HEGE TO RUN FOR THIRD TERM

LEXINGTON -- Gerald Hege packed a posse of 36 supporters into the Davidson
County Board of Elections office Monday as he filed to run for his third
term as the county sheriff.

Hege, surrounded by his wife, mother, sister, deputies and other sheriff's
department employees, talked about how crime has dropped in the eight years
he has been sheriff, the amount of money he has generated for the county
and the need for higher salaries for his deputies.

He said he wasn't there to try to change the minds of people who may want
his tenure to end in December.

"There probably isn't anyone who doesn't have an opinion about myself, pro
or con," he said. "I don't think there is anything I could do in 60 days
(before the May primaries) to change that."

He also said he doesn't believe that the December arrest of three of his
deputies on federal drug trafficking charges will have negative effect on
his re-election campaign.

"I don't think it hurt me as much as the competition thought it would," he
said.

So far, there are seven other contenders -- four Democrats and three
Republicans -- running for sheriff, which comes with an $87,800 annual
salary. Candidate filing ends at noon Friday.

Hege will face the Republicans in the May 7 primaries. The winner of the
primary will face the winning Democratic candidate in the general election
in November.

David Faust, chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party, went with
Hege to file for re-election. Faust, who was the campaign chairman for
Hege's 1998 election, said he would go with any Republican candidates who
asked, but no one else did.

Also with Hege on Monday were four challengers that he intends to back for
the four county commissioners seats up in November. Hege said he helped the
incumbents get elected, but they have since turned down providing more
money for salaries and some of Hege's other plans for the department, such
as a deal he worked out to lease Harley Davidson motorcycles for $2 a year.
"I can't support someone who is not going to support law enforcement," he said.

Commissioner Fred McClure is one of those incumbents who campaigned with
Hege in 1994.

"The sheriff doesn't communicate," he said. "If any of his new boys or new
fellows vote against him for anything that he wants, he won't communicate
with them either."

McClure said he has supported most of Hege's requests, but added, It's not
my job to do what the sheriff wants me to do."