SHERIFF WANTS MORE OF BURKHART FORTUNE

The distribution of cash and property from the estate of a suspected drug
kingpin has left the Anderson County Sheriff's Office with less than what
Sheriff Gene Taylor believes his department deserves, and he has hired an
attorney in an attempt to get a larger share.

The department has so far received more than $61,000 from the nearly
$800,000 seized from the estate of William "Ronnie" Burkhart, but that
doesn't even cover what the office spent in helping to investigate the
Burkhart case, according to a motion filed in civil court Wednesday.

In an agreement reached Feb. 18, Circuit Court Judge J.C. "Buddy" Nicholson
ordered that half of the cash from the Burkhart fortune should be "donated"
to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office and in turn distributed to the
Anderson County Sheriff's Office, the State Law Enforcement Division, the
Pickens County Sheriff's Office and the 10th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

Sheriff Taylor said he wasn't included in the negotiations leading to that
agreement.

Since that agreement was reached, more than $500,000 has been distributed
to the Oconee Sheriff's Office and SLED, while the Anderson County
Sheriff's Office received much less.

Sheriff Taylor has hired Greenville attorney Beattie Ashmore to represent
the Sheriff's Office in an appeal to Judge Nicholson, who signed off on the
original distribution agreed upon last month.

Property worth an estimated $2.4 million has yet to be auctioned off and
the proceeds distributed. The motion filed Wednesday also lays claim to
part of that money.

Mr. Ashmore said Thursday that no date has been scheduled for a hearing on
the matter.

Before he filed the motion asking Judge Nicholson to reconsider the matter,
Sheriff Taylor and other "interested parties" met March 13 to see if they
might resolve the disagreement, but that was unsuccessful, Mr. Ashmore said.

"It was like the Twilight Zone," Sheriff Taylor said, "All these people sit
across from me and say, 'You never worked on this case.' "

He said he traveled to Florida to conduct interviews for the case at least
nine times, and estimated that he and other officers at his office
contributed at least $150,000 worth of labor and other resources to the
case, in addition to the expert help the office was reimbursed for.

State Law Enforcement Division spokeswoman Kathryn Richardson directed
comment to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, and 10th Circuit Solicitor
Druanne White said she had no comment on the matter. Oconee County Sheriff
James Singleton could not be reached Thursday.