SHERIFF STANDS ON RECORD; CHALLENGER WANTS MORE DRUG ENFORCEMENT

The two Democratic candidates for Athens County Sheriff have
different views on how they can best serve the county, and what the
sheriff should do to protect the people.

Incumbent Vern Castle is squaring off against challenger Glenn
Burchfield in the March 2 Democratic primary. The winner will face
Republican former sheriff David Redecker and possibly independent Pat
Kelly, though Kelly has not announced yet if he is running for sheriff.

Burchfield has been running his campaign on the idea of running the
sheriff's office with a no-nonsense approach, being more pro-active
than Castle, and making more of an effort to stop drug crimes in the
county.

Castle has been running on his record, saying he has solved all of the
major crimes in the county during his watch and that he has improved
communication with area residents, made his officers more respectable,
managed a budget crisis, and done everything he can do to serve the
people of the county.

Castle has worked for the Athens County Sheriff's Office since 1981,
except for the year he took off in 2000 to run for sheriff.

Burchfield previously served as police chief for Murray City, worked
as a constable for the Athens County Common Pleas Court, and worked as
a transport officer for the sheriff's office until Castle eliminated
the position. He currently serves as police chief for the village of
New Straitsville. He recently injured his back and is not able to do
much campaigning, but he said his recovery is going well and he hopes
to be up and around soon.

Burchfield said he decided to run this year because he does not like
the way Castle is managing the sheriff's office and he did not want
him to run unopposed in the primary. If he is elected sheriff,
Burchfield promised to do more to stop drug traffic in the county,
saying that many of the crimes are committed so that people can have
money to buy drugs.

He advocates stopping trucks and other vehicles at checkpoints in the
county to check for drugs, joining the Fairfield-Hocking drug task
force or creating a new drug task force with Vinton County, and
getting the deputies out on the roads more often looking for drugs and
watching for crimes.

Castle said his deputies are out on the road as much as possible
looking for crime. He said that while Burchfield has been arguing that
the deputies' cruisers are parked too often, Castle pointed out that
they are given time off for lunch and they often have to spend time in
the office doing paperwork on the cases they're involved with.

As for the drug task force, Castle said the Fairfield-Hocking group
has been actively trying to get Athens County to join, but he does not
think his office has the $10,000-$12,000 needed to join the task
force. He added that even if the county does not join, he has
established a good working relationship with law-enforcement offices
in Hocking and Fairfield counties and thinks his department will work
well with them in the future. He added that his office also could set
up a drug task force with city and village police departments in the
county, as well as with the Ohio University Police Department.

Burchfield said he favors the use of tasers for the sheriff's office,
while Castle said they are worth looking into. The Athens Police
Department plans to start using tasers soon.

In dealing with budget issues, Castle said he has handled the
financial situation responsibly for the people of the county. He has
been able to keep up services while the commissioners cut his budget.
A new deputy is an expert in grant writing, and he hopes that the
department will be able to receive more grants in the future, Castle
said.

He added that grants are tough to rely on for funding because many of
them require matching funds.

Another way to save might be to get rid of the departments' cell
phones, since officers have other means of communicating.

Burchfield said the sheriff's department needs to be more active in
going after grant money, and said the money is available. He also said
the county should not be paying for gas for deputies who live outside
the county and drive their cruisers to and from their homes every day.

He also advocates getting more of the deputies and management in the
sheriff's office out from behind a desk and on the roads watching for
crime and meeting the needs of the people. He thinks the sheriff's
office currently has too many people doing management work, and not
enough doing basic police work.

The sheriff's office needs to get back to more basic police work,
going after drug crimes, patrolling the county and being more active,
Burchfield said. He argued that the current department is reactive
instead of pro-active, and that the county has too much lawlessness.

Castle said that his office is solving all of the major crimes and
that his officers are more respected now than they were in recent
years. He added that he is getting the department into new programs
such as the computerized national phone-system program that notifies
area residents if a child is missing and encourages them to phone in
tips, and a program that area residents can sign up for so they'll
receive automated phone calls every day to make sure they're OK, and
so someone will check on them if they don't answer the calls. The
second program is mainly for elderly people and people with health
problems, Castle said.