ARRESTS SHAKE COMMUNITY

LEXINGTON -- The gloom was nearly as visible as the foggy mist that
blanketed Davidson County on Thursday, a day after the county's top three
vice and narcotics officers were arrested on federal drug-trafficking charges.

"There's a lot of shock and disbelief," said the Rev. Ray Howell, pastor of
the First Baptist Church. "People are just shaking their heads."

The Wednesday arrests of sheriff's deputies David Scott Woodall, William
Monroe Rankin and Douglas Edward Westmoreland were big news in this quiet
town of 16,000 people known mainly to outsiders for its 20 barbecue
restaurants and tough-talking Sheriff Gerald Hege.

Around town, the talk on Thursday was all about the arrests -- and about
Hege, who came into office with a vow to stop the drug flow into Davidson
County and who bills himself as America's toughest sheriff. But few people
were predicting any long-term political damage to Hege, who won his last
election by more than 5,000 votes.

"I'm not sure anything can hurt him politically," said homemaker Hun Lowe,
stopping to fill her car at Haley's Exxon service station on North Main
street. Though she says she's no Hege fan, she doesn't blame him for what
happened.

Not everyone agreed. "He's supposed to look after his men," said
construction worker David Craver, who was grabbing lunch just down the
street at the Bar-B-Q Center.

Even county Democratic leaders, while saying the arrests might cost Hege
some votes, stopped short of predicting his ouster.

"He has a broad political base," said Randall Lanier, the county Democratic
chairman.

"I don't think it will help him, but I don't think it's a deadly blow,
either. Some people are saying that if the sheriff had been minding the
store a little bit closer, he'd have picked up on this a little earlier,
but you never know. These guys were out on their own a lot, doing
undercover work."

Many residents voiced support and even sympathy for Hege.

"It broke my heart," said Edna Vestal, who was busy waiting tables for the
lunchtime crowd at the Bar-B-Q Center. All three deputies had been
customers over the years, Vestal said. She was stunned by their arrests,
but she wasn't blaming the sheriff.

"He can't help what those boys did," she said.

Workers Dan Wagoner and David Saintsing, finishing up an early lunch so
they could get back to their construction jobs, also said they would not
hold Hege responsible for the arrest of his deputies.

"You're going to have corrupt officers anywhere," said Wagoner, a
Thomasville resident. "But he's the first sheriff we've ever had that's
done the job. He said he'd take the TVs out of the jail, and he did."

Saintsing, also from Thomasville, said he didn't vote for Hege and doesn't
necessarily like his politics. "But I can't fault him on some things,"
Saintsing said. "He goes after offenders. Yesterday, the alarm went off at
my house, and deputies were there in 10 minutes. I'm a Democrat, but I'll
probably vote for him the next time. I don't blame him for what's happened."

Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, a Hege friend and Republican ally who
took office the same year (1994), said it's a constant fight to keep
safeguards in place to ensure that officers aren't corrupted. He says he
once was offered $32,000 from a drug dealer to look the other way.

"We have an internal affairs officer," Barnes said. "We look at every
complaint that comes in here. Had something like this been reported to us,
we'd have followed up on it."

He thinks the issue will hurt Hege at the polls to some extent.

"I don't think it could be deadly, but it will hurt him," Barnes said.
"Whoever runs against Gerald next time will use this against him."

Democrat Roy Holman, a former state Highway Patrol officer who lost to Hege
in the last election and plans to run again in the May primary, says he's
going to do just that.

"The bottom line is, it's a lack of leadership," Holman said. "You have to
stay on top of things, and this apparently is not what has happened."
Watson Gregg, a former head of the county Democratic Party, points to other
problems during Hege's tenure, including the 1998 arrest of two former jail
detention officers for having sex with inmates.

But County Republican Chairman David Faust said he expects little fall-out
at the polls for Hege.

"The folks that are behind him are going to be behind him, and the ones
that are against him are going to stay against him," Faust said.

County commissioners Chairman Larry Potts, another Republican and a Hege
supporter, echoed Faust's sentiments.

"I think the public is understanding, forgetful and forgiving," he said.
"By the time the next election rolls around, everyone will understand that
Gerald is the High Sheriff, didn't condone it and wouldn't condone it and
thinks that if they're guilty, they should be punished."

Hege, doing interviews outside the sheriff's department Thursday, said
Wednesday was the worst day in his life since Deputy Todd Cook was shot and
killed while serving a warrant nearly two years ago.

"But Todd Cook died in honor," Hege said. "These guys died in disgrace. As
far as I'm concerned, they're dead, too."

Hege said he wasn't worried about political fall-out from publicity over
the arrests.

"Ink always dries," Hege said.