US 70 bypass opened, it has absorbed commercial truck overflow it was never designed to handle. State law already provides a no-cost remedy under N.C.G.S. § 20-118(b)(4) and § 20-116(h). An appropriate alternate route exists less than one minute north. The question is not whether the law allows action. The question is why no one has taken it.

Noise Ordinance Non-Enforcement

Havelock City Code § 93.04(B)(7) prohibits vehicle audio systems plainly audible outside the vehicle. No distance measurement required. No equipment required. No exemption available. Over 18 months and 81 documented calls for service, HPD produced 6 enforcement actions — a 7.4% rate. The two most recent documented periods: zero. This is not a resource problem. It is a choice.

Modified Exhaust and Muffler Violations

Modified exhaust systems are a separate problem from vehicle audio, and they come with their own documentation record. Havelock City Code § 93.04(B)(2) addresses muffler and exhaust noise, and N.C.G.S. § 20-128 — the state exhaust statute — carries no exemptions whatsoever. Unlike a stereo you can roll the windows up against, a straight-piped or modified exhaust is plainly audible from inside closed structures, through walls and windows. This is not a comfort complaint. It is a distinct, separately enforceable violation category that has gone unaddressed alongside the rest.

Accountability and Transparency

Residents deserve to know what their government is and is not doing. FOIA requests should not be the only way to find out that a road was never studied, that a noise complaint was never acted on, or that an enforcement directive produced less enforcement. My platform is simple: enforce existing ordinances before writing new ones, answer every constituent email, and stop treating documentation requests as adversarial acts.

Property Rights and Quality of Life

The homes on the residential streets and lanes along the McCotter Boulevard corridor were purchased with a reasonable expectation of what that neighborhood would be. That expectation was changed without notice, without study, and without consent — by decisions made by people who do not live here. Government action that destroys the use and enjoyment of private property has a name. Not unlike United States v. Causby (1946), residents have a right to what they paid for.

The Data

This is not opinion.
This is the record.

100K+ SPL Readings

Calibrated Type 2 measurements, A- and C-weighted, across 24 sessions.

3,489 Video Files

Timestamped documentation of violations, ~162 GB of raw footage.

81 Noise CFS Filed

Calls for service over 4 documented FOIA periods. 6 enforcement actions.

90+ CMV in 4 Hours

Documented amateur traffic count on a residential school walking route.

5 Nearby Schools

HES, HMS, HHS, CCC, and Roger Bell — all within the affected corridor.

$0 Cost of the Fix

N.C.G.S. § 20-118(b)(4) authorizes a CMV restriction. No funding required.

Video Documentation

→ 90+ CMV on a residential school route in under 4 hours → 13 CMV in one hour through a single lane during an active accident diversion

Platform

Four things.
All of them specific.

Contact

This is a two-way
conversation.

If you live in Havelock and you have experienced something similar — noise complaints ignored, CMV traffic on your street, emails that go unanswered — I want to hear from you.

This campaign runs on real concerns from real neighbors. Not talking points. Not consultants.

Email: HavelockAccountability@proton.me

Made by Harlan "Bear" McGillem, candidate for Havelock City Commissioner. No money was raised or spent to produce this site — it was built by the candidate himself.

Your information stays with this campaign. No lists. No spam.

Bear laughing on the open road with his teammate TrailMaster
My teammate, "TrailMaster", and I laughing somewhere out in the open road; I have seen firsthand what truck lanes do to a community. Let me protect OUR community from it!