The front page of Monday’s Virginian Pilot contains a story about the indictment of four of the seven members of the Board of Supervisors in Gloucester:
A scathing and sometimes colorful grand jury report alleged that the supervisors conspired to fire two top county officials and illegally seize their computers in a midnight raid with help from the sheriff. The report said the supervisors illegally pressured the Planning Department director to interpret county law in favor of a developer who supported them.
The charges are misdemeanors, and if convicted, the supervisors – Chairwoman Teresa Altemus, Michelle Ressler, Gregory Woodard and Bobby Crewe – face 1 year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Also indicted was their developer friend, George Woodhouse II, who faces 10 unrelated felony charges.
What really caught my eye, though, was this:
Many Gloucester merchants and residents interviewed after the indictments said they were afraid to speak out publicly because they feared retaliation.
There is something very wrong when voters are afraid of those who are elected to represent them. So close after Independence Day, I find it disturbing that we have right here in Hampton Roads a constituency far too similar to that which our forefathers fought some 250 years ago. Voters should support the recall petition:
“The grand jury did their job, and now it’s up to the taxpayers,” said Garr Johnson, a retired poultry science professor who’s spearheading the recall effort. “If what’s going on isn’t enough to light a fire under us, democracy is beyond hope.”
Yeah. What he said.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Politicians are crooks, who do business at the barrel of a gun. All of ’em. Some of them get caught, most are able to hide behind sovereign immunity for their crimes. Nothing in this story surprises me.
Our former mayor here in Lynchburg (who bilked people out of some of their Social Security payments) doesn’t seem so bad now.
Do you seriously think this is unusual? Its barely news.
If investigators went through the records and emails of the NRHA in regards to the matter of the Downtown Auto Parts case, I have little doubt indictments could be obtained.
NRHA is not an elected body, Don. And the Downtown Auto Parts case was decided in court. In this case, elected officials abused their positions in order to get people fired, among other things. I’d say that’s pretty unusual.
You missed the point. Residents are afraid to speak out against the “Courthouse Elite” for fear that they will be destroyed just like these supervisors are being destroyed. This group of people have run tihis county for 20 years or longer and have gotten everything that they wanted until now. Gloucester is like Mississippi Burning with Boss Hogg and banjo’s in the background!!!
Look at the Newport News School Board Fiasco recently. The Chair lost to a former school teacher.
There was an opeining on the school board after the election when Pat Woodbury won a seat on the City Council.
So………what does the school board do? They appoint the person who lost the election, Rick Donaldson, to the open seat. After refusing to interview the 16 people that applied.
One school board member actually said that while the votes should be honored, the children count more? There is a storm brewing here in Newport News.