Greene County Investigator Les Cash has conceived five ideas now put into law by State Delegate Rob Bell.
“It’s fair to say there are delegates who don’t have as many laws as Les Cash has,” said State Delegate Rob Bell at a low-key ceremony outside the County Courthouse September 25. Bell honored Cash, a Green County general investigator, along with 10 others for providing ideas that Bell has passed into law. This year, Cash took home three framed copies of the bills he inspired to add to two others he’s already received from Bell.
All of Cash’s laws—and many of the others that Bell worked to get passed—concern small changes to facilitate law enforcement. House Bill 1345, for instance, allows investigators to obtain search warrants via video—already allowed for arrest warrants, according to Cash. House Bill 1338 stipulates that law enforcement must be notified of suspected abuse at a nursing home or other care facility. Other bills sponsored by Bell, a three-term Republican who represents parts of Albemarle County, make peeping a felony on the third offense, expand the definition of sexual battery, and take away a stipulation that police be able to show motorists speed readings when pulled over.
Cash says the laws he inspired “benefit the citizens of Virginia equally, [allowing them] not to be victimized as much.” They stemmed from abnormal investigations where “certain little quirks in the case brought to light loopholes in certain laws that, to me and to others in law enforcement, made it seem just not right that they should be that way.” His relationship with Bell started at the Greene County Fair, and since then, Bell has made it a habit to call Cash every fall before the legislative session begins.
So considering his prolificacy, does Cash have any interest in running for office? “No, not the least little bit,” says Cash, who describes himself as a politically inactive independent.
