A-1 CFP Front
Sports |Page 7 |Union sweeps conference track titles. Homespun |Page 10|
Local college grads receive awards.
F R I D AY
the
May 20, 2016 Vol. 105 • No. 41 16 Pages
A Progressive Newspaper Serving Our Mountain Area Since 1911
F I T FA R M E R 5 K
PROGRESS
NORTON, VA 24273 USPS 120-120 $1.00
Unsolved murder Answers sought after 28 years JENAY TATE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Today marks the 28th anniversary of Gary Russell Short’s murder, the only unsolved murder in Wise County that anyone can document. It is the coldest of cold case files, daughter Teresa Caudell said this week in telephone and email interviews. She was 25 when her father was shot to death on May 20, 1988, on an old strip mine road in the Gladyfork section near Pound. “Each year around this time, I become more emotional,” Caudell said in her email. “His absence becomes an ache in my heart. At the same time, I feel closer to him.” Now 53, she has been relentless in her pursuit of justice for her father,
FRED RAMEY PHOTO
Bess Mathisen, 27, was the overall winner of the Fit Farmer 5K run on May 14, hosted by Norton Friends and Farmers Market. Mathisen poses beside husband and second overall finisher Brad Mathisen, 27, and their daughter, Frances. See race results in Sports, Page 8.
Gary Short who was 47 at the time of his death. After all this time, the Short case has been in the hands of multiple investigators and prosecutors. It could have and should have been solved by now, Caudell said. “I admit there are moments when I feel like the case won’t be solved, but I quickly put those feelings aside and know that it is in God’s hands.” Wise County now has another new prosecutor,
JEFF LESTER NEWS EDITOR COEBURN — Town Manager Drew Mullins has proposed a fiscal 2016-17 budget that would increase general fund spending by nearly $32,000 and anticipates a general fund revenue increase of slightly more than $11,000. But traditional income sources including property taxes and other local taxes are projected to stay flat or decrease. Mullins gave town council a first draft of the budget at its May 9 meeting. Council is expected to discuss the spending plan and next steps in the process when it meets again Monday, May 23.
GENERAL FUND The nearly $1.18 million general fund proposal anticipates a $5,000-plus decline in property tax income and a drop of more than $3,000 in other local taxes. However, Mullins projected a rough-
Non-routine planned expenses include matching funds if the town gets a police vehicle replacement grant. ly $17,000 rise in court fines and forfeitures income. That reflects actual income during the current fiscal year, he explained in an email, noting that the town gets income from all citations the police department writes. Community center income is expected to rise about $1,500, based on rising use of the downtown depot facility, Mullins noted. Mobile home sales tax income is projected to increase by nearly $2,800, based on current-year trends, but it’s hard to gauge because of fluctuation in the housing market, he said. Mullins also expects a roughly $2,000 increase in state sales tax income.
BUDGET, PAGE 3
SHORT, PAGE 2
Short murder: New prosecutor may seek special grand jury JENAY TATE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Coeburn planning modest budget hikes
Chuck Slemp, “a new guy, a fresh start,” Caudell said. “What I think can make this story is what Chuck Slemp puts into it. He’s the new face in all of this.” With fresh eyes on the case, if Slemp puts “energy and passion into it,” she added, “it could stir conversation.” Caudell said she spoke to Slemp this week and told him she had “heard good things about him and expected him to live up to what I’ve heard.” By now, she said, she has grown skeptical of words, looks for action instead but is ever hopeful. “When you lose hope, you’ve lost everything,” Caudell said. “Hope is still the one thing I hold onto.”
WISE — In office for five months, Wise County Commonwealth Attorney Chuck Slemp is the “new guy, new start” that the family looks to now to find justice for the ambush that left Gary Russell Short dead 28 years ago today. In his office Wednesday, the top prosecutor also spoke to the value of a new start, fresh eyes and fresh approach on a case where “family members have been waiting for justice for 28 years.” But as Slemp makes reference to the Short case, he pauses for clarification. “This isn’t a ‘case’ to the family, to the victim and people involved. This is a person’s life.” In the legal profession, he said, “we have a tendency to get covered up with papers, transcripts and case numbers and forget about the people involved. We are making sure the people are not
Like searching for a needle in a haystack, Chuck Slemp said, ‘you might have to go through some of the hay you’ve already gone through before but you never know what it is going to lead to.’ forgotten . . . and especially in a case like this.” Slemp and Short’s daughter Teresa Caudell talked by phone this week and are making a plan for a sit-down. Meeting with the family and getting to know them, as well as the victim through them, is essential, he said. Already, Slemp said, two prosecutors in his office — Ken Lammers and
SLEMP, PAGE 2
INSIDE • Buyers for Alpha assets. • Trout fishing hours change. • School personnel changes.
