
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1993                   TAG: 9306020097
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

FIRED CHIEF SAYS HE'S BEEN OFFERED HIS JOB BACK

Fired Police Chief James McKinney said Tuesday that town officials have offered to give him his job back, but he wants something in writing first.

"I would like to stay if there's no undue pressure brought on," he said.

Town officials contacted Tuesday would not comment on McKinney's statement.

McKinney, who was dismissed by Mayor Benny Keister a week ago without any public explanation, said he met with Keister and Town Administrator Gary Elander on Friday, which was to have been his last day on the job.

Elander and Keister asked him to take the holiday weekend off and to come back Tuesday to discuss the terms of his returning to work, he said.

"I said no," McKinney said Tuesday. He said he told Elander and Keister that he wanted something in writing to review with his attorney before he agreed to anything.

"I got nothing," he said, although he said Elander offered to put terms in writing as McKinney started to leave the meeting.

The chief had said in earlier interviews he had thought about retiring when he turns 63 in August.

Tuesday, he said he would want no conditions attached to how long he could stay if he returned.

Keister and Elander confirmed Tuesday they had met with McKinney, but both said they could not comment on the substance of the discussions.

"As of this time, he's gone," Keister said, adding that McKinney would be paid through June.

McKinney said he told Elander at the Friday meeting that he thought the town owed him more than that because of unused vacation and sick leave.

He said he still considers himself out of work and has turned in his vehicle, identification card, badge and uniforms. He said he was working on a letter to town officials in response to Friday's meeting, and he plans to meet with a Roanoke lawyer Thursday.

"I'll be guided by his recommendations at that time," he said.

McKinney said he knows why Keister fired him, but he didn't want to say anything about it yet.

Meanwhile, McKinney said, he's been "overwhelmed" by the support from people in the community. "I didn't know I had that many friends in the town of Dublin," he said. "People have gone out of their way."

by CNB