Council, Residents Spar Over Trail Days Police Presence

By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: May 20, 2008

BY DEBRA McCOWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
DAMASCUS, Va. – Members of the Damascus Town Council praised the town’s police department and blasted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office late Monday.

Town residents, however, disputed claims that deputies were scarce during the weekend Trail Days festival.

“I personally want to thank [town] police officers for work that they did ...,” said Councilman Jim Cartwright. “They went above and beyond the call of duty.

“For the last three days, the town of Damascus had more people in it than the rest of the county combined, and I didn’t notice a particularly large sheriff’s presence in the town even though the request was made for the sheriff’s department to come help us out,” Cartwright said.

In reality, 20,000 people attended the festival, while the county’s population is at more than 51,000.

Sheriff Fred Newman could not be reached for comment.

Bobby Smith, a former fire chief, said he saw four deputies working the festival.

“I think before you start dragging Fred Newman through the mud and everybody on the sheriff’s department through the mud, I think they should be right here when you do it,” Smith said.

Police Chief John Rouse, when asked about the alleged lack of sheriff’s department presence, said: “We were shorthanded. I’m not going to put the blame on anybody.”

Abingdon town officers usually help out but chose not to this year, he said, for reasons he could not explain.

Three council members, one of whom, Marina Farmer, is about to end her term after losing this month’s election, then accused Mayor Creed Jones of unilaterally interviewing a candidate for the unopen position of police chief. Jones denied the charge.

“I think it shows very little class and very little professionalism that we are interviewing people for a police chief position and we haven’t even decided we have a police chief position open yet,” Councilman Johnny Blevins said.

Jones said during his re-election campaign that he wanted to replace the town’s police department starting with the chief. He was re-elected with 87 percent of the vote, while two council members – Farmer and Maurice Parris – who favored keeping the current six-member department, were voted out of office. The terms of Cartwright and Blevins were not up for re-election.

“Even if I was [interviewing someone for police chief], it’s not against the law,” Jones said. “I can talk to anybody I want to. They’re sore losers. That’s all I can say.”

During the meeting, Cartwright loudly talked over Jones when the mayor tried to address the issue of police overtime.

Cartwright said pay sheets for the past six months would show police officers have done a good job of controlling spending “except for police time in court.”
| (276) 791-0701