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By BILL WALSH
Rappahannock New* Staff Writer
The Virginia Outdoor Foundation (VOF), accused last month of questionable land sales that appeared to favor the wealthy Rappahannock and northern Fauquier County residents who bought the parcels, was cleared of wrongdoing onTuesday.
However, state officials issued a strong recommendation to the VOF board of directors, at its meeting in Richmond Tuesday, that it review many of the foundation’s policies.
Following a lengthy, two-part expose in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in early July, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder ordered an investigation into the VOF’s activities. The Richmond newspaper alleged that the foundation was offering “sweetheart” land deals to several county residents who had previously loaned money to the foundation.
Secretary of Natural Resources Elizabeth Haskell headed the investigation, assisted by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Attorney General’s office.
“The transactions examined were, one, the purchase of 1,520 acres of land on the Bull Run Mountains, in Fauquier County,” Mrs. Haskell reported Tuesday morning.
“This was purchased from the estate of Dorothy Jackson in July 1987 using funds donated and loaned by individuals in the Middleburg area, and two, eight different sales by the foundation, involving some 2,140 acres in the Middleburg area. These sales were tied to the events reported in the newspaper articles.
“They include ... Steven Rales, Ralph and Josephine Chadwick, John Coles, Caro Bentley, Eve Fout, Doris Hotis, George Ohrstrom, and Lavinia Currier,” Mrs. Haskell said.
But the investigation revealed that “all land transactions were legal,” Mrs. Haskell said. “This is based on our reading of applicable state statutes and the foundation’s enabling legislation,” she added. The Attorney General’s office agreed with this finding and, indeed, had previously “signed off on all transactions. The foundation itself approved all land sales in public meetings,” Mrs. Haskell said.
The VOF did not publicly advertise these properties for sale, and, in the case of one parcel, did not get an appraisal. Nevertheless, “the files clearly show that the foundation
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