Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 TAG: 9306300041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BOONES MILL LENGTH: Medium
\ What's going on in this Franklin County town of 239?
A lot.
Mayor Juanita Murray is expected to announce her resignation tonight, citing doctor's orders.
Tuesday, town residents began receiving a four-page memorandum from five members of the council about why they reprimanded a sixth member of the council.
A group of residents, by some counts more than half the town's voting-age population, will present a petition asking the Town Council "to return the government of our town to its elected officials."
And finally, a town businessman who signed the petition said he may make a statement at the meeting about how Murray and a council member threatened to take their business elsewhere if he signed the petition.
Life in Boones Mill, small enough that government actions quickly affect residents' lives, has been a series of allegations, counter-allegations and denials since Virginia Carroll won a seat on the Town Council last summer.
Carroll has two basic opinions that put her at odds with the rest of the council, and she doesn't mind expressing them in the strongest of terms: Carroll thinks town police officer Lynn Frith has too much power, and she thinks Murray and the council do too much business behind closed doors.
"It is a mess," Carroll said of the town's constant controversy. "Maybe I could have done it a little bit differently, but my main interest is I feel the council has been secretive."
Murray, who had cancer surgery three years ago and has had heart problems this spring, said her physician recommended she retire immediately. She is disappointed to be leaving town government before accomplishing her main objective: to establish a reliable water system.
Murray said the relentless feuding at Town Council meetings has diverted the council's attention from important business.
"It's all so petty," she said. "After all, we're all adults. People trusted us to go in there and work for the town - not against it."
Carroll has been reprimanded twice, though only the most recent council reprimand was made public. The council reprimanded her this spring when she requested a background check on Frith before the town bestowed additional duties - and a $28,500 salary - on him.
The second reprimand was issued last month, after Carroll began questioning whether it was proper for Frith to use a backhoe on loan to the town on his own property.
Frith says Carroll trespassed on his property in order to take pictures and to get a reading on how many hours he had used the backhoe. Frith got a court order prohibiting Carroll from going on his land.
The petition to be presented to the council tonight was signed by 83 adult town residents, including at least a dozen former council members. The signers disapprove of the reprimand of Carroll, and say she was "properly performing her duty" as an elected council member.
The council's memo refers to the petition as "unauthorized."
"I've never known that you had to get authority from anybody to circulate a petition," said Homer Murray, a county supervisor and Boones Mill resident.
The memo also claims "that those persons circulating this petition are spreading slanderous falsehoods and misinformation."
Frances Murray, Homer Murray's wife, agrees with the faction of town residents that thinks Frith has come into town as a part-time policeman and taken over nearly everything else.
Frith enforces the 45 mph speed limit in the town. In four years, either through state grants or taxpayer money, Frith has purchased a Camaro as a police car, an $800 light bar for the car and a computer to check driver registrations.
Some residents see the town's newly purchased backhoe as yet another toy for Frith.
"He's got the whole council snowed," said Frances Murray. "I'm afraid if he suggests a helicopter, they'll say, `Well, he needs one, let's get him one.' "
Frith agrees he has taken on most of the duties involved in running the town. "The bottom line is," he said, "I'm the only town employee."
He says he doesn't object to being the town's handyman, but says he is puzzled about why some people wouldn't be pleased when his work saves the town from having to hire an outside professional.
"If we get a call at 3 o'clock in the morning that a water line is broken, I go do it," Frith said.
Frith points out that his salary is all he gets, other than a paid vacation. He gets no sick time, no health insurance, no retirement benefits. "It's a little ridiculous," he said, "that you do all this and people knock you for doing it."
by CNB