Report from News Cow on Sheriff's race July 14th

Wilson · Member

Report from News Cow on Sheriff's race July 14th

bentnhalf52 · Member

Wilson

After reading the article I would have to agree, it did sound a little bias. I posted a letter some months back after I spoke to Mr. Emerson. Since that time I have spoke to Mr. Emerson again and wanting to be fair I spoke to Mr. Read also. I too know who I am voting for and it is time for a change.

The newscow article quotes only one of Mr. Emerson proposed changes while he has many. Also Mr. Read states he has heard few ideas about what can be done differently.

Mr. Read says he wants to bring a K9 unit back to cowley county & he promises to focus on curbing the drug problem. My question here is with all the years he has spent with the Sheriff's department why has there not already been a curbing of the drug problem.

In last nights paper Mr. Read does have an ad that shows what appears to be 5 points of his platform they are to seek the following: Law enforcement agency accreditation.
Form a citizen review board.
Bring back the narcotics K9 program.
Participate in a drug court program being explored by
cowley county district court.
Support all organizations and programs directed for
at risk groups.

Mr. Emerson has his platorm available on his website and has stated that he would like to see the following: Continue purchasing patrol vehicles locally with emphases on fuel economy.
Utilizing the Sheriff's 2nd floor apartment as a juvenile detention facility.
More visibility of the deputies in all communities on a daily basis, and be at events, ball games and functions. Also he says they will be seen at the schools and also gives talks at shools.
He also wants to work on the ever increasing drug problem especially with the
youth.
Explore the possibility of using the inmates to work with the county maintenance crews.
He also wants to due whatever he can to decrease the exodus of trained and experienced deputies to other departments.

Once again I have probably left no doubt who I am voting for, but if you look at these platforms I think Mr. Emerson shows more need for change especially in the area of fiscal responsibility. I think Mr. Emerson shows why his experience in the position of an administrator will be a valuble asset to the Position of Sheriff.

Finally I would also like to mention that Mr. Emerson's website shows his platform from when he ran for Sheriff 4 years ago. He stated he wanted to see an outside agency prepare the inmate meals. He wanted to purchse patrol vehicles locally. He wanted to change the deputies work schedule to allow 24 hour coverage. And he was in favor of the new jail and wanted it to remain at it's current location. All these points of his 2004 platform have since been implemented by the Sheriff's department.

digger · Newbie

We are soon to elect a new Sheriff, correct?

I fail to see how Mr. Emerson's experience as an administrator for Winfield housing has any relevance when it comes to the operation of the Sheriff's department, which has a multi-million dollar budget and numerous employees. That is like comparing apples to oranges, then claiming they are one and the same, which they NOT!
While Mr. Emerson may have a degree of skill in the management of Winfield Housing, he has negligible experience when it comes to managing the staffing, operation and budget of a Law Enforcement agency.

One would presume that Mr. Read, in his current roll as Undersheriff, has a degree of experience when it comes to budgetary matters. Such experience would be in the realm of what is needed to operate, develop and manage the budget for a Law Enforcement Agency. While Mr. Read may not know beans about operating a Housing Development, I am confident he knows volumes when it comes to operating the Sheriff's Department!

Mr. Read, according to the article, has in excess of two DECADES of experience as a Law Enforcement Officer, serving the citizens of Cowley County. All of these years of service have been with the Cowley County Sheriff's Department.

Mr. Emerson has been out of law enforcement for 12 years. It appears, based upon his website, that he worked at a number of different agencies in his limited law enforcement career. I recognize the uniform he is wearing on the website and that agency is not listed on his resume. Why is that? My other questions are, why so many agencies in so short of a time? Where is the explaination of this, on the website? Do we, the citizens of this County not have the right to have a full accounting of this candidate's full law enforcement related career? If elected, he would be the "Top Cop" in the Sheriff's Department, correct? I do believe the answer to that one is a resounding "Yes we do!"
Most places that I know of, have an employment history section in their application. We have the right to know this, good, bad or indifferent.
When did Mr. Emerson work for these agencies? For how long? Why did he leave? If Law Enforcement is his calling, why was he not hired by agencies in this county at somtime within the last 12 years?
As a citizen of this county, these unanswered questions and a few others, leave me with a very uncomfortable feeling.

