| By Bob Weaver
A man reportedly impersonating a State Police officer frighteningly detained a Calhoun-Wirt well tender for about three hours on a rural road in Gilmer County, near the Calhoun line.
The strange incident happened during the first week of June in a remote area between White Pine and Tanner.
The well tender said he was making his rounds on the rural road just inside Gilmer County when a man in camouflage with a sidearm, identifying himself as a State Policeman stopped his vehicle, telling him he could not proceed.
The alleged officer had a vehicle with radio antennas and police paraphernalia, and had what he said was a "drug dog," which apparently searched the man's truck.
He reportedly kept pretending to talk on a two-way radio.
The man, who identified himself as a state policeman, declined to provide identification, but eventually released the well tender, telling him to turn back into Calhoun County.
The well tender, who has asked not to be identified, reported the incident to the State Police in Calhoun and Gilmer, and the Sheriffs Departments in both counties, all responding they were unaware of an officer being in the area during that time frame.
A complaint was taken by the State Police in Gilmer County, who told the well-tender they will investigate, saying they were clueless about such an incident.
The Glenville Detachment declined a public information request from the Herald to confirm the incident.
Other reports indicate that a man had been circulating in regional counties impersonating an officer, but that could not be confirmed.
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