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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507130029
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TAZEWELL                                 LENGTH: Short

SHERIFF: FIRING NOT POLITICAL

The Tazewell County sheriff said the firing of an investigator who is running against him in the November election was not politically motivated.

``I just don't feel like I can run this department the way it should be with the dissension he's causing,'' Sheriff Joe Johnson said Tuesday.

Johnson said he fired investigator Roger Nelson this week. Johnson is running for a second term as a Democrat; Nelson is his Republican opponent.

Johnson declined to comment on the specifics of the firing, saying it was a personnel matter.

Nelson said he had just returned from a week's vacation when Johnson fired him. He said he was not informed of any misconduct on his part by Johnson before his firing, only that he was causing dissension.

- Associated Press

by CNB