At three balls for a dollar, Treasurer Jim LeFevers didn't get his money's worth Friday at the dunking booth at the Warren County Fair. Sheriff Tom Ariss didn't give him the chance.
Ariss, getting set up for LeFevers' third pitch at the booth to raise money for the sheriff's anti-drug program, was having a fine time razzing the crowd and throwing water when the seat gave way prematurely. A surprised Ariss went down, cracking his head on a metal bar.
After a trip to a Bethesda Warren County urgent care center and with three staples in his scalp, the wounded sheriff returned to the fair ... dry, but with a doctor's orders to stay out of the dunking booth.
The gig raised about $1,000 for DARE.
Sheila McLaughlin
• • • • • • • • •
Small town politics: Tensions among trustees in Liberty Township, simmering for months, hit the boiling point at the July 8 meeting.
According to a tape recording of the meeting, David Kern and Bob Shelley wound up in a fierce argument after Shelley heatedly informed the new administrator, Barry Tiffany, that he didn't need detailed background on a Board of Zoning Appeals case.
When Shelley stood to leave and jabbed his finger in Tiffany's face, Kern warned Shelley to back off.
"Bob! Bob!" Kern yelled.
"You're a nothing!" Shelley shouted at Kern, who erupted and hollered, "Oh, hillbilly, get out of here!"
"Hillbilly?" An incredulous Shelley answered.
"Hillbilly!" Kern fired back.
"Dumb ass farmer," Shelley responded, later calling Kern a "drunken bum."
"This is ridiculous," Kern said.
"You're acting like a jerk," Shelley told him.
"You are," Kern shot back.
Shelley's wife, Yvonne, finally pulled him outside, saying, "You need to go out the door and leave everybody alone."
Jennifer Edwards and Jeremy Steele
• • • • • • • • •
Bye-bye: Al Ledbetter, Sharonville's top administrator, was candid when he grilled John Saar, Sharonville's public works director, just before firing him.
Documents of their June 13 encounter detail Ledbetter's response after Saar said that he had no plans "of screwing the city" when he gave city property to his brother-in-law.
Saar, who once worked for the cities of Mason and Forest Park, said that he planned to get about $300 for the "liftgate," which maneuvers heavy equipment in and out of a truck bed, but became scared when he learned that his handling of the matter was under investigation.
"John, I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. Not for a minute," Ledbetter said in documented testimony. "As a man, I am sorry for you and for your family. I have to do what I have to do."
He fired him soon after their meeting.
Later, Ledbetter admitted that he felt a bit betrayed by Saar's actions.
"The base line is I didn't agree with what he was telling me," he said.
Susan Vela
E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com
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