Sheriff candidates talk gangs, other issues at forum
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/brog/News/60145/
BENTONVILLE — At a candidates forum in Bentonville on Thursday, candidates for county sheriff differed over the issue of gangs.
The Republican Women of Bentonville heard candidates for county sheriff, county judge and other offices at the forum, held at the Bentonville Public Library.
Seeking a fourth term as sheriff, incumbent Keith Ferguson asserted that the Benton County Sheriff’s Office under his administration boasted better-trained people than ever before and that BCSO deputies had made more arrests than under any previous administration.
He served 32 years with the Arkansas State Police before becoming sheriff and does not view himself as being in competition with any opponent for sheriff, only in competition against lawbreakers, Ferguson said. “ I’m in competition with the crime that plagues this county, and I’m always seeking better ways (to fight it ), ” he said. “ I’ve addressed the gang issues. I’ve addressed the immigration issues. ”
Ferguson noted that the BCSO had arrested 13 alleged illegal aliens in the previous 24 hours.
The sheriff left the event after his remarks.
Ferguson’s GOP opponents Andy Lee and Kelley Cradduck followed him at the podium, and both asserted that the sheriff had failed to adequately address the issue of gangs.
Lee, who served seven terms as sheriff before choosing not to seek re-election nearly six years ago, is making his second bid for sheriff since then.
The continuing problems of gangs and illegal immigration suggest that the current sheriff has not handled the issues well, Lee said.
Lee had moved along the debate about both issues in his previous campaigns for sheriff, he said. “(Ferguson ) has not faced the issue of gangs, and he has not taken on the issue of immigration. … A former sheriff came out of his retirement and made issues of those, ” Lee said.
He had long urged the use of a provision of a law that allows local law-enforcement officers to train to assist with immigration enforcement, Lee said.
Ferguson had viewed the matter as a federal-government problem only until after he (Lee ) called attention to the relevant provision of the law, Lee charged.
Cradduck, who served in the Rogers Police Department, charged that Ferguson has not adequately addressed the problem of gangs. “(His assertion that he had addressed the gang issues is ) just not true, and if it was, we wouldn’t be up here discussing it, ” Cradduck said.
Cradduck talked about a gang member who had been identified and later killed an innocent man after committing another crime. “ That’s the problem: We don’t communicate, ” he said.
The abilities to manage and administer are both required of the county sheriff, but the position most requires leadership — leadership that he will provide if elected, Cradduck said.
Caris Smith, Craig Schatz, Kenneth Lepp and Daniel Oxford, all GOP candidates for county coroner, addressed the group, as did Bill Adams, Dave Bisbee, Chris Glass, Kevin Harrison and Greg Hines, all GOP candidates for county judge.
Another candidate for county judge, Democrat Bill Williams, was not present.
Gloria Spring Peterson, a GOP candidate for Benton County tax collector, also addressed the group. Another Republican candidate for tax collector, Tracy Sewell, was not present.
Partisan primary elections for both Republicans and Democrats will be held May 20.