Despite Criticism, Damascus Mayor Defends Police Chief Firing

By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: July 8, 2008

BY DEBRA McCOWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
DAMASCUS, Va. – Police Chief John Rouse was fired for failure to do his job, Mayor Creed Jones said in an interview Tuesday.

A day after Rouse’s controversial firing, the mayor said the Damascus chief had reneged on a vow to decrease the size of the police department and even hired another officer.

“I’ve also tried to get him out to walk the streets some and visit some of the businesses, and he hasn’t done that,” Jones said.

Rouse had no comments after his firing late Monday at an organizational meeting of the Damascus Town Council.

“It might be a while before I’ll want to say anything,” Rouse said after the meeting.

The council voted 3-3 on Rouse’s termination, with Jones casting the tie-breaking vote.

Councilmen Tom Hayes, Kenneth Upchurch and Mitchell Greer voted to fire Rouse; Councilmen Jim Cartwright, Johnny Blevins and Lannis Greene voted to keep him.

It was the first meeting for Hayes and Upchurch, who defeated incumbents Maurice Parris and Marina Farmer in the recent town election. Neither could be reached for comment Tuesday.

“These are the officers that busted all the meth labs in this town,” Farmer said of the police department under Rouse’s leadership, “but they don’t want that.”
When Rouse was fired Monday, one of the officers, Ricky Stumbo, quit in protest.

“You can have my badge and my equipment tonight,” Stumbo said. “I’m not working for a department I can’t trust. It’s that simple.”

After Stumbo left, the council voted to accept his resignation. He was outside, already cleaning personal items out of his police car.

“If I go back to flipping burgers for minimum wage, it’s better than being treated like a dog for minimum wage,” said Stumbo, who said he’d taken a $13,000-a-year pay cut to work for the department because he always wanted to be a police officer.

“So much for the American dream in this town, or any other town in Washington County,” Stumbo said.

Steve McVey, who was appointed interim police chief while the council looks for a new chief, said he believes Rouse did “an excellent job for the town” and that the firing was wrong.

Going forward, he said that he will “run the department the way I was trained to run it” and that he plans to stick around as an officer after a new chief is found. “I’m gonna be here,” McVey said. “I’ve got to have a job. I’ve got a family to feed.”

Councilman Johnny Blevins said he believes the firing was purely political.

“I think it was politically motivated – totally, 100 percent politically motivated,” Blevins said. “It’s just ... all about three members of council wanting to run the police department rather than letting the chief run the police department.”

The Damascus Police Department has been plagued by controversy in recent months, with allegations ranging from sexual misconduct on the job to mishandling of town funds to violation of residents’ civil rights.

Mayor Jones said town residents need police officers they can trust and respect.

“People need to respect the police officer, especially the young people. Right now it’s just altogether not that way, and it’s the policemen’s fault,” Jones said.
“I think we’re going to move on forward and sooner or later we’ll get back in line.”

During Jones’s tenure as mayor, Damascus has gone through police chiefs even faster than St. Paul, a town on the Russell-Wise county line; St. Paul also fired a police chief this month and has a history of political firings.

Last year, then Damascus Police Chief Tony Richardson was fired following his arrest on drug charges.

A year before that, the Damascus Town Council fired then Chief Mike Rutherford; in the previous year it fired then Chief Richard White.

Jones is hopeful the town will get it right this time when it hires a new chief.

“With the council’s help and with that one person as chief, we’ll either retain some of those guys [members of the department] or hire new ones,” Jones said.
“I’m not saying who, and I’m not saying definitely yes, but in my opinion, the chief and the council will get rid of some of those people.”

Jones said all the police chief applications the town had on file were shredded at the direction of Cartwright, who voted to keep Rouse as chief, and the council must start from scratch to collect new applications.

Cartwright had no comment after Monday’s meeting and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Lannis Greene, who also voted to keep Rouse as chief, said he hopes the council can work together on town projects going forward.

“Hopefully we can get this behind us and find a chief of police and focus on more important things,” Greene said.

Mayor Jones, who campaigned for re-election on a platform of firing and replacing the entire police department, said he believes after the replacement of Parris and Farmer on the council and the firing of Rouse that things will improve in the town.

“The council now, at least three of them, are going to be voting in one accord, and I’m going to be [the tie-breaking] vote, and we’re going to get some things done, slowly but surely,” Jones said.

“This is a small town. We could be a little bit more like Mayberry probably.”

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