COUNTY LIBRARY
GENERAL delivery
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RECORD
r Communities Since 1901
Vol. 87 No. 18
Commission To Look At Madison Audit
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
District Attorney J. Thomas
Rusher has asked the N.C. Local
Government Commission to look over
an audit report of past Madison Coun
ty finances outlining questionable
business practices.
Rusher said Tuesday that he has
asked for the commission's input
before he decides whether a criminal
investigation of former Madison
County commissioners and their
employees is warranted.
"Everything that an auditor
reports would not necessarily be
criminal," Rusher said. "It could be
what he views as improper accoun
ting techiques or a violation of county
policy."
The Asheville accountant who in
January informed the current
Madison County Board of Commis
sioners of past questionable financial
practices told the board that some of
those problems appeared to be a
violation of county policy, he said.
"Then, there is a possibility of an
outright criminal action," said
Rusher, district attorney for the 24th
Judicial District. "What would tend
to make it criminal is if there is an in
tentional act that enriches a person."
Rusher wants the Local Govern
ment Commission's input before he
determines whether the audit report
reveals any possible criminal activi
ty
"I would like to have the benefit of
their wisdom. They are supposed to
be experts in this area. I'm not. These
are matters that are difficult for me
to deal with initially," he said.
When the commission completes its
review of the audit report - probably
within the week - Rusher may
discuss the commission's findings
with the Madison commissioners
before deciding how to proceed.
"I'm not yet sure we're going to
call for a criminal investigation. I'm
not yet sure what course of action
we're ultimately going to take," he
said.
"Obviously, the commissioners are
concerned. Having read it, I can
understand the concern they 're show
ing," Rusher said.
Rusher has sent the audit report to
the Local Government Commission
after receiving a letter from Madison
County Commissioner Reese Steen
asking that he investigate anything in
Madison which may be illegal.
The commissioners, in February,
agreed to send the controversial audit
report to Rusher, but did not
specifically call for an investigation
of former county officials and
employees.
Rusher said in March that it has
been his policy not to investigate
governmental matters unless re
quested by local officials to do so.
Steen, earlier this month, drafted a
carefully worded letter to Rusher re
questing an investigation of any
potentially illegal activity by public
officials or employees in Madison.
The letter did not specifically call
for an investigation of the audit
report, but did ask Rusher to in
vestigate anything, which in his train
ed opinion, may violate the law.
The audit report, delivered to the
commissioners Jan. 12 by Roger
Gregg of Gregg & Lasher, PA, outlin
ed a number of discrepancies in the
records of county finances during the
last year of office of the former com
missioners.
Gregg said there was "a significant
increase" in mileage and expense
checks written to former commis
sioners following their defeat in the
May 1986 primary and before they
left office Dec. 1.
Also among the questioned transac
tions were checks written to county
employees for thousands of dollars in
vacation, sick and holiday pay.
The report also listed a number of
violations of standard accounting
techniques.
"There are certain concerns about
the report," Rusher said. "It certain
ly points out violations of county
policy and violations of accounting
procedures and possibly criminal ac
tivity." ____
J. Thomas Rusher
. . district attorney
Cleaning Up I
Members of the Marshall doggers and
Marshall 4-H Club take a break Saturday
during Clean Streams Day. This group con
centrated on the Blannerhasset Island area
of the French Broad River. Rains and
swollen streams hampered cleanup efforts
in certain areas, but organisers say that
some groups have reschednled their
cleanup days. Clean Streams Day organ
izers are now tallying up the number of
participants and number of miles of
streams cleaned in the fourth annual effort.
Police, County Sheriffs
Move Toward Cooperation
Marshall Officers Agree
To Patrol On Bypass
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
In response to complaints from the Madison County
Sheriff's Department, police officers for the town of Mar
shall will begin patrolling on the Marshall Bypass.
That was one of several points discussed Monday by
the Marshall Board of Aldermen and municipal police in
the wake of stinging criticism of the town's law enforce
ment officers delivered earlier this month by Madison
County Chief Deputy Dal Peek.
Peek told the Marshall board that he feels the town
police have not done their jobs properly because they are
i not patrolling on the Marshall Bypass and have not writ
ten many tickets.
Madison County deputies have been kept tied up within
Marshall town limits on matters that could easily be
handled by the municipal officers, he said.
During Monday's special called meeting, members of
the Marshall board met in executive session with the
town's three police officers - William Lisenbee, Charlie
Tweed and Edward "Popeye" McLean - for about 30
minutes to discuss Peek's concerns.
That meeting was cut short, however, when the officers
received a call concerning a disturbance in the Rollins
area of town.
-Continued on back page
Weaverville Police To
Assist Lyda In Emergency
By ANNE KITCHELL
Staff Writer
Buncombe County Sheriff Buck Lyda paid a visit to the
Weaverville Board of Aldermen Monday night to discuss
a resolution prohibiting town police officers from leaving
the immediate area to assist other law enforcement
agencies.
That recent resolution came in response to complaints
received by board members that Weaverville police were
being dispatched to other towns in non-emergency situa
tions.
Under a mutual aid agreement with the Buncombe
County Sheriff's Department, Weaverville police can be
deputized and called to assist neighboring communities
when needed.
"If there's a problem with the dispatch system, let me
know," said Lyda. "If you're not satisfied, you can spend
the $40,000 to get your own dispatcher."
Weaverville Alderman David Lankford said the town
had received complaints that town officers were sent
"where they didn't need to be."
