GALLAWAY, TN – If you look up the word bizarre in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Gallaway, Tennessee.
That’s how Jeff Ward, the attorney for the Gallaway Housing Authority, characterizes the town.
All summer, the city has been involved in a dispute over road repairs with the GHA. The latest twist happened on Monday, August 29, 2011, when a housing authority commissioner was served with a warrant for stealing plywood, from the Housing Authority.
“Nothing that happens in Gallaway surprises me anymore,” Ward tells abc24.com.
Ward is forced to deal constantly with the politics of the city.
“Gallaway is an unusual place,” says Ward. “We joked it has enough drama to make Memphis blush. Every day is like a TV movie of the week.”
That said, Ward now has to deal with one of his commissioners being accused of stealing from his own board.
“Commissioner Les Holte was served with a warrant for theft under $500,” says Ward, “I’ve not seen the warrant and I’ve not spoken to Commissioner Holte.”
Thomas Dacus, a neighbor whose father rents to Holte, tells abc24.com, “I know about some plywood and stuff like that, but I don’t have a clue really.”
When asked if he thought Holte would steal as he’s accused, Dacus replied: “I wouldn’t think he would do that.”
Reached by phone late Monday, Holte denied everything, saying, “I absolutely did not steal anything from anybody. Somebody is out to get me and played their hand today. Some dirty politics are being played.”
Holte is controversial. The online Gallaway Forum is full of threads devoted strictly to him.
One example: “The jailhouse lawyer as he’s known in the Fayette County courts.”
And another: “What jail is he in? Can’t post bail?”
To be fair, those are from the past, like last fall when Holte openly admitted to having every scrap of information off city hall computers.
“From my position, and I have talked to a lawyer and even talked to a U.S. Attorney,” Holte told abc24.com in November 2010, “I haven’t broken any law.”
As mentioned above, Holte still feels that way.
Still, for a housing authority board involved in a dispute with the city, it has to be concerning for its' most vocal commissioner to be in this situation.
“It’s a distraction we don’t need,” says Ward.
But one they will have to deal with at some point.
“If this turns out to be true,” Ward says, “the housing authority under Christine Ashcraft will treat everybody the same, whether a commissioner or a resident.”
Holte is scheduled to appear in Fayette County Court on September 13th.
It is left to the discretion of the Mayor of Gallaway, to appoint or remove board members from the Gallaway Housing Authority.
