The Press-Dispatch
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A-8 Wednesday, May 2, 2018 The Press-Dispatch ELECTION 2018 PIKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S RACE – DEMOCRATS By Ed Cahill A former FBI agent and two long-time deputies are pitted against each other in the Dem- ocratic primary for Pike County Sheriff. John Bellamy, who worked out of the FBI's Miami field office for seven years and has been self-em- ployed as a homeland security specialist for the past 14 years; Brad Jenkins, who has been em- ployed as a deputy with the Pike County Sheriff's Office for 24 years; and Kent Johnson, who has been employed as a deputy with the Pike County Sheriff's Office for 14 years – including the last five as chief deputy – are all seek- ing to succeed current Pike Coun- ty Sheriff Jeremy Britton, who has served two consecutive four-year terms and is term-limited. JOHN BELLAMY A fter graduating from Pike Central High School in 1979, the 57-year-old Bellamy received a chemical engineering degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute and spent several years working in private industry before deciding to pursue a career in law enforce- ment. In 1997, Bellamy was select- ed to go to the FBI Academy. "They only accept, I think, less than two percent of applicants, that want to attend the FBI Acad- emy, so I felt very fortunate to be selected," Bellamy said. Bellamy was subsequently as- signed to the FBI's Miami field office. "I was certified as an FBI bomb technician," Bellamy said. "I was also certified as a hazardous mate- rials technician, so I could assume the leadership role as the hazard- ous materials response team lead- er for the FBI's Miami field office. There were many other training courses that the FBI sent me to on how to deal with various types of threats – toxic chemical threats, biological agents, radioactive ma- terials, and, of course, explosive materials and devices." During his seven-year stint with the FBI, Bellamy said that he was faced with a variety of chal- lenges. "The best experience is real world experience, and I've had a significant amount of situations – life-threatening situations – that I've had to lead, to conduct threat assessments, to evaluate the risks to individuals and to communi- ties, and work with other agencies to mitigate those risks and reduce those threats or eliminate those threats to the community," Bella- my said. "That could include threats from people wanted for murder that are hiding out in a commu- nity or trying to escape the coun- try, and conducting surveillance and arresting individuals," Bella- my added. "For instance, in one case that I worked, we conduct- ed surveillance of and arrested an individual that was purchas- ing weapons and shipping those weapons to an overseas terrorist organization – basically helping protect communities against var- ious types of threats." Bellamy also led the FBI's ini- tial investigation into the anthrax attacks that occurred shortly af- ter the terrorist attacks of Sept. 9, 2001. "We conducted a threat assess- ment, evaluated the risk to the community and worked with oth- ers to determine that anthrax had been introduced into the commu- nity via the mail system," Bellamy said. "So, working with others, we were able to help protect people." A fter serving in the FBI for seven years, Bellamy started his own homeland security company to provide consultant assistance to sheriffs' offices, police depart- ments and other emergency re- sponse agencies across the coun- try. "I wanted the freedom to be able to work with law enforcement agencies and other emergency re- sponse agencies across the coun- try, to provide consulting assis- tance to them and help them pro- tect their communities from the many types of threats that we face today," Bellamy said. Bellamy, who moved back to Winslow in 2014, is making his first bid for public office. "I'd been considering running for sheriff in the past," Bellamy said. "I just feel like it's the right time to use my experience to help give kids a safe place to live and a safe place to learn at school. I want to use my skills and experi- ence to help protect our commu- nity against the many types of threats that would hurt our fam- ilies." Bellamy said that one thing he would do, if elected, would be to look for ways to improve the sher- iff's office. "Some of my goals would in- clude working with sheriff's of- fice personnel to go through some of the standing operating proce- dures and try to update or modi- fy those procedures where neces- sary, to help protect the deputies and jailers and others from injury in dealing with inmates and those types of things," Bellamy said. "I also would like to go through the sheriff's office budget to see where there's areas we could save," Bellamy continued. "One of my ideas is to conduct annual competitive bids for outside ven- dors that supply the sheriff's of- fice with goods and services. I think that can help reduce some costs for the sheriff's office." Bellamy said that saying that there were ways to improve is, by no means, a criticism of how the Pike County Sheriff's Office is currently operated. "I've worked with a lot of sher- iff's offices and police depart- ments and other public service agencies across the country" Bellamy said. "There's nothing unique about the ability to im- prove plans and procedures, be- cause even the largest communi- ties with the biggest budgets have areas that they need to improve on, in their plans, in their train- ing, in their ability to respond ef- ficiently to emergencies." Bellamy said that many of the individuals that he has spoken to before the election seem to be impressed that someone with his background would run for sheriff. "I think they're pleasantly sur- prised to have someone with my experience running for sheriff in a rural county such as Pike Coun- ty," Bellamy said. "And, of course, the reason is because I live here. I was born and raised here." "I guess you could say a lot of rural counties or communities may not have someone that has the experience that I have actual- ly living in their community that would be