JACKSON SHERIFF DRUG HAULS AID YOUTH SPORTS

Jackson Sheriff Bucks NC Recommendation on Narcotics Seizures

Crime has its own way of paying in Jackson County.

It has paid for batting helmets for a girls softball team. It has
paid for a machine that helps fill water bottles for high school
football players. And it has paid to send kids to an Atlanta Braves game.

Tapping into money from drug seizures, Sheriff Jimmy Ashe has
directed $10,588 since 2007 to sports programs, trophies, booster
clubs and a high school chorus.

The sheriff often spent the money with no oversight. In one case he
directed $3,000 to youth baseball teams - including one on which his
son played.

The practice differs from that of other Western North Carolina
sheriffs, who have rolled narcotic fund money into fighting crime and
have used no public money on youth sports.

Ashe, a Democrat in his second term, said he wanted to keep children
from using drugs by giving them something constructive to do.

"I am really proud that we are able to do that," he said. "I can't
think of a better way to utilize money that is from drug dealers."

The Citizen-Times obtained records detailing the expenditures through
a public records request.

The county last year collected $28,573 from taxes on illegal drugs,
according to the state. The money comes from the N.C. Department of
Revenue, which assess a tax on drugs much in the same way it taxes legal goods.

Sheriffs and police get 75 percent of what is collected from drug
dealers in the cases they investigate.

The N.C. Department of Justice in a memo to sheriffs said the drug
tax money is intended to help law enforcement "deter and investigate
crimes, especially drug offenses."

State audits found no wrongdoing in Jackson County, although auditors
don't typically examine line-item expenditures for each department.

Ashe and Jackson County Finance Officer Darlene Fox said they've had
no complaints from the state. North Carolina does not audit the
spending of drug tax money.

Fox's only concern was the sheriff using $20,000 in drug tax money in
2008 on new carpet in his building to replace carpet damaged by
leaking water pipes.

Ashe didn't file a purchase order ahead of time, she said. The
sheriff did get at least two informal bids, which is the policy for
an expense under $90,000.

Fox said the county's auditor checked the expense for the carpet and
said it was allowable because it would serve the department.

$3,000 for the Wildcats

Of the $10,558 spent primarily on youth sports and related
activities, $3,000 in two payments in 2009 and 2008 went to a league
of three 9-12-year-old baseball teams. Ashe managed one of them, and
his son played on it.

Ashe, who is one of the highest-paid sheriffs in the region with an
annual salary of $105,571, said his management role with the
10-and-under Carolina Wildcats was limited to filling water bottles
and making sure players got to the game on time.

The donation might look suspicious to some, Ashe said, but the money
also went to the team's 9-and-under roster, and it helped many other children.

In another case, $362.88 went to reimburse Ashe to cover the cost of
batting helmets he bought for a girls fast-pitch softball team. Ashe
said he found a deal on the helmets at Play it Again Sports.

Ashe said he has always donated state drug money to youth sports, a
practice he started after taking office in 2002. Although his
department has purchased equipment with the money, he said he would
rather spend on the community and not "gadgets."

He said he's also donated his own money and time.

And, Ashe said, the department has a history of making similar
donations before he became sheriff. He said the law enforcement
purpose is to deter crime.

Money from the narcotic fund also went to buy yearbook advertisements
and football program advertisements, which is not an uncommon expense
among other Sheriff's Office and county governments.

But the way the narcotic fund money was spent is uncommon.

Following the Dollars

The money, according to county line-item expense records, sometimes
came from supplies and materials and equipment outlay accounts.

The county would then reimburse the expenses with money from the
narcotics fund.

Capt. Steve Lillard, who is over criminal investigations and the
narcotics fund, signs the checks. Ashe said he directed the spending
on youth sports.

People in the community approached him with needs. Sometimes, but not
always, they would give him letters stating the needs, he said.

With a $2,000 check to the Carolina Wildcats in 2009, the Sheriff's
Office filed a receipt saying the money would "promote a drug free
community by allowing youth to participate in organized baseball."

Sometimes there were purchase orders and invoices showing how the
money was spent. Other times, there are only checks going to youth
sports teams or conferences.

One invoice in August 2008 shows the Sheriff's Office spent $1,435.79
at Harris Sporting Goods in Seneca, S.C., on a "power team drinker."

The device, which allows players to fill multiple water bottles
simultaneously, was donated by the sheriff to the high school.

