Sheriff Butler responds to Town attack on his and department’s handling of sewage dumping investigation

While saying that he had not yet seen it, given an overview of the May 24^th Town of Front Royal power point response to his May 11 summary of his department’s investigation into County suspicions of illegal sewage dumping by Town trash truck crews at the County’s Bentonville Solid Waste Transfer Station, Sheriff Mark Butler gave us a response to Town allegations of personal or departmental wrongdoing in that investigation.

One of the photos taken by Sheriff’s Office investigators of attempted Town dumping at Bentonville Transfer Station on April 20.

Royal Examiner received the sheriff’s response on May 25. However, we held it to include with other responses we might receive from County supervisors also named in the Town legal department-presented power point. But at the end of the subsequent week the involved county supervisors and staff have chosen not to respond to the public escalation of the Sludge War of words initiated by town officials on April 26; responded to by the sheriff at the May 11 County Board of Supervisors meeting; and revisited at council’s May 24 meeting – see LINKED stories below.

This is Sheriff Butler’s emailed response of May 25^th in its entirety:

Warren County Sheriff Mark Butler said if complainant/suspect roles had been reversed in sludge investigation, it would have been handled in exactly the same manner in an attempt to find the truth of the situation. Royal Examiner File Photos by Roger Bianchini

“The Warren County Sheriff’s Office did its job. After the incident was investigated, we found what we presented at the Board of Supervisors countywide meeting. The Sheriff’s Office serves the entire county and will continue to do so each day. The Sheriff’s Office serves all residents of Warren County to include the Town of Front Royal.

“The Sheriff does not work for the Board of Supervisors nor the Town Council. The Sheriff’s Office works for all residents of Warren County and if the roles had been different, the case would have been run in the same manner.

“As for the authority of the Sheriff, that comes from the Code of Virginia and the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Sheriff’s Office makes decisions daily that may or may not please everyone. The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for investigating all fraud, waste, and abuse at the county level. Our job is to find the facts of the complaint – which was done and will continue to be done without bias.” (From the Office of Warren County Sheriff Mark Butler.)

Linked stories:

• County responds to Town attack on its methods in dealing with sewage dumping allegation
• Illegal sewage dumping investigation closed with no charges – but is that the end of the story?
• Unreasonable search & seizure? Constitutional violation of Town staff’s rights alleged as ‘Sludge War’ escalates

‘Sting’ or ‘Investigation’? – Guess it depends on what kind of ‘Crime-TV’ you’ve been watching lately. Below, in introducing the May 24 Town response to the sheriff summary of his investigation, Town Manager Hicks noted that response, from which above photo was taken, was initiated by Mayor Holloway, pictured reading a prepared statement following the presentation.