MONONGAH POLICE CHIEF LEAVES

Monongah is looking for another Police Chief since Morgantown native Ian Bailey has resigned.

Monongah Town Councilwoman Susan Staron Sanders said: “He decided to leave law enforcement John and I just loved him. The kids, everyone loved him.”

Bailey began as Monongah Police Chief in 2020 after living in Louisiana and Georgia. Since 2016, he had been working in the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana as a sheriff’s deputy. Before that, he was in military law enforcement as a staff sergeant from 2007-2015 at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

 

Fairmont native Chris Veltri resigned as Monongah police chief in 2014 and retired from the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Police Department. Before Monongah, Veltri was police chief Rivesville.

 

Rick Barnhart, who came from the Salem Police Department to replace him in 2014, retired in 2017. He lives in Bridgeport.

Terry Queen, a police trainer in Clarksburg, replaced Barnhart. Terry resigned to become a patrolman in the Anmoore Police Department in the Clarksburg area, where Terry lives.

Douglas Montague also was a Monongah Police Chief.

My memories are of the Monongah Police Chief who was summoned to put my childhood dog, Fritzy, out of his misery after he was hit by a car and his back was broken. I think his name was Pasquale but I can’t be sure because I was still in Monongah High so it was in the 1940s. Even though he had a gun he seemed afraid of the dog and it took a couple of bullets to finish Fritzy off.