Mr. Read's history of his service to this county, his education as well as his experience is in good old black and white, for everyone to read. His reputation appears to be beyond reproach. Mr. Read's selection of Mr. Mueller, as the Undersheriff, should he be elected, indicates that anytime Mr. Read was out of the area, the Sheriff's Department and the citizens of this county would be in seasoned and knowledgable hands.

Mr. Emerson indicates that should he be elected, would have four months to search for his Undersheriff. I find it concerning that he will not indicate in a public forum as to who this person might be. Does he not have a clue as to who this would be? Who would be watching over the department when he was out of the county? We deserve to know this. We, as voters, have a right to know this!

So, we are electing a new Sheriff, the "Top Cop" for a Law Enforcment Agency, correct?
Both candidates will provide "change".
It is obvious that only one candidate will provide both change and TRUE experience in the area of Law Enforcement.
If we are selecting our new Sheriff on their individual "merits" that choice is, once again, obvious.
Yep, I've pretty much made my mind up too.

bentnhalf52 · Member

Digger, good questions. You are right we do deserve to know. I will send him an email telling him exactly what these questions are and see if he responds.

Wilson · Member

When I posted on this forum early on my major concern was bias with the news media. And of course to add to the list of concerns that could be addressed in regard to change for the better. I, never meant for anyone to take a jab at anyones credibility. I don't see the need to throw up any insinuations. Corrections? ah...I mean correct? My main objective with this post was to point out the fact that everyone is talking about change and what kind of changes will be made. But I am not seeing any detailed plans for it. I would like to hear a detailed plan on how they both plan to curb the drug problem with the county's youth. And the plan to get and keep the youths families involved in the childrens lives to curb the drug problem with the youth.I would like to hear how that will change from what the program we already have in the county. We do have one don't we? I'm not talking about the city departments programs, I am talking about the county's current program, we have one right?

It would be nice to hear about the domestic violence situation here in our county and what they have planned to educate and curb this situation. Education is needed, not the bag em and tag em and send em to jail only to be released to do it all over again technique. This is very good on jail population, but bad on the family unit. Sometimes deadly. Correct?

As we have seen in our county that our system doesn't always work. I would say the "Top Cop" should have some input in keeping track of those who are repeat offenders and those that get lost in the shuffle only to offend again, sometimes fatally. It reminds of of the old saying, an ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure.

The bulk of the changes I have mentioned are truely for the safety of the deputies, and for the safety of the community. Are any of them do able?

digger · Newbie

I don't believe that media bias is an issue.
I am not aware of anyone making insinuations, I think we, as the voters of this county, deserve answers. There appear to be several serious questions pertaining to Mr. Emerson's past employment history. I have recently observed such post in the blog on Politics 101, on the traveler's website. The statement pertaining to Mr. Emerson being "run out" of two previous positions are concerning, to say the least!

The "drug problem" is one that politicians and parents have been trying to answer since the 60s and perhaps even before that! As far as some type of plan to "make" the parents become involved in the upbringing of their children, this appears to be more of a social engineering problem than a law enforcement issue. I do not believe that law enforcement is responsible for solving all of our societies ills!

Education on domestic violence. Do you propose that each and every married couple as well as dating couples attend training on relationships and anger management? Imagine the tax increase! My parents always told me that a Man simply does not hit, shove or strike his wife, girlfriend or children. How difficult is that to remember??? Is prevention a law enforcement problem or is this another society problem that many expect law enforcment to take care of?
I asked a friend who is a cop about the "bag em and tag em" approach. I was told that if either of the parties have an injury that shows physical contact takes place, the cops MUST arrest the person who was violent. Lets see if we can connect the dots.... I hit my wife and give her a black eye... she calls the cops... I get arrested... that does not appear to be too hard to figure out... how much more education is needed??

After reading your post, I conducted some research. Keeping track of offenders, who have been released by the courts or the Department of Corrections is the responsibility of either community corrections or the Parole division of the Kansas Department of Corrections. Neither one of these agencies, according to my research, are connected to, managed by or answer to the Sheriff's Department. If they don't answer to the Sheriff, how in the world to you come up with that the Sheriff should have input on these people?

IN regard to the list of improvements, I don't know.. most problems can appear to be fixed if the county wants to throw money at it...
Last I heard, "quotas" were illegal.. and in talking to my friend who is a cop, the Sheriff's Department has no such thing. I've never read about any "bad stops" either...
Guess it is a good thing that we wear boots in Kansas...

