At a work session which preceded tonight’s Bridgeport City Council meeting, Council got a first glimpse of what could be the city’s new Veterans Memorial as Richard Forren, senior project architect at Omni Associates, unveiled the contracted company’s proposed design.

 

Members of Council were quite impressed with its circular design and the five granite pylons which represent each service branch: The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard – and the memorial inscription which reads “All Gave Some; Some Gave All.”  

 

“This could be a beautiful focal point as people come down Main Street,” said City Manager Kim Haws about the memorial site located across the street from All Saints Catholic Church. The project could be under way as early as spring 2015. 

 

The memorial committee will be making some decisions as to lighting and options of listing names of veterans, but Council was sold on the general design. It is estimated, however, to cost upwards of the $80,000 estimated for the project. The price tag on the memorial came in at $125,000. 

 

As the regular Council session got under way, a number of special presentations followed reports of Mayor Bob Greer and City Manager Haws and a few city residents who had requested mic time made some requests and concerns known.

 

One of those addresses was show stopping.

 

Former West Virginia State Trooper and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Lowell Maxey presented a lengthy, detailed report to Council stating his concern that Council is permitting the city charter to become meaningless as a document to govern our city with his case in point being that Mayor Greer – because of a former federal conviction of conspiracy to distribute cocaine – should not be serving this city as mayor, or any other city office, for that matter.

 

“Mayor Greer, since the September 19 story by WDTV and your interview regarding your 1987 federal conviction of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, I have conducted my own research of that incident,” said Maxey of the conspiracy for the period of October 1985 to January 1987 for which Greer entered a guilty plea and via plea bargain served a five-year probationary period with the first six months under house detention.

 

A guilty plea, Maxey said, is usually a matter of “damage control” for a defendant in a drug distribution conspiracy.

 

“Your plea and conviction is no different than that of former mayor Mario Blount; they just involved differed controlled substances,” Maxey said. “I hope there is no one on this Council who would expect Mario Blount, once he has completed his sentence like you have, Mr. Greer, to return to this city and hold himself out as qualified to return to this Council under the Bridgeport City Charter.”

 

Maxey specifically spelled out Section 4 which reads, in part, that a Council member – including mayor and recorder – shall be subject to removal from office pursuant to West Virginia Code 6, Article 6, Section 7 if he is convicted of a crime of moral turpitude.

 

“I challenge this body to engage outside counsel, which it has the power to do, under Section 25 of the charter and direct that person or persons to undertake placing this matter before a three judge panel as outlined in Chapter 6 of the West Virginia Code,” Maxey said.

 

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