Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / April 28, 2010, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
So Se I I Ce RN LT Fans Wednesday, April 28, 2010 SHERIFF From 2B a Citizens Academy years ago to help concerned citizens learn more about the police department operations and to improve rela- ._ tions with citizens. As Sheriff, I would continue and expand the current program at the Sheriff’s office. Mike Chapman: Every citi- zen should have the opportunity to participate in the academy pro- gram. When you understand how and why an agency works the way it does, I believe you have a greater respect for the agency. Danny Gordon: Absolutely! I . have been involved in our Citi- _zen's Academy since its inception. * I feel that it is extremely important .* to provide citizens with an inside look and better understanding of ~our agency and the services we provide. Raymond Hamrick: I feel the Citizens Academy will increase , understanding and positive com- munication between citizens and sheriff’s office personnel by edu- cating attendees on subjects such as: An overview of the Sheriff’s Office, Uniform Patrol Opera- tions, Criminal Investigations and ‘Sex Offender Registry, Crime ‘ Scene Investigations, Detention ‘ Center/ Court Security/ Civil Process, Vice/Narcotics, and ICE, “ Crime Prevention/ SRO/ DARE, - Special Operations Units (SERT/ CNT/ K9), Use.of Force and Per- sonnel issues. We have had a great response from people interested in participating in the classes and * from those who have completed. * the classes. For more Information - about the program go to our web- ‘site: www.sheriffcleveland- ‘county.com. We gladly will continue the program. David Morrow: Since the academy is designed to increase ‘understanding and positive com- ‘ munication between citizens and Sheriff’s personnel through edu- cation, I think it is a great program and should be continued. The ‘ more insight residents of Cleve- land County have into the respon- sibilities and operations of their sheriff’s office, the better the rela- tionship will be between law en- forcement and the citizens they serve. Alan Norman: I think the Cit- izen’s Academy is a great idea and "I plan on continuing the program. Q7) Can the county oper- ate with essentially an ab- sentee sheriff? Don Allen: I believe the citi- - zens of Cleveland County deserve to have their Sheriff present and accounted for. The Sheriff is sup- posed to be much more than an administrator. The Sheriff is sup- posed to be the leader of his de- partment operations. He is responsible for the safety and wel- "fare of all the citizens of his county. The Sheriff is a servant of the people and is supposed to be obligated to the ‘Oath of Office’ - and the defender of the rights of all the citizens of his county. I will not be an absentee Sheriff. Mike Chapman: Anytime a sheriff is absent from his job it takes away from the department. _ The chief deputy fulfills that posi- tion and it continues downhill from there. In the event of a life- changing illness, I feel like the po- sition should be resigned. “Personally, in my law enforce- "ment career, I have taken three hours of sick leave in 27 years, which can be verified. If you are * scheduled to work, then you go to work. It's that simple. People are depending on you. Danny Gordon: With a very strong management team, consist- ing of the right employees in the right positions supporting the sheriff; the sheriff's office is capa- ble of running efficiently in his absence. However, I plan to be at work and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, serving the cit- izens of Cleveland County. Raymond Hamrick: The sheriff’s office’ command is struc- tured such, that if the Sheriff is away for whatever reason, the chief deputy’s role is to assume his/her responsibilities. If neither is available at the same time, then the next in command is the ad- ministrative captain. Assuming that this question comes following my having to be out of work, first let me say that neither I nor my opponents, can guarantee that they can be in office everyday while serving as sheriff, and certainly none of us are immune to sickness or health issues any more than anyone who Teads this papet. There were two things that hap- pened to me which were out of my _ control. It was unfortunate when a drunk driver ran over me from be- hind in Oct. 2005 while riding a motorcycle, and it was unfortu- nate in April of 2007 when my kidneys failed and I had to start dialysis. I was fortunate however to have recovered from the wreck, and from kidney failure by means of dialysis until I could get a kid- ney transplant. I have been back at work and assumed my duties for over two months. I’m in better health now than I have been in a long time. I would not have as- sumed my duties or be running for sheriff if my doctors and I did not feel I was capable of doing so. I'm trying to reclaim my life. And while on this subject, I hope the City of Kings Mountain will sup- port your Asst. Chief .Jerry Tessener while he is going through similar circumstances as I went through. Jerry, if you read this, don’t give up hope for a transplant, because you'll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel afterwards. You may not know it immediately, but it will happen! You’re in my prayers! David Morrow: The past two years have proven that it can. However, for the sheriff office to be an effective force in the county, someone must have authority to conduct the business of law en- forcement management. The sher- iff is the most effective person to do that. Absence for a short period of time can be covered by a com- petent staff, but there really is not a substitute for the sheriff. If you are accepting a salary from the cit- izens of Cleveland County, you must