PAINTER COUNTERS TEXAS OBSERVER ARTICLE ON POSSE

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter, who observed that "certainly enough
people ... have tried to run my business," charged Sunday that the most
recent issue of The Texas Observer reflects efforts of "people who are
trying to stir up a negative atmosphere and trying to get me out of office.

"It's a left-wing publication," Painter, 52, said of the Austin-based
biweekly journal. "It's trash article and a trash publication."

The Dec. 10 article, headed "The New Texas Posse" and subtitled "The Law
West of the Pecos," carries "too many inaccuracies and misstatements,"
alleged Painter, who has been sheriff since 1985 following his 1984
election.

A major thrust in the article is on the West Texas-focused Sheriffs of Texas
Agreed Response (STAR) coalition, of which Painter's chief deputy, former
Texas Ranger Clayton McKinney, is commander.

"Clayton is one of the finest law-enforcement officers I ever met in my
life," Painter said. "He makes decisions based on a lot of analysis and
thought."

Law-enforcement representatives, including sheriffs and deputies and city
police officers, from about 60 counties have joined STAR, Painter said.

The outfit sprang from the spring 1997 Fort Davis standoff in which
rebellious so-called "Republic of Texas" corps members, including ROT leader
Richard McClaren, confronted the might of Texas law enforcement and lost.
Lawmen there included sheriffs and deputies, Texas Department of Public
Safety troopers, and Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams.

APC as a 'lifesaver'

The armored personnel carrier (APC) used by lawmen in the standoff "was a
lifesaver," said Painter, who uses the APC in STAR. "When the people from
the Republic of Texas saw that APC, it made a considerable amount of
difference."

Painter said that he and his agency "have not done anything wrong, never."

The sheriff and his procedures, he noted, have withstood (outside)
investigations.

Of the Observer heading, "The Law West of the Pecos," Painter noted that it
is obvious on a "map ... that we (in Midland County) are east of the Pecos"
River.

However, STAR's training has included open land west of the Pecos River near
Big Bend National Park and in the Pecos area.

Contrary to the article, Painter said that a recent exercise was not on
rangeland owned by McKinney but was on other private property allowed by the
owner for tactical exercise. The exercise was not just "training for an
open-air drug bust in the back country," as the article suggested, Painter
said.

Rather, the exercise was "training to develop relationships" among
law-enforcement agencies "and to instill discipline. The training covered
many, many areas."

The lawmen were donned in surplus military outfits and used surplus military
equipment, including an armored personnel carrier, he said.

"There were some automatic weapons," which were supplied by the agencies,
among the firepower there, Painter said.

Painter said that the Observer article's author, Nate Blakeslee, who Painter
said did not interview him for the article, "starts off his article with a
lie. The rest of it is not very truthful.

"It's a very left-wing publication," Painter said. "That stuff that is in
there is more fiction and satire than it is true."

Painter said that he and his officers "have never intentionally done
anything wrong and have never done anything intentionally to harm another
person."

Painter said that Blakeslee was "reporting rumors and not the truth" in
writing that McKinney had hosted the STAR exercise on his property.

STAR, which is an emergency "tactical response team," is about cooperation
with other agencies to combat crime and to help out in times of emergencies.

"Ever since I've been in office, I have cooperated and worked with other
agencies," Painter said.

The article refers to Painter as getting "back in the drug-interdiction
business" through the formation of the Trans-Pecos Drug Task Force in 1998
following woes with the Permian Basin Drug Task Force.

"We will fight drugs on every front," Painter said. "That's our job. If it
is the commissioner's family or anyone one else (in criminal activity), I
will enforce the law."

2000 sheriff's election

In his bid for re-election, Painter is opposed in the March 14 Republican
Party primary elections by two peace officers, Sheriff's Patrol Deputy Mike
Hall, 52, and District Attorney's Investigator Patrick Bostick, 42,

Louisa Valencia, a 67-year-old Democrat county commissioner who has been the
sheriff's nemesis since her 1988 election, is supporting Hall for sheriff.
But, as a Democrat, she can't vote for the Republican candidate.