Wayward One · Member

I have to wonder what is more important to the people of Cowley County, fiscal responsibility as outlined in one canidates platform or years of experience in non-stop law enforcement service. While Emerson may be an efficient business manager, Read is a proven law enforcment officer. It bothers me that Emerson has not bragged more on his law enforcement experience and training. The other issue at hand is that Emerson lays out attainable goals that don't really address hard hitting issues like drugs and domestic violence. I would be interested in hearing more from each on the real problems our county is facing and how they intend to attack them. I also have to weigh which canidate will have the most influence in getting better prosecution in this county. Whoever the winner is will need to take a hard nosed stance on seeing that criminals don't get slapped on the hand and released back into our community to offend again.

bentnhalf52 · Member

I sent an email to Mr. Emerson. My email is at the bottom. His response is listed first. It is a little long but he really trys to answer the questions.

Questions from traveler forumSunday, July 20, 2008 3:57 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified "Randy Emerson" Add sender to Contacts To: bentnhalf52@yahoo.com Dear Rick, I want to first thank you for the post in the forum I went to the site and read all of them. I also want to thank you for your support and for sending me the email with questions. I began my career in law enforcement in 1986 as a reserve police officer for the Winfield Police Department. In 1988 I left the reserve program to accept a position with the Winfield Correctional Facility. They would not allow me to be a reserve officer as they felt it was a conflict of interest. In 1990 I was hired by the Douglass Police Department. I graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center also in 1990. Shortly after graduation I was promoted to Sergeant. Some months later I was promoted to Chief of Police. In 1992 I was hired by the Pratt Police Department. Some months later I was recruited by the newly elected Sheriff to come work for him in the Pratt County Sheriff Department. In 1994 I heard of a position open in the Udall Police Department. I applied as this would bring me back to Cowley County were I wanted to pursue my law enforcement career as well as bring me closer to family and friends. I was hired by Udall. Not long after I was hired, the Chief of Police resigned and the city council appointed me as the interum Chief Of Police. Our town Judge Nick St. Peter who was also on the board of directors for the Winfield Housing Authority told me about a position opening with that organization. The position was attractive so I applied and was hired. Within 1 year I was promoted to Executive Director were I have proudly served for the last 12 Years. I am also the Director Of disaster services for the Cowley County Red Cross, A National safety & Security supervisor for the American Red Cross, and I am on the board of directors for the Cowley County Red Cross. I'm on the board of directors for Eagles Nest. I have been an official for the Winfield Recreation Commission for 20 years. I'm a memebr of the Kansas Patriot Guard, the Sons Of American Legion and the American Legion Riders (Ark City). I have received hundreds of hours of training and education in law enforcement. Attended classes at both Cowley and Barton community colleges. I have received over 1000 hours of training in business and administration from the federal government. I manage an annual budget of over $300,000.00 dollars and have applied for and received grants totaling over $800,000.00. I am reviewed and graded annually by HUD were I have maintained a successful performer rateing. I work closely with 2 accounting firms on a daily, monthly and annual basis in all areas of budget and finanical responsibilites. I work with a 3rd agency that performs an annual audit. I have helped hundreds of families find decent, safe and affordable housing. I have received a certificate of Excellance in Management Operations from the United States Department Of Housing & Urban Development with a high score of 95.38%. This is not comparing apples to oranges and yes they are somewhat one in the same. I believe this more then shows I have the experience and knowledge to run not only a public housing agency but yes also a Sheriff's department. Finally I would like to show some huge differences in mine and my opponents platforms. My opponent says he wants to seek law enforcement accreditation. Bring back a K9 unit. Work with the court on a drug court program and participate in a program that helps at risk groups. I on the other hand will continue to purchase patrol vehicles locally with emphases on fuel economy. Utilize the Sheriff's 2nd floor apartment as a juvenile detention facility. Explore using the inmates to work with the counties maintenance crews. Explore the use of video cameras for some court appearances especially those in Ark City so as to cut down on transportation costs. Visibility of deputies and myself daily in all communities at events, ball games and schools. Finally I want to work hard on the ever increasing drug and alcohol problem especially among our youth. My platform shows savings of tax payer dollars in the tens of thousands while my opponents shows spending ten of thousands. It is a given that we will both work on the drug problem. We will both work with the court on the drug court program and the program to help at risk groups. That leaves you with his K9 unit which will have a cost for the dog and training between 8 and 10 thousand dollars, plus equiping a car, continued training, overtime paid to the officer, and I really don't see the overall cost out weighing the need. The law enforcement accreditation is very costly. To my knowledge the only law enforcement agency in Kansas that is currently accredited is Shawnee County. If you go to the Commission for accreditation of law enforcement agencies website it will show several years ago it cost Shawnee county approx. $8,500.00 plus an annual fee of $4,000.00 per year to maintain accreditation. There is also unknown cost to bring your department up to were it needs to be to meet the criteria for accreditation. The benefit, another certificate on the wall. My platform shows sound fiscal responsibilties with great ideas for the future of the Cowley County Sheriff Department. I will save thousands of dollars by purchasing lower costing vehicles to begin with for the detectives, cival process servers, sheriff and undersheriff, inmate transportaion vehicle, plus saving thousands on fuel costs. I will save thousands by having a juvenile detention facility so we don't have to pay someone to transport them to Hutchinson on one day only to have them make a return trip to bring them back to court later in the week. Not to mention the fuel costs involved with this transportation in the departments van. If it is possible to use them, the inmates working with the county maintenance department will reduce labor costs while getting more work done at the same time.
I must say that I am very sorry but at this time I cannot say who my undersheriff will be. I can say that I have spoke to several candidates from the Winfield and Arkansas City Police Departments a couple from the Cowley County Sheriff Department as well as 1 retired Police officer. However due to their current positions they have all asked me not to release their names until I have won the election and chosen one. I have been very busy with my campaign and have not had the proper time to devote to interviewing potential candidates but I can assure you the one I choose will be very qualified and the county will be in great hands if I am absent. I thank Digger for taking the proactive step to ask these questions. I would appreciate your support on August 5th and I will work hard to make you proud that you voted Randy Emerson Sheriff of Cowley County