be accountable to them with your presence. - Alan Norman: My pledge to the citizens of Cleveland County is that I will be a working sheriff who is not a 9-5 sheriff. I will be out in the communities getting in- volved with the citizens as well as working with the deputies. The sheriff is an elected official and has unlimited vacation and sick time. When I am elected sheriff I will hold myself accountable by adhering to the adopted county policy that all the deputies adhere to as far as vacation and sick time accumulation. Q8) How would you plan to cope with potential cuts to the sheriff's department budget? Don Allen: My plan is to make my office as efficient as possible. If a budgeted program is not ef- fective or unnecessary it will be cut. I will encourage volunteer service where possible. I will not give myself salary increases and The Kings Mountain Herald will accept only the base salary as set by the Commissioners. Times are hard now in Cleveland County with high unemployment. I will have to be a good steward of the taxpayers’ money and all our per- sonnel will be expected to do more with less. Mike Chapman: You can al- ways work with less: The econ- omy has taken a toll on everyone, on every agency and business. You simply make do unless you have an emergency or extreme need and you should always have a back-up plan or nest egg so to speak to take care of that. Danny Gordon: For the past three fiscal years, we have imple- mented cost-saving measures to reduce spending so that there was no interruption in the delivery of our services or reductions in force. Raymond Hamrick: For the past three years we have been asked to keep our budgets in line with the previous year's budget. And we have been able to do that. © This, year, we were asked to do it again. With: the addition being built onto the Detention Center Annex, we already know we are going to have to hire 15 new de- tention officers. So we know the detention center budget will in- crease to cover that. However if we had to make cuts, most likely we would have to start by mini- mizing part-time positions first or at least cutting their work hours. I - will say this, we have been fortu- nate to have our.county commis- sioners and the county manager and finance director working close with us and we appreciate them having not asked for cuts in these tough economic times. They understand the needs of the sher- iff's office. And we understand they have tough decisions to make. So, we are truly blessed to be able to operate as efficiently as we do. By working together though, we will get through this together. David Morrow: I would man- age and spend the budget based on priority’ with the good of the whole organization in mind. I will look at every line item on the budget. I will evaluate the opera- tions and identify areas where we could conserve and implement needed changes to establish effec- tive cost cuts. Alan Norman: I realize that in hard economic times like today many government agencies are cutting their budgets. I would first have to evaluate where the money is currently allocated and go from there. This is also why one of my goals is to apply for grants. Over the last eight years, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office has not received’ any federal manpower grant money. Over the last five years the Shelby Police Depart- ment has received 2 million dol- lars in grant funding. This is money they have not had to have from the tax payers of the City of Shelby. Citizens county wide de- serve the same. Q9) We only have nine miles of interstate highway and we have an interstate patrol vehicle. How do you explain that? Don Allen: As this question is written, it is not for me to explain what our current Sheriff does with his vehicles. I can, however, say that I believe the State Highway Patrol officers are better suited for traffic enforcement than deputies. I do support 287(g) agreements with I.C.E. to fight illegal immi- grant crime, drug smuggling and threats to our Homeland Security. Mike Chapman: The inter- state vehicle will be assigned back to ‘the neighborhoods and the communities. We need to get con- trol of these areas first and fore- most. Drugs in Cleveland County are a huge problem and I believe on working the areas around us from the inside out. Danny Gordon: The ICE (In- terstate Criminal Enforcement) Team continues to be very valu- able to Cleveland County as it in- tercepts drugs traveling through Cleveland County. The members of this team are highly trained in the recognition and enforcement of illegal alien drug trafficking and individuals that have made il- legal entry into our country. To date, this team is responsible for seizing $2,893,358 from illegal drug dealers; they've collected 70.4 lbs of cocaine, 10 lbs of methamphetamine, 73.8 lbs of marijuana, 2,954 ecstasy pills, 2.7 lbs of heroin and nine firearms. Funds collected are given back to the sheriff's office and have been used to purchase vehicles, allowed us to purchase equipment and im- plement Project Lifesaver within our community, crime scene in- vestigation equipment, = in-car cameras that were paid for with- out using county funds. Raymond Hamrick: If you are referring to our ICE (Interstate Criminal Enforcement Team), it is composed of three deputies with three vehicles. The ICE team was created in Feb. 2004 in coopera- tion with federal prosecutors, U.S. Customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and U.S. Immigration to disrupt the flow of illegal drugs/money/illegal immi- grants traveling up and down our highways. 