To the Editor:

Re: the Sheriff’s portion of the candidate night at the Mt. Vernon Grange last week:

1. Mr. Durr stated that he would run a more professional department. That is his opinion of himself. I can’t verify that since I have not seen him in action. Neither can most of you voters. Also was he inferring that Sheriff Palmer is not operating the department professionally?

2. Mr. Durr and Sheriff Palmer both have law enforcement work experience. They just gained their experience from different avenues.

3. Someone in the audience degraded Sheriff Palmer’s budget experience when he was the John Day Fire Department chief because he wasn’t managing very much money. It is not how much money a person manages; it is how a person manages the money for which he/she is responsible that is important.

Having been Sheriff Palmer’s predecessor as John Day’s fire chief, I can tell you that it is not easy to convince someone who does not understand the mechanics of your department as to how much money is needed to maintain and equip a department effectively.

4. Mr. Durr said he could work with the county court better than Sheriff Palmer. Maybe or maybe not. The difficulties that Sheriff Palmer had with Judge Webb and the County Court occurred the first year Mr. Webb was county judge. My vote helped to elect Judge Webb who stated that he was not going to micromanage any department. The case in point is the county court’s decision to cut the emergency service planner position. Sheriff Palmer requested a meeting to discuss cutting this position. The county court cut the position without meeting with him. I would hope that after this example of micromanagement and its conflict, it has taught all parties that they need to work together.

5. Sheriff Palmer now has eight years experience in budgeting for and operating the Sheriff’s Department during a time of economic hardship worse than any of his predecessors ever experienced. It looks like the economy may get worse before it gets better. Mr. Durr has no experience at managing a department of this magnitude.

Let’s keep Sheriff Palmer, who has stayed within his budget five out of the eight years that he has been in office. The three years that he overran his budget were the result of conditions outside of everyone’s control.

As we the voters consider who to vote into office as sheriff, we need to decide whether we want to re-elect Sheriff Palmer who has eight years experience managing the sheriff’s department or if we want to start over with someone who has little management or budget experience. I hope this decision won’t be made lightly.

Sandra Sutton

John Day