SHERIFF GIVES SEIZED MONEY TO CITADEL

Georgia Lawman Doles Out Confiscated Drug Money To Unusual Organizations

WOODBINE, GA. - Battle lines have been drawn in one coastal Georgia county
sheriff's race over how money seized from suspected drug dealers is spent.
Since 1985, the Camden County Sheriff's Department has seized nearly $15
million in suspected drug money and gotten back more than $10 million of
the money after it was processed by federal and state officials. Laws
restrict how counties can spend the returned money, with the intent being
the money will support programs that discourage illicit drug use and help
law enforcement.

While much of the money is doled out to civic organizations in donations of
$10,000 or less, or to buy equipment for deputies, Sheriff Bill Smith has
also given substantial donations to other causes.

Rich Gamble, who is running against Smith for the Republican nomination for
sheriff, said Smith has gone too far, though he concedes that no laws have
been broken.

Smith denies that he has done anything improper. The primary is July 20. No
Democrats are running for the office. "It looks like he's spending the
money for personal and political reasons," Gamble said.

But County Commissioner Steve Berry said Gamble's criticism is about
politics and is simply an effort to get votes.

Berry said audits have shown all donations and expenditures of drug money
have met guidelines since Smith was given the responsibility to distribute
the funds. "If the U.S. Attorney's Office has approved this, it's OK with
me," Berry said. "I'm not going to question that."

Since 2001, Smith has donated $2,500 to a local Boy Scouts chapter, $3,000
to the Camden County High School cheerleader squad, $5,000 to the high
school's band booster organization and $5,000 to the American Cancer
Society. He also has donated $150,000 to Habitat for Humanity and $250,000
to his alma mater, The Citadel, in South Carolina.

Smith said he has assigned a lieutenant of his to wade through donation
requests and make recommendations about how the money is spent. Smith has
the final decision.

Gamble has been particularly critical of scholarships created at colleges
outside the county, questioning how a scholarship at The Citadel, for
example, will benefit Camden County residents.

But Smith said the scholarship is specifically for high school graduates
who want to pursue a law enforcement career.

"I value the power of education," Smith said. "It increases the
opportunities in life."

Gamble said that if he is elected one of his first tasks would be to create
a committee of business, education and religious leaders, and
representatives from the legal system and law enforcement to determine how
to spend the money.

Camden County commissioners were initially in charge of spending the money,
but in the early 1990s they misspent $400,000 by moving the funds into the
general fund to pay for the construction of a building that didn't qualify
under the guidelines. Federal regulators learned about the commissioners
moving the money during an audit.

Commissioners were told to replace the money. Commissioners voted
unanimously in 1995 to give Smith the sole authority on how to spend the money.

The county currently has about $500,000 in state and federal drug money and
is waiting on its share of about $957,000 being processed, officials said.