A charge of disorderly conduct that was brought against Mathews County supervisor Mike Walls last year by planning commission chairman Billy Cook was dismissed on Monday, Dec. 9 in Mathews General District Court. A finding on the charge had been withheld since the case was heard on Dec. 11, 2023.
The action was the final chapter in a confrontation between the two men that occurred during the 2023 May Faire festival in Mathews. Walls, already on the board, and Cook, then a Republican candidate for a seat on the Mathews County Board of Supervisors, got into an argument involving a third Republican candidate and the possible visit of a controversial property rights speaker to the county. As a result, Cook filed charges against Walls of abusive language, assault and battery, and disorderly conduct.
Judge Joshua DeFord found at that time that Cook and Walls had been “jawing at one another” and that both men had been “more upset than they let on” when testifying in court. He dismissed the ch...