“It has been admitted that there
was some misuse of the
district’s phone,” Guider said.
“Other than that, it’s more of a
personal-type thing I guess.”
The investigation has been
ongoing since mid-January, and
is “winding down” at this point,
Guider said. He could not
comment on how long the
exchanges between Estes and
White occurred.
“Nothing has taken place yet,”
Guider said regarding
disciplinary action. “We’ve been
(in) discussion with some —
getting legal advice and ...
I’ve been working with an
attorney, too, talking about our
legal remedies to this. I can’t
comment really until I finalize
our consultation with legal
authorities. I suspect something
will be done.”
Guider said he has reached out
to Loudon County Attorney Bob
Bowman and others for legal
counsel.
The board is only looking at
Estes’ district-issued phone,
Guider said, noting it has no
authority on White’s Lenoir
City-issued phone. Guider said
he could not comment on White’s
usage.
A public records request has
been sent to Lenoir City Mayor
Tony Aikens requesting
information on White’s cellphone
use. The News-Herald asserts
such information is public
record since taxpayer funds are
used to provide White’s
cellphone.
“Of course, I’m not on the 911
board and I see it as a
personnel matter and we don’t
talk about personnel matters, as
you know, and personnel matters
is dealing with — and from what
I know about it anything that
did occur occurred off duty is
my understanding and so that’s
all I’m going to say about
that,” Aikens said.
Aikens said no evidence has been
brought before him “in any way
that (White) was on duty.”
“Again, I’ve seen no evidence of
that and obviously I’m not going
to — if somebody wants to bring
me something to the contrary
I’ll look at it,” Aikens said.
“That’s sort of a hypothetical
question, I guess.”
Estes declined comment, and
White did not return a call
seeking comment.
The 911 board meets at 1:30 p.m.
the third Thursday of every
month at the Loudon County E-911
Center, 500 John Parris Drive,
Loudon. The next meeting is
scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Thursday.
“There’s no indication that
there was anything during any
working hours,” Guider said.
“From the investigation we’ve
done — there’s no proof of any
wrongdoings during any one of
them’s normal working hours.”
Should White step down from the
board, Loudon County Mayor
Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw would be
responsible for filling the
vacancy, Guider said.
“That’s a county mayor
appointment and that certainly
would be something that would
have to be done by the county
mayor or by an individual
decision of his own to step
down,” he said.
