A Couple Thoughts

Seems like January is turning out to be a slow time for exciting news in the ville. Maybe it's just me. Gloomy cloudy days and cold temps definitely slow me down. This time of the year there are a lot of times I just want to slouch around and read whatever book I currently have but I do keep up with the papers. I look forward to that every morning and, yes, I like reading the print edition of the papers. I hope the Internet doesn't completely replace them while I'm still walking around God's good earth. I'm rambling. I know. So, here's a couple of things I've gathered some thoughts on from the papers that I'll share with you all.



Smith Withdraws His Re-election Bid
Tom Giambroni of the MJ broke the news Tuesday that Sheriff Dave Smith submitted a resignation letter to the Election Board to withdraw his petition seeking reelection 15 minutes before the deadline to do such things. I had to chuckle that the MJ scooped the ER on that story even though they both are owned by the same company. Yesterdays ER just reprinted Gaimbroni's article.


Although I think Smith did the sensible thing I have to question his motives. Was it pressure from his party or others? Is it an admission of guilt and just facing the inevitable? Is he going to move on to another job? There were regrets expressed and plaudits for his doing so. Lawyer Bradley Koffel said the decision to pull the reelection bid was solely Smith's. Koffel was quoted as saying "urine tests are inherently unreliable and most states don't allow it". Well partner this is Ohio and I always heard that urine tests are a pretty accurate method of determining what's in a person's system. Koffel is Smith's lawyer from Columbus that specializes in defending lawmen in trouble. Of course he is going to implicate that Smith's decision was premature.

Now we have to wonder what is going to happen. I believe if Smith does eventually go to trial and is found guilty he is automatically done being sheriff. Is this done immediately? I'm not saying Smith won't get out of this. He's paying big bucks for his defense. The next step is to see if the Guernsey County judge will let the urine test results remain as evidence against Smith. Who will the Republicans appoint as a replacement if he is found guilty. They have three candidates on the primary ballot and stated they are not going to endorse any of them since they are all well qualified. Will they appoint someone within the department, one of the three candidates or someone that is not involved in anyway at the present time? Will Smith eventually resign as sheriff before his trial? Speculation from a commenter on another post on here says Smith has a job waiting for him "at a local racetrack". It will be interesting to see how this unfolds to a conclusion.

Note: I wrote this post yesterday evening and for some unknown reason my ISP knocked me off line while I was in the process. Google has an autosave program built in but it only works while you're on-line. Consequently only part of my effort was saved. Today I had to go back, edit what was saved and refinish. Sometimes I hate ISPs & modems. I'm going to wrap this up before that black cloud comes back.

Stay warm...

ole nib