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Volume 100 No. 46
Hinton, West Virginia Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003
50 Cents
FBI Probe Clears Police o. the Oree.ori
By Fred Long
-An FBI probe into possible
criminal civil rights violations
during the Sept. arrest of a "special
• police officer" hired by Hinton Mayor
• Cleo Mathews to workout
managerial issues within the Hinton
Police Department was concluded
earlier this month with no findings
• of misconduct by the arresting
officers.
City police officers arrested
• Melvin Rex Cyphers, 52, within an
hour of his employment at City Hall
on Sept. 5 following an altercation
• with Hinton City Councilmen Bobby
Wheeler. Police charged him with
'one count of battery against
Councilman Wheeler end one count
-of.battery against the two arresting
. officers: Assistant Chief Jilnmy Wills
and Patrolman Josh Martin.
Shortly ailer his arrest police also
arrested his wife Connie on one
count of obstruction, for refusing to
move from a doorway they were
escorting her husband, and one
• count of battery against then city
-officer Charles Smith for allegedly
.jbbing her finger into his chest.
The charges in Magistrate Court
against Ms. Cyphers have been
dLsmissed pending a 6-month
Lprobationary period.
". "We recently completed our
review of the results of the
• investigation,"A]bert N. Moskowitz,
Chief of the Criminal Section of the
...... Civil_Right s Division ,of the IJ. S.
Dpt. of Justice said in a letter to
Mayor Mathews on Feb. 12, to
determine whether a federal
criminal prosecution could be
brought concerning allegations that
Officers Jimmy R. Wills, Joshua J.
Martin end Charles R. Smith of your
agency may have been involved in
violating the civil rights of Connie
J. Cyphers end Melvin R. Cyphers.
"After carefully considering the
information obtained by the FBI as
a. result of its investigation, we
cbncluded that the evidence is not
sufficient to establish a prosecutable
violation of the federal criminal civil
rights statutes.
"Accordingly, we have closed our
investigation. Please be advised
that our conclusion in this matter
does not preclude other components
of the U. S. Dept. of Justice from
taking action, where appropriate,
under their separate enforcement
authority."
At the request of Mathews, City
Councilman A1 Stone called the
Beckley office of the FBI the day of
the fracas to determine if any civil
rights violations occurred.
"We certainly appreciate the FBI's
efforts on our behalf in investigating
this situation," Mathews said in a
press release last week. "We respect
their expertise in these matters."
Cyphers and his wife declined
comment. "This matter is still under
litigation," Rex Cyphers said. "I
can't comment on it one way or the
other."
Cyphers and his wife were also
notified of the conclusion of the
probe in a Feb. 12 letter from the
Washington D.C. office. FBI agents
interviewed both Mathews and
Cyphers on Sept. 10.
The letter to Cyphers is
substantially the same received by
Mathews, although it suggest that
they "may wish to contact a private
attorney or the local bar association
(if you have not yet done so) to find
out if there are any possible
remedies under other federal or
state civil statutes."
Te City iaii fracas began when
Whele r 0nfronted Cyphers the
morning of his employment, after
former City Hall workers Billie Jean
Gill and Cindy Cooper told him
Cyphers was allegedly disrupting
the front office. Wheeler, in a taped
interview, said he went up to
Cyphers and asked him to leave the
"girls alone. They aren't mixed up
in this political stuff."
According to Wheeler, Cyphers
ordered him to leave the building or
he would place him under arrest.
Wheeler, he said, told Cyphers he
wasn't leaving the building and
when he turned to walk away,
Cyphers grabbed the back of his belt.
Berkley Regains
Possession of Pence
Springs Hotel
By Fred Long
A lega! battle over possession of
• he Pence Springs Hotel that began
ast May when Pence Springs
businessman O. Ashby Berkley filed
Suit to regain the famous resort hotel
and mineral springs ended
yesterday with the eviction of the
"tenents, John and Wendy Lincoln.
"I'm delighted that it is over,"
Berkley said from the hotel phone
around 7:30 p.m. last night. "It was
just a nightmare and a fight. I just
don't like to do that."
Berkley, under certain conditions,
leased the resort property to the
Lincolns, doing business as Lincoln
Investment Properties, on Feb. 21,
2002. The agreement included an
option to buy, which required two
installments of $50,000 each. The
first installment was paid when they
took possession of the property while
the second installment became due
on Feb. 28, 2002. A monthly rent of
$2;500 was also required.
