Sheriff's race should be most hotly contested

In what will probably be the most-watched contest in the June 6 primaries, two candidates are vying for the Lake County Sheriff's office, as incumbent Sheriff Bill Barron touts his years of experience and leadership, while his challenger, Sgt. Lucky Larson, is running on the platform that he has stronger ties to the community as a life-long resident.

Barron brings 27 total years of experience, including three and a half years as a city marshal in a small town in Eastern Montana, eight and a half years as deputy sheriff in Glacier and Lake counties, eight years as undersheriff in Glacier County, and has spent the past seven and a half years as Sheriff and coroner of Lake County, out of 24 years total experience as coroner.

Larson has been a Lake County Sheriff's deputy for 15 years, and is currently the school resource officer at Ronan High School. He was promoted to Sergeant, with supervisory duties over the county's three other SROs and the Lake County boat patrol, and is responsible for maintaining the office's training records for all Sheriff's employees.

In addition, he has served as a sniper on the county's Special Response Team, and has also worked as a diver. Larson graduated from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy and the nationwide anti-drug DARE program with honors, and has been awarded for his work with state driver's education programs implemented in local schools, he said. He was also responsible for helping to implement the Sheriff's Citizens Academy almost a decade ago.

Despite these accomplishments, Larson is quick to concede that Barron has more supervisory experience at a higher level, having served as Sheriff for the past two terms, but says he's ready to take on the responsibilities of the job.

"He's got more experience, I admit. People ask me, 'Why would you want to deal with all of that - being Sheriff?' But I want the issues, I want the budget, I want to work with the county commissioners, I want to deal with the public," Larson said. "I really want to tackle that. I know I can do a good job with that. I wouldn't be spending all this time running if I didn't think I could do the job."

Barron acknowledges that Larson's longstanding ties to the community could be attractive to voters, but says his accomplishments as Sheriff speak for themselves. Barron says he's brought a higher sense of professionalism to the office, added more deputies at minimal expense to taxpayers, helped the office work through a costly federal court order and expanded the amount of inmates the county could accommodate, and has improved relationships with Tribal and city law enforcement agencies.

"I've raised the number of deputies from 16 to 22, and the county has only had to pick up the cost of two of those. When I took office we only had one school resource officer, and now we have four. We now have a detective that specializes in domestic violence cases. We've been able to do this mainly by working through grants," Barron said. "People ask me, 'Well, what happens when the grant runs out?' I don't always know, but I do know if we didn't have the grant we wouldn't have those people at all."

But Barron's recent tenure has not been without some negative publicity along the way - issues he doesn't shy away from discussing. He's had to fire one deputy who, facing an addiction to pain medication stemming from a severe beating he took while on the job, was caught taking prescription drugs while working as a coroner; another deputy who was charged with, although not convicted of, partner/family member assault in another county; and a school resource officer who was caught looking at pornographic Web sites while using school computers.

In all of these instances Barron has brought the arrests to the attention of local media in a prompt manner, emphasizing that he believes in accountability in public office. He said he can understand why some voters might hold that against his administration - he hired two of the three deputies involved - but said he's never tried to minimize or cover-up the arrests, and that he's made every effort to hold those former deputies accountable.

"All of these situations are the same kind of problems that are faced by our community. Law enforcement is not exempt from those kinds of problems," Barron said. "We try to find people without those kinds of problems, but law enforcement is not exempt."

Larson has not mentioned any of these situations during his campaign, and declined to comment on whether they would be a factor in the election, saying he doesn't want to be perceived as running a smear campaign and noting he had nothing to do with any of the investigations involved. He said he wants to run on his accomplishments, his reputation and his ties to the community.

"Numerous people have asked me what I'm going to do to make this office better, and I've never put down Bill Barron. I'm not running a 'bad' campaign and I've never said anything bad about the Sheriff's office. I'm going to win this thing or lose this thing on Lucky Larson - on what I bring to the community, what my family and I stand for," Larson said.

Barron is running on the things he accomplished over the past seven and a half years in office.

