Town’s Goal: No Scofflaw Left Behind

NEW ROME, Ohio —  Let the cruiser parked by the 35-mph sign as you enter town be a warning: New Rome is in the business of issuing traffic citations, and business is very, very good. So good, in fact, that one state official says the village has become “the poster child of bad government in Ohio.”

Located along Route 40 on the western outskirts of Columbus, New Rome is three blocks wide and 1,000 feet long. It has 60 residents and a police force of 14. Operating out of a trailer a block off the highway, the cops scurry around like mad 18 hours a day, writing so many citations that traffic fines cover 90% of New Rome’s $424,000 annual budget.

Last month, the department issued 184 citations and made 40 arrests. Patrol officers bag motorists for going 2 mph over the limit. They scrutinize vehicles for defective lights. They expect motorists to count to three after braking at a stop sign. Their zero-tolerance policy is so rigid that many locals drive around, rather than through, the village. Others refuse to patronize New Rome’s businesses.

“This whole nonsense has made New Rome the laughingstock of Ohio,” said Ed Anthony, the village barber and a newly elected reformist on the six-member village council. “And I understand why people think we’re a joke. It’s all about money, and frankly, I’m disgusted.”

Said Jeff Nourse, a trustee of surrounding Prairie Township: “We’re never going to be able to develop this area as long as people are terrified to drive this stretch of highway. One Realtor owns 14 apartments here, and eight are empty. People won’t move in. You might as well tell them there’s a nice unit available in a leper colony.”

Run for years by a village council whose members were related by blood, marriage or business interests, New Rome institutionalized its speed trap in 1970 and immediately saw village coffers grow flush. This year, the council is spending $328,000 on its police department. It has allocated nothing for public health, refuse collection, fire prevention, public housing, recreation, street repair, firefighting or utilities.

Perhaps not surprising, New Rome’s financial affairs have raised suspicion among the state’s watchdog agencies, especially since, over the last decade, two clerks in the mayor’s court have pleaded guilty to theft of funds in office. Another resigned when a $56,000 shortfall was discovered. A fourth has been charged with pilfering and is facing trial. Additionally, the state auditor says, local officials have destroyed and falsified records, not reconciled bank statements, discarded deposit slips and been unable to account for large sums collected in court.

“What our audits show,” said spokeswoman Kim Norris, “is that records have been destroyed and money is missing.” It is not unusual, she added, for the state to find problems in municipal audits, but “not theft year after year. This goes on and on.”

Larry Cunningham, New Rome’s $20,000-a-year police chief, did not respond to interview requests. But he told the Columbus Dispatch in January that he was doing all he could to keep village employees’ fingers out of the cookie jar. “Unfortunately, this is not unique to us,” Cunningham said. “It happens to everybody--from United Way to whatever.”

Unique or not, the public’s patience is running out.

Jim Bussey II, 28, a computer systems analyst, started a Web site after getting a ticket in September. He’s received 25,000 hits, mostly from motorists complaining about what they consider police harassment. “It’s horrible when you’re afraid to drive through your own county,” Bussey said.

Two weeks ago, more than 100 people joined a peaceful protest that Bussey organized outside New Rome’s police trailer. Many wore T-shirts emblazoned with the face of Barney Fife, the bumbling TV lawman from “The Andy Griffith Show.” A band, the Five Hand Gang, played on the porch of a nearby house, and motorists honked and waved as they passed.

More important, businessman Jamie Mueller stepped up last fall to challenge the entrenched mayor, Charles Chapman, and his relatives and friends on the village council. Mueller, running on a platform to reform or abolish the police department and clean up the village, won the backing of New Rome’s 16 registered voters and was elected mayor. The vote was 8 to 0.

In a congratulatory letter to Mueller, one resident wrote: “I wish to acknowledge you for your courage and your integrity and your intelligence in attempting to clean up the stinking den of indolent, corrupt, narrow-minded folks who run the mysterious village of New Rome.”

Mueller says he wants to sweep away the past. But, he added, “if we can’t fix New Rome, we should consider dissolving it” and making it part of Prairie Township. To place the village’s future on the November ballot, he needs the signatures of 40% of the people who voted in the last gubernatorial election. That’s no small challenge in New Rome because, in the 1996 election, no one voted.