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Bath County sheriff back under attack by board
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
WARM SPRINGS - Supervisor Stuart Hall had Bath Sheriff Larry Norfleet in his sights Tuesday at a meeting of the Bath County Board of Supervisors. He was determined to shoot down some recent actions by the new sheriff.
Hall had support from former sheriffs Jimmy Bryan and Tommy Black, along with previous county administrator Claire Collins, in his call for an investigation of Norfleet by either the state Attorney General or Virginia State Police. After considerable comment by Hall, Collins, and other citizens, a motion to request an investigation of Norfleet died on a 2-2 tie vote.
"I want an investigation," Hall said. He accused Norfleet of "a blatant misuse of power and authority." The main items of concern to Hall are:
¦ Norfleet allegedly misrepresenting himself in Alleghany County. A warrant was obtained from the magistrate in Alleghany against Carol Maynard, accused of attacking Norfleet's wife, Leta. On the bond for those charges is a note saying the defendant is to have "no contact with the sheriff or his wife." At the time the warrant was obtained, Norfleet was the sheriff elect, not the sheriff.
¦ Hall said Norfleet asked a state trooper to go to the store where the altercation took place and ask for the security tape video of the event in late November, again before Norfleet took office. Hall asserts only the sheriff at the time, Tommy Black, had the authority to ask for the tape.
¦ That Norfleet used $13,000 in the sheriff's department budget to give raises to three top deputies. Hall asserts Norfleet had no authority to have that money transferred from its specified use.
¦ That Norfleet's stepdaughter, who works in the sheriff's department and was employed by the previous sheriff, has received preferential treatment by Norfleet in violation of the county's nepotism ordi nance. "To me, that is misconduct, misuse of this office," Hall said. "If it is legal, we must be living in a foreign country, not the USA." Hall added he was "kind of leery of a state police investigation," since Norfleet is a retired trooper.
At one point Hall questioned the other supervisors and asked them if anyone on the board had any fiscal responsibility. "I've tried to explain this to you all and nobody either understands it or nobody cares."
Hall was particularly pointed with Millboro supervisor Carol Hardbarger. "I understand and I care, there is no way to explain that other than to say it," Hardbarger told Hall. "When I get all of the facts, I may agree. At this point I can't," she continued. "Frankly, I'm upset at the level of personal attack." The process, she said, had nothing to do with the issues or Norfleet but with doing it the right way.
"I don't like everything that has happened either," she said, adding she felt Norfleet should be present to hear the accusations rather than the board airing them in public. Hardbarger addressed citizens, saying, "If you hear a rumor, ask someone who knows rather than disparaging someone's character in a public forum."
Cedar Creek supervisor Percy Nowlin agreed with her. He and Hardbarger cast the two votes against the motion requesting an investigation. "I have a great deal of discomfort attacking character in a public meeting," he said.
Chairman Jon Trees struggled to let citizens speak and keep order during the meeting. With only one public comment period, and that coming late, tension was high. Comments by Hall, Claire Collins and Black fed the concerns and helped raise voices.
Collins, who until two years ago was Bath's county administrator, spoke at the beginning of the public comment period to give "historical perspective." Collins was county administrator in the early 1990s during the change to a consolidated jail began. "Our community was saying we did not want to lose our jail," in 1992, she said. Within a couple of years, pressure from the state caused the county to participate in the regional jail in Covington. When the local jail closed, the state compensation board cut the funding for five positions in the sheriff's department. "Those positions are still in the budget today. The county funded those positions," Collins told supervisors.
Collins, Hall and others met with representatives of the compensation board back in the 1990's and eventually the county received $13,056 in temporary base funding. That money, said Collins, was to help offset the salaries and expenses of transporting inmates to and from Covington.
Trees voted with Hall for the investigation motion, but he said his vote did not imply he agreed with Hall. Rather, he said, "The only way we will be able to resolve Stuart's allegations is to have some type of investigation."
Trees read from printouts provided by the state compensation board. According to the documents, Bath requested money in 1996 and the money was appropriated by the state in 2000. It was added to the comp board budget for the Bath sheriff's office in 2001.
However, Trees said, "This money came in, was never requested, never drawn down." The fact that the money was just sitting there unused is what Norfleet discovered, according to Trees, and Norfleet went to Richmond to get approval to use the money for the raises.
Collins didn't accept the state printouts and told the board to go back to county records. She and Black insisted the money had been spent every year and was used to offset some of the expense of the five deputy positions paid for with county money.
Norfleet was sick Tuesday and Wednesday. He was reluctant to comment on anything said at the board meeting since he had not been there to hear what was discussed. "Every time I turn around I'm getting hit in the face," Norfleet said of this latest round of allegations. "I'm trying to do a good job."
Norfleet did say his wife Leta obtained the warrant in Alleghany County, and he never misrepresented himself. "I've done nothing wrong. I'm not afraid of anything," Norfleet said.
On Wednesday, Trees had already begun an investigation of his own. He was at the courthouse meeting with treasurer Mary Susan Blankenship, among others. He said county auditors have been asked to look into the $13,000 in contention and figure out if the county has been drawing the money over the years and if so, where it has been going.
"I thought I had the answers," Trees said, referring to the documents he had from the comp board. As he left the courthouse Wednesday afternoon he added, "We will get to the bottom of this."
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