willing to run for sher- iff," Bellamy added. "So people have been pleasantly surprised that I'm willing to run for sheriff, and to share my experience with the community." Bellamy said that his 21 years of experience – seven with the FBI and 14 as a homeland secu- rity consultant – has given him a unique ability to identify the ma- ny kinds of threats that can nega- tively impact Pike County. "My experience has given me the ability to protect our families from those threats," Bellamy said. "I have a proven track record of being able to lead, and work close- ly with others to solve problems." "I'll also treat everyone with fairness and respect and be avail- able to everyone to listen to their concerns about public safety," Bel- lamy added. "I value people's in- put and their concerns about their safety. I'll endeavor to make Pike County a place where we can live in peace and safety with our fam- ilies." BRAD JENKINS The 57-year-old Jenkins, who graduated from Pike Central High School in 1979, is making his sec- ond bid for public office after los- ing to Britton in the Democratic primary by 418 votes in 2010. "I've just always wanted to be sheriff," said Jenkins. "I think I can improve on some things, and I just thought this would be a good time." Jenkins and his wife of almost 40 years, Jackie, reside in Peters- burg. They have two children – Megan Willis, also of Petersburg, and Matthew, who serves in the U.S. Air Force and currently re- sides in Arizona – and six grand- children. Jenkins, who attends the First Christian Church of Petersburg, worked as a crew leader for a com- munity action organization for ap- proximately 10 years repairing homes. He served as a reserve office for three years before attending the Indiana Law Enforcement Acad- emy in 1991. He then served four years as an officer with the Pe- tersburg Police Department be- fore joining the sheriff's office as a road deputy. "I believe I can do it," Jenkins said of the sheriff's position. "I don't see a problem, anyway. I've been around the jail and its work- ings for, well, ever since we've had the new jail. My son-in-law's a jailer, so I kind of know a little bit about a lot of stuff going on there." "As far as the budget goes, I believe that I can do the budget okay," Jenkins continued. "I think I can handle everything. I don't think there's anything that I can foresee that would cause me a problem." Jenkins noted that he had worked for three different sheriffs – Jeff Clements, Todd Meadors and Britton – over the past 24 years as a deputy. "I've just done it for so long, I'd just like a chance to try some of my ideas, and go along with some of the other sheriffs' ideas," Jen- kins said. "They all had good ideas and they all had some that I didn't think were so good. I think that I could take the good ideas and put them with my ideas, which I think are good ideas, and just try to im- prove on things." If elected, Jenkins said that he would bring a different perspec- tive to the office. "I'd like to improve on the re- serves," Jenkins said. "I'd like to see more community involvement with the sheriff's office, and gen- eral stuff like that." Jenkins said that adding more reserve officers would help the pe- rennially understaffed sheriff's of- fice serve the public at little addi- tional cost. "Reserves are people that vol- unteer their time, so it doesn't cost the county any money, oth- er than a uniform," Jenkins said. "You train them to do what you want them to do. You wouldn't send them out to something seri- ous, but, say, you've got prowlers or you have speeders and stuff, you could let them go out and drive around a neighborhood in a marked car, set them on the road where there's speeders." "It all depends on the person and how well they do when you train them," Jenkins added. "If you've got something that you need more than one officer on, like a wreck or something, they can come out, instead of having to call a full-time officer out or tie up another officer. There's just a lot of things that they would be handy for." Jenkins said that, as far as he knew, the sheriff's office current- ly has only three reserve officers. "I'd like to see more," Jenkins said. "I think we had upwards of 10. At one time, the officers were picked out of the reserves. A lot of us older officers were hired from the reserves." Jenkins said that, as sheriff, he would continue to fight the coun- ty's drug problem. "I always did think drugs were a problem in Pike County – it just changes as to what it is at the time," Jenkins said. "Meth is pret- ty prevalent. There's some hero- in coming in now. You don't hear as much about bath salts or K-2 much now. It's still around, but it's nothing like it was. So drugs are always a problem." "I'm big on kids' safety, too," Jenkins added. "I've got grand- kids in the elementary school and in the high school both. So that's always a concern of mine, anything that can be done to help out there." Jenkins said that while the Pike County School Corporation is spending close to $1 million to install a state-of-the-art security system in all its schools, having law enforcement officers in each building was a necessity to pro- tect students, teachers and ad- ministrators. "I think no matter what kind of security things they have in the school, I believe that an officer still needs to be in the school," Jenkins said. "The other things will pretty much let you know something's go- ing on, but it's going to take an of- ficer there to stop it." "School shootings don't last very long," Jenkins added. "Peo- ple don't realize it, but they're over pretty fast, and you just need somebody there to take care of it at the time." Jenkins said that he would like to see the sheriff's office get more involved with the community. "I know we have D.A.R.E. and things, but I'd like to see a little more community involvement," Jenkins said. "I think the sheriff's office should be open to the pub- lic, as far as if they want to come up there and talk to an officer, or the sheriff. I think that should be available to them." Jenkins said that he would ap- preciate every vote he gets. "I'll be more than happy