CONSIDER THE CALIBER

Editor: Several area newspapers have reported the shock Davidson County
residents received upon learning three Davidson County vice-narcotics
officers were arrested for dealing drugs in and out of the county.
Considering the caliber of deputies the sheriff has hired, shock is not the
appropriate emotional response to this event.

Take the case of former Thomasville policeman Timothy Sells. Yes, the same
Davidson County deputy Timothy Sells who went before the commissioners to
request funds for the sheriff's juvenile offender camp. Deputy Sells was
forced to retire from the TPD.

How about the case of former state trooper Gregory Wood? Hege hired Wood
not long after Wood was fired from the Highway Patrol for pointing his
state-issue weapon at the head of his estranged wife.

The patrol saw to it that Wood's law enforcement certificate was revoked.
Yes, the same deputy Wood that Hege went to bat for in front of Judge Fred
Morrison Sr., who reinstated Wood's certificate.

Glenn Payne

Lexington