WHITE CO.—Talk about your hard choices.
Most of the time, voters in southern Illinois bewail and lament the fact that there is such a lack of good selection on their ballots for the offices up for election every season.
In White County, however, they have two GOOD choices for sheriff: An incumbent with a good record, and a former sheriff with an equally-good record.
In fact, the former, Jerry O’Neal, was the boss of the current, Doug Maier, years ago before O’Neal opted to sit out the next several election cycles, ultimately opening Rock Bottom Liquors and fuel in an old Huck’s location on Illinois 1 through Carmi.
Both sheriff’s candidates say it’s “different” running against each other, but the general consensus among voters in White County is that it’s going to be an interesting race, and in this case, there’ll be no losers: the winners will be the people of White County, no matter which way it goes.
Maier
Maier, 58, is the Republican candidate.
Maier has been sheriff in White County since 2002. He’s been a deputy 21 years in White County prior to ascending to sheriff, and before that, he was deputy then chief deputy in neighboring Wabash County to the north, from 1978 to 1981.
Maier noted that the biggest change in the way sheriff departments do business over the years is the “huge difference in the drug problem.
“It’s caused us to be more pro-active,” Maier told Disclosure. “We have a more targeted approach to some of these cases, and make efforts to stop some of the drug activity before it has a chance to get a foothold, get started.”
Maier credits the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force with a lot of hard work, and is grateful to have them at White County’s disposal, stating that the White County deputies know the areas of known and potential drug activity, and can guide and direct SIDTF agents to them, creating a very effective roadblock in trafficking in the county.
Maier also addressed the number of murders that have occurred since he’s been sheriff, including those committed by Kelly Winkleman (2004), Gary Pate (2006), Danny Coston (2012) and Thomas Matthew Davidson (2013). All of these were successfully prosecuted, and all are sitting in DOC serving extensive sentences.
Maier’s department, working with Illinois State Police, were greatly lauded during the investigations of these murders. Yet Maier modestly attributes the successes of his department to training and communication with the public, stating that he’s a very “hands-on” sheriff and that he doesn’t expect his people to do what he wouldn’t, so it’s a leadership-by-example thing…and it works.
O’Neal
Perhaps Maier obtained some of that hands-on acumen from his previous boss and now challenger for the office, O’Neal.
O’Neal, 65, was sheriff from 1990-2002 in White County. He considers himself an “old-time” sheriff, and says he gets a great deal of satisfaction from dealing with the public in a manner that helps them, something he believes is a sheriff’s number one responsibility.
“When you go home after helping the public, you feel good about it,” O’Neal said.
He acknowledges the new difficulties facing rural, downstate Illinois counties that emerged during his last couple of years in office—namely, meth.
“It was on the upswing at about the time I was getting out of law enforcement,” O’Neal said. “So I want people to know that I’m aware of it, and that if I’m elected, I’m going to keep the department vigilant on it. We want people to feel secure here in White County.”
O’Neal rightly touts his knowledge of law enforcement administration, a crucial element when running the office of county sheriff; while at the same time attributing the success of his business, Rock Bottom, to his wife Sandy.
“But I’m pretty good at administration,” he said with a laugh.
O’Neal addressed the issues of concealed carry (“I’m okay with that!” O’Neal said reassuringly) and medical marijuana (“It’s the law, so there’s nothing you can do about it,” O’Neal said, “but any other drug, I’m not going to tolerate it.”)
Both candidates have the backing of their constituents, with many Disclosure questioned about it over many months, stating they were still undecided as to “Doug or Jerry,” but with the overall input that whichever way the vote goes, they’ll be happy with it.
Other ballot issues few
There is one other race in White County voters will be deciding on the local level: that of county treasurer. There, Democrat Kari Starks faces off with Republican Pamela Myers Armstrong.
County board candidates David Dosher, Republican in District 1; and Wes Trout, Republican in District 5, are both running unopposed, as is county clerk, Democrat Paula Dozier.
And the only ballot question facing White voters is that of a sales tax on retailers and service, at a rate of 1 percent, to be used exclusively for school facility purposes in White County.