Allegheny Mountain Radio hosted Candidate Forums for the county and state election. Pocahontas County Sheriff candidates answered six questions asked by AMR Pocahontas County reporter Tim Walker and The Pocahontas Times reporter Suzanne Stewart.
Candidates began with an opening statement:
Question #1: Why do you want to sheriff of Pocahontas County?
Question #2: What experience and education do you have that would make you a better sheriff than your opponents?
Question #3: What do you see as the most positive thing about the way the Sheriff’s Department is currently operating, and what is the weakest thing that you believe needs to be changed?
Question #4: If it came to your attention that one of your most trusted deputies, a friend of yours, helped himself or herself to an item worth perhaps $2 from a store shelf while searching a closed store after finding an unsecured door, how would you, as sheriff, handle that?
Question #5: How much discretion would you allow a deputy to exercise during a routine minor offense traffic stop for speeding, and would you consider a similar use of discretion appropriate if the traffic stop was for a DUI.
Question #6: If you could institute only one major new policy at the Sheriff’s Department, what would it be?
Closing Statements: