ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993                   TAG: 9309290221
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

MANHUNT EXPENSES ADD UP

Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird has billed the state for more than $5,000 in overtime and lodging costs from a three-day search for two state prison fugitives.

Laird said the bill included $5,071 for 350 overtime hours worked by 21 deputies from Aug. 24 to Aug. 26. Also, $259 was spent for motel rooms for Bland County, Va., corrections officers and their bloodhound, he said.

Authorities combed the area of Fayette County between Ansted and the New River Gorge in search of Billy Joe Hottle, 20, and Craig Swick, 23.

The Grant County cousins escaped from different prison work programs. Each faces three counts of first-degree murder stemming from killings during their escape.

Laird told state corrections Commissioner Nicholas Hun in a letter last week that his department can't afford overtime, and the costs of the manhunt are "far beyond our ability to pay." 


 by CNB