According to Weaverville Police Chief Darrell
Rath burn, there was one incident when a police officer
was mistakenly called to Woodfin to assist.
-Continued on back page
Hot Springs Cancels ,
Plans To Seek Grant
By ANNE KITCHELL
Staff Writer
The Hot Springs Board of Aldermen
has gotten a disappointing recom
mendation from Land-of-Sky
Regional Planner Jane Miller concer
ning the town's plans to apply for
grant money for municipal im
provements.
Town officials had planned to apply
for a Community Development Block
Grant (COBG) for the purpose of pav
ing streets, the extension of sewer
lines and the construction of a new
fire department.
But Miller told the board at a public
hearing last week that the town's
chances of receiving funding are
slim. Town officials agreed to stop
pursuing grant money.
"Your best bet would be to step
back and see if there aren't other
funds available," Miller said.
CDBG funds are available for low
to moderate-income areas and may
be used for housing repairs, demoli
tion of dilapidated housing, relocation
of families or public facilities.
The Land-of-Sky Regional Council
helps towns apply for state and
federal grant money. Miller told the
board the proposed extension of
sewer service would be the most like
ly to receive the money, but the
homes affected are not considered
low-income housing.
"The sewer money of between
150,000 and $150,000 affects so few
houses, at a cost of $8,000 per house, I
don't feel they would consider your
request." said Miller.
Andrew "Jaator" Chandler and his
wife, Dehra, daring a break In his
flrat trial la Madison County.
Chaadler is now serving two life
terns on child sfxui abase
Chandler's Supporters Call For
New Investigation Of Abuse Case
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Friends and relatives of Andrew
"Junior" Chandler, convicted April
IS of child sexual abuse charges, are
circulating petitions calling for a re
investigation of the 1966 case.
"We're hoping to send this to the
governor and senators," said Jerry
Gunter, one of Chandler's friends in
volved in the petition drive. "We
don't know if it will help, but we're
trying."
Chandler, a 29-year-old Madison
County man, is now in Central Prison
in Raleigh, serving two back-to-back
life sentences plus 21 years after be
ing convicted of sexually abusing
several Marshall Day Care students,
aged 2 to 5, from January to May of
last year.
Although Chandler was found guil
ty by a Buncombe County jury of 12 of
the 16 charges against him, his
friends and relatives maintain that
Chandler did not molest the preschool
children.
Some 100 supporters met last
Thursday at Union Valley Missionary
Baptist Church to map out a strategy
to help a man they believe is inno
cent.
The first step of that plan, Gunter
said, is to circulate the petitions
throughout the county to gauge
response to their efforts.
llie petition begins, "The majority
of Madison County citizens feel that
Andrew Chandler Jr. has been unjust
ly sentenced to life in prison. We the
undersigned strongly believe that an
innocent man has been imprisoned."
The petition goes on to give a
history of Chandler's case, from the
filing of charges last May, through a
mistrial in Madison County and the
moving of the retrial to Buncombe, to
the final verdict handed down in
Asheville two weeks ago.
"We appeal to your sympathy for a
29-year-old innocent man, with two
children of his own, who has been un
justly sentenced without any hope for
the future,'' the petition states. "We
citizens of Madison County are not
satisfied with this conviction. The
conscience of the general public ques
tions the justice of this conviction and
we beg a re-investigation of the entire
matter."
The group of friends and relatives
will meet again May 7, said Gunter, a
-Continued on back page
Sewer Plant May Receive Funds
By BILL 8TUDENC
Editor
Marshall officials won't be able to
um some 174,000 in unspent state
grant money to repair the town's
dilapidated recreation center.
That was the word last week from
Sam Parker of the Marshall Housing
Authority, who told the Marshall
Board of Aldermen that state officials
would not approve the use of the
funds for much-discussed repairs to
the recreation center.
Marshall officials agreed instead to
divert the funds toward state
mandated repairs to the town's
Tfaftown will ako reapply for a
N.C. Department of Natural
974,346.03 in state grant money, left
over from a sewer line project on
Cody Road-Chandler Drive, for
repairs to the recreation center
But Parker, after talking to NECD
officials, found that the project would
probably not be approved.
"NRCD is not going to approve the
use of those excess funds for the
recreation center," he said at last
Tuesday's board meeting. "They say
it's third on the priority list. Sewer
and water lines and housing would
come before that."
Town officials had hoped that the
Linda Dodson, town clerk, sug
gested that the funds be used to
upgrade Marshall's wastewater
treatment plant.
"The state has placed the town of
Marshall on a moratorium, which
means that we cannot hook up
anymore sewer lines until this thing
is upgraded to the state's specifica
tions," Dodson said.
And that means that new sewer
lines constructed with specially ap
propriated state funds cannot be
hooked up to the system until it is
upgraded, she said.
Dodson estimated the cost of
Small Town Police Office
Has Some Big Ideas
Bv ANNE KITCHELL
SUff Writer
Just because a police department it
small that does not mean they are
behind the time.
In fact, the five-man Weaverville
Police Department is ahead of all
others with an innovative approach to
the safe resolution at potentially
dangerous conflicts.
Weaverville Police Chief Darreil
Rathburn said there is a need for
for the officers due to the
law enforcement officials handle ver
bal hostility from the public
"The state requires physical
hostility training, but there is nsthing
mandated for hostility training.
That's an area that needs more atten
tion," said Rathburn.
The Weaverville police chM, along
with Towu Manager Charles Home
began planning for the ?aMMt