The Rowan Social Services Board, meeting Tuesday afternoon, rejected a resolution calling for Lee Clement Piper’s resignation.

Piper, 45, of 302 Ellis St., was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge on March 15 in Rowan District Court. The charge stemmed from a New Year’s Eve party at her home.

Salisbury Police said as many as 75 to 85 teens were at the home when they arrived around 10 p.m. Police poured out more than five cases of beer when they arrived an hour after the party started. None of the teens was charged.

Piper has served on the board for five years. She is one of two state appointments on the five-member board.

Chairman Frank Tadlock, who is also a county commissioner, and board member Zell Setzer voted for a resolution supporting the position taken by county commissioners, asking the state board to remove Piper from the board.

Piper joined board members Edwin Koontz and Marjorie Kinard in defeating the motion, 3-2.

Koontz, a former Social Services director, offered a substitute motion, calling for the state commission to decide on whether Piper should be removed.

Koontz drew support from board member Kinard, also a state appointee. Piper cast the third vote, approving the Koontz motion, on a 3-2 vote. Setzer and Tadlock voted against.

Piper, who wore dark sunglasses for most of the meeting, took off her glasses to plead her case to stay on the board.

She said that she would not be comfortable on the board if her fellow board members didn’t want her and would resign.

Tadlock and Setzer made it clear they thought she should step aside. Kinard said nothing. Koontz said it has been an “embarrassing situation for the Piper family.”

“I feel for them,” said Koontz.

Piper said she has received more than 150 calls of support and many people have written to Gov. Jim Hunt and to the state board on her behalf.

Tadlock said, however, there is intense pressure from across the county to remove her from the board.

Piper said she accepts “ownership” of what happened in her home but laid the blame for the incident on her daughter, other parents and the Salisbury Post.

She repeated her contention that her daughter and other teens “snuck in” coolers of beer and she had no idea the beer was there or that the teens were drinking alcohol. “The fact that my daughter did it is appalling. I’m paying for my daughter’s mistake.”

She said it was difficult to get other parents to chaperone because many were going to other parties. She added that some who promised to be at her party didn’t show up.

Piper also blamed the Salisbury Post for making it a “DSS issue.”

Piper said the Post’s insistence on linking her to the Department of Social Services in stories and headlines created the issue now before the board.

“I wear many hats,” said Piper, noting that she is a well-known caterer and has been a writer for thePost. She suggested the headline should have been “One of Our Writers Got Arrested.”

(As a freelance writer, Piper has written food articles for the Post in recent years. She has never been a Post employee.)

Later in her remarks, Piper took issue with Post coverage of the trial, saying it was not accurate and that “I was not found guilty of letting teens drink.”

At another point, she said the judge did not find her guilty of providing alcohol to teens.

She suggested that her crime is that she made “an error in judgment.”

She said there will be no more parties.

Setzer didn’t accept Piper’s explanation or contention that the whole issue is a personal matter. Her position on the board makes it a public issue, he said.

He disputed her statement that she had a house full of teens and didn’t know they were drinking. “Nobody believes you didn’t know it,” said Setzer.

“Have you ever been in my house?” asked Piper. “I’ve got 17 rooms.”

Setzer said he has talked to Piper’s neighbors about teen parties at the house. Setzer detailed what he said neighbors had told him about previous parties at the home and drunk teens.

“That’s hateful slander,” Piper responded.

Koontz stopped the exchange, asking for the vote on the resolutions.