ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
A BOONES MILL MAN, who sued well-known Officer Lynn Frith for allegedly dumping a wall of snow across his road, had to take his lumps when a judge threw out the case.
People keep taking swipes at Lynn Frith, and he keeps dodging.
Boones Mill's well-known traffic officer was in court Wednesday, and he wasn't there to testify against suspected speeders.
Frith was sued by the husband of a Boones Mill Town Council member as the result of a Jan. 12 snow-moving incident, which followed a 4-inch snowstorm.
Claude Carroll alleged that Frith - who was working in his capacity as a Boones Mill employee - used the town's backhoe purposely to dump a wall of snow across the Carrolls' road, keeping several residents from leaving their homes.
Claude Carroll, who is married to Councilwoman Virginia Carroll, asked for $160 in damages - the earnings he and his wife say they lost because they couldn't go to work that day.
Frith said he was just trying to help residents. He said he cleared half the road on which the Carrolls live, but because of a hill, couldn't maneuver the backhoe all the way up it.
The blowup over the incident started when the Franklin News-Post printed a letter to the editor from Virginia Carroll criticizing Frith's abilities as a town employee.
Claude Carroll later asked Town Council to pay for the couple's lost earnings, but the council turned them down.
So Claude Carroll sued Frith.
During Wednesday's testimony, which drew occasional grins from some participants, Claude Carroll told General District Judge Ryland Dodson that the case was more about what he believes is continued harassment from Frith than about snow dumping.
"He's on my bumper when I come into town, and he's on it when I leave," he said.
Dodson, who threw out the case, said the town's personality conflicts should be solved by council.
"Apparently, there's some ill feelings between Mr. Carroll and the defendant," Dodson said.
The snow-removal incident isn't the first time Frith and the Carrolls have butted heads.
Last year, Virginia Carroll alleged that Frith was trying to sabotage the town's water system after council told him he no longer could use the backhoe to work on it.
Frith said Carroll - who at one point blocked Frith's exit from the road that leads to the town's water tower - was interfering with his duties as a police officer.
The allegations fizzled without charges or lawsuits.
Frith's abilities also have been criticized by the town's mayor, Steve Palmer, who testified for Claude Carroll on Wednesday.
When Palmer first took office in 1994, he changed the locks on the town's one-room municipal building so Frith couldn't get in. Last year, he led a move to suspend Frith for five days for not writing enough tickets to people driving 5 to 10 mph over the town's posted speed limit of 45.
Frith, who makes about $30,000 a year to police a town of 230, initially was suspended by the council, but it reversed the action a couple of days later.
Asked if he's growing tired of defending himself, Frith said, "I just do my job. That's all you can do."
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Frith.by CNB