The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/976608
The Press-Dispatch Election 2018 Wednesday, May 2, 2018 A- 9 By Andy Heuring The County Council race for District 2 has three candidates seeking the seat left open by two- term councilman Greg Mangin. Mangin took a job with the feder- al government, which doesn't al- low him to run for office. Charles Lemond, head sales and marketing for L AN Construction, real estate agent Shawn McGillem and former Petersburg Mayor Jon Craig, who is the business devel- opment manager for Midwest En- gineers Inc., have filed for the po- sition. JON CRAIG Craig is the business develop- ment manager for Midwestern En- gineers, Inc. A position he has held since 2013. He is also a former Pe- tersburg mayor. Craig and his wife, Cassie, live in the Alford area and have five children, Reid, Colin, Reagan, Cal- lie and Vivienne. He graduated from Pike Central and is a graduate of Indiana Uni- versity School of Public Adminis- tration, and holds several certifica- tions in municipal government. He also completed the Ball State eco- nomic development course. He served as mayor of Peters- burg for 10 years. "I personally put together the budgets every year, so I have a lot of experience balanc- ing between things that are man- dated or immediate needs and im- provement projects that are prior- ities for our community." "In my current job for Midwest- ern Engineers, I travel the state and help communities implement infrastructure and community de- velopment projects. I work daily in the realm of local government fi- nance." "I interact with funding and reg- ulatory agencies. The best part is getting to witness first hand best practices in local government from all over our state," said Craig. He added, "I also am privileged to serve on the Pike Economic Development Corp. as president of the board. So even since leav- ing municipal office, I have stayed very engaged in trying to make Pike County the absolute best it can be," said Craig. He said he is seeking office be- cause, "I care deeply about the fu- ture of this county and want to do everything I can to help the com- munity prosper. Every decision we face must be evaluated with the resident in mind. Sometimes those decisions aren't about what happens right now, they are about what it is going to happen in the future. I try to consider myself a problem solver and I think that be- ing a council member is about so much more than approving fund- ing requests; so much more than giving a thumbs up or down. It is about planning, prioritizing and finding solutions to obstacles." "I was a big proponent of plan- ning at Petersburg and I think we have seen a lot of good things hap- pen because of that," said Craig. "I consider myself fiscally con- servative, but being fiscally con- servative is much more about mak- ing strategic investment decisions that yield the best returns, more than it is about simply saving mon- ey. If you use your tax dollars ap- propriately, you can make great things happen and can create an environment that promotes private sector investment and job creation. If we couldn't afford something we needed, we looked for alternative funding and we would cut from one area to invest in another." "My biggest goals for the office are to promote good communica- tions and partnerships. I want to fully understand the goals and vi- sion for every county department. We have some great local officials and department heads. They know what they need to do to best serve our citizens. I respect our coun- ty employees. We should expect great service from them and do all we can to make local govern- ment better," said Craig. "I feel I'm experienced, quali- fied and engaged in this commu- nity. I will do my best to make de- cisions based on the best interest of future generations," said Craig on why people should vote for him. CHARLES LEMOND Lemond, of Otwell, is the head sales and marketing manager for L AN Construction. He and his wife of 36 years, Pam, have two adult children, Steven and Eliza- beth. Lemond is a member of the Otwell Wesleyan Church, where he is a trustee. He is also active with the Jefferson Township Ruri- tan and Dubois County Builders Association. He is the son of a career mili- tary man and graduated from high school in Clovis, N.M. "I have probably taken at least 20 courses on construction during my 43 years in the construction in- dustry," said Lemond. He said they ranged from management and fi- nancing for construction to work- ing concrete. "The construction industry changes constantly and you have to keep up," said Lemond. "I have been involved in the con- struction industry for 43 years. As a project manager, I under- stand what it is to meet and make budgets." "Just having a better vision for Pike and a vision for a better future for our children in Pike County," said Lemond about why he is run- ning for County Council. "Over the years, coal mining was a major source of revenue for Pike County, that has slowly gone away. We have to look at other op- tions to bring jobs back to Pike County. We have I-69 going right through our county. It opens a lot of opportunity to bring business in. That has to be focused on," said Lemond. He added, "I'm not a person that just goes with the flow. I'm that person who is going to make a de- cision based on facts. Those deci- sions have to be made with Pike County in mind, whether or not it is popular, it has to be the decision that is best for Pike County," said Lemond "I always lived by a saying I used for many years. 