The Shadow
J.W. Tingler, owner of Covington Farm & Fuel, has experienced firsthand the devastation drug abuse can have on society that has yet to develop an effective way to deal with the problem.
On March 14, a shootout at his business left Police Officer Caleb Ogilvie, 35, dead from a gunshot after he responded to J.W.’s call for help, and Jill Paxton, one of his employees, lost Randy Paxton, 64, her husband who was also employed at Covington Farm & Fuel; as well as Toney S. Poulston, her son who was 42.
Poulston fatally shot Randy, his stepfather, before firing his pistol at Ogilvie. Other law enforcement officers who responded to J.W.’s call shot Poulston dead as he ran out of the store.
Tingler has been helping raise funds for Jill, and donation jars that were placed at Valero, 220 Express, BP Station on Durant Road, and at Covington Farm & Fuel have now been collected and turned over to Jill.
“The avenues to solving the drug problem in our country are almost non-existent,” Tingler remarked.
He believes that “The War on Drugs” declared by President Ronald Reagan has yet to be won and that America is losing that war.
A Go Fund Me account has been set up for Jill who has not returned to work, and Tingler has been collecting donations to turn over to Jill.
He noted, “We have a societal drug problem, and our court system is not working.
He gave an example of an employee that he tried to help overcome an addiction problem only to see him slip back into usage and selling drugs to support his habit.
Tingler is advocating for more drug treatment programs and drug prevention programs with less jail and prison time that he maintains results in even worse behavior once the criminal gets back onto the streets.
After serving jail time for drug use or for selling drugs, the offender often returns to pushing drugs to support the habit, and the vicious cycle continues according to Tingler.
He is advocating a change in society’s approach to the problem by establishing more drug prevention programs and a change in the court system that would require more offenders to receive treatment at medical facilities rather than be sentenced to prison terms where hardened criminals tend to make matters even worse for those newly incarcerated.
As for his Covington Farm & Fuel business, he realizes that COVID-19 is still negatively impacting business.
Tingler observed, “There has been a delay in our supply chain, and the weed eaters that we ordered last Aug. just got here.”
Another problem Tingler believes contributes to the drug problem is inflation, a factor that motivates those prone to drug use to opt for easy money from selling drugs.
“The price of sheet metal, channel iron, round stock and angle iron has tripled since January,” Tingler revealed.
He continued, “There’s a lot of things that we just can’t get.”
As for fertilizer, Tingler said, “Fertilizer prices have gone through the roof, and what was $10 per bag just a while ago is now $30 per bag.”
“Simple things like coffee cups and lids are hard to get,” Tingler opined.
In rebounding from COVID-19, Tingler has found that there is a scarcity of qualified workers, and he attributes the shortage to the COVID-19 relief money distributed during the pandemic that in some cases paid workers more to stay home than they made for working at their previous jobs.
As for having to compete with chain stores like Walmart, Tingler offered, “There are still people who appreciate old-style retail.”
“People come in here and we know their names and they know our names, and they value us as we value them,” he remarked.
He concluded, “I am not computer savvy, and I am an analog man in a digital world.”
Tingler has set up a way at Covington Farm & Fuel to receive donations to help Jill by mailing to Ms. Jill Paxton, C/O Covington Farm & Fuel, 121 N. Alleghany, Covington, VA 24426.
