FLAMBOYANT N.C. SHERIFF CHALLENGED

LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) - With his pink jail cells, tinted cruiser windows and
paramilitary-style uniforms, Sheriff Gerald Hege has always cut a
flamboyant figure in largely rural Davidson County.

Over the summer, though, Hege lost a bit of his swagger.

Three of his officers were sent to federal prison for their involvement in
a drug ring. And his department has been dogged by the still-unresolved
case of a 2-year-old boy shot to death as he played in his driveway.

Though Hege is favored to win a third four-year term in November, the
Republican is expected to face a tough challenge from Democrat Roy Holman.

"He's the wrong man. He's the wrong sheriff," said Holman, a 61-year-old
retired state highway patrolman making his second run against Hege.
"Everybody thinks that we're crime-ridden here in this little, rural county
that's a nice hometown county."

Hege said his case for re-election rests on numbers: According to state
figures, the crime rate in Hege's jurisdiction last year was just 61
percent of what it was in 1994, the year of his election.

Holman said the state's numbers are those provided by Hege himself.

"You have to rely on the honesty of the sheriff," Holman said. "You can
control the crime stats in your county with a pencil, and that's what he's
doing."

Hege's eight years in office have brought widespread attention to low-key
Davidson County, population 150,000, which covers 560 square miles
southwest of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.

The county jail has a reputation as one of the toughest in the nation, with
24-hour lockdown, no TVs or newspapers, and the walls painted pink as a way
to symbolically emasculate inmates.

Hege's office is decorated to look like a military bunker and has permanent
TV lights. On Hege's Web site, titled "Hege Country," a photograph shows
the sheriff wielding a pistol-grip, double-barreled shotgun. Last
Christmas, Hege sent supporters a "Happy Ramadan!" card with a doctored
photo of him holding the severed head of Osama bin Laden.

Hege's persona is a throwback to the days of the all-powerful Southern
sheriff - and similar to that of Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County,
Ariz., known for putting inmates in tents and pink underwear and for
banning coffee and R-rated movies from his jail.

Questions about how clean Hege Country is arose earlier this year when
three sheriff's deputies pleaded guilty to federal charges they conspired
to distribute cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy and steroids.

When the officers were sentenced in July, one defense attorney introduced
testimony that a lack of supervision contributed to the scandal.

Hege, who has not been implicated in the drug scandal, dismissed the
notion: "It's like with kids - you raise your child, give them car keys and
hope they can do good out there."

Even if Hege did not know about the drug dealing, "I would think he should
have," said retiree Maxine Yarborough, who supports Holman.

Another case that brought scrutiny was the April death of toddler Dillion
Wilson, shot in the head as he played in the driveway of his family's
suburban home.

Hege said his report on the case, filed this summer with the district
attorney, concludes Dillion was shot accidentally by a juvenile whose name
has not been released. Though no charges have been brought, Hege said, "I
have no unsolved deaths in Davidson County."

Jim Koonts, a retired firefighter from the county seat of Lexington, plans
to vote for Hege.

"My dad said if you've got something good, keep it," Koonts said. "There
ain't nobody perfect."