According to Cabell County Commissioners J. R. Blankenship and Evelyn Richards, the defining line in the court order they were found in contempt of fulfilling was double-spaced.
HNN researched the order, obtaining a copy and its attachment from the County Commission.
The first page of the attachment disperses certain jobs to certain people, including the commission, Sheriff Fields, G.L. Jordan, Mr. Bagby, Ron Anderson, Sharon Ross and Bill Rogers. The duties to fulfill for each of the people were single-spaced under their names.
Bill Rogers, the last name on the first page, had his list of duties, then there was a double-space and the line, “All moves to be completed by mid March”, followed by another double-space, and the line, “Moving dates to begin with Home Confinement about January 3, 2000.
The commissioners claim they both thought that was part of Rogers’ job, because nothing set it apart except an extra line space.
“The whole page is people’s jobs,” Blankenship explained. “We thought that was part of his job. Nothing said it wasn’t.”
Richards agreed.
“They slipped it in there,” Richards said. “They snuck it in there just to get us in trouble.”
A copy of the first page of the attachment has been scanned onto our site, so our readers can see exactly what the commissioners are talking about.
Commissioners Richards and Blankenship have been fined $50 per day until the completion of the work in the Cabell County Court House. If the renovations aren’t complete in two weeks, they are to report to Cabell County Jail to purge the rest of their contempt until the work is completed.
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T. Michael Murdock, HNN News Editor