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Johnson County Year-in-Review 2019: January-April
Today we will begin our look back at Johnson County’s top stories during the last year as we focus on January through April of 2019.
The organizers of the Big Horn Mountain Festival announced in January that they would cancel the annual music festival for the summer of 2019.
In a release from the festival’s planning committee, they explained that the Longmire Days celebration would be held same weekend as the festival, and the two events on the same weekend causes severe negative impacts on the festival.
The committee looked at moving the date or moving to another location but none of these options were viable and they decided to cancel the festival.
The trial for former Buffalo Chamber of Commerce CEO Angela Fox began January 14th in the District Courtroom at the Johnson County Judicial Center.
Fox resigned from the chamber of commerce in July of 2017, and an arrest warrant for Fox was issued in January of 2018 after a seven-month investigation by the Buffalo Police Department.
Fox was charged with three counts of felony theft stemming from her alleged use of chamber of commerce credit cards to make personal purchases for just over $8,600 from 2014 through 2017 while employed at the chamber.
Shane Schrader was sworn in as the new Mayor of Buffalo at the January 15th city council meeting.
Outgoing Mayor Mike Johnson brought the meeting to order, approved the agenda, minutes from the January 2nd meeting, and the elected officials, Schrader, and Councilmen Wes Haskins and Dan Hart were sworn into office.
Buffalo Chamber of Commerce Director/CEO Mark Smith announced he would retire at the end of February, and the Chamber Board would begin finalizing their plans in the search for a new chamber director.
The Johnson County Healthcare Center hired a new Chief Executive Officer in February.
Sean McCallister will took the facility over on March 4th from interim CEO John Osse, who on January 7th replaced former administrator Nicole Hobbs after she stepped down from the position.
Johnson County Library Director Cynthia Twing announced in March that she would after 30 years at the library.
Twing began her career at the library in 1990 and became the director in 1999, which she held until she retired.
The sentencing hearing for former Buffalo Chamber of Commerce CEO Angela Fox was postponed on March 28th, to allow both the prosecution and the defense time to review paperwork before the sentencing hearing.
Fox’s defense team had filed a motion to remove Judge William J. Edelman based on bias by the judge, and asked for a new trial.
The motions were heard by Campbell County District Court Judge John R. Perry, who found no bias by Judge Edelman and denied the motion to remove him, and denied the request for a new trial.
Judge Perry sent the case back to Johnson County for sentencing which was then scheduled for May 13th.
