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The County Times
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
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Commissioners Kept Distance FABRIC MARINE/OUTDOOR During Jones Incident By Guy Leonard Staff Writer Interviews with county commissioners following revelations from police investigations that their colleague Cindy Jones attempted to kill herself due to pressure from the job show that elected officials and county employees took a hands off approach to dealing with the situation, in many cases avoiding all together informing the public of facts and even avoiding asking questions to ascertain exactly what happened. Of the four commissioners called by The County Times, three responded, with Commissioner President Francis Jack Russell, declining to return several phone calls for comment. Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R-Golden Beach) said Saturday that commissioners were first informed of the reports of attempted suicide by acting County Administrator Sue Sabo, but that he did not ask for any information beyond that point. The information from Sabo was general in nature, Jarboe said, and did not have specific details. He said that before police reports came to light, there were two versions of what happened that day and that it would have been difficult for the county to make a statement. Now that more information had been revealed, that would probably change with commissioners either making a statement as a board or individually with the option not to comment. Jarboe said that the refutation of the family’s statements by police reports would make the political life of Jones that much harder if she planned to return, as the family has indicated. “It looks like the young man [who made the 911 call] is a hero to say the least,” Jarboe said. “I think the public has universally come to the conclusion that with the police reports there’s a [credibility] problem. “She can embark on a political comeback, which is more difficult because of her husband’s press release, or she can resign,” he said. Sabo said that she was informed of the initial 911 call and told both Russell and Jarboe, she said she did not hear the actual call and was not able to substantiate whether it was an actual suicide attempt. Despite new information from police reports, Sabo said that the county did not intend to furnish any statement regarding the incident; she also said that the county did not provide an offer or any assistance to the Jones family in crafting its own statement. “I still consider it to be a personal, private
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matter,” Sabo said. Commissioner Dan Morris (R-Mechanicsville) said Friday that he went to see Jones in the hospital the same day of the incident, though he said that he was informed by Cindy Jones’ husband that she had suffered an accident and that he should come to help console her. Morris said he considers Jones to be a friend as well as a colleague and did not ask any questions of her about the events that lead to her hospitalization. “I didn’t think it was appropriate to ask her questions,” Morris said, adding that he saw no evidence to lead him to believe Jones had attempted to kill herself. “When I saw her I saw nothing to indicate that,” he said. He said he also told acting County Administrator Sue Sabo that “as far as I know it was an accident” and did not pressure anyone in the county government to come out with a statement regarding the incident. “I don’t know if I ever knew the truth,” Morris said, when asked when he found out what really happened. “I never was privy to any inside information. “Whether I believed him [Brian Jones] or not is not the issue; I didn’t want to aggravate the situation” by asking questions. “I was just glad to see her alive and that she was OK.” Commissioner Todd Morgan (R-Great Mills), had been critical in the press regarding reports about Jones trying to commit suicide, telling the Enterprise newspaper paper the media was “malicious.” He told The County Times on Friday that he had no reason to doubt the story from the family. “Everyone heard the rumors, but I discounted them,” Morgan said, adding that he initially believed Brian Jones’ statement. “How could I second guess what her husband said?” Morgan also said he knew of no directives to county employees on how to respond to media queries regarding the rumors of attempted suicide. When informed of what the police reports revealed, Morgan said Friday that he had not had time to review them and could not comment. “I hate to comment on something I haven’t read,” Morgan said. He continued by saying that he did not believe the county government could have reacted differently than it did in response to the circumstances surrounding the incident. Editor Sean Rice contributed to this story.
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