Outspoken Nottoway Supervisor John Roark said he was “snubbed” several months ago by Judge Joseph Teefey, Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit.
In a Go Live address on Facebook last Thursday, Roark said that as soon as Teefey sent an email to the County about conditions at the courthouse complex, “I reached out to him directly, and he said, ‘No, we’re (Teefey and other judges) not talking to Supervisors, I’ll talk to the County Administrator.’”
Roark said of Teefey’s response, “He didn’t want to talk to the person who has to face the people. He didn’t want to have that conversation, and I’ve got the email to prove it.”
Roark said Teefey’s response sends a message of “We’re peons, folks….when he snubbed me, he snubbed every one of you, and that told me all I needed to know.”
Anticipated tax hikes to fund courthouse complex improvements have been called, “The Judge Teefey Tax.” And Roark stands by the term and says Teefey isn’t offended. “That’s fair. He knows about it. He was told that I had made mention of it, and he said, ‘I’m fine with that.’ He did. He did. So IT’S NOT AN INSULT TO THE MAN.”
Roark said Teefey “isn’t completely wrong but once he struck the order, he ain’t ever talked to me.”
Roark also recalled that during both of his terms, he asked to be placed on the Courthouse Complex Committee “and both times I was shut out. I wonder why?”
Roark said he’s far from done being vocal on County issues. “I’m going to keep making noise for the people that elected me because that’s what I do. I used to be the ‘bull in the china shop.’ The past couple of years, I’ve been straightening it up, and I’ve been putting the tables back together. I’ve been sweeping up the broken glass.”
Roark said a “little divide” on the Board may become larger. He said some citizens who watched the Board’s Aug. 21st meeting told him it appeared that some colleagues appeared “non-chalant” about Roark’s suggestions and “really didn’t care about what I had to say. But I’m going to keep doing what I do.”
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