By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

PARIS – A lawsuit filed nearly a year ago against the Oxford County commissioners by a sheriff’s sergeant has been dropped.

Former Canton Selectman Christopher Wainwright, who is now a lieutenant with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, said last week he recently decided not to continue pursuing the lawsuit.

Wainwright on Oct. 7, 2004, appealed a commission decision to remove him from a post on the county budget committee because he worked in the sheriff’s department.

He alleged the commissioners exceeded their authority in removing him and violated the Maine Freedom of Access Law in the process.

The lawsuit was filed in Oxford County Superior Court but was sent on to U.S. District Court in Portland. Senior District Judge Gene Carter ruled against Wainwright’s complaint that he had been wrongfully removed from the budget committee, and remanded his allegations about Freedom of Access Law violations to the Superior Court.

Wainwright said he then decided to drop the suit because the freedom of access issue was not his main concern.

He said he felt a section of Maine law that “removes the restrictions on full-time deputies holding the municipal offices of selectmen, city councilor or budget committee member” entitled him to a seat on the county budget committee.

Carter argued the law applied only to municipal officers serving on municipal budget committees, and that Wainwright was prohibited from holding a “county office.” He ruled the county budget committee seat was a “county office.”