The Shadow
Dear Editor,
On the evening of Jan. 27, Ms. Diana Kling Smith and Dr. Donald Roberts and I attended a Clifton Forge Armory Committee (CFAC) meeting as guests of Mr. Jeff Irvine, president of the CFAC and mayor of the town of Clifton Forge.
The invitation was verbally extended at the town council meeting of Jan. 14. We chose to accept the invitation because we wanted to attend the meeting to gain an understanding of the how a CFAC regular monthly business was conducted.
Strangely, Mr. Richard Shull, vice president of the CFAC and a member of the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors, chaired the meeting.
Our presence was not acknowledged and we were not introduced as invited guests by the president of the CFAC. Mr. Jeff Irvine was seated off to the side.
He chose to speak after he realized we were there and stated that under advice of his lawyer, he would be recording any comments we made to the committee. Mr. Irvine waved his phone that was to be used for recording our comments.
By mentioning “his” lawyer and by stating he would record our comments, Mr. Irvine’s apparent goal was to intimidate and silence us in front of the CFCA.
Throughout our time at the meeting, we were treated with verbal hostility from several members of the CFAC. Since we had agreed before going to the meeting not to make comments or engage in any back-and-forth arguments, we remained mostly silent. We were there only as invited guests, not as participants in the management process.
After discussion by several members of the CFAC regarding Mr. Irvine’s use of the CFAC ATM card, I observed that Mr. Irvine chose to remove the card from his wallet and hand it over to another member of the CFAC.
That member refused to take the card stating to Mr. Irvine that “your name is on the card”. Mr. Irvine responded with “Oh, my name is on the card.” He then returned the card to his wallet.
Frankly, as invited guests we departed the meeting feeling Mr. Irvine and several other committee members had treated their guests shamefully. Were we invited to be intimidated? To this day I am puzzled as to what the real purpose was to invite us.
Sincerely,
William B. Atherholt U.S. Navy Cmdr./Retired
Botetourt Road, Eagle Rock
