By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

BETHEL – Lawyers representing Bethel’s former police chief, Darren Tripp, Town Manager Scott Cole and the town argued their cases Monday in federal appeals court in Boston.

Tripp is appealing a federal court’s October 2004 decision to dismiss Tripp’s $500,000 lawsuit against the town of Bethel and Cole for firing him earlier that year.

“We argued the appeal, but now it’s under advisement,” Tripp’s attorney, Steve Chute of Portland, said Tuesday. Tripp’s Rumford lawyer, Thomas Carey, said Tuesday that Chute is representing Tripp in the Boston case.

“There won’t be any decision for a while,” Chute added.

Also on Monday, Oxford County Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty’s decision was released on Tripp’s Sept. 10, 2004, appeal in the Paris court.

In that 10-page report, Delahanty denied Tripp’s motion for a trial of the facts, and affirmed Tripp’s March 11, 2004, dismissal by the Bethel Board of Selectmen at a two-day termination hearing.

Tripp was fired by Cole a month earlier on Feb. 12.

Reasons cited for the firing included Tripp’s failure to maintain contact with the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in the event of an emergency, and failure to respond from the police station for 12 minutes on Dec. 2, 2003, after repeated attempts by dispatchers to alert him to an armed robbery in Bethel.

Tripp joined the Bethel Police Department in 1989, and became chief in 1998.

Carey said late Tuesday afternoon that his client has 21 days to appeal Delahanty’s decision to the Maine Law Court in Portland.

Tripp, Carey said, may consider an appeal. But, in the meantime, they have asked Delahanty for more findings.

“It will depend on what he says before we make our decision,” Carey said.

Portland attorney Geoff Hole, who is representing Cole and Bethel, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Cole, however, said, “We’re pleased with the decision.”

In front of Delahanty on Sept. 10, Tripp alleged that he was denied due process last year in his March termination hearing. He alleged bias, that there was not a proper record, and that there were potential ex parte communications.

Tripp also alleged that he was injured when selectmen chose to believe the first of two letters from a phone company about the police station phone, and because a phone repairman for the company did not testify as to why the letter was changed.

He also requested a trial of the facts.

The town of Bethel argued that selectmen properly reached their decision based on Tripp’s unavailability to respond to the emergency, and the implication rising from Tripp’s request to the repairman to change the opinion letter.

Delahanty wrote that, “There is substantial evidence to justify why the selectmen found as they did. There is no valid reason to have a trial on any further evidence.”

Regarding Tripp’s other allegations, Delahanty stated that selectmen “had all the information needed to make a decision. The record is sufficient to uphold their action.”

“The court agrees with the town, that the allegations of bias against Tripp due to the other lawsuit are vague’ and bare’ and are insufficient to affect the board’s decision,” he added.

Regarding the federal suit, on Oct. 13, 2004, Chief U.S. District Court Judge George Z. Singal affirmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret J. Kravchuk’s recommendation to dismiss the suit and for summary judgment.

Carey appealed that decision in early November with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Tripp filed the federal suit last year, challenging Cole’s 33-day paid suspension of Tripp in March 2003 for alleged “serious” job deficiencies, poor judgment, lack of ethics and lack of respect for the law.

The former chief initially sought $250,000 in damages, but amended it to $500,000 after Cole fired him.