Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993 TAG: 9307300027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN AND NANCY BELL STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A letter sent to the police chief this month that prompted town officials to ask for the probe is not the first one written by an anonymous critic of the department's volunteers.
Privately, volunteers are blaming proponents of the paid service. But paid firefighters say those allegations are without substance.
"We've got more sense than that," said Capt. Donnie Foutz, who supervises three other paid firefighters during daylight hours. "We'd lose our job over that."
Still, volunteer Chief Barry Fuqua questions the motives of the letter writer. He said one letter written in January 1992 came from an anonymous person who claimed to be positioned to bring Fuqua and the volunteer system down.
Fuqua said evidence points to someone within the department, either paid or volunteer.
"It's probably both," he said. "An active volunteer may be participating."
Fuqua, who is reluctant to give his reasons until state police are through with the investigation, said only someone associated with the volunteer fire department would have access to records being quoted in the letters.
"I thought things were straightened out until the [latest] letter," he said. "I was optimistic things were going to work out."
Foutz said friction has existed ever since paid workers were hired, a move necessitated because too few volunteers were available during daylight hours.
"It had gotten to the point that they couldn't get anyone out in the day," Foutz said.
There has been a prolonged clash between Foutz and Fuqua over which one would take charge of the department during the day. Town Council gave them equal status in the chain of command.
Brad Corcoran, the former town manager, said, "I think they were both stubborn. Both wanted their way, and that was the problem."
Several executive sessions with Town Council during Corcoran's two-year stint as town manager dealt with the friction between the paid firefighters and the 34 volunteers.
At one point, Corcoran appointed a committee to help bring peace between the two groups.
Town Council wanted the paid firefighters to answer to the town manager.
"The volunteer chief used to be in charge," Corcoran said. "He wanted to be in charge."
Fuqua pokes fun at that perception by posting a "Chief Iron Fist" sign on his office door.
"I don't think I'd live up to the name Chief Iron Fist," he said. "And the volunteers would support me on that. There is a team system and an avenue for complaints."
The friction led Foutz several months ago to ask council to clarify its wishes in yet another executive-session discussion of the problem.
"If I have a complaint about that man," Foutz said, referring to Fuqua, "I'll go head to head with him." Therefore, Foutz said, paid firefighters don't need to write anonymous letters to make their points.
"We're respected, too," Foutz said of the paid firefighters. "We don't want this junk about paid vs. volunteer."
Clay Goodman, the new town manager, said he is not going to let that battle get out of hand.
"Without our volunteers, you are talking about a lot of money for first aid or fire protection," Goodman said.
He said the decision on how the system works should be left in the hands of the town manager and council, not an anonymous letter writer who boasts of powerful connections.
Two years ago, anonymous letters critical of the volunteer rescue squad helped deplete the base of volunteers. Now residents occasionally have to pay for an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Faced with a similar problem, Goodman has promised the volunteer firefighters that he will try to track down the letter writer once the state police have finished with the criminal allegations.
"We will have to look into it," Goodman said. "We want to make sure there are no improprieties. We need to know what generated the allegations."
The state police probe will center on some of the Fire Department's purchases and travel expenses.
The Roanoke Times & World News reported Thursday that the volunteers spent one-third of the money they collected from fund-raising on social functions, such as initiations and a Christmas banquet.
They also spent money to buy Christmas gifts for their children, gifts certificates for their wives and cash gifts for officers, including Fuqua.
Corcoran said few people in town government knew about those expenditures until he asked Finance Director Joan Furbish to compile a record of Fire Department expenditures two years ago.
"It was the best-kept secret in town," Corcoran said. "I don't know that there were any misappropriations of funds. It's just, how wise did they spend the money?"
Memo: a different version ran in the State edition.