"We need some fresh blood in there, some fresh ideas," said Ms. Valencia.
"He (Hall) is saying if he is elected sheriff, he will reorganize the
law-enforcement part of the Sheriff's Department. I think he will be able to
do a more efficient running of the law enforcement in there than what is
being done."

Painter said that Ms. Valencia is "still attacking me, trying to intimidate
me."

Ms. Valencia claimed that she years ago was the victim of a foiled "sting"
operation by which a drug task force undercover officer had tried to sell
her food stamps. She rebuffed the effort and defeated the sting, which
apparently had been set up following a confidential Crime-Stoppers' tip to
the task force.

If the 2000 election "gets too hot," as it did in the 1992 and 1996
elections, he (McKinney) is going to say he is going to retire like he did
when (Mike) Kaufman was running (for sheriff in 1996)," Ms. Valencia said.
"When Gary won, he (McKinney) still stayed with him. He is going to do the
same thing this time."

Painter in 1996 defeated Kaufman, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot, by gaining
57 percent of the vote to Kaufman's 43 percent in the primary.

Four years earlier, in 1992, Painter garnered 63 percent of the vote in a
four-way race for the nomination.

Painter was unopposed in the 1992 and 1996 general elections.

Focus on law enforcement

In his campaign, Hall, 52, noted that he is focusing on bringing "law
enforcement back into Midland County.

"It's about money and resources," Hall said. "We need to spend the
taxpayers' dollars on the taxpayers in Midland County - the people who are
paying for the service and protection. We need to put our resources into
that service and protection in Midland County.

"The resources of Midland County need to be utilized in Midland County - not
in other counties, not in counties completely up and away from our
neighboring counties," Hall said in apparent reference to STAR.

"Every county has a sheriff. Every county has a commissioners' court. Every
county has a budget - big, little or small. We need to utilize our resources
in Midland County for Midland County citizens."

If greater resources are needed, Hall said that the citizenry has on call
the "National Guard, and we've got state guard, and we've got DPS and their
task force, the SWAT team. We have their air power ... if we have a search
going on. We need to concentrate our efforts right here in Midland County,
locally."

Bostick, who has not been openly critical of the sheriff, has said that he
would have his own management style.

'Lot of changes'

"There's going to be a lot of changes and not all of them are going to be in
personnel," Hall said if he is elected sheriff. "This department needs to
get the right people in the right positions to take care of business in the
most efficient and productive manner. There are some good folks there now."

Hall said that he was "put on midnights (for patrol duty) after I announced
that I was running for sheriff."

However, Painter said that Hall was reassigned to the night shift after
Patrol Lt. Lee Blair had left his job to work with peace-keeping forces in
Kosovo and before Hall had announced his candidacy.

Of Painter, Hall said, "He's still the boss. When I'm on duty, I'm still
working for Midland County. I'm not out politicking on duty or anything
else. But come daytime, it's my world. He (Painter) hasn't drummed me out of
the corps."

Painter said that STAR is geared to "training. It's being prepared. It's
being proactive rather than reactive. And if he (Hall as sheriff) is going
to sit back and wait until something happens before he's ready, he's going
to be behind in the game. You have to prepared. You have to be trained.
Training reduces liability."

And "combined training," as in STAR, "gives you better opportunity to
interact with other agencies, to interact with other officers," Painter
said. "You get more ideas. You get more scenarios. You get better training.
It happens all over the country. There's nothing wrong with it, nothing out
of the ordinary. And there's nothing in state law that prohibits us from
working together and trying to set up a group of people that responds to
natural or man-made disasters.

"If we (in Midland County) need help here, I will put out a call, and I will
have response like you wouldn't believe," Painter said, "because of the
reputation that the Midland County Sheriff's Office has for being available
and for being a top-notch law-enforcement organization. And you can't have
that and the fine reputation that you have unless you are active and go out
there and work and earn it."