CRITICS QUESTION PHELPS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DRUG CHECKPOINTS

ROLLA, Mo. -- Some Call Him The "Sheriff Of I-44."

For years Phelps County Sheriff Don Blankenship and his deputies have
operated a drug checkpoint as often as twice a week and sometimes more to
stop the flow of drugs along the 32 miles of Interstate 44 through the county.

Now the drug checkpoints have become the main issue in Blankenship's third
re-election bid, adding to a national debate about forfeitures.

His critics say the department's 18 deputies do not have the time to man
the checkpoints and also patrol the county's 1,100-plus miles of roads and
operate the jail. In fact, the county still doesn't have the 24-hour road
patrols that Blankenship promised when he was first elected 12 years ago.

Critics say one reason Blankenship is motivated to run the checkpoints is
the drug money his deputies seize. So far this year, the department has
taken in about $114,000 in forfeited funds.

Under state law that money should be going to public education, said
Charles McFarland, a Rolla resident and retired professor.

"Education is exactly where it should go, and the residents in the county
are very concerned," McFarland said. "It's a bad precedent, and it's
enriching their department."

Blankenship shrugged off the criticism in an interview and pointed out the
checkpoints have been successful -- he said his deputies have confiscated
10 tons of drugs in four years and arrested many suspects.

Besides, he said, the checkpoints don't cut road patrols at all. The
deputies are not paid for working the checkpoints -- it's strictly
voluntary so they can work full shifts doing other duties, he said.

"Would you rather I go fishing on my day off?" Blankenship asked. "Or would
you rather I take dope off somebody that could go to somebody's kid? It
seems like an easy answer."

Blankenship acknowledged that about a month ago he stopped the checkpoints
until after the campaign. He said he was too busy with the campaign and
running the department.

But critics say the campaign allegations that Blankenship faces in the Nov.
7 election are a perfect example of what can happen to an agency --
spending too much time trying to collect cash and not fighting crimes in
the community.

Indeed, the forfeiture issue has become a statewide and a national controversy.

Police agencies in Missouri and across the country are using federal law
enforcement agencies to help them evade state laws that prohibit them from
directly benefiting from forfeited funds, The Kansas City Star has reported
in stories this year.

Missouri law does not allow law enforcement agencies to keep forfeited
money. Instead, the law requires drug money to be deposited in a fund to
help poor school districts fix buildings that are in disrepair.

But the Phelps County Sheriff's Department usually hands off seized money
to federal agencies, which keep a portion -- normally 20 percent -- and
return the rest.

Lt. Roy Day, a Democratic primary candidate who works for the Rolla Police
Department, questioned this summer why the sheriff was even working the
interstate.

Day and the winner of the Democratic primary election, Paul "P.J." Mertens,
a retired Highway Patrol trooper, said the patrol, not the sheriff, should
be manning the checkpoints.

"I think he is creating a drastic loss of service to the citizens of Phelps
County, not to mention when they go federal with their forfeitures," Day said.

"Obviously that circumvents the state forfeiture procedures."

Critics cite several cases in which Phelps County deputies have failed to
respond to 911 calls because manpower had been drained by hours spent on
the checkpoints.

Mark Slawson, a car dealer who said he couldn't get deputies to respond for
several hours when he located a car stolen off his lot, added that it's not
just the time deputies spend at checkpoints that hurts the county.

"When they do stop somebody it requires one or two or more detectives to
follow up the drug bust," he said. "There isn't anybody to investigate
anything."

Blankenship staunchly denies deputies have ever failed to respond to
crimes. "We don't take anything away from our other duties," he said.

A federal official also questioned whether sheriff's deputies legally could
volunteer for checkpoints without pay.

Karen Chaikin, district director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and
Hours Division, said in general that doing law enforcement work could not
be considered as uncompensated volunteer work for deputies.

The main question, she said, should be: "Is it something they are doing for
the job, and would it be considered part of their work?"

But the sheriff said working the checkpoints is no different from charity

so it doesn't violate federal wage laws. In addition, federal law allows
employees to work on "special projects" without compensation, he said.

But Anne Hayes of the federal wage and hours office said that exemption
only applies if the project is entirely different from normal work, which
doesn't appear to be the case with the checkpoints.

In fact, some deputies may be receiving compensation for work related to
the checkpoints.

One of the main deputies who works the checkpoints is Mark Williams, say
former deputies and other law enforcement officials.

Sheriff's records show Williams was paid $4,937 plus benefits from the
forfeiture fund for "381 hours of compensatory time he has accumulated."

Blankenship said the compensation was related to other duties, not
checkpoints, and was paid at the time Williams was promoted to detective
sergeant. Blankenship said Williams seldom even worked the checkpoints.

Williams also denied that he worked the checkpoints but did acknowledge
that he spent much of his time doing work generated by the checkpoints,
such as traveling out of state on investigations.

In fact, Williams is well known for his expertise in checkpoints.

This summer, Williams, along with the sheriff and two other deputies,
received a national award from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for
their drug checkpoint work on I-44 since 1997.

Williams also acknowledges that he spends more than three weeks a year
teaching classes for the DEA and other agencies about drug checkpoints and
investigations.

Another sheriff's document shows reserve deputy David Rightnowar, a retired
deputy, received several hundred dollars from the forfeiture fund in pay
for the sheriff's drug enforcement work.

Blankenship said that Rightnowar commonly works drug checkpoints but
receives no pay. He could not explain for what work Rightnowar had been paid.

The sheriff has come under fire for more than the checkpoints.

This spring, soon after other sheriff candidates criticized Blankenship's
checkpoints on radio talk shows, Blankenship spent $2,670 from his
forfeiture fund to buy more than 1,000 gun trigger locks. He gave them away
at booths at the Rolla and St. James fairs.

Immediately his opponents cried foul, saying the sheriff was using the
giveaway to promote his campaign, which would be prohibited by state law.

Blankenship denied the allegations and said "it was a matter of timing."
The program was positive, he said, and promoted child safety.

Because the trigger lock giveaway was so popular, the sheriff said, he
spent almost $1,400 in forfeiture funds in late August on a variety of
items to give to children.

For example, he purchased 500 booklets titled, "Your Friend The Sheriff,"
for $221. He paid another $358 for 1,000 red, white and blue jumbo pens
that say, "Help Stop Crime."

A recent campaign advertisement published in the Rolla Daily News by
Citizens for Don Blankenship has kept the forfeiture issue alive.

The advertisement says that "Phelps County has no money or manpower to
conduct on-duty interdiction operations, but has been very successful with
its volunteer program."

It also points out, "The property of drug violators is often forfeited by
the Courts. Property forfeitures in Missouri cases, processed by the
Prosecuting Attorney, are also paid to the Missouri School Fund."

But in Phelps County, little money has gone to public education in the past
two years from sheriff department forfeitures, according to the county
treasurer's office.