Tuesday, March 30, 2004

The many bizarre happenings involving Richmond city politicans

The Richmond paper can't resist retelling the tale of the many odd things that have happened or been done by Richmond's council members and other city government officials, as in this account, which mentions, among other things:

"City Councilman Raymond D. Royall went out in his 17-foot motorboat and vanished in 1978. His family held a memorial service. But Royall hadn't died. He abandoned his boat, swum to shore and headed west. He resurfaced under a new identity in St. Louis later that year before returning to Richmond and pleading guilty to federal tax and bank-loan charges."

"the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Councilman William I. Golding Sr. had to give up his council seat because he did not realize that felonies he committed as a teenager had disqualified him from serving."

"Evans pleaded guilty to mail fraud Dec. 30 after running a billing scam in City Hall. Authorities caught onto his scam after noticing his phony bills from two different companies had the word "debris" misspelled as "debre." Evans is among nine public employees and elected and appointed officials who have been indicted in Richmond in the past 13 months."

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