Rick Bennett wrote:
Hi Mr. Emerson, My name is Rick Bennett. I spoke to you a couple months ago on the phone and then again a couple weeks ago at the concert in Wilson Park. I wrote a reply to a post on the traveler forum in support of you. Someone named Digger wrote a reply and has some questions. I tried to email you the article but could not figure out how to send it. This is what Digger wrote. Mr. Emerson has been out of law enforcement for 12 years. It appears, based upon his website, that he worked at a number of different agencies in his limited law enforcement career. I recognize the uniform he is wearing on the website and that agency is not listed on his resume. Why is that? My other questions are, why so many agencies in so short of a time? Where is the explanation of this, on the website? Do we, the citizen's of this county not have the right to have a full accounting of this candidates full law enforcement related career? If elected, he would be the "Top Cop" in the Sheriff's Department, correct? I do believe the answer to that one is a resounding "Yes we do!"Most places that I know of, have an employment history section in thier application. We have the right to know this, good, bad or idefferent. When did Mr. Emerson work for these agencies? For how long? Why did he leave? If law enforcement is his calling, why was he not hired by agencies in this county some time within the last 12 years? As a citizen of this county, these unanswered questions and a few others, leave me with a very uncomfortable feeling.Digger also say's. Mr. Emerson indicates that should he be elected, would have 4 months to search for his undersheriff. I find it concerning that he will not indicate in a public forum as to who this person might be. Does he not have a clue as to who this would be? Who would be watching over the department when he was out of the county? We deserve to know this. We, as voters, have a right to know this!Finally Digger questions your ability to manage a multi-million dollar budget with numerous employee's with experience in the housing field compared to the Sheriff's dept.

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Wilson · Member

Digger says: Last I heard, "quotas" were illegal.. and in talking to my friend who is a cop, the Sheriff's Department has no such thing

I believe the term they use is "percentages", it appears to me it is the same as quota. And if your cop friend said they don't use those, I would be leary of him being your friend. They do check percentages of how many DUI's the deputy does, and how many tickets the deputy does, how many civil papers are served, how many reports are taken....ect..... So if you are believing your friend, you had better be GLAD you wear boots! By the way, I am sure you didn't have to go far to ask that cop the information....being you work there. Thanks for the research though!

Wayward One · Member

Thanks Bent for taking that under your wing to ask those questions. It does shed some light on the surface background of Emerson. However, I am still wondering what his accomplishments were while working as the top administrative position for at least two departments. In building a credible resume, one must have done something positive to mention them. A person wouldn't list a job on a resume if they got fired from it, so there has to be something he must have done good there? Right?

