Councilman, drug suspect: Dual roles baffle town

Madison - This tiny Lake County town is searching for the real Larry Buck.

Is Buck a secretive drug dealer with a business partner already serving time on drug charges? Or is he the forward-thinking entrepreneur who not only stumped for downtown redevelopment but also produced it by turning his own building into the village's hot spot?

Could the guy authorities portray as the target of a three-year investigation by at least four law-enforcement agencies also be the village councilman voters elected to a second term last November?

Yes, depending on whom you ask, Larry Buck is all that.

Agents from a drug task force describe the 50-year-old councilman as a key player in a drug trafficking scheme that stretches into neighboring Ashtabula County.

They arrested Buck this month on marijuana-trafficking charges and reported seizing 2 pounds of marijuana from his car and cash from a safe hidden in his family's barn on West Main Street.

"We are investigating a major marijuana distribution ring, and he is part of it," said Sgt. Jeff Orr of the Trumbull, Ashtabula, Geauga Task Force.

What investigators won't say is whether the arrest is tied to the 2005 drug conviction of Buck's business partner, Charles P. Walters.

Walters, 39, of Austinburg, was busted for marijuana possession in Geneva in April 2004.

The bust happened five months before he and Buck jointly bought a building on Madison's West Main Street. Walters is serving a three-year prison term.

Buck, who pleaded not guilty to the charges in court, could not be reached for comment. Buck and Walters have known each other since at least 1997, when Buck sold Walters a house in neighboring North Perry.

But the talk on Main Street is that the drug-dealer charge doesn't jibe with the Buck known to many as a self-employed carpet cleaner and a civic leader in this community of fewer than 3,000 people.

One neighbor, former Mayor David Reed, said he never noticed anything close to criminal going on next door.

"Certainly not a safe in the barn," Reed said. "He was a good neighbor and a councilman who did good things for Madison."

At the Main Street Cafe, which is in the building that Buck and Walters own, waitresses think of the councilman as a handyman and his business partner as a big tipper. Two of the waitresses said Buck also cleaned their carpets and did a good job.

Cafe patron Bill Alvey, a retired minister from the downtown Park Methodist Church, noted that Buck has been active in summer parties in the park and was a cheerleader for Madison.

"I still feel that Larry is the same person -- as a private citizen and resident here," Alvey said. "He comes from a great family and he's done some good things here."

Cafe owner Sandra Mihalek recalled that the first time she met Buck, he and his father were renovating the building.

"He's the one making things happen here," she said. "He's done nothing but try to enhance this little village."

But Buck's efforts to enhance the village weren't embraced by all, said Irene Hiendlmayr, 37, a lifelong village resident.

"I liked Larry Buck because he struck a compromise between heritage and thinking ahead," Hiendlmayr said during a stop at the Open Door coffee shop. "But he also rubbed some people the wrong way. This town is still pretty isolated and insular and doesn't deal well with change."

Steve Tarr, working on a laptop computer at the coffee shop, has listened to both versions of the Larry Buck story and prefers the one with the hometown spin.

"I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt right now," he said.

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:

mscott@plaind.com, 440-602-4780
mmartin@plaind.com, 440-602-4782