Ed MacDonald

To the editor:Until recently, I felt perfectly comfortable living and traveling in Carroll County with the belief that there was patrol coverage by the Sheriffs Department on nights and weekends. Now public statements by the present sheriff have raised basic safety issues that are of concern to me and should be addressed. In the Conway Daily Sun on June 24, the present sheriff defended his policy of failing to provide patrol coverage on nights and weekends. I was appalled to learn the sheriff schedules no all night patrols even during busy times and then even more shocked to read the sheriff puts all his deputies off duty from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning. More outrageous still was the fact that the sheriff blamed this policy on the County Delegation for not giving him a bigger budget. One thing the present sheriff has done is to draw more money out of the already overburdened taxpayer. The cost of running the Sheriff's Office has increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past few years while adding more staff than ever, yet the sheriff refuses to have deputies on duty at critical times. Unbelievably, the sheriff claims it is too unsafe for his enforcement personnel to be out there working alone. Now I ask, what about the local police officer or state trooper who may have to work alone at all times of the day and night? More importantly, what about the local citizen, the tourist, the elderly, a woman or a child? If the sheriff thinks, as he stated, that it is too dangerous for a deputy to be out there alone, where does that leave the rest of us? Who can really depend on help from the Sheriff's Department when most of the trouble really happens? While regular duty work at certain times may worry the sheriff, he had demonstrated a fearless approach to special detail work for extra pay even on weekends and after dark. For extra money, it looks like anywhere anytime and not necessarily restricted to Carroll County.The sheriff has had plenty of time to retract his foolhardy statements and to even make changes in the questionable way he chosen to schedule his staff. But, this is apparently not to be. He willingly continues to spend money, cut services, and compromise public safety as well as blame others for his lack of administrative capability. However, this election there is an answer. I believe sheriff's candidate Francis Lord can and will solve these important issues. Francis will watch the dollars and make sure that there is adequate patrol coverage for all of Carroll County to include nights and weekends. I hope you will join me in voting for Francis Lord in the primary on Sept. 10.