With help of community, victim of hanging attempt gets new home

About 20 years ago, Council needed help fixing up the house, and he qualified for a $20,000 grant from the federal government, which provides housing-repair funds for senior citizens.

But when suburbia and a freeway came knocking, he had to say goodbye to the home after 64 years.

He also was required to pay back the grant because he was moving.

Council, now 87, never intended to leave, but the construction of N.C. Highway 540 gave him no choice.

The Department of Transportation bought his property, and he needed to pay back the $20,000.

“He should have been allowed to have it released and put on another property, but the rules don’t allow that,” said Paul Stam, an attorney who worked with the NAACP to help Council with his relocation.

While attending a Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, Garrett Raczek learned of Council's story and launched a GoFundMe page to pay off that debt.

“[There were] thousands of shares. People [were] emailing me, saying, ‘I don’t have money in my bank account right now, but I want to help,’” Raczek said.

When Council was 19 years old, he and seven others were accused of robbing a store outside Apex.

Two deputies hanged him from a tree, hoping he would confess to the crime, he said. They let him down when he didn't.

After his story aired on WRAL News last year, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker and Apex Police Chief John Letteney issued an apology.

On Monday, the sheriff congratulated Council on his new home.

Council signed the papers to move into a house on Leicester Court in Apex. He and his daughter plan to move in Tuesday.

“Everything worked out just right,” he said.

“I just appreciate from my heart what y’all did,” he continued. “Sure do. Appreciate it from the heart.”