Jimmy Cleaveland, athletic director at Smoky Mountain, said the
machine has improved safety on the field.

"It's for our kids in really hot weather," he said. "Because of where
our practices field are it's something that we can get access to very
quickly for them to hydrate."

And, he said, the use of the drug tax money to help youth sports
seems like a good idea, especially with cutbacks in state funding.

Others involved in youth sports teams and conferences that received
money from the Sheriff's Office agreed.

Robyn Crawford, who has been involved with Smoky Mountain Youth
Football for 14 years, said she's glad the money is going to youth
sports. The league serves about 130 kids.

Her three sons have played youth sports.

"This is not taxpayer money," she said. "This is from drug dealers.
This is money that is being retrieved and actually helping our youth."

Government Spending Controls

Regardless of the benefits, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office
spending on sports teams is unusual. But sheriffs and other elected
leaders do tend to spend at least a little helping the community.

Jackson County Commissioners in the last two years gave $28,173 to
charity, money that included funding for the county little league and
traveling baseball team Blue Ridge Rangers.

The Sheriff's Office in neighboring Haywood County during the same
time period spent nothing on youth sports.

It did spend $80 on an advertisement for Pisgah High School's
football program that said "Good Luck Bears" and $300 on a banner
sponsorship for the Bethel Youth Organization.

The expenses were approved by the finance office and the Board of
Commissioners, Finance Director Julie Davis said.

In Haywood County, as in most other counties, the sheriff makes
recommendations on how to spend the drug tax money and commissioners
vote on them.

In Buncombe County, the Sheriff's Office also spends nothing on youth
sports. It does sponsor an employee kickball team with money donated
to the department from the community.

Sheriff Van Duncan has donated to teams in his home community of
Erwin, said Major Scott Bissinger, who handles finances for the
department. The money came from his personal finances, not county
coffers or departmental donations.

"County tax dollars are to be used for public purposes only," said
Diane Price, Buncombe County's budget manager. "Sponsoring an
individual youth sports team would not fall into the public purpose category."

Price said the Sheriff's Office gets private donations that Duncan
can use for any purpose he deems appropriate.

The Rev. Billy Graham, for example, gives the department a gift of
$24,000 a year - some of which has been used for an at-risk youth program.

State Memo

Drug tax money in Buncombe mostly goes to the Buncombe County
Anti-Crime Task Force, made up of the officers from the Sheriff's
Office, SBI and local police. The task force board decides how to
spend the money. Asset forfeitures also go to the task force.

County finance officers in Macon and Cherokee counties also said no
money is spent on youth sports.

Bill Block, who controls financing in Cherokee County, said state law
mandates that the drug tax money go into the general fund. "The
sheriff can designate how he would like to spend the money, and the
use of the funds has to be a budgeted expense so the commissioners
have to approve the use of that money," he said.

In Macon County, the process is generally the same. Finance Officer
Evelyn Southard said the money "has to be used for law enforcement."

The N.C. Department of Justice in 2008 sent a letter to sheriffs
outlining the allowed uses of state and federal drug forfeiture money.

Special Deputy Attorney General W. Dale Talbert in the memo said the
legislature intended the drug tax money to "enhance the ability of
law enforcement agencies to deter and investigate crimes, especially
drug offenses."

Spending Drug Abuse Resistance Education funds on T-shirts or a drug
education event at a school would be acceptable, for example.

The N.C. Department of Revenue, which collects and distributes state
drug taxes, doesn't require audits of how the money is spent, agency
spokesman Thomas Beam said.

Sheriffs also can spend some of the money they get from federal drug
seizure cases in the community, but even that spending is limited.

The U.S. Department of Justice allows up to 15 percent of forfeited
drug money to be spent on community programs, including drug abuse
treatment, crime prevention, housing, job skills education "or other
nonprofit community-based programs or activities that are formally
approved by the chief law enforcement officer."

Support From Parents

Parents in Jackson County said Ashe's decision on how to spend the
money has made a difference.

"I think that Jimmy Ashe is great for doing that," said Susie
Fortner, a single mother of three. "If it wasn't for him, I don't
know if we would have gone this far in sports."

She also said the sheriff donates his time.

"Jimmy gets in the batting cages with those kids," she said.

Keith Nations worked with Ashe on the Wildcats baseball team. He said
the sheriff personally sponsored a child who couldn't afford to play.

"I think it is good giving back to the community," he said.