SOME SHERIFFS, JUDGE-EXECUTIVES CASUALTIES OF POLITICAL SHIFTS NEGATIVE ADS
AND SLAYINGS TAKE TOLL ON VOTERS, ONE LOSING INCUMBENT SAYS

Many courthouse officials in Eastern Kentucky survived bitter primary
campaigns on Election Day.

But some didn't.

"Politics has changed," two-term Knott County Sheriff Wheeler Jacobs said
yesterday after losing his office to Roy Bolen, a two-term magistrate.

A barrage of negative television advertising, the slaying of a sheriff's
candidate linked to drug dealing, the assassination of a sheriff, and
allegations of vote-buying take their toll on the public as well as on
candidates, Jacobs said.

Clerks in at least three counties -- Martin, Floyd and Magoffin -- reported
receiving about 600 absentee ballots.

Meanwhile, the state attorney general's office received 175 complaints
before the election and 110 Tuesday, said spokeswoman Barbara H. Smith. No
arrests were reported, she said.

"In this election, and all over the state, this affects voter turnout,"
Jacobs said. "Some of us had to pay a price for that."

In Eastern Kentucky, at least five judge-executives were ousted.

At least one sheriff, Steve Banks of Letcher County, will lose his job this
year after failing to unseat Republican Judge-Executive Carroll Smith.

And Boyd County Sheriff Phillip Sturgill lost a re-election bid in the
Democratic primary, to former state police officer Terry Keelin.

The defeated judge-executives include Darrell Bumgardner of Wolfe County,
George Plummer of Lewis County, Hershell Sexton of Menifee County, Jennifer
Jones of Bell County and Paul Hudson Salyer of Magoffin County.

After one term, Bumgardner lost to Raymond Hurst, a truck driver. Unlike
his predecessors, Bumgardner had refused to gravel private driveways, said
County Clerk Kenneth Lindon. Hurst, a Democrat, is unopposed in the
November election.

Sexton, a former Menifee County sheriff, lost to James D. Trimble, a
retired teacher who now teaches driver's education at the Frenchburg Job
Corps. Trimble, too, is unopposed in the general election.

Jones, a first-term Republican, was beaten by 18 votes by J.C. "Bo" Ausmus
III, a former Middlesboro state representative who campaigned on a prom-ise
to lower taxes. Ausmus faces Democrat William P. Kelly in November.

Yesterday, Jones said she has not yet decided whether to ask for a
recanvass. "They so seldom change anything," she said. "I'm proud people
gave me a chance for one term."

Salyer lost the Democrat primary to former Magoffin Judge-Executive Dr.
Charles Hardin, whom Salyer ousted four years ago.

Hardin, who faces Republican nominee Bill May in November, was delighted
yesterday. "I guess we surprised a lot of people," he said.

In Lewis County, two-term incumbent Plummer lost by 74 votes to Vanceburg
grocer Steven Applegate, who ran for property valuation administrator four
years ago.

Applegate said he respected Plummer, but thought that "he had gotten a
little complacent in his job. I politicked six nights a week and knocked on
95 percent of the doors in the county."

In other Eastern Kentucky races, only one of three ex-sheriffs convicted of
drug-related felonies completed the first step toward a political comeback.

Doug Brandenburg, who served three terms as Lee County judge-executive and
one term as sheriff before pleading guilty to a federal drug charge,
defeated former Beattyville police chief Danny Townsend in the Democratic
primary. He faces incumbent L.C. "Bub" Reese in November.

Former Breathitt County sheriff Ray Clemons, who was removed from office
after a drug conviction, lost by 44 votes to incumbent sheriff John L. Turner.

In Morgan County, former sheriff Roger Benton, convicted in 1986 of
protecting cocaine trafficking, finished third in a four-man field of
Democrats.

Some races proved noteworthy without much controversy.

In Johnson County, Tucker Daniel easily won the Republican primary, placing
himself in position to become that county's first judge-executive since
1918 to succeed himself. He faces Democratic nominee Burl "Skip" Cantrell
in November.

In Pike County, Sheriff Charles "Fuzzy" Keesee, 74, won the Democratic
nomination for an eighth term. At the same time, former sheriff Bill
Deskins, 72, won the Democratic nomination for Pike judge-executive.
Deskins, the father of Pike Circuit Clerk David Deskins, is unopposed in
November.

Also in Pike County, veteran Coroner Charles Morris was defeated in the
wake of a controversial fatal accident involving his son.