SHERIFF HOPEFULS MAKE THEIR CASE IN CLEBURNE

Eight men want to be the next sheriff of Cleburne County, a stretch hills
and trees faced with growing drug and property crime problems. The four
Republicans and four Democrats that make up the crowded field say the main
challenge for the next sheriff will be building a larger roster of deputies
to quell the rising tide of drug trafficking and use. The candidates agree
that county law enforcement needs more visibility, with 24-hour patrols and
a greater emphasis on drug-awareness programs in schools.

In a county with a small tax-base, this is all easier said than done. The
winner's real challenge may be wangling funds to hire more deputies - an
effort that will likely require obtaining state and federal grants and
squeezing money out of a County Commission for which law enforcement is
just one of a number of priorities.

Staffing problems in sheriff's departments aren't rare in Alabama,
especially in rural counties with their miles and miles of roads and lack
of money to pay for people to patrol them. However, Cleburne County has one
possible funding source that most others don't - a brand-new jail that
could one day hold federal or Immigration and Naturalization Services
prisoners.

All the candidates are eyeing this possibility, though it remains far from
a certainty. Until the jail opens and the federal government can decide
whether it's fit for its prisoners, the sheriff will be forced to work
within the constraints of the county budget. And that will entail
convincing the County Commission to foot the bill for the deputies.

DEMOCRATS

Darrell Durham

Darrell Durham, who's aiming for his fourth term as Cleburne County
sheriff, speaks bluntly about his relationship with those who dictate his
budget.

"Part of my job is to disagree with the County Commission," he said in a
recent interview. "There's no tradeoff."

This comes as no surprise to anyone who's observed commission meetings
marked by pitched wars of words between the sheriff and the commissioners.
They've gone toe-to-toe on issues from the hiring of the new jail's
administrator to the closing of the old jail. The commission once even
ordered him to cease and desist from the construction site.

Durham remains unfazed and compromise is not in his vocabulary, he said.

"This field has no compromising positions," he said. "You either quit
trying - that's your compromise - or you stay, trying to get what the
county needs."

Durham said if he wins a fourth term, his major initiatives will be hiring
two more deputies and opening the new jail.

His Democratic challengers, on the other hand, emphasized the need for
cooperation with the commission.

Joe Jacks

"I'm a firm believer in working with other agencies," said Joe Jacks, a
Heflin police officer and former deputy in the sheriff's department.

Jacks wants more drug-awareness programs in schools and, like Durham, two
more deputies, which he said would allow the county to have 24-hour patrols.

"Visible marked cars will deter crime," he said.

Greg Merrill

Greg Merrill, also one of Heflin's finest and the county coroner, believes
that readying the county jail for federal prisoners is one of the best ways
to get extra funds for additional staff. And the way to do this, he said,
is to get training for the jailers

He believes that this combined with the use of grants would make him "the
drug-dealer and user's worst enemy." Merrill said he would be persistent in
trying to get the resources he believes the county needs.

"You've got to go in with the idea that you might not get what you want the
first time, but you got to go back with your hat in your hand," he said.

Ralph Turner

The fourth Democratic candidate, former Anniston police officer Ralph
Turner, said he would look to outside agencies for help with the drug problem.

"I would use any outside help - Drug Enforcement Agency, Drug Task Force,"
he said. "It would never be completely successful, but we can make a dent
in it."

Otherwise, Turner offered a modest list of proposed initiatives. He said he
would try to increase the number of deputies but wasn't sure by how many.

"Just one more would be a big help," he said.

REPUBLICANS

Jim Chupp

Jim Chupp, the owner of a log-hauling business, said he believes the county
needs to double its number of deputies to 12.

"We're short-handed in this county, and it takes a lot of manpower," he said.

Chupp, who has no law-enforcement experience, cited the same potential
sources of funds for this as the other candidates and said he would work
with the commission to get them.

"I'll stand firm with what I'll go for, but there won't be any fussing on
my part," he said.

Bob Klinsic

Bob Klinsic would go even further in ballooning the number of deputies, to
14. He believes some of the hires should be women or minorities. To pay for
the deputies, Klinsic would use the jail, money from drug busts and grants.

"There's always room to compromise," he said. "This isn't going to happen
overnight."

Klinsic said he would also create a drug interdiction team for Interstate
20 and put resource officers in the schools.

Tommy Morrow

Tommy Morrow, who works for Zartic Foods in Georgia, said he would focus on
getting drugs out of schools by using drug-sniffing dogs to randomly search
schools several times a year. He said he also would assign a deputy in each
district to reduce the amount of time it would take to respond to calls.

He cited drugs and property crime as the leading problems facing the
county, but added that speeding on rural roads is another problem he would
like to fix.

"I'm not going to go out and be Rambo, but you've got to slow it down," he
said.

Tim Sprayberry

Tim Sprayberry, who runs a convenience store and who was twice before a
candidate for the sheriff's office, said he would evaluate shift schedules
to establish 24-hour patrols and establish policy manuals for deputies and
jailers. He also would try to find money for school resource officers and
get the county more involved in the Dug Task Force.

Sprayberry, a former Anniston police officer, said he would be aggressive
in tackling the drug problem in a county that's one of best places for
marijuana growers in Alabama.

"If we know where it's being grown and we can go and chop it down, why
can't we make more arrests," he said.