Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Michael Beahm and Webster Booze were appointed to the School Board after Harold Wilhelm and Guy Alphin resigned.
Both Wilhelm, who represented the Valley District, and Alphin, who represented the Buchanan District, wrote letters of resignation that were presented to the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors appointed new School Board members immediately after accepting the resignations.
Beahm was appointed in February to represent the Valley District. Booze, a former member of the Board of Supervisors, was appointed last week to represent the Buchanan District.
Those appointments apparently are in limbo as the board prepares for a public hearing April 10, two days before the next School Board meeting.
"To make sure that we do things right, we are going to hold a special meeting on the appointments," said supervisors' Chairman Bob Layman.
County Attorney William "Buck" Heartwell said he's willing to take the blame.
"I really didn't believe that the notification provisions of the statute applied to these appointments," Heartwell said.
On first reading, he interpreted the state law requiring a public hearing as applying only to forms of local government other than the traditional Board of Supervisors form used in Botetourt County.
"It was my misreading of the statute in the first place that made the Board of Supervisors think they didn't need a public hearing," Heartwell said. "It was in that recognition that I asked the board to go ahead with the public hearing."
Heartwell said he isn't sure whether that oversight alone is enough to invalidate Beahm's and Booze's appointments.
John R. Patterson, a Roanoke attorney and a former Botetourt County School Board member, said there's no question that illegal appointments can't stand.
Patterson's challenge started unraveling the appointments last week. He telephoned Valley District Supervisor Bill Loope to express his concern about the appointments. He then wrote a letter critical of the appointments to The Fincastle Herald, the county's weekly newspaper.
"The procedure now utilized by the Board of Supervisors is illegal, and members who are not legally appointed should not be allowed to sit on the board," Patterson wrote. "While no one has any doubt that the outcome would have been any different had the Board of Supervisors complied with the law, I believe the citizens of Botetourt County are entitled to the rights afforded them under the law."
Patterson served for four years as the Valley District's School Board representative. He was an unsuccessful applicant for the Buchanan District seat after the magisterial district's boundaries were redrawn.
In his letter, he cited a newspaper article that said Buchanan District Supervisor John Shiflett "moved quickly" in appointing Booze to the School Board.
"Perhaps Mr. Shiflett moved too quickly," Patterson wrote.
by CNB