Answers sought from IDA KATIE DUNN STAFF WRITER S U B S C R I B E R I N F O R M AT I O N H E R E
WISE — Several residents gave the county Industrial Development Authority an earful Tuesday about its handling of an estate gift meant to assist countywide spay and neuter efforts. Three people spoke at the board’s meeting and four others attended in support of their concerns. At issue is $1 million and a 40-acre parcel the late Carol Buchanan left the IDA in 2011 to establish an animal sanctuary and assist countywide spay and neuter programs. The IDA last month agreed to provide People for Animal Wellness and Safety of Southwest Virginia, or PAWS, $3,750 each fiscal
quarter for these efforts. Those payments were set to begin May 1, but the funds are now frozen following the April 29 filing of a civil complaint by the Columbus Phipps Foundation that claims the IDA should forfeit the money and property because it has failed to meet the conditions out-
lined in Buchanan’s will. Jo Anne Harding, PAWS’ vice president, told the IDA on Tuesday that several people also last Thursday attended county supervisors’ meeting to express their dismay about what has happened. Harding said she knows some IDA mem-
bers are good people, but that’s not the issue. Harding also said she was unsure how much information the eightperson IDA board has received concerning the Buchanan estate. “I’m not sure what kind of reporting comes to you
ANSWERS, PAGE 3
IDA vice chairwoman resigns WISE — The county Industrial Development Authority on Tuesday accepted Vice Chairwoman Kim Mullins’ resignation. Mullins, who represented District Three, wrote in her resignation letter that she was doing so with a “heavy heart,” but continuing to serve on the board while being
an employee of a company the IDA has a contract with would be a conflict of interest. Following the meeting, Mullins said she was recently hired as the Inn at Wise’s assistant general manager. “It has been an honor and privilege to serve Wise County in this capacity,” she stated in
her resignation. “It has been a blessing for me to serve with each one of you.” Mullins’ four-year term was set to expire Dec. 31. Chairman Kenny Gilley told Mullins the board reluctantly accepted her resignation and appreciated “all the hard work that she’s done for this board.”
Inserted with today’s paper is our annual high school and college graduation special section!
Local college grads receive awards.
F R I D AY
the
May 20, 2016 Vol. 105 • No. 41 16 Pages
A Progressive Newspaper Serving Our Mountain Area Since 1911
F I T FA R M E R 5 K
PROGRESS
NORTON, VA 24273 USPS 120-120 $1.00
Unsolved murder Answers sought after 28 years JENAY TATE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Today marks the 28th anniversary of Gary Russell Short’s murder, the only unsolved murder in Wise County that anyone can document. It is the coldest of cold case files, daughter Teresa Caudell said this week in telephone and email interviews. She was 25 when her father was shot to death on May 20, 1988, on an old strip mine road in the Gladyfork section near Pound. “Each year around this time, I become more emotional,” Caudell said in her email. “His absence becomes an ache in my heart. At the same time, I feel closer to him.” Now 53, she has been relentless in her pursuit of justice for her father,
FRED RAMEY PHOTO
Bess Mathisen, 27, was the overall winner of the Fit Farmer 5K run on May 14, hosted by Norton Friends and Farmers Market. Mathisen poses beside husband and second overall finisher Brad Mathisen, 27, and their daughter, Frances. See race results in Sports, Page 8.
Gary Short who was 47 at the time of his death. After all this time, the Short case has been in the hands of multiple investigators and prosecutors. It could have and should have been solved by now, Caudell said. “I admit there are moments when I feel like the case won’t be solved, but I quickly put those feelings aside and know that it is in God’s hands.” Wise County now has another new prosecutor,
JEFF LESTER NEWS EDITOR COEBURN — Town Manager Drew Mullins has proposed a fiscal 2016-17 budget that would increase general fund spending by nearly $32,000 and anticipates a general fund revenue increase of slightly more than $11,000. But traditional income sources including property taxes and other local taxes are projected to stay flat or decrease. Mullins gave town council a first draft of the budget at its May 9 meeting. Council is expected to discuss the spending plan and next steps in the process when it meets again Monday, May 23.