In May Berkley filed suit claiming
failure to pay the rent, failure to
renew the option to buy and
unauthorized damage to the
property through the cutting of
timber and other damages.
• Lincolns filed a countersuit
seeking $5 million claiming Berkley
withheld information from them at
the time of the original lease/
purchase agreement and made
slanderous statements harming the
business.
Circuit Judge Robert Irons, in an
order issued Feb. 10, awarded
damages in the amount of $65,520
for the "unlawlhl" cutting of timber,
$2G,000 for "past-due rent,"
dismissed part of the counterclaim,
ordered the Lincolns to vacate the
property and granted Berkley
"immediate possession.
The allegations alleged in the
retained portion of the counterclaim
accuses Berkley of allegedly
interfering with subcontractors and
vendors and making slanderous
statements.
Saturday, Windy Lincoln denied
any order had been issued against
them to vacate the property. No,"
she said from the hotel phone, "that's
just a rumor. We're not going
anywhere,"
Yesterday at 2 p.m. Judge Irons
filed another order in the Circuit
Court ordering the Lincolns to
vacate the property that day. Sheriff
Garry Wheeler and Chief Deputy
"Butch" Worley served the eviction
notice.
"From what they told me they leR
without any trouble," Berkley said.
"They were pleasant about it, that's
what I was told."
Berkley said he took possession
of the property around 6:30 p.m. end
is presently securing the property
and beginning an inventory of%vhat
property belongs to him and what
property belongs to them."
He said the property would be
closed until April, except for special
parties and banquets that have
already been booked.
Where going to honor what
business has already been booked,
but we're not going to be open seven-
days a week like they were7 he said.
We've never opened in Jan., Feb. and
March. It cost more to be open those
months than what you can take in."
Wheeler, 68, said he turned around
swinging "in defense" and socked
Cyphers in the jaw as hard as he
could.
He said Cyphers spun him
around against the wall and "with
his forearm trying to bash my head
against the block wall. He didn't do
it because I kept getting under it."
Within seconds Municipal Judge
Curtis Shaver, also on his first day,
and City custodian Jerry Wheeler
restrained him until, moments later,
Wills and Martin arrived and placed
him under arrest.
Mathews was in her Office, on the
phone, and didn't see the altercation.
She said, "Cyphers told me he was
trying to prevent Councilman
Wheeler from coming into my office
and accosting me, assaulting me."
Wheeler denies the allegation. "I
would never hit the Mayor," he said
of the charge. "I don't beat up on
women."
Mathews said she hired Cyphers,
a retired State Trooper, for a 90-day
appointment to address police
matters in overtime, dress code, foot
patrol and scheduling. "I wanted
someone with police experience, not
some businessman offthe street, but
someone that had walked in their
shoes," she said shortly after the
altercation.
Cyphers was charged in
Magistrate Court and later indicted
on two counts of impersonation of a
politi offit and two €ktgtLf--
p0ssession of a weapon on premises
housing a court of law. All seven
misdemeanor charges have been
joined and are pending in Circuit
Court.
A pretrial hearingis scheduled for
April 4 and the cases scheduled for
trial on April 22.
Comment
This and That
By Fred Long
County Prosecutor Jim McNeely
and I had a pleasant, enjoyable
conversation yesterday afternoon
where we cleared the air about a
misunderstanding• McNeely
assured me that he did take the
anonymous phone call received by
• this paper, followin the death of
Phil Bagdon (where the caller said--
"One Down. Several more to goT),
very seriously and is conducting an
investigation to get to the bottom, of
it. His comment that it is "just a
misdemeanor" was not to imply that
it did not carry the same weight as
any other misdemeanor presented to
the.courts, but that he had just
finished conducting interviews
involving three murder charges and
this was heavy on his mind. And the
closer things get to trial the more
attention they get. I can understand
that because I do the same in my
affairs, the squeaky wheel gets the
grease so to speak, and this is a
squeaky wheel for me. He also
assured me that he is deeply
concerned about what is happening
in Hinton and the warlike
atmosphere among some
individuals. He also assured me he
is investigating numerous
allegations that might be connected
to these hostilities, but because of
the nature of his office, can not
elaborate on them. We hope that
McNeely, as the chief law
enforcement officer in the county,
can get to the bottom of what is going
on in this City and make whoever
made this phone threat face the
Summers County Court of Justice.
