Elk City staffers face charges
Grand jury accuses city manager and worker of having inmates pull asbestos without proper g

By Jay F. Marks

Published: December 20, 2006

The longtime city manager of Elk City was indicted Tuesday on federal environmental charges.

Guy R. Hylton Jr. and city employee Chick Arthur Little are accused of improperly using prison inmates to renovate a building with asbestos insulation in 2003. The inmates from the Elk City Work Center did not have proper protective equipment for the job, according to the indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City.

Hylton denies any wrongdoing and plans to plead not guilty, his attorney Mack Martin said. The lawyer would not comment further.

Hylton and Little face as much as 15 years in prison if convicted of knowingly releasing asbestos into the air, the most serious of the charges against them.

The charges stem from renovations to an old railroad depot purchased by Elk City in 2002.

Corrections Department inmates employed by the city began work in January 2003, even though city officials had not filed the proper notice, according to court papers.

Renovations to the depot, which is about 100 years old, released asbestos into the air and put the inmates in danger, the indictment states.

Asbestos is made up of microscopic fibers that can be inhaled if the substance becomes airborne. Overexposure to the fibers can cause scarring in the lungs as well as lung cancers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Web site.

The indictment also accuses Hylton, 54, and Little, 56, of improperly disposing of the asbestos insulation taken from the depot. It was taken to a dump site that did not have a permit to handle such waste, according to court papers.

The two men lied to the state Department of Environmental Quality about the matter, according to the indictment. Hylton, who has been city manager since 1993, filed a report with the state in June 2003 and Little spoke to investigators two months later.

Contributing: John David Sutter, Staff Writer