'If you aren't mov- ing forward, you are falling be- hind.' That applies to business and government." Lemond said people should vote for him because, "I'm a per- son with a new vision and new voice for Pike County. I don't just go with the flow. I will make deci- sions on what is best for Pike Coun- ty. I would appreciate your vote." SHAWN McGILLEM Shawn McGillem is a local real estate agent. Two weeks ago when contacted, he said he wasn't sure if he was going to pursue his candi- dacy. He repeated the same thing one week ago and since has not accepted or returned numerous phone calls and or texts. PIKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S RACE – REPUBLICANS PIKE COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2 Jon Craig Charles Lemond Shawn McGillem By Ed Cahill A retired state police trooper and a self-employed farmer are pit- ted against each other in the Re- publican primary for Pike Coun- ty Sheriff. Frank Coleman, Jr., who retired as a Master Trooper after 28 years with the Indiana State Police and serves as pastor at Ayrshire Gen- eral Baptist Church in Winslow; and Jeffrey Davis II, who oper- ates a 1,200 -acre farm near Bow- man with his father, Jeffrey Davis, Sr., are seeking to succeed current Pike County Sheriff Jeremy Brit- ton, a Democrat who has served two consecutive four-year terms and is term-limited. The last Republican to be elect- ed sheriff in Pike County was Bill Scales, who was elected in Novem- ber 1990 and served in the position from Jan. 1, 1991, through Dec. 31, 1994. JEFFREY DAVIS II The 28 -year-old Davis, a lifelong Pike County resident, graduated from Pike Central High School in 2008 and worked for the Indiana Department of Transportation for a little over one year before return- ing to help his father, Jeffrey, Sr., operate their farm, which current- ly runs about 70 head of cattle and a 2,000 -head hog operation. "There was a need for me to come back," Davis said. "So I went back to the farm." Davis and his fiancée, Megan Taylor, live in the Bowman Com- munity. They have two children, Baylin, 5, and Weston, 1-1/2. Davis is a member of the Winslow American Legion Post 115, the National Rifle Associa- tion, and American Bikers Aimed Toward Education (ABATE) of In- diana. He is also a member of the First United Methodist Church in Petersburg. Davis, who has served as Re- publican precinct committeeman for Madison Township for the past eight years, is making his first run for county-wide public office. "I've been wanting to do this for a while," Davis said. "I've always said I was going to run for sher- iff. This was a good opportunity." Davis said he knew that he want- ed to run for sheriff one day when he took an introduction to law en- forcement class as a high school senior. "I always said I was going to run for sheriff in 10 years," Davis said. "I told a guy that one time, and he was actually heading that law en- forcement class. He said, 'Davis, why are you doing this? You know you're going to be a farmer.' And I said, 'Well, I'd like to run for sher- iff one day.'" "He said, 'Why do you want to do that? ' I said, 'You know, to help people out.' I'm the guy that drives out in snowstorms with a tractor and pulls people out of ditches for free, cleans out driveways and nev- er asks for a thing. I just enjoy help- ing people. I really do. So it's just something I've always wanted to do." Davis feels that his lack of law enforcement experience – espe- cially when compared against that of his primary opponent, Cole- man – is not a factor in how well he could serve Pike County as sheriff. "People ask me, well, how am I going to do this without law en- forcement experience," Davis said. "I've got a chief deputy in mind. He's good and he's with law en- forcement currently. He's going to run that side and I'm going to run the business side of it, like a business." "That's what the sheriff does," Davis added. "He isn't really sup- posed to be going out enforcing the law. That's what the deputies are for. But I've got a chief deputy in mind. He's going to take care of the law enforcement side and I'm going to run it more like a busi- ness, the way it should be." Davis emphasized