THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 3, 1997 TAG: 9701030468
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAPE CHARLES LENGTH: 42 lines
Stephen Gedney no longer manages the Eastern Shore Railroad. But, he said, the change has nothing to do with the controversies that have surrounded the public-private short line.
``This is something I have been looking at for several years,'' Gedney said from his office in South Carolina.
Gedney owns Eastern Shore Trans Inc., the company that has managed the Eastern Shore Railroad since 1987. He also is the president of L&C Railroad in South Carolina.
In May, auditors for the Eastern Shore railroad quit, saying Gedney had threatened to sue them unless they gave unqualified approval of the railroad's financial statements.
Larry LeMond, Gedney's former general manager, will continue to run the railroad.
``It's really not a change, per se, because Larry's been staying up there, and I brought Larry in last year,'' Gedney said. ``The railroad got a good manager, and he likes the area.''
A longtime critic of the railroad, Norm Nasson, who has tried to get access to information on the railroad for years, said the issue has not been Gedney, but the railroad's claim to be a private company. It is wholly owned by the Accomack-Northampton Transportation District Commission.
The railroad holds millions in real estate and business property, all of which is tax exempt because the operation is owned by a public body. But when citizens have tried to get details on how the railroad is being run, officials have insisted that the railroad is a private company exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
Betsy Mapp, chairman of the ANTDC, said she didn't really know why the railroad changed management.
``The decision was made by the board of directors of the railroad and they don't make us privy to all of their reasoning,'' Mapp said. ``I guess it's because business has been so poor lately.''
For the past two years, the railroad has not had enough money in the bank to meet its bond requirements.