Sheriff Brown

SHERIFF John Brown's plan to erect a tent city at the Carroll County jail and deputize an unarmed volunteer posse to help guard the 60 minimum-security inmates there is another of his ideas that show little thought for the consequences.Fortunately, the county commissioners are more attuned to reality, and suggest they won't approve funding for an outdoor confinement facility in winter. They are rightly concerned about county liability. Fires from tent heaters, frostbite of inmates, injury to posse volunteers (including 300-pound Baltimore Ravens linemen)

Carroll Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning fired county jail warden Mason Waters yesterday, citing differences over such issues as stopping contraband and implementing home detention. Waters, who was hired as the warden of the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster in 1994 by former Sheriff John Brown, was given the option of resigning or being terminated, Tregoning said. "He accepted termination." "I do not feel I had the total support and cooperation of the warden to achieve what I think is good for the citizens and taxpayers of Carroll County," Tregoning said yesterday during an afternoon news conference at his office.

BEWARE, should you suggest that the Carroll County sheriff obey the law.When county officials told Sheriff John H. Brown this month that he needed a building permit to construct a wooden platform on which to place a tent to house inmates at the county jail, he accused two county commissioners of being "soft on crime and soft on public safety."That political-slogan polemic against Donald I. Dell and W. Benjamin Brown was unwarranted.Both men appear to support Sheriff Brown's plan to house up to 30 work-release inmates in the tent this spring, confined by the compound's chain-link fence.

Sheriff Brown clueless about State PoliceOn Aug. 23, The Sun in Carroll featured a lengthy article about the GOP primary for sheriff in Carroll County ("GOP primary for sheriff replays 1994").During the course of an interview with Sun staff writer Mary Gail Hare, Sheriff John H. Brown reportedly made comments that demonstrate a lack of respect and understanding for the role that members of the Maryland State Police play in the law enforcement community.At a time when it is critical for all law enforcement agencies to work in unison, the actions and comments of Sheriff Brown have impeded efforts to maximize cohesiveness.

CARROLL COUNTY SHERIFF John Brown got caught running a numbers game, that is a political game to boost the number of drug arrests made by his department last year.The county sheriff's drug strike force counted 137 arrests in the first 11 months of last year. The number of persons actually arrested was 48. Mr. Brown explains that FBI crime reporting rules define each charge against an arrested person as one arrest. Thus, six charges against one suspect equal six arrests.Other law enforcement officials don't agree with that definition, however, and its statistical inflation of crime-busting activity.

SHERIFF JOHN H. BROWN'S recent reshuffling of four deputies raised a ruckus at the Carroll County Detention Center.Carroll's sheriff claims the transfers were made to satisfy a county-ordered budget cut. Several deputies claim the personnel changes were nothing more than retribution for attempting to form a union.By transferring the three deputies to the correctional division of his office and changing the duties of another deputy, the sheriff says he will save more than $117,236. In these times of fiscal austerity, such savings are vital.

DALLAS -- Picture Big Bird. Now picture Big Bird careening toward your oncoming car at 30 miles an hour."It's not so funny when Big Bird is an emu and he's coming at you," said Johnny Waldrip, chief deputy sheriff in Grayson County (Sherman), Texas. "When you've got a wild emu running down a major highway, you've got a problem."He and other law enforcement officials said stray emus spooking horses, chasing cattle into fences, startling rural homeowners and sending cars swerving on backwoods roads have become common occurrences from the Houston suburbs to the Red River and in the rolling ranch country west of Fort Worth.

Republican Jerry F. Barnes, who narrowly defeated 20-year state's attorney Thomas E. Hickman in the GOP primary, cruised to an apparent victory last night, garnering more votes than his two opponents.With all but the county's write-in votes tabulated -- more than 95 percent of all votes cast -- Mr. Barnes, a Frederick County drug prosecutor who started his legal career nearly 17 years ago as an assistant to Mr. Hickman, had garnered more than 54 percent of the vote, handily defeating his former boss and Democratic candidate Linda A. Holmes.

A former Carroll sheriff's deputy who was fired after 19 year on the job tried to convince an Anne Arundel County Circuit judge yesterday that he should be reinstated and paid back wages.In an hour-long hearing in Annapolis before Circuit Judge Eugene M. Lerner, Sgt. Paul F. Nolte said he was unfairly fired by Carroll Sheriff John H. Brown last March 27.The three-member sheriff's department trial board reviewed -Z Sergeant Nolte's firing in June and upheld Sheriff Brown's action.Sergeant Nolte filed his appeal of that decision last May."

An Anne Arundel Circuit judge yesterday reinstated a Carroll County sheriff's deputy who was fired without cause last March after 19 years on the job.Calling Sheriff John H. Brown's reasons for firing Sgt. Paul F. Nolte "absurd," Judge Eugene M. Lerner also ordered full back pay for the sergeant."