Wilson, just a question, since our tax dollars actually pay the salaries of our deputies, how else do you measure if they are doing their job? I thought a quota involved instructing the employee that they had to reach a certain number or else (discipline, suspension, termination, etc.) Just curious what your thoughts were. By the way, I believe quotas are ethically wrong also. But if they are just looking at the numbers without placing mandates that may be a good tool to see if the employees are being lazy and not doing the things they are supposed to like protect and serve.

Wilson · Member

Wayward one says:Wilson, just a question, since our tax dollars actually pay the salaries of our deputies, how else do you measure if they are doing their job? I thought a quota involved instructing the employee that they had to reach a certain number or else (discipline, suspension, termination, etc.) Just curious what your thoughts were. By the way, I believe quotas are ethically wrong also. But if they are just looking at the numbers without placing mandates that may be a good tool to see if the employees are being lazy and not doing the things they are supposed to like protect and serve.

Granted, you can call it a tool to keep track of what the deputies do but to "expect" certain numbers of traffic stops, DUI's, arrests, I would think that most anyone could see that sometimes "bad stops" can/will be made especialy if you are down to the end of the quarter and are low on traffic tickets, or DUI's. If you want to call the "pecentages" a tool instead of quota, we can do that. But a person would be very nieve if they think that they are not going to have some influence on the stops these deputies will make. I read about those kinds of stops from time to time on this forum, not particularly only the Sheriff's office but city police as well. So yes, I do think it is unethical to expect a certain amount of tickets monthly/quarterly. I don't care what you call it, quota, percentages, or expectations. (these are not terms I have made up)

hunter1963 · Newbie

Digger stated-I fail to see how Mr. Emerson's experience as an administrator for Winfield housing has any relevance when it comes to the operation of the Sheriff's department, which has a multi-million dollar budget and numerous employees. That is like comparing apples to oranges, then claiming they are one and the same, which they NOT!

I would like to further that comment by adding: thanks to the freedom of information act one could call 316-269-6486 and find that Mr. Emerson filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001, case # 01-11786. Now if Mr. Emerson can not manage his personal finances how can we expect him to be capable of managing the Sheriffs Departments multi-million dollar budget?

motherof2 · Senior Member

hunter1963, I have to agree with you on personal finances. It does reflect your ability to manage. Big ouch!

Honesty · Newbie

Where was the honesty and integrity last night durring the great debate.... I think that Mr Emerson needs to be honest as well as he never truly answered why he left Udall Police Department as there seems to be a lapse of time between the Police department job and the Housing authority job. Huh..

DorothyintheRubySlippers · Member

Could someone please tell me how to look at this News Cow that several of you keep refering to. Seems like an interesting source of info!

Enjoy the Cowley County Fair!! It starts today!

bentnhalf52 · Member

Hunter, I think there is a big differance between one's personal finances and his business. I have heard many times of a person fileing for bankruptcy of there personal finance while there business does just fine. I remember reading somewhere I think it was the Winfield Courier that Mr. Emerson works with 2 accounting firms on daily and monthly matters and a 3rd firm does an annual audit. Also as his position is one with the federal government I think that if there were any problems they would have discovered them within the last 13 years.
I don't have any kind of comeback or answer on the comment from Honesty about the time lapse between jobs, however once again I will email him and ask. i think Mr. Emerson has tried to be very open with us when he is asked a question, as I have asked him several myself just as anyone can do with either candidate. I'll be back.

motherof2 · Senior Member

Dorothy, try this http://newscow.net

batkar · Newbie

Hey Dorothy-go to www.newscow.net

Wondering · Newbie

I find it very interesting that in the Winfield Courier today, it tells how Randy Emerson was never the Chief of Police in Udall.

Cophawker · Newbie

Tells how or PROVES the fact that he is not a very truthful candidate! I think it is more intersting that someone got tired of hearing things that were not true. Wonder what would happen if someone called the city of Douglass?

oldman · Member

Nope - he was never chief of Police - acting or interim. The council was very clear he did not have that power - even had it written into the minutes of the meeting so their would be no confussion.

Funny how 4 years ago he never mentioned being the chief in Udall.

