Cox back on the job as chief

(Hugo-AP) -- The Hugo city manager reinstated the police chief after he conducted his own investigation into the chief's dismissal by the former city manager.

City Manager Jerry Taylor says his own internal investigation revealed nothing derogatory in Chief Layton Cox's record.

Taylor says he concludes Cox was fired for other reasons than performance.

Taylor fired Police Chief Don Loman yesterday morning and rehired Cox later in the day. Assistant Chief Marshall Henderson served as acting chief in the interim.

Cox had been with the department 12 years and had been chief since September 1997.

Then-City Manager Ed Tinker fired Cox and two officers in June.

He would say only that the men were fired for the good of the service.

The reinstatement is the latest in a string of hirings, firings and controversies that have hung over city officials in Hugo for most of this year.