Sheriff John Brown, rebuffed by fire code regulations in his effort to obtain a building permit to house prisoners in an army tent behind his crowded jail, says the county has offered him two options to house inmates away from the Carroll County Detention Center.Those options -- a portion of the Multi-Purpose Center just west of the County Government Office and the old Roadway warehouse behind the Winchester Building to the east of the jail -- are not acceptable, Brown said.Commissioner Donald I. Dell made the offer, and Brown said, "Thanks, but no thanks.

BEWARE, should you suggest that the Carroll County sheriff obey the law.When county officials told Sheriff John H. Brown this month that he needed a building permit to construct a wooden platform on which to place a tent to house inmates at the county jail, he accused two county commissioners of being "soft on crime and soft on public safety."That political-slogan polemic against Donald I. Dell and W. Benjamin Brown was unwarranted.Both men appear to support Sheriff Brown's plan to house up to 30 work-release inmates in the tent this spring, confined by the compound's chain-link fence.

DALLAS -- Picture Big Bird. Now picture Big Bird careening toward your oncoming car at 30 miles an hour."It's not so funny when Big Bird is an emu and he's coming at you," said Johnny Waldrip, chief deputy sheriff in Grayson County (Sherman), Texas. "When you've got a wild emu running down a major highway, you've got a problem."He and other law enforcement officials said stray emus spooking horses, chasing cattle into fences, startling rural homeowners and sending cars swerving on backwoods roads have become common occurrences from the Houston suburbs to the Red River and in the rolling ranch country west of Fort Worth.

SHERIFF John Brown's plan to erect a tent city at the Carroll County jail and deputize an unarmed volunteer posse to help guard the 60 minimum-security inmates there is another of his ideas that show little thought for the consequences.Fortunately, the county commissioners are more attuned to reality, and suggest they won't approve funding for an outdoor confinement facility in winter. They are rightly concerned about county liability. Fires from tent heaters, frostbite of inmates, injury to posse volunteers (including 300-pound Baltimore Ravens linemen)

Reader praises Bartlett stand on porn billMany years ago, I went to a drug store that had sexually explicit magazines displayed on a low rack, where it directly faced my small children at the check-out counter.At the same time, the postcard rack was on the wall at adult height. I suggested to the store manager that he reverse the placement of the two racks. He was receptive to the suggestion and thanked me.Over the 30-some years since then, we have become too tolerant of such blatant sexual material being shoved in our children's faces.

Cell phones on school buses are a wasteA cell phone on a school bus is not a safety issue, it is frivolous. Although your editorial ("Cell phones on school buses," Nov. 7) was quick to suggest possible emergencies in which cell phones on school buses would help, I believe they are an unnecessary expenditure of Carroll countians' tax monies.Also, I'm not sure your $50,000 figure is accurate. Even if it is, does that in and of itself make cell phones on buses a good idea?All a school bus really needs is a radio connected to the contractor.

Fighting over which law enforcement agencies should be waging the war on drugs in Carroll County has reached a ridiculous stage. It is understandable that the demise of the Carroll County Narcotics Task Force would create a temporary vacuum in the local drug enforcement effort. But in the past several weeks, the situation has degenerated into a nasty political row as every law enforcement agency in the county maneuvers to fill the void.Last week, county Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown and Sheriff John H. Brown had a messy public spat over the sheriff's proposed drug "strike force."

In an unofficial start to the fall campaign, both candidates for Carroll sheriff introduced their platforms in general terms yesterday to a group of county business people.Incumbent Republican Sheriff John H. Brown, who is seeking his second term, told the 100 or so people gathered for the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce's monthly breakfast that he would continue to operate the 90-member department as he has since 1990."I'm extremely proud of what we've done in there these last four years," he said.

Sheriff John H. Brown, who drew fire last month for dismissing plans to operate a home-detention program at the county jail, says critics don't understand the problems with home detention or with the electronic system he rejected.Brown, a Republican, shrugged off criticism from challenger Kenneth L. Tregoning, saying he is not certain that home detention is a viable way to cut costs or eliminate crowding.Last week, the jail housed 153 inmates, about 33 more than its capacity. By using a meeting room, the jail's capacity can be stretched to 144 without undue concern, Brown said.

Kenneth L. Tregoning, a former commander of the state police barracks in Westminster, said yesterday that he will run against two-term incumbent John H. Brown for county sheriff in the 1998 Republican primary.In announcing his candidacy, Tregoning, who is commander of the state police barracks in Frederick, noted his 29 years of experience with the state police and his desire to improve relations between the sheriff and other law enforcement agencies in the county and government officials.