SYBENE - Thursday evening's Lawrence County Commission meeting must have seemed a bit like a barbecue to the three men who hold that collective office - only they, and not the entr\u00E9e, were grilled.

Commissioners defended two recent decisions they have made: The 2-1 decision last week to put the county's ambulance service contract up for bid and the rejection of a call from some Burlington residents to stand with them and oppose a planned barge facility in West Virginia along the Ohio River.

Kyle Crump, a paramedic for Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Services, wanted to know why Commissioners George Patterson and Doug Malone put the ambulance service contract up for bid, thus possibly jeopardizing the jobs of SEOEMS employees and the health and safety of area residents. Crump suggested area residents are opposed to the idea and should be consulted before such a decision is made.

"Is there any way you could make it a decision by election?" Crump asked. "This is one of the largest decisions that could ever be made in this county. For a decision this size, I think it should be put before the people. I would hate to put a dollar amount on the health and welfare of the county."

But Patterson rejected the idea.

"We were elected to make decisions based on the people's best interest, taking into account their welfare," Patterson said. "We would be shirking our duties if we did that."

Malone defended his decision to call for the change by saying that he would only give the bid to another entity if it could meet three criteria: the highest quality of care, the best price for the quality care and if SEOEMS employees could work for the other entity.

Malone and Patterson said the decision was meant to save the county money, but Crump pointed out that SEOEMS' contract is paid for by the county's half-cent sales tax-and therefore does not come out of the county's general fund.

Patterson indicated that if a private entity could not deliver quality service, the county could and would take over ambulance service and operate it.

"We can just about do that now," he said.

The other hot-button issue was the commissioners' unanimous decision two weeks ago to reject Burlington resident Don Saunders request that they oppose Huntington Marine Service's plans to have a barge fleeting and repair outfit on the Ohio River along the Westmoreland banks of the river, across from Burlington.

At that time, all three commissioners said they could not oppose the proposed facility because it was economic development, and the needs of the entire county must be put ahead of one individual area.

But Thursday evening, Saunders held up a letter that Patterson had written the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that seemed to both oppose and support the barge operation.

The letter asked the federal agency to "Please give careful consideration as to how it will erode quality of life of the residents." But the letter also said Patterson was in favor of economic development.

When one member of the audience queried Patterson as to how exactly he stood on the issue, Patterson replied "I think the letter speaks for itself"- an answer that did not seem to placate some people in the audience.