Barron took office around the time a federal court order was imposed on the county, mandating that it cut the inmate capacity to 26. The court order stemmed from a wrongful-death lawsuit in which an inmate, who had been arrested for DUI, was beaten to death by another one who was a convicted rapist, and ultimately, a murderer.

"Before the lawsuit they just stacked them [inmates] in there. The lawsuit was based on not having correct records and inmate classification, and after the court order came, they cut [the jail capacity] to 26 beds. It was making it difficult to get inmates in there," Barron said. "The court order was costing the taxpayers a lot of money, but we were able to get that overturned and get the bed space increased from 26 to 42."

Barron said he's also been responsible for ensuring deputies and detectives are better trained in a greater number of areas, to serve in more capacities, and that he's helped reduce the county's drug problem as Sheriff.

"Using a government formula, in 1999, there was a $13.1 million, countywide drug problem, and now, as of 2005, it was down to $8.9 million," he said, noting that figure includes incarceration, prosecution, treatment and drug-interdiction efforts. "We still have a huge problem, but we are aggressively working at reducing that."

While Larson doesn't have as many administrative accomplishments to list, not having served in a Sheriff's capacity, he has much stronger ties to the community because he was born and raised here, and has an extensively family history here. He has a strong background in youth baseball and softball, among many areas his family is involved in, and he has also been the football coach for Ronan High School. The Ronan Invitational baseball tourney taking place this month was started as the Russ Curran/Orville Larson tourney years ago in honor of Larson's father and one of his childhood friends.

Barron serves on the board for the Boys and Girls Club, and is active in the Flathead Reservation Coalition for Kids. He said one of his proudest accomplishments was having a countywide curfew implemented a couple years ago in the wake of the deaths of two young teenage boys who passed out in a field and ultimately froze to death.

Larson said he's been up front about his desire to run for Sheriff — a goal he had 15 years ago when he began working as a deputy. He sees the job as a good career step for him and his family - his wife of 21 years, Teresa, and son Brandon and daughter Kaylee — but also a way to better serve the community.

"I made a decision 15 years ago when I started this job that I wanted to be Sheriff of this county. There was never any secrets that I wanted to run for Sheriff, and for the past 15 years that was my goal. I really hope that plans go through to better my life, for my family and for this community," Larson said.

He said he talked to Barron eight years ago about his desire to run, and reiterated that four years ago, and Barron confirmed that, saying he's tried to make the best of what could have been a rather sticky working relationship.

"In my career, I've been through six Sheriff's elections in different ways. I've seen fistfights in the office," Barron said, referring to races in other counties. "But I believe in our right to run for office. Lucky and I have talked a lot. I knew four years ago that he was going to run. I've talked to my staff and said, 'Hey, this is his right, and there won't be any interference with that.'"

Barron noted he promoted Larson to Sergeant after Larson announced his intention to run, saying that he felt Larson was the right person to take over administration of the school resource officers and other expanded duties. Barron said if he wins the election, there will be no hard feelings between him and Larson.

"I guarantee that Lucky's status will only get better. I've always tried to promote him in what he's done in the office. When I put him in the SRO position, some of my supporters said, 'Don't do that - he's going to run for office,'" Barron said. "But I do what's best for the office and I thought he was the best person for the job."

Larson said he's taken pains to avoid causing any conflict among his co-workers, too, and has avoided pressuring them to pick one side or the other. He said he doesn't believe that would create a good work environment.

"I've never asked any of the other deputies to support me. They are going to pick who they think is the best person," Larson said. "Win or lose, I'm running on me, on who I am."

Both Barron and Larson say the election will come down to whether voters pick experience or hometown origins. Barron acknowledges that Larson has the upper hand in terms of ties to the community, but said he has his heart in Lake County, too.

"If I lose, I'm still staying in this area. I couldn't imagine leaving. I spent almost every summer here when I was a kid, and I've built houses on Finley Point. I might not have lived her as long as Lucky, but my heart's been here," Barron said. "Law enforcement has been my life. It's been a calling for me, and I couldn't imagine not doing it."

"I'm definitely campaigning on the fact that I'm home grown, and that I've lived here all my life. My grandparents and parents are buried in Lake County, and I plan on being buried right next to them," Larson said. "I'm not going away. I'm staying right here. That's who I am."