If I remeber correctly - I think he was the LAST police chief in Douglass - they disbanded their police force and contracted with the sheriff's dept for patrols.

oldman · Member

I saw a post above about having deputies share patrol cars.

Most sheriifs departments in the state issue cars to deputies because they often are called out from their homes. If the cars were shared and an deputy went off duty and gave his car to another deputy, that deputy would not be able to be called out for emergencies. The Highway patrol is in the same boat - the trooper takes his car home because he could be called out at any time.

Winfield PD switched to not sharing cars several years ago because they found it decreased maintenance problems. If an officer is issued their own car, they take care better care of it because it's their own car. On a shared car, everyone expects someone else to deal with the problem.

As for Emerson's idea of more fuel efficient cars - I bet the bad guys would love that! Put the cops in a 4 bangers that get great gas mileage but can't go fast enough to catch the bad guys and fall apart in a years time.

Wilson · Member

While I believed this would be a good forum to inquire, and learn more about the two candidates running for sheriff in Cowley county this year, I never thought it would come to the mud slinging and trash that has come from those who are backing Mr Read. I do know that those who work for Read are very worried their lives will change with a change in the Sheriff's position. And I do know the mentality of some (some not all) of those working there. "Win at all costs", which is not one that the current sheriff Bob Odell ever promoted or relied on. He relied on his honor and the name he made for himself over the years to run on, instead of trashing Mr Emerson to make himself look better. This shows to me that those in Reads camp are worried that Emerson has a good shot of winning, that is why they are digging into Mr Emersons past, groping for anything they can to attempt to spoil his campaign. Why didn't any of this come out four years ago? Because they are worried he will win this year! "Win at all costs".

Mr Read is not free from past mistakes in his life, no one is. Every one has things in their past they would have done differently, personal and publicly. I am not seeing anyone from Emersons camp throwing them out to the public.

In the debate I heard Read say that educating the public about domestic violence was not the Sheriffs job, I say BS! It is a known fact that children who watch their parents abuse each other grow up more than likely to be abusers! Getting the education in the public schools to the children to those who abuse will be about the only education these children may get on this subject! We KNOW most parents may teach you not to hit each other, but there are those children that don't have the education some do at home! So Domestic violence education is needed and if the children of our county aren't getting it, we are failing them!

Children on drugs are another issue! Children on drugs in our county is a serious issue. I agree we need to educate the children about the horrors of drugs, but we also must try to teach their parents that time with your children is a good investment, know where your children are, and what they are doing, who their friends are, and start from an early age. When you turn your back on your children because you are too busy to be there for them, they are going to turn to drugs and alcohol! We need to educate them that there are other options.

MR Emerson, if you read this I want to commend you on the clean campaign you have run so far. I respect you for not slinging any garbage even though every one has some things in their background that can tarnish their image!!!!
EVERYONE!

bentnhalf52 · Member

WOW After once again talking to Mr. Emerson I still have not changed my mind. Mr. Emerson continues to answer the questions posed to him, this one is no exception. Mr. Emerson told me he should have made sure and call himself the interim chief and that would have souded alot better then just saying Chief. He says tht he felt like he was the chief. He was given a pay raise to compensate him for his work he took the patrol car home and was on 24 hour call. He says he supervised the staff and if anyone called the office wanting to talk to the chief they were refferred to him. He also states that he reported to the courts and the state of kansas. He ask's does this not quallify him to say he was the chief or that he in fact did the job of the chief.
Mr. Emerson's idea for the vehicles sounds good to me. At first I agreed with some of the comments about responding to calls or chasing bad guys. His answer to this was a good one though. He says that chase's are rare number 1. Number 2 having been involved in chase's himself he says you rarely go much over 100 mph which smaller vehicles can also accomplish. He says responding to an accident or some other case tht they need to get there fast. Do you really want an officer going 140 mph as opposed to 100 mph putting themselves and the public in increased danger, especially when the Deputy useually arrives after fire and or EMS personel anyway. In consideration of these facts up against the savings of what he claims can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, I think he shows great mind for business and is right on. He also states numerous other money saving ideas in his platform.
I'm Still voting for Emerson and I think he deserves a little latitude in what he claims for his past experience and he deserves one more look from us.