that he would be fiscally conservative if elected as sheriff. "We need to keep our deputies well-equipped with the taxpayers in mind," Davis said. "We've got to keep stuff within the budget and not overspend. There's some stuff that needs to be cut. And there's some stuff we need to put in there." One thing Davis would like to do as sheriff is to establish a recovery program at the jail. "They don't do that now," Davis said. "There are some other jails starting to do that. I think that'd be a good thing, and I've got a plan to do that without really costing the taxpayers any money." In addition, Davis said that the sheriff's office needed to be more "customer friendly." "They should be wanting to help the people," Davis said. "I've heard on this campaign trail that when people ask for something, it's like a pain in the butt to get them. People want to go up and talk to the sher- iff, but they can't talk to him. I'm not saying anything bad against Jeremy Britton. He's a good guy. But he's not available. I think you need to be available." "The sheriff's the top law en- forcement officer in the coun- ty," Davis added. "He's the advo- cate not just for the department, but he also represents the people, and that can always improve. You know, get out every day, talk to the people, and let them know you're working for them. People need to be seeing the sheriff out in the public. That can improve. That can always improve." Davis said that operating a farm successfully requires patience, which he believes is one of the ad- vantages he has over Coleman. "I'm running against Frank Coleman," Davis said. "I don't want to bash the guy too much; he's got me for experience, he really does. But I think I have the patience, and I think I have the common sense to run the department more than he does." "He had his chance to run for sheriff once before," Davis add- ed, referring to Coleman's unsuc- cessful bid against Britton in 2010. "He didn't get it done. I think the Republican party needs to look at me as the new option, to represent them in the fall. I can get it done." FRANK COLEMAN, JR. The 61-year-old Coleman grew up in Indianapolis, where he grad- uated from Decatur Central High School in 1976. He then went to Zion Bible Institute in East Provi- dence, R.I., and to Indiana Chris- tian University in Indianapolis, be- fore winding up at Oakland City University. While at OCU, Coleman began pastoring at the Iva Union Church near Otwell, where he met his wife, Beth (Kell). (They have now been married for 38 years, live in Peters- burg and have one son, Frank E. Coleman, and two grandsons.) Coleman first applied to join the Indiana State Police when he was 21 years old. "I tried eight times," Coleman recalled. "I became a profession- al applicant. I kept getting turned down. Of course, there were 5,000 people applying back then for 50 jobs, so it was very difficult. The odds were always against you." A fter being accepted and grad- uating from the State Police Acad- emy in November 1985, Coleman was assigned to the Evansville post. "So when we came down to the Evansville post, they assigned us to counties," Coleman said. "I was assigned to Pike County – and I've been here ever since." Over his 28 -year career with the Indiana State Police – during which he rose to the rank of Mas- ter Trooper – Coleman honed his investigative skills while special- izing in child molestation cases. "A lot of police officers don't like working those," Coleman said. "It seemed like, when they had one, the post would call me and say, 'Hey, could you meet with CPS, they have a child molesting case.'" "Over the years, I've guesstimat- ed that I've worked around 75 cas- es," Coleman added. "I had about a 98 percent confession rate – and that may be due to my pastoring experience. There were only two guys that I can remember that I couldn't get to confess, and one of them plead guilty – when we went to trial – to a different charge." "I don't want to say I enjoyed those," Coleman added. "Those were necessary things that some- body had to do, and I was good at doing it. I always felt like I was pro- tecting the children and standing in the gap for the children who couldn't protect themselves." Coleman is making his second bid for public office, having run un- opposed in the Republican prima- ry for sheriff in 2010 before losing to Britton in the general election by 900 votes. "There were two other candi- dates that I thought would be good candidates, and I was going to stay out of it," Coleman said of his de- cision to seek the office a second time. "When I heard these oth- er two candidates might run, I thought, okay, I'll stay out of it, and just support them. Well, they both dropped out. So, I thought, okay, maybe it's time for me to throw my hat in the ring and give it anoth- er shot." Coleman retired from the Indi- ana State Police in 