Getting a share of one of the few significant assets that remain at the Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal may be more of a political than legal issue, Warren County's attorney, Douglas W. Napier, told the Industrial Redevelopment Commission on Tuesday.

Several platinum alloy jets, which were used in the production of rayon, were seized by Sheriff Lynn C. Armentrout, who was acting on an order from Richmond Circuit Court, the week after the plant closed in 1989.

They have been held in the county jail since then.

The committee wants the county to make a claim against those assets, including the cost of guarding them in ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

The money committee members said, could be used as seed money for the redevelopment of the site.

Napier said it's his understanding that there are so many claims and so many legal issues involved in the case that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Twardowski in Reading, Pa. has directed major claimants against the estate to come to an agreement that he can approve.

He said the county has already filed a claim for $325,000 in back taxes owed before the company filed for bankruptcy in early 1990.

The county believes local tax money should be paid first, but the state and a long list of secured creditors also want money, Napier said.

The solution may be to get the state to pay whatever money it gets to the town and the county, he said.

Mindy Schryver, in advisory member of the committee and a former Avtex employee, said the equipment was worth $2.1 million in 1989, but its value has declined to less than $2 million.

The committee has asked the town to negotiate on its behalf with the, state to receive part of any settlement.

It also will investigate several options outlined by local attorney J. Casey Struckmann before deciding whether to form a non-profit corporation with the goal of owning the Avtex plant property.

Struckmann said the county could work through the state's Innovative Technology Authority or create an authority of its own to own and manage the property.

The committee's outgoing chairman, Fred Foster, said he was told that the group's request to the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate certain areas of the plant that have the most reuse potential may not be tops on the agency's list.

He said EPA officials told him they received the request too late, but will consider it.