Archive for October, 2008

OK, I know we don’t usually get into local politics as much as we do the national campaigns but I grow tired of the same old S*** that we keep getting out of the national so I took a look at a race locally and it had me surprised. I figured that it deserved a little coverage.

By the headline you can guess what this article will cover. I have tried very hard to keep personal opinion out of this but you know me, it is all about the truth.

I had not really been following this race much aside from hearing a thing or two, and had largely decided just to leave it to the voting public. But then the mudslinging began. I know these candidates and have heard even more stories about them, so I put the team to work to find out the truth.

Lets start with the incumbent Sheriff

William R. Barker

We checked with the Perry County Board of Elections to see how many years Sheriff Barker has run for this office and been elected to the position of Sheriff. We were told that Barker is now running for his 4^th term as Sheriff of Perry County. When we asked if they had received any complaints lodged with their office, the Election Board told us that they had not, but ironically, there had been a complaint filed with the Prosecutor’s office by Sheriff Barker’s opponent, Amy English, alleging Mr. Barker had “lied” on his application by omitting other experience he had. Further investigation revealed that Sheriff Barker did not include other job experience because he had met the requirements to run for Sheriff even without listing his service in U.S. Army National Guard as a supervisor. We were unable to obtain his current rank but were able to verify he is at least an E-8 with personnel under his supervision. Ms. English also alleged he left off his position as an instructor at Zane State College where he trains police officers. Humm… would these positions not just strengthen the fact that he is more than qualified to hold this office?

So here we have a man who is currently serving the County of Perry as Sheriff and has been since 1992, as well as serving in the United States Military as a supervisor, and has supervised countless Law enforcement officials in his career, in addition to training the officers who will serve Perry County in the future.

Now let’s look at Amy Nash English

Well… we have plenty to report here. Again we started off with the county Board of Elections and asked if Ms. English had ever run for any office in the county. We were told that she had not.

Speaking of Qualifications, let’s list Ms. English’s (we got this from her web site)

Executive Board Member of Fraternal Order of Police Lancaster Lodge #50, Perry County Rep (We have a call in to the Ohio FOP to see exactly what this title entails)

Former Perry County Deputy & Somerset Officer

Current Active Whitehall Auxiliary Police Officer

Current Sergeant with Junction City Police

And she is O.P.O.T.A Certified since she has to be to hold a position of Police officer

I understand there are a few Jobs that Ms. English is forgetting to mention on her application, but I wait to ask her about these since we do not have anything to back up what we have heard. All in all I don’t see any supervisory experience at all. For those of you who see “Sergeant” at Junction City and say “what about that?” Junction City is a nice little village but there are not any officers to supervise over there. In all fairness she did list she is the mother of two so that is some supervisory experience but not quite the level you will need to be able to run a Sheriff’s office.

Here are a few sites you should check out

http://www.barkerforsheriff.com a group of Perry county Citizens NOT connected with the sheriff’s office or Sheriff Barker.

http://www.amyenglishforsheriff.net Ms. English’s Website with some great shots of the Ohio State Highway Patrol SRT trucks in action. To our knowledge she has never worked for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, we do not even know if she is allowed to use these photos, but we are checking.

To listen to the show tonight click the mic below

Date / Time: 10/7/2008 9:00 PM EST

Category: Life

Call-in Number: (646) 716-7860

This show will be a little more local than you all out there are use to, we will be talking about a local Race here in Perry County Ohio for Sheriff. We will be extending invitations to The incumbent Republican Sheriff, William R. Barker ,and to Amy N. English (Democrat) currently running against Sheriff Barker. As well we are inviting the Chief of Police of Shawnee who is one of Sheriff Barker’s out spoken opponents. Additionally we have requested the person behind the web site http://www.barkerforsheriff.com come on the show, since this is not a site ran by Sheriff Barker, but seems to have a firm grasp on what exactly is going on there in Perry County Ohio.

Stop by and listen, or call in and let us know what you think about this matter.

thanks,

Ryan

r…@thehardtruth.us