Newbie

bentnhalf52 said....
"Do you really want an officer going 140 mph as opposed to 100 mph putting themselves and the public in increased danger, especially when the Deputy useually arrives after fire and or EMS personel anyway."

bentnhalf52, clearly you are not, and do not know anyone who is a deputy or police officer, for tha matter. They USUALLY arrive before EMS or Fire units do. I work daily with other officers, EMS crew, and Fire Units. I'm sure you are quoting Emerson with that "fact", and he probably "felt like" he was telling the truth...again. Sorry.

bentnhalf52 · Member

No actually I was quoting that from a deputy I ran into at the fair. He stated it was only because the county is so big, and they are usually very busy. He said this is true the further away from Ark City or Winfield you get as it is the first responders from the smaller communities that arrive first. He said He agrees with Mr. Emerson on the speed they should drive but he was not yet convinced the smaller vehicles would be right for the deputies.

Have you ever noticed in policitcs it is usually the best candidate that takes the most beating. I guess this is probably because the opposition feels threatened.

I would like to add, this same deputy told me that there is a couple of deputies he knows are the ones writting several posts on this subject. He said he is remaining neutral. He said they may be working for the very man they are saying bad things about. I have to wonder, would they play fair weather fan and shift to being just as loyal to Mr. Emerson.

Before I logged on this morning I read Mr. Emerson's response in the paper. Looks to me like my boy has a pretty good answer. Ouh Oh, He's back on top. This is gonna be good.

oldman · Member

Bill Clinton Jr!!

What heppend to people just telling the truth?

The question was aked why are people digging up trash on Emmerson?

IMO - looking up the bankruptcy was below the belt.

But being Chief of Police in Udall - Randy was the one who told a little lie there.

The council was very concerned that Randy not be given the title or power of Chief of Police - acting or interim. Thats why had it noted in the minutes - so there would be no confusion.

They did give Randy a raise for the month or so he was the "officer in charge".

Why - well Randy was working a daytime job driving a truck - I think it was for Danniels Readymix/Sand. He worked days for them and nights as a police officer. When council wanted him to work days until they could find a new police cheif - Randy said he couldn't do that because he would loose the $$ he was getting from his 2nd job. So the council gave him a pay increase until he could go back to nights when a new cheif was hired.

I think when he left Udall after not being selected as police chief- he actually was working for Danniels until he got his job with the City of Winfield (gap some reffer to in his work history). Gary Bortz (a great officer now with Winfield PD) was then hired to replace Randy.

As for the cars - it really shows how out of touch with law enforcement Randy really is.

VeeDub · Member

Ever get that feeling like you're screaming at a wall?? Bentnhalf52 is so obviously Mr. Randy Emerson, or someone becoming a tad bit obsessed. I'm certain both halves have some sort of a past they aren't willing to share with the general public, as we all do in some fashion. And I'm fairly certain that Mr. Read's background and allegations in regards to his past have been checked out as well as Mr. Emersons's. That said, only one was found to not be completely truthful. As with any politician that lies right out of the gate, it seems that the lies snowball and are magnified by the position if and when he obtains it. I would expect the occasional deputy to post on here. And why not! Does the 1st ammendment regarding free speech that we all love so much not pertain to them?? Their say should have a huge part of the election as they have the most to lose and have the most insight into the way Mr. Read operates the sheriffs office. Just my $0.02.

Newbie

bentnhalf52, Why is Emerson the "best candidate"? I personally can't think of anything he is the best at. Well, except for lying, omitting information, and probably losing. I will have to work with whomever is elected. I am very close friends with most of the deputies, so whoever you are quoting is either trying to tell you what you want to hear or has no clue. Stats are available and are public information if you want to really look into call times and such. You are quoting hearsay on a board where people may take it as fact. I look at the times that officers, ems, and fire log daily and to be quite frank, you are wrong.

oldman · Member

Quote:

No actually I was quoting that from a deputy I ran into at the fair. He stated it was only because the county is so big, and they are usually very busy. He said this is true the further away from Ark City or Winfield you get as it is the first responders from the smaller communities that arrive first. He said He agrees with Mr. Emerson on the speed they should drive but he was not yet convinced the smaller vehicles would be right for the deputies.

This may be true on wrecks - but I dont think you see the local first responders responding on domestic disputes, robberies, home intrusions, ect, ect

That's why you see all the other departments running the same type of cars that the local SO/Pd's run.

Heck, why doesn't Winfield and Ark City Fire Departments sell those big ladder trucks and buy a couple of those little trucks that Winfield Motors sells.