SHERIFF HOPEFULS AIM TO STAUNCH FLOW OF DRUGS

JONESBORO -- Two years ago, Jack McCann whipped four other candidates
and handily won the Craighead County sheriff's job without a runoff.
He earned 55 percent of the vote; his nearest competitor received only
19 percent.

Mark Hogan of Jonesboro finished fourth in the race, garnering 8
percent of the tally.

But that didn't deter Hogan from running again. This time, he faces
incumbent McCann in a two-way race for sheriff in the Democratic
Primary on Tuesday.

Hogan likes his chances this time around.

"People have seen what they got," he said. "People have been
enlightened by what's going on."

Hogan, 41, sat in a restaurant booth at the Wright Place in Jonesboro
Friday and reflected on the final four days of the campaign.

"People see the job's not done," he said of McCann. "Two years is long
enough to see what's been done. Either you're going to do it, or
you're not."

McCann said he has been doing it, focusing much of the department's
efforts to curtail drugs. During the past year, drug arrests have
increased 20 percent, he said.

On Thursday, deputies busted five methamphetamine labs.

But it's not all drugs, said McCann, 50, of Jonesboro, noting that
theft and other property crimes should also be investigated with vigor.

"We do concentrate on drugs," he said. "But if someone has some of
their property stolen, they don't care about how bad the drug problem
is. They want the guy caught, and their property returned."

Like McCann, Hogan said he will push to reduce drugs and drug dealing
in the community.

"We've got to get to the source," Hogan said, adding that the biggest
problem facing the county is the proliferation of drugs. "You cut a
snake's tail off, it'll grow back. Cut a snake's head off and he dies."

Hogan, the owner of a Jonesboro trucking company, has worked as a
volunteer at the sheriff's office for nine and a half years. He has
observed deputies on drug busts and has helped patrol rural areas of
the county.

McCann worked with the Jonesboro Police Department for 23 years,
reaching the title of assistant police chief before becoming chief
deputy in 1996 for newly elected Craighead County Sheriff Jerry
Suiter. Suiter died in August 1997, and Dale Haas was appointed sheriff.

McCann was elected in May 1998, becoming the third person to hold the
sheriff's job in three years.

"That was tough on our men," he said.

Since taking office, McCann has computerized the evidence room,
electronically logging items collected as evidence or recovered from
burglaries. He's also obtained state funding for a traffic enforcement
program that pays deputies to enforce DWI laws and other traffic
offenses on county roads.

McCann has initiated job training and drug counseling in the county
jail to help rehabilitate repeat offenders.

"I used to be a strong believer in locking up criminals and throwing
away the key," he said. "But we're still dealing with the same
criminals that I did when I started in 1973. Now, it's their children,
too. Jails just warehouse people. If we can give them some job
training, we may break that cycle."

The two candidates are quite a contrast in personalities. Hogan is
quick to greet people, and his friends say he can be intense on the
job. "I lived at the sheriff's office," he said. "If I wanted to do
something, I'd get everyone behind me, and we'd do it."

McCann, in turn, is thoughtful and soft spoken. He said he was
surprised and pleased by his overwhelming victory two years ago, but
he doesn't expect such a margin of victory could happen again.

"I enjoy this job and I've got the experience," he said. "We'll see
what happens on Tuesday."