Pubdate: Fri, 14 Dec 2001
Source: Greensboro News & Record (NC)
Copyright: 2001 Greensboro News & Record, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.news-record.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/173
Author: Tom Steadman

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.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom