Men get jail time in golf course vandalism

Exactly one year after they vandalized a local golf course, two Tazewell County men were given jail time on Monday and were ordered to repay the course owner thousands of dollars for the damage they caused.
Both 20-year-old James B. Dye and 19-year-old John Douglas Smith were ordered to pay $70,000 in restitution in the Feb. 8, 2009, crime at the Wolf Creek Golf and Country Club along Grapefield Road.
“They tore it completely up,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Clinton Kegley in summarizing the case against Dye during a Bland County Circuit Court sentencing hearing.
According to police and the course owner, Dye, Smith and Charles W. Hagy Jr. used golf carts to tear up greens and fairways after drinking and fishing in the area. Two carts were left partially submerged in ponds and two others also sustained damage, they said.
On Monday, Dye’s attorney argued that a jail sentence wouldn’t be the best punishment for his client.
“What you’ve got here is a young man that was making poor decisions,” said Rob Campbell pointing out that Dye would be willing to enter a Christian-based rehab program where he would work and send in all the money to repay his debt.
Pointing out that Dye was convicted of petit larceny after committing his Bland County crime, Kegley said he was worried what kind of message the court would send by just putting Dye on probation for his felony destruction of property and burglary convictions.
“I just want to say I’m sorry,” said Dye who was ordered to serve 30 days in jail. After his release, he’ll be on probation for seven years.
Smith, who was convicted of felony destruction of property in the case and has no prior criminal history, also apologized for his actions.
He was sentenced to four days in jail and will be on probation for five years after his release. Hagy will be sentenced on March 22.
In other cases heard on Monday:
Tracy Scott Nunn, 38, of Bland was sentenced on a May 4, 2009, grand larceny charge. Nunn was ordered to serve four months in jail and pay $250 in restitution. He was also placed on probation for four years.
Harley M. Taylor, 23, of Bastian was sentenced in a June 20, 2009, unlawful wounding case. According to evidence presented on Monday, an intoxicated Taylor beat his stepfather and injured the victim’s ear.
“I felt bad after I done it,” said Taylor who was given a three-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution to his victim. Taylor will also be on probation for three years.
Marshall E. Clemons, 30, of Rocky Gap pleaded guilty to May 2009 charges of conspiring to distribute a controlled substance, distributing a controlled substance and distributing a controlled substance as an accommodation (two counts). Clemons will be sentenced on the charges on April 12 to allow time for a report about his criminal history to be prepared. Two additional charges of conspiring to distribute controlled substances were dropped.
Mary E. Clark, 32, of Youngstown, Ohio, one of three mothers charged with putting children in the back of a sweltering rental truck, pleaded no contest to one count of felony child endangerment.
According to the commonwealth’s attorney, Clark and two other mothers were traveling from Ohio to Georgia in a Penske truck when they stopped at the Interstate 77 welcome center and were observed putting five children in the back. A state trooper stopped the truck near the Bland exit and detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from the cab where the women were riding.
Kegley said the outside temperature that day was 90 degrees and that the temperature inside the back of the unventilated truck where Clark’s 4-year-old son was riding was an estimated 120 degrees.
“They (the children) were all in poor condition,” Kegley said.
Police also seized approximately 28 grams of marijuana and 28 grams of cocaine from the truck, he said.
Clark, who is incarcerated in the New River Valley Regional Jail in Dublin, will be sentenced on March 22 after a pre-sentence report is prepared. One of the other mothers was supposed to enter a plea on Monday but didn’t show up because of the weather. Her case was continued until March 22.
Michael U. Mallory Jr., 22, of Sugar Grove pleaded guilty to an Aug. 17, 2009, grand larceny charge involving the theft of a golf cart from a Bastian residence. He will be sentenced on April 12 after a pre-sentence report detailing his past is prepared.
Kayla Marie Karr, 21, of Huntington, W.Va., pleaded no contest to two July 18, 2009, charges of possessing a controlled substance. As part of a written plea agreement with the commonwealth, Karr was placed in a first offender program that will require any needed substance abuse counseling and require periodic drug screens. If Karr, who must also complete 100 hours of community service, successfully completes the program, her charges will be dismissed next February.
—Staff report