GENERAL FUND The nearly $1.18 million general fund proposal anticipates a $5,000-plus decline in property tax income and a drop of more than $3,000 in other local taxes. However, Mullins projected a rough-
Non-routine planned expenses include matching funds if the town gets a police vehicle replacement grant. ly $17,000 rise in court fines and forfeitures income. That reflects actual income during the current fiscal year, he explained in an email, noting that the town gets income from all citations the police department writes. Community center income is expected to rise about $1,500, based on rising use of the downtown depot facility, Mullins noted. Mobile home sales tax income is projected to increase by nearly $2,800, based on current-year trends, but it’s hard to gauge because of fluctuation in the housing market, he said. Mullins also expects a roughly $2,000 increase in state sales tax income.
BUDGET, PAGE 3
SHORT, PAGE 2
Short murder: New prosecutor may seek special grand jury JENAY TATE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Coeburn planning modest budget hikes
Chuck Slemp, “a new guy, a fresh start,” Caudell said. “What I think can make this story is what Chuck Slemp puts into it. He’s the new face in all of this.” With fresh eyes on the case, if Slemp puts “energy and passion into it,” she added, “it could stir conversation.” Caudell said she spoke to Slemp this week and told him she had “heard good things about him and expected him to live up to what I’ve heard.” By now, she said, she has grown skeptical of words, looks for action instead but is ever hopeful. “When you lose hope, you’ve lost everything,” Caudell said. “Hope is still the one thing I hold onto.”
WISE — In office for five months, Wise County Commonwealth Attorney Chuck Slemp is the “new guy, new start” that the family looks to now to find justice for the ambush that left Gary Russell Short dead 28 years ago today. In his office Wednesday, the top prosecutor also spoke to the value of a new start, fresh eyes and fresh approach on a case where “family members have been waiting for justice for 28 years.” But as Slemp makes reference to the Short case, he pauses for clarification. “This isn’t a ‘case’ to the family, to the victim and people involved. This is a person’s life.” In the legal profession, he said, “we have a tendency to get covered up with papers, transcripts and case numbers and forget about the people involved. We are making sure the people are not
Like searching for a needle in a haystack, Chuck Slemp said, ‘you might have to go through some of the hay you’ve already gone through before but you never know what it is going to lead to.’ forgotten . . . and especially in a case like this.” Slemp and Short’s daughter Teresa Caudell talked by phone this week and are making a plan for a sit-down. Meeting with the family and getting to know them, as well as the victim through them, is essential, he said. Already, Slemp said, two prosecutors in his office — Ken Lammers and
SLEMP, PAGE 2
INSIDE • Buyers for Alpha assets. • Trout fishing hours change. • School personnel changes.
Answers sought from IDA KATIE DUNN STAFF WRITER S U B S C R I B E R I N F O R M AT I O N H E R E
WISE — Several residents gave the county Industrial Development Authority an earful Tuesday about its handling of an estate gift meant to assist countywide spay and neuter efforts. Three people spoke at the board’s meeting and four others attended in support of their concerns. At issue is $1 million and a 40-acre parcel the late Carol Buchanan left the IDA in 2011 to establish an animal sanctuary and assist countywide spay and neuter programs. The IDA last month agreed to provide People for Animal Wellness and Safety of Southwest Virginia, or PAWS, $3,750 each fiscal
quarter for these efforts. Those payments were set to begin May 1, but the funds are now frozen following the April 29 filing of a civil complaint by the Columbus Phipps Foundation that claims the IDA should forfeit the money and property because it has failed to meet the conditions out-
lined in Buchanan’s will. Jo Anne Harding, PAWS’ vice president, told the IDA on Tuesday that several people also last Thursday attended county supervisors’ meeting to express their dismay about what has happened. Harding said she knows some IDA mem-
bers are good people, but that’s not the issue. Harding also said she was unsure how much information the eightperson IDA board has received concerning the Buchanan estate. “I’m not sure what kind of reporting comes to you
ANSWERS, PAGE 3
IDA vice chairwoman resigns WISE — The county Industrial Development Authority on Tuesday accepted Vice Chairwoman Kim Mullins’ resignation. Mullins, who represented District Three, wrote in her resignation letter that she was doing so with a “heavy heart,” but continuing to serve on the board while being
an employee of a company the IDA has a contract with would be a conflict of interest. Following the meeting, Mullins said she was recently hired as the Inn at Wise’s assistant general manager. “It has been an honor and privilege to serve Wise County in this capacity,” she stated in
her resignation. “It has been a blessing for me to serve with each one of you.” Mullins’ four-year term was set to expire Dec. 31. Chairman Kenny Gilley told Mullins the board reluctantly accepted her resignation and appreciated “all the hard work that she’s done for this board.”
Inserted with today’s paper is our annual high school and college graduation special section!
