Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

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June 11, 2011

Former Blaine mayor charged

Kenneth Hart The Independent

LOUISA — The former mayor of the Lawrence County town of Blaine is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on charges stemming from alleged malfeasance in office and after leaving office.

Crystal Meade faces charges of tampering with public records, misapplication of entrusted property and second-degree official misconduct, according to court records.

The tampering charge is the most serious of the three. It is a Class D felony, and, if she is convicted of it, Meade could be sentenced to one to five years in prison. The other two charges are misdemeanors.

The charges are based on a criminal complaint filed against Meade by current Blaine Mayor Geneva Wheeler, who defeated Meade in the November general election.

In the complaint, filed in late April, Wheeler alleges Meade committed records-tampering by refusing “to deliver up a public record upon proper request of a public servant;” misapplication of property by disposing of items that had been entrusted to her and official misconduct by “knowingly refrain(ing) from performing a public duty imposed in her by law or clearly inherent in the nature of her office.”

Specifically, Wheeler alleges that upon leaving office in January, Meade “failed and/or refused to cooperate with the new mayor ...  by failing to turn over several items, including, but not limited to, bank statements for the city, minutes of past meetings, records of gas deposits, check stubs from city accounts, the city gas contract, gas meters, wrenches, 10 tables removed from the community building, security key fobs for city buildings and keys for the bathrooms and gates at the city park.”

Refusal to deliver the records constitutes records-tampering, the complaint states, while disposing of the meters, wrenches and other tools constitutes misapplication of entrusted property. The official misconduct is for Meade allegedly failing to maintain adequate city records.

Meade turned herself in several days after the complaint to Lawrence County Sheriff Garrett Roberts. She was allowed to remain free on $5,000 bond.

Meade and Wheeler have clashed in the past. The month before the November election, Wheeler, then a Blaine city commissioner, filed a complaint with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office alleging Meade had signed her name to city checks without her permission.

Blaine is one of the smallest, if not the smallest, incorporated city in the region. At the 2000 census, the town’s population was only 245.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or

(606) 326-2654.

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