We received an e-mail from a
county mother wondering why other
counties seem to announce school
closures due to'weather on the 6 p.m.
news cast while Summers County
parents have to wait until the 11
p.m. news, or the 6 a.m. news. "Just
one example," she writes. Feb. 18
... Raleigh, Monroe, Greenbrier,
Mercer, Fayette, Giles, McDowell,
Pocahontas, etc. had all turned their
decisions to close the schools the
next day into the news stations in
time for the 6 p.m. news, BUT NOT
SUMMERS." She makes a good
point.
FLOODING ON GREENBRIER. The photos
above shows the flooding on the Greenbrier
River Saturday and Sunday in Alderson and
in Pence Springs following heavy rains and
the melting of last week's snow and ice. The
top photo shows the heavy flooding in
Alderson. In Pence Springs traffic was down
to one lane at the Pence Springs store, above.
High water closed Greenbrier Drive to traffic
until late Sunday when one lane was opened
and in Avis, between the railroad tracks and
Pleasant St., back yards were flooded when
the drainage system between the mountain
and the river failed. Many of the owners
suffered severe damage to homes and
property, including Hinton Chief Timmy
Adkins and business owner Danny Foster.
Foster said four feet of water flooded his
basement doing between $8,000 and $10,000
worth of damage. Mayor Cleo Mathews said
the City will be conducting an investigation
to "determine just what caused so much
wter to accumulate in this area." Mathews
said she is looking into the possibility of
obtaining federal FEMA aid. Photos by Carol
Jones
By Mayor Cleo Mathews
On behalf of all of us I want to
express the City's appreciation to all
City of Hinton employees for efforts
beyond the call of duty during the
harsh winter we are experiencing.
They have done a wonderful job
clearing and cindering streets,
answering fire calls, answering
emergency calls, sending workers to
needed areas, and just keeping us
safe in general. The Public Works
Department, the Fire Department,
and the Police Department all
deserve a big round of applause.
Our primary goal is to keep as
many of our citizens able to get out
to get groceries, medicine, transact
business or go to their doctors as
possible during winter storms.
Plowing. and treating all the streets
and alleys comes first. Clearing the
downtown area is next. Clearing the
downtown area prevented water
damage to many of the buildings
downtown and made the downtown
area more accessible. Walking and
parking in the downtown area
became safer. The work was made
even more difficult because of the ice
that had accumulated.
I must not forget to thank the
CASE workers who have helped
make the City employees even more
effective. The City/CASE
partnership has benefited the City
and given work opportunities to
several people. Working together we
can get a great deal more
accomplished.
The County Department of
Highways crews need a big thank
you, too. Their work makes getting
into the City to transact business
easier.
Anticipating a more severe winter
this year than last, we doubled the
amount budgeted for salt for snow
removal. However, we have
exceeded our budgeted amount at
least two times over. Much overtime
has been required as snow crews
have worked around the clock and
through weekends on several
occasions. The freezing, thawing,
end salt will take their toll on the
streets and leave many potholes to
be filled in the Spring.
This brings us to the Hinton City
Levy. The annual levy, unless
renewed, will end on June 30. It is
up for renewal by the voters on
March 8. The City Levy has been in
,force for 29 years and generates
about $80,000 a year for the City of
Hinton. Everyone should remember
there will be no increase in taxes
with the renewal of this. Most of the
money goes toward fire protection,
police protection, and street
maintenance. Money from the levy
also goes to pay for the services we
enumerated above.
In addition the City is able to
support agencies important to the
citizens of Hinton. The Summers
County Library will continue to
receive $5,000 a year, the Senior
Citizens $5,000 year, and the
Summers County Health
Department $4,000 a year. These
entities are an important part of our
community.
Money also is spent for youth
programs end youth activities. Little
League, City Waterslide, and school
activities are all supported by City
of Hinton Levy funds.
Polls will be open from 6:30 am.
until 7:30 p.m. Polling places are
Precinct 4, Central Garage; Precinct
7, City Hall; Precinct 9, Summers
County Board of Education
Conference Room; and Precinct 11,
at the Summers County
Appalachian Regional Hospital
Conference Room. Avis and
Bellepoint will vote at Precinct 11.
Voters unable to vote in person'at
the polls may apply for and vote
absentee ballot at the Clerk/
Recorder's office at City Hall
between February 25 and March 7
during regular business hours (8 am.
to 4 p.m.).
On March 5, City Hall will remain
open until 6:00 p.m.
Renewal of the City levy is
essential to keep the level of service
the City is presently able to provide •
its citizens. Please join the City
Council and Mayor in supporting
our town arid citizens. Please vote
yes" on March 8 for the
continuation of the City of Hinton
Levy.