to talk to anybody about anything," Jen- kins concluded. KENT JOHNSON A fter graduating from Pike Central High School in 1988, Johnson attended Vincennes Uni- versity for half a semester before joining the U.S. Navy. During his 10 -year stint, John- son was involved in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Des- ert Shield. He served as a mili- tary policeman for seven years – including three years as a canine handler – before being honorably discharged in 1998, then going to work as a loss prevention special- ist for Walmart. Johnson joined the Pike County Sheriff's Office as a jailer in 2002, then – after attending the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy – be- came a city police officer. He was hired as a sheriff's deputy in Jan- uary 2005. Johnson, who has been married to his wife, Lori, for 27 years, lives in Petersburg. They have two chil- dren: 24-year-old son, Beau; and 14-year-old daughter, Laney. Johnson serves as president of the Prides Creek Golf Course men's league, and is a member of the Commercial League at the King Pin Bowling Center in Wash- ington. He is also a member of the Indiana Sheriff's Association – serving on its legislative commit- tee for the past four years – and the National Sheriff's Association. Johnson, who is making his first run for public office, said that he decided he wanted to be sheriff soon after Britton appointed him as chief deputy. "When Jeremy appointed me chief deputy and I started seeing the day-to-day handling of the administration, budgeting, and those things, the supervision and everything it takes, I knew instantly that would be some- thing I would be very interested in," Johnson said. "Once I saw how everything was running and what it takes to run the office of sheriff, the jail and the deputies, I was in- spired to do what I could and see how I could match up in following in Jeremy's shoes." Johnson said that, during his five years as chief deputy, he had been involved – along with Britton – in making day-to-day decisions and dealing with the Pike Coun- ty Council and the Pike County Commission. "In helping Jeremy with the budget for the last four years, I feel like I already know that part of it," Johnson said. "We've worked well with the Council. We've worked well with the Commissioners and all the office holders that are al- ready here. So I know the inner workings of the local government, and I feel that's extremely import- ant. Not everybody agrees with everything all the time, but you still have to work toward the com- mon goal, and that's to protect the community." Johnson, who has served as the county's D.A.R.E. officer for the past four years, said that his expe- rience as a jailer helped him learn how to deal with situations both inside the jail and outside. "I know what it takes to deal with the inmates on a day-to- day basis, and to treat them like they're supposed to be treat- ed," Johnson said. "I think that's helped me out on the road, when I was a police officer, first and fore- most, and then as a deputy and now as chief deputy." "When you treat people the way you want to be treated, a lot of times you get that reciprocated, and that's very important," John- son added. "Somebody can come in and disagree with what we're doing in a certain situation, and I respect their opinion, but we're going to do things the best and most professional way that we can at the Pike County Sheriff's Office to handle any situation." Johnson said that his goal, if elected, will be to keep the sher- iff's office moving forward. "I think, technology-wise, at the sheriff's office, our jail is old- COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 2 By Andy Heuring The race for the Democrat nom- ination for County Commissioner District 2 is between two newcom- ers to politics. Truck driver Steve Vian and Heath Scraper are run- ning for the nomination. The win- ner will face Republican Mark Flint, who previously served in District 1 before moving from Al- ford to Petersburg into a different commissioner district. The three are seeking to replace Brian Davis, who chose not to seek re-election. HEATH SCRAPER Heath Scraper declined an inter- view with The Press-Dispatch, say- ing, "I don't think I need to right now." STEVEN R. VIAN Steven R. Vian, of rural Peters- burg, is a truck driver for USF Hol- land. He and his wife, Brenda, have three daughters, Melissa, Heather and Ginger. A graduate of Marion High School, he is a member of the Union Volunteer Fire Department, recently completing his training as a fireman. Vian shrugs off his lack of po- litical experience, saying, "A lot of people don't have experience." He said he is running for com- missioner because he wants to help the people in Pike County and the county itself. "I want to try to get the county to grow. You have to take care of your county first before you can bring jobs in." He added, a prospective company doesn't want to see a lot of problems in a county in which they are looking to locate. Vian listed several goals he would like to see accomplished. "Control the budget. We need to get it back under control. They wasted money and bought a truck, and it is just sitting in a barn," said Vian. "I want to make the highway department better." "We have a lot of roads that need work. We have some roads that are in bad shape." He also said he wanted to ad- dress problems with reception in certain remote areas of Pike Coun- ty on emergency radios. "We (fire- fighters) carry walkies and pag- ers, and you get into certain parts of the county and they don't get out." "I don't know if the jail is over- populated, but I would like to look into that. I would get with the sher- iff and see if they have problems and try to help out the Sheriff and county." Vian said people should vote for him because, "I'm a bipartisan person. I will listen and work with both parties and everybody. I will sit down and try to get everyone to work to get as one. We have to work together, the community and county. We need to give people a reason why to live in Pike County." Kent Johnson John Bellamy Brad Jenkins Heath Scraper Steven R. Vian See SHERIFF on page 9