THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609210245
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 63 lines
A Circuit Court judge dismissed the remaining charges against School Board member Tim Jackson and former member Ferdinand V. Tolentino on Friday, bringing closure, many hope, to perhaps the most turbulent period in the division's history.
Judge Glen Tyler, during a brief hearing, dismissed the conflict of interest and failure to disclose indictments that remained against the two men. The charges had been brought after the men took part in a vote of the entire board authorizing the payment of Jackson's and Tolentino's legal fees up to $25,000.
``Certainly it's rather clear that one need not disclose the obvious,'' Tyler said. The two men had not hidden the fact that they would benefit from their vote, so there was nothing to disclose.
The judge went on to say ``it just seems fairly clear and commonsensical to me'' that the conflict of interest statute would not preclude the men from voting to hire their legal counsel.
The charges were the last of the legal aftermath from the school division's financial crisis at the end of the 1994-95 fiscal year. The discovery of a $12.1 million shortfall prompted a special grand jury investigation, and the resulting, blistering report called for seven board members to resign or face misdemeanor malfeasance charges.
Although all denied wrongdoing, five did resign. Jackson and Tolentino stayed on to clear their names and they were acquitted of the malfeasance charges by a jury in August after the defense attorneys rested without calling a single witness. Tolentino left the board in June when his term expired.
The conflict of interest and failure to disclose charges came about after the board agreed, as is allowed by the state Code, to pay legal fees for the two related to their work as board members.
Although still misdemeanors, the two additional charges carried the prospect of jail time; the malfeasance charge did not. At the time additional charges were being discussed, Jackson's attorney Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings has said, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert J. Humphreys told Stallings that all the charges would be dropped if his client would resign.
After the hearing, Jackson said the judge's decision showed ``how malicious these charges were and that these charges were put in place in an attempt to force me to resign from the School Board.''
``God gave me the strength in the beginning to face this painful situation, and I'm a better person because of it. Now we can put focus back where focus is due - back on the children of Virginia Beach,'' Jackson said.
Neither Tolentino nor his attorney was present at the hearing.
Humphreys said he did not think that he would have done anything differently in pursuing the case.
``I think I'd much rather be criticized for doing my job than for not doing my job,'' he said.
``We have closed the book now on this sad chapter of our city's history,'' Humphreys said. ``I hope in all the celebrating at this point these folks . . repeated.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
As Beach School Board members, Tim Jackson, left, and Ferdinand V.
Tolentino voted for the board to pay their legal costs stemming from
a fiscal crisis. A judge said that was neither conflict of interest
nor a violation of disclosure rules.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD DISMISSED CHARGES by CNB