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Mineral County sheriff candidates tackle issues
Law enforcement or tax collection?
The candidates for Mineral County sheriff have some varying opinions on what the main emphasis of the office should be, but they all agree on one important issue: They need to maintain accountability for the office.
Democratic candidates Pat Amoroso, Craig Fraley, Ringo Nelson and Frank Smith will be facing each other in the May 13 primary election, with the winner earning a spot on the November ballot against Republican candidate Paul Sabin.
“We must be accountable to the taxpayers in each and every aspect of our duties,” Amoroso said.
“Although I believe the deputies are doing a good job, there is a need for more presence of the law enforcement deputies throughout the outlying areas of the county in order to deter crime and provide for a quicker response to citizens’ complaints,” he said.
“A proactive approach, instead of reactive, is a must.”
Amoroso also hopes to develop a more amicable relationship between the sheriff’s office and other agencies, “especially the county commissioners.
“The continued bickering between the sheriff and the commission depicts nothing more than a negative impression to the citizens of our county,” he said.
Amoroso also plans to “ensure that daily transactions of the tax department are reconciled each and every day.”
An industrial security officer at NewPage and a Piedmont City Councilman, Amoroso served as a deputy under Sheriff Jerry Detrick for eight years and Sheriff Marshal Nield fro one year, and was a Piedmont police officer for three years.
He is a 1981 graduate of the West Virginia State Police Academy, earning 13 credit hours toward a degree in criminal justice through Marshall University. He also completed studies in Principals of Supervision and Management, search and seizure laws and various law enforcement in-service classes at Potomac State College, as well as criminal justice classes taught by the FBI at the Mineral County Technical Center.
He has also been an emergency services provider for the past 40 years — 38 years with the Tri-Towns Fire Company of Piedmont. For 25 of those years, he served as chief and treasurer.
According to Fraley, the sheriff has four main duties to which he must devote his time.
“If you read the West Virginia law, it states the sheriff is the keeper of the jail, the collector of taxes, the arm of the court and the highest ranking law enforcement officer in his jurisdiction, excluding the prosecuting attorney,” he said.
As the keeper of the jail, Fraley said the sheriff is “in charge of all prisoners, all transports, juveniles, etc.,” and as the arm of the court, he “is to be the bailiff for all legal matters pertaining to the court.
“Recently, we’ve gotten away from a lot of these things that the code says we should be doing,” he said, adding that if he is elected, the sheriff’s department “will continue to do law enforcement and also provide a broader coverage over the county by maximizing our manpower.”
He, too, says accountability is a must.
“We definitely need to be more accountable in the tax office. We need to make sure deposits get to the bank and are not lost,” he said.
“We need to get everybody working and working together ... in the sheriff’s office and outside the office,” he added.
Fraley, who currently serves as the resource officer at Keyser High School, became a deputy sheriff in 1989 and has served under four different sheriffs.
He has been a member of the Mineral County Drug Task Force since 1990, and is currently the only certified D.A.R.E. instructor for Mineral County.
He is a 1989 graduate of the West Virginia State Police Academy. In 1990, he received a letter of commendation for service from the Mineral County Commission, and was honored as the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 111 Officer of the Year in 1994 and West Virginia D.A.R. E. Officer of the Year for 1995-1996.
In 2001, he received a commendation from West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise for volunteer service to the state.
Fraley is past president of the Mineral County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and current president of the Raymond E. Dawson Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 111.
According to Nelson: “The big problem with the sheriff’s department is they have gone over budget and when you go over budget, it affects other agencies, such as the library and Minco Park.
“It’s nice to have nice things for the deputies, but you have to realize we don’t make that kind of money,” he said.
“Our system at the jail has had many mistakes and our local and federal government are so corrupted.
“These are the things we need to clean up first,” he said.
Nelson also cites the need for jobs and a center for youths as two areas he hopes to improve if he is elected sheriff.
“The kids have no place to hang out or to go at night,” he said, noting that a lack of activities often causes the young people to get into crime.
A native of Shaw, Nelson currently lives in Elk Garden. He is retired from General Motors, and was a special police officer for two years, having been bonded and permitted to carry a gun.
When he moved back to West Virginia from Baltimore, he became involved in a number of community projects, including the resurfacing of several local roads, the establishment of Neighborhood Watch programs and the donation of signs to Keyser, Ridgeley and Piedmont, and the construction of a handicapped ramp at Jennings Randolph Lake.
He has gone to Charleston to lobby for a number of bills, including the crossbow bill for veterans. He has also worked toward getting a new roof and improved road to Nancy Hanks’ Birthplace.
Smith said “honesty and integrity” is what he will bring back to the county’s law enforcement agency.
But it is not the only task on his agenda.
“The state says the sheriff is the county treasurer, and he’s also the bailiff of the court,” he said. “Third, he’s there to protect and serve the people of the county.”
Smith hopes to boost the Neighborhood Watch programs in the county, and also to get the senior citizens involved with a “Grandparents Against Drugs” program.
He plans to work with the county school system to “educate our children on the laws and the consequences of breaking the laws.
“I want to see our children respecting the law enforcement officers and to know we are there for them as well.”
He pledges, however, to operate within the confines of his budget.
“There will be no hiring of any more deputies and no new cars for four years,” he said. “We don’t need them.
“Laptops? Yes, we need those. We have to abide by what the state says.
“But we need more accountability for the office and for what we spend,” he said.
Smith hopes to set up some substations in the far-reaching areas of the county as a means of getting more law enforcement coverage to places like Elk Garden and Carpendale.
“I want the people to have a say in what programs they would like to see within our county,” he said. “I want more community policing performed by our sheriff’s department; I want to see the local, city, state and county departments working together to create a more safe and friendly county.”
Retired from Carl Belt, Smith continues to do contracting work for area senior citizens.
While he admits he may not have the law enforcement experience that some of his opponents have, he says he does have “common sense, hard-working ethics, great ideas and a good ear to hear what the people want.
“The statutory responsibilities of the sheriff fall into two distinct categories: chief law enforcement officer and treasurer of the county,” Sabin said.
“The Mineral County Sheriff’s Department has answered the citizens’ demands to provide the best overall law enforcement protection possible, given our current staffing and budget,” he said.
“Criminals are becoming more intelligent and diligent, and we must strive to stay one step ahead and face each new challenge with a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach,” Sabin said.
“State code says a sheriff in any county where there are more than four deputies shall devote his full time to the performance of the services and duties required by law. Law enforcement is one of those duties and, in my eyes, the most important,” he said.
“Under West Virginia law, the sheriff, in addition to being chief law enforcement officer, also serves as the county treasurer in receiving and dispersing all taxes levied by the county government. The tax office is a critical component of county government, and the duties therein will be handled in accordance with state law,” he said.
Currently serving as the chief deputy of Mineral County, a position which he has held for the past six years, Sabin began his law enforcement career in 1992 with the Kenneth City Police Department in Florida. He later served as a Florida Highway Patrol trooper prior to relocating to Mineral County.
He also served in various specialized positions, including internal affairs investigator, traffic homicide investigator, field training officer, DUI investigator and a member of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
He has attended and has certificates from St. Petersburg College, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Institute of Police Technology and Management, the Police Law Institute, the Florida Highway Patrol Academy, West Virginia State Police Academy and the Penn State University School of Police Management.
In addition, he has completed more than 500 hours of additional in-service training.
Contact Liz Beavers at lizbeavers@yahoo.com.