1-85 is a well-known route between the major drug dis- tribution points of Atlanta, Ga., and Charlotte. And since 2004, my deputies have seized over $2,000,000 in illegal cash and record amounts of crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, mari- juana and other drugs, along with vehicles, firearms, and illegal im= migrants. From the illegal money seized, a portion is returned to the sheriff’s office. We have used that money to buy patrol vehicles both for our patrol division and the ICE Team, a crime scene vehicle and investigative equipment. Drug ed- ucation in the schools, CODAP’s Drug Survey, and the DO the Right Thing program in the schools have been financed through forfeited funds. This has resulted in saving taxpayers thou- sands of dollars, by using the drug dealers’ money to offset the cost of purchasing equipment and these programs in our schools. Being the first county inside North Carolina, traveling north from At- lanta means we get the first crack at stopping their illegal activity in our county and state. The team also works Hwy. 74 because of its relationship with both I-85 and I- 26. David Morrow: According to the current sheriff’s statement, this team has been successful in seiz- ing over 2.8 million in currency - and huge amounts of illegal drugs which has funded purchase of pa- trol vehicles, a crime scene vehi- cle and investigative equipment. If the statement is true, it’s a good thing we have the patrol vehicle in ‘place. I do feel however, that the - operation of this program needs to be evaluated. Alan Norman: The interstate team has had great success at in- tercepting drugs and drug money that has the potential to reach Cleveland County. They have re- covered millions of dollars that has come back to the Sheriff’s Of- fice which has been used to pur- chase equipment. This unit, like any other unit or position, will be re-evaluated to determine the need as I move forward as sheriff. Page 3B Q10) What is your stand on the gaming consoles (sweepstakes and internet lotteries) that have swept through the county? Don Allen: I am personally op- posed to gambling. You may try to use the “politically correct’ term of ‘gaming’, but it is still gambling. Gambling for profit is very big _ business and the gambling indus- try has spent big bucks on lawyers, lobbyists and political contributions (including sheriff candidates). It is, however, my un- derstanding that the current state law relating to these machines has been ruled unconstitional by a Wake County Superior Court Judge. The Judge ruled the State could not give permission to the Cherokee Indians to operate these machines and exclude everyone else. The lawsuit was brought be- fore the Court by attorneys for the gaming industry. Our state laws on illegal gambling have been very weak, difficult to enforce and, many times, difficult to pros- ecute. The Sheriff is supposed to enforce the laws as made by our Legislature. The General Assem- bly needs to decide to either legal- ize and properly regulate and tax the machines or give law enforce- ment enforceable laws to make them illegal. Mike Chapman: If and when the courts decide on the laws to put in place, then we will work ac- cordingly. The majority of these types of businesses attract other things, such as alcohol and drugs, along with the troublemakers. There is also the high risk of gam- * bling addiction. We have to have the laws in place to protect the community: Danny Gordon: I am certainly not in favor of them and the NC Sheriff's Association continues to seek legislation against them. Raymond Hamrick: My stance on this is similar to the stance.I took on video poker, and that is we don’t need this in our county. Our economy is bad enough the way it'is and this is just another way of taking money from our citizens and preying on their weaknesses to participate in these things. I will strongly sup- port legislation that will get this out of our counties across our state like we did with video poker. The amusement gaming machine own- ers have a strong group of attor- neys and lobbyists fighting to get the legislature to allow the ma- chines to remain. So, “the power of the Almighty Dollar is at * work.” Right now there is a mora- torium in place in Wake and Guil- ford Counties. Because of it, many prosecutors across the state don’t want to prosecute cases until the moratorium is lifted or the court rules otherwise. We can in- vestigate complaints regarding il- legal pay-offs on these machines but it’s up to our D. A. to prosecute them, but they have a low priority if they go to trial, with so many serious matters on the court dock- ets already. David Morrow: Under state law, these gaming consoles are a legal business, so regardless of how I may feel personally; they are tax paying businesses and will be treated as such. If or when the law changes, I will enforce what- ever the law is on those machines. Alan Norman: I believe it is gambling and I am against them. Q11) What do you feel is the biggest problem facing law enforcement? Don Allen: I believe the biggest problem facing law en- See SHERIFF, 4B Feel Better, Leo Better, 0 Dress Better, Sam == Junction, inc. B28 Vitamins © Tanning Day Spa Improve Brain Health & Skin Health Reduce Inflammation NORDIC NATURALS Pure and Great Tasting Omega Oils at “Upscale Consignment S&S Chloe's Boutique NEW LOCATION! & More” New Swimwear! Sunglasses! Misses Suits * Jeans Wedding Now Homs! Dresses Tuer 0-6 Hand Bags Sati 4 Household : Items 704.730.0013 [ I CET Glass Salon “Something for Everyone” Haircare for the entire family! 30% OFF Gan Au Pant. MrrcaEL = Coton ProTECT Products! BE for a fimited time only $208 J p80s « he woods end : = Ee) unique gathering place” e Catering ¢ Cafe = * Banquet Hall ¥ 6,000 sq. ft. banquet hall with == catering & decorating services on site! # Book your special events now! 704- 472-28%4 Dawn Parker’ ©
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 28, 2010, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75