Sheriff#039;s office investigating moonshine incident
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 31, 2004
ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP- Lawrence County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a container of suspected moonshine that was left in a vehicle belonging to a Rock Hill school board member.
No charges have been filed in the matter but acting superintendent Harold Shafer said the county board, which is filling in for the local school district board, may discuss the issue when it meets next month.
According to a report filed with the sheriff's office, board member Paul R. Johnson said he was at the old board office Friday speaking with Paul Medinger when Medinger alerted him that a school district employee was allegedly behind his truck. Since the employee has not been charged in connection with the incident, the employee's identify will not be published.
Johnson said he went out to his truck and found that someone had placed a tan plastic bag with a quart jar of clear liquid behind his seat. The jar had a small amount of white powder residue on it.
Other people told deputies that they saw the employee
in the parking lot at the time of the incident and that they saw him get out of his truck but did not see him specifically get into Johnson's truck.
Another school district employee told deputies that the person who allegedly placed the moonshine had brought it for him, not for Johnson, but had placed it in the wrong vehicle by mistake.
According to the sheriff's report, the suspected employee has denied to authorities that he knows anything about alleged moonshine, but did admit he was in the area at the time of the incident.
"We're looking into it," Shafer said of the incident. "We're looking to see what it is and who was involved and all of that at this point. We're waiting to see the police reports and witness accounts and those kinds of things. I'm not sure what we're dealing with at this time.
"If it's something we have to deal with, we'll deal with it."
Johnson and the employee named in the report are on opposite sides of the on-going debate over the recent dismissal of
school superintendent Lloyd Evans.
Johnson was one of three board members who voted to non-renew Evans' contract and the employee named in the report has been vocal in his support of Evans.