SHERIFF'S RACE HEATS UP OVER DRUG MONEY

Candidate Says Current Georgia County Official Improperly Doling Out
Seized Funds

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 also has given substantial donations to other
causes, including his alma mater, The Citadel.

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 The Citadel.

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 did not 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.