Democrats to pick
sheriff Saturday
Nine candidates court committee
votes to succeed Ronald Hewett
By Lisa P. Stites
Staff Writer
The local Democratic executive committee will meet Thursday night and decide how it’s going to pick a sheriff on Saturday.
Brunswick County Democratic Party chairman Vernon Ward said the committee must decide how to actually conduct the balloting, whether candidates with the fewest votes will be dropped one at a time, or if some other method will be used. Ward said three people not on the executive committee would be tasked with counting the vote.
The Democratic executive committee will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday to vote for someone to replace former sheriff Ronald Hewett, who resigned after he was suspended from office. Hewett was indicted on four felony charges in Brunswick County, and a federal investigation is ongoing.
As of Tuesday morning, nine people had told Ward they are interested in the job. They are: Southport police chief Jerry Dove, former Southport police chief Walton Willis, Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Kyle Jones, Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy John (Bill) Ingram, board of elections chairman Willie Sloan, retired magistrate Elizabeth (Rendy) Lewis, N.C. Justice Academy training coordinator Jennifer Judah Fisher, magistrate Doug Todd and retired U.S. marshal’s employee Carlton Ebhardt.
Once the party picks a name, that name is forwarded to county commissioners for appointment.
More than 180 people work for the sheriff’s department and detention center. Last year, the sheriff’s department’s share of the county budget was $8.2 million and this year’s request exceeds $9 million.
Rules of procedure
Ward said candidates for the position would each have five minutes to address the group. Committee members will then have a 30-minute meet-and-greet session with the candidates. Only committee members will be able to ask the candidates questions during that period, Ward said.
Registration for executive committee members begins at 8:30 Saturday morning and members are encouraged to arrive early, according to a release from Ward.
There will be a minimum of 105 eligible voters. All elected officials who are Democrats will have one vote each, as will officers of the executive committee,
Young Democrats, Democratic Women and Democratic Men’s Club.
Precincts will vote the number of votes determined by the voter abstract for the 2004 general election based on one vote for each 100 votes for the Democrat governor rounded to the nearest whole number. This report was filed with the N.C. Board of Elections and the Brunswick County Clerk of Court.
The public is invited to attend, but will not have a vote or be able to ask questions.
One candidate for the job is apparently facing some opposition in the county, with stories about federal indictments and unpaid taxes being circulated.
Willie Sloan owns 27.76 acres with Louie Bobby Brown on Chappell Loop Road, and the property taxes were unpaid since 2001, according to the county tax department website. The outstanding taxes, totaling $6,448.16 including penalties and fees, was paid Tuesday morning, tax collector Ken Perry confirmed.
Sloan said he was unaware the taxes hadn’t been paid and that he thought Brown was handling it. Once he became aware of the situation, Sloan said he called Brown, and Brown took care of the bill.
While Sloan was president of the International Longshoreman Union of Wilmington he was indicted in 1993 on embezzlement of union funds, mail fraud and accepting payments from an employer in violation of the Taft-Hartley Act. Some of the embezzlement charges were dismissed, and the remainder of the case ended in mistrial. Sloan appealed the judge’s decision to retry the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals and the lower court’s decision was reversed. Sloan was not tried again on the charges. |
