HAYWOOD COUNTY TOURISM DIRECTOR RESIGNS

Haywood County's tourism director Scotty Medford Ellis resigned her
post Thursday after police over the weekend cited her for possession
of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Ellis, who served as executive director of the Haywood County Tourism
Development Authority since 1995, said her resignation would take
effect Nov. 1. She declined to comment on the pending charges. "I am
proud, as a native of Haywood County, to have helped make people
throughout the Southeast aware of its beauty as a top vacation
destination," Ellis said. "I certainly hope the progress we have made
over the last 13 year continues." Ellis was charged Sunday when a
police officer received a call about drug activity in the parking lot
of Ingles on Barber Boulevard. A witness called police after
reportedly seeing a woman in a BMW put marijuana in a black bag before
going into the store, according to a Police Department arrest report.
The report states that the officer approached the woman, later
determined to be Ellis, when she came out of the store and asked if he
could search the black bag in her front seat. Ellis told the officer
she would rather he not before relenting and handing him the bag. The
officer opened the bag and found deodorizing spray and zip-closure
plastic bags containing 1/2 ounce of marijuana, 1 gram of hashish and
a glass pipe, according to the report. The officer gave Ellis a
citation for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and
misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. These charges come less
than two months after Ellis pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor drug
charges stemming from a Dec. 30 traffic stop. In that case a N.C.
Highway Patrol trooper stopped Ellis for speeding and reported
smelling marijuana.

Ellis told police there was a small bag of marijuana in the front
passenger seat and officers also discovered a glass pipe in the bag,
according to a police report.

The TDA gets hotel occupancy taxes to fund tourism
promotion.

Ellis has served as the authority's director since
1995.