2013, and was appointed as mayor of Petersburg in February 2014 to succeed Jon Craig, a position from which he subsequently resigned on Jan. 1, 2015. "I think I understand the pub- lic, maybe on a different level than most people, being a minister and being a policeman for all those years," Coleman said. "The may- or's office gave me a lot of valu- able experience as far as working with government – budgets, under- standing how all that worked to- gether, and working with the gen- eral public as the mayor, and un- derstanding, listening to their con- cerns." "I always had an open door pol- icy," Coleman added. "Anyone in the public could come in and have access to me as the mayor, and I would also do the same thing as the sheriff, because I feel like, all my life, I've been in a servant's role." Coleman said that, if elected sheriff, he intends to establish a command structure and demand that protocols be followed. "When that breaks down, you have everybody going their own directions and doing their own things," Coleman said. "I believe very much in a command struc- ture. Much like the military, you have the different ranks, and the guy at the bottom goes through a sergeant and the sergeant goes through a first sergeant and the first sergeant goes through the lieutenant." "I think that's kind of broken down at the sheriff's department, from what I've been hearing," Coleman continued. "I'm a very disciplined person, so I believe in discipline and following the rules and following the standard oper- ating procedures. Not that I'm a tyrant. But you have to have that type of structure in order to run an organization like the sheriff's department." Coleman said that he hoped that people consider him an honest and trustworthy individual. "My Christian background, be- ing a pastor, should bring people a sense of comfort that I will always do the right thing, and I'll be hon- est and forthcoming with them," Coleman said. "The other thing is that I have an array of experience, not just be- ing a trooper, but being the may- or and being a pastor," Coleman added. "All that combined makes me more qualified to do the job, I think, than anybody else running. And I really feel that down deep in my heart." Coleman promised that he would be very conservative when it comes to spending tax dollars. "I'm a very conservative person and I think Pike County is con- cerned about how tax dollars are being spent," Coleman said. "I'd be very conservative when spending their money, as well as spending mine. You know, I live here, too." "When I was the mayor, I looked over the budget," Coleman added. "I made some changes and saved some money. Sometimes it was just a few thousand dollars, but why spend a few thousand dollars if you don't have to? " er now, and we're running into improvements and projects like that, to keep moving forward," Johnson said. "The radio sys- tem's changed greatly from the time that I started as a police of- ficer. We have a good communi- cation network now. All the ven- dors that we use, we're constant- ly re-evaluating them to do what's best for the county, to get the best deal that we can for the county." "I think me and Jeremy have a great working relationship," John- son added. "When he's gone on vacation, or if he's out of the of- fice, and something comes up, I am the one that's left in charge, and I think that we've been doing a great job." Johnson said that one of the big- gest concerns that he hears while out campaigning is about speeding. "People go too fast, and we try to work on that," Johnson said. "We were given an area of con- cern just yesterday and sent one of our officers out, and he was able to make 11 traffic stops. So when they have a concern, we try to in- vestigate it, and then that concern is obviously validated. So we try to take care of the situation and take care of the community." Johnson said that community input was important to help the sheriff's office achieve its goal of serving and protecting the coun- ty's residents. "We have nine deputies – in- cluding the sheriff and myself – for the entire county," Johnson said. "When we have more eyes looking at different things, that gives us a broader scope. When you have the whole community in- volved, and they're making those tips, that's how we get some of the cases that we get, and we appre- ciate that." Johnson said he hopes that vot- ers take his background and ex- perience into account when they cast their ballots. "I would hope my character and the way I've served the communi- ty for the past 17 years – 14 as a deputy and three as a Petersburg police officer – have done that, and I attribute that entirely to the way that my mother raised me. I'm just thankful to be running for the position, and I hope that ev- eryone else sees it the same way that I do." Continued from page 8 SHERIFF Frank Coleman, Jr. Jeffrey Davis II