HUNDREDS TURN OUT FOR SHERIFF'S FORUM

Hundreds turned out for the candidate forums at Hammond's Rockwood Inn
Wednesday and Thursday nights, packing the large banquet hall to the walls.
Clerk of court, sheriff, tax assessor and parish president candidates faced
the audience in separate sessions to answer questions posed by moderator
Roop Raj of WDSU TV in New Orleans. Northshore Broadcasting and The Daily
Star were the event sponsors. The first session Thursday featured the
sheriff's candidates, who were originally scheduled to speak Wednesday
before a power outage forced their session to be moved back a night. The
six candidates were seated at a long table facing the audience with Philip
Monteleone on the audience's left next toDaniel Edwards, then Arden Well,
Joey Piazza, Tim Gideon and Fred Falgout on the right. They made opening
statements and then answered questions about how they would handle crime,
drugs, the budget and challenges facing law enforcement, exactly how safe
residents are from terrorist acts, poor response time and the department's
low pay and low morale. The questions had been offered earlier by the
community and approved by Eloise Dotey, general manager of Northshore
Broadcasting. Each candidate had one to two minutes on each question posed
by moderator Roop Raj of WDSU-TV in New Orleans.

Top challenge In question one, Fred Falgout said the number one challenge
facing law enforcement agencies is the lack of respect police give and
receive from the public. Falgout said his plan to address the challenge
would be to teach officers how to treat the public with courtesy and diplomacy.

Generally, he said, it's how officers treat people.

The public must be treated in the right way. Edwards said many, many
challenges face the department, but restoring morale and pay that the
deputies lost is where he would begin if elected sheriff. Gideon said he
would build morale in the department by starting with patrol deputies' pay.
"There has to be a future for their careers, and then I'd build on that."
Piazza cited the need to get the community involved so that he could
address their needs. "Too many times, they don't get involved in it. There
are drug problems, domestic problems .. They have stuff missing. Nobody
gets back with the public to let them know or communicate with them." Drug
abuse, answered Wells, is the number one challenge he sees. "I don't know
of a single family not afffected by drug abuse, alcohol," he said. Wells
said the sheriff must be present in the office and not be an absentee sheriff.

He would be in the office listening to the complaints of the people of the
parish so he would know where deputies needed to go. Edwards said the
number one problem is the budget problem.

With massive layoffs, low salaries, the lack of accountability and
professionalism in the department, the first thing he would do if elected
sheriff would be to get the budget balanced. "With fiscal responsibility,
we can rebuild.

Without a balanced budget, all else will fail," he said. The drug problem
is the number one problem, Monteleone said. "The guys riding bikes selling
crack cocaine don't have a Colombian connection," Monteleone said."It's
being made right here." "Get these labs out of here," he said. "Establish
an omnipresence. I'd be a 24-hour sheriff, and I'd wear a uniform and drive
a patrol car."

Finances The second question posed by Raj was about the Nov. 7, 2000
10-year 10-mill tax voters renewed that provided over $2 million in
salaries and benefits. "Would you ask for an increase in mills to provide
salary increases to deputies and how would you increase deputies pay?" Raj
asked. "No," Gideon answered. "It's enough right now. I'd completely
re-evaluate the budget and the whole department. There are many
responsibilities of the department, including collecting your taxes.

I'm ready to make changes never before seen in this parish." Piazza also
said he wouldn't increase mills.

He said he would take half of the deputies the department had before the
layoffs were made and then take half of those and keep the truly qualified
deputies.

Money could come from federal funds. Wells answered he wouldn't increase
taxes either. "I never voted for a tax. There is enough money out there.

I'd hire a full-time grant writer and go after it. I'd fire all the
retirees in the office.

The first thing I'm gonna do is fire Tim's two brothers.

Smaller and better is the answer." Edwards said that before he would look
at new taxes, he would look at the budget, the workers behind desks and car
allowances. He questioned the need for two personal secretaries at $40,000
a year. If the department still doesn't have enough money, then look to
grants to get free money for self-sufficient programs, he said. Money can
be brought into the office by assets seized from drug dealers, and if there
still wasn't enough money, Edwards said he couldn't say he wouldn't ask for
a modest tax increase. No, Monteleone said, he wouldn't ask voters for a
tax increase. He'd look at the $500,000 vehicle maintenance the department
has and line up all of the clunkers, auction them off, take color TV's from
parish prisoners and put them to work providing food in a work program
instead of allowing them to sit and think of their next sex crime. He also
said grant writing was important. Falgout said it was his campaign promise
not to ask for more money, but that the problems the department's problem
could be handled with the current budget. Grant writers could provide money
for deputy pay raises and the budget. Federal and state money is out there,
he said. Another source of income for the department could come from
tickets because a percent of all fines collected go to the sheriff's office
general funds.

Drugs Raj asked each candidate about their specific plans for fighting the
drug flow in and out of the parish and what they believe is the top
priority for fighting the parish's drug problem. Piazza said community
involvement is essential. By using surveillance and watching who goes in
and out of suspected dealers' residences, the drug problem could be
addressed. Grabbing the drug dealer and squeezing him for his source
doesn't get the job done, he said. "More surveillance can do a better job."
Wells said money, manpower and technology should be used. Go after grants
earmarked for fighting drugs, he said. He pointed to Southeastern Louisiana
University's criminal justice department, saying that those students would
love to be involved in law enforcement as auxillary officers and could be
used to stand round schools. The department should be "leaner and meaner,"
he said, and technology could help apprehend criminals.

Money should be spent more efficiently. Edwards answered that to fight the
drug problem he knew he would have to arrest fairly prominent citizens who
are affluent and connected to law enforcement. "I'm committed to that," he
said. "There's no reason to pay a public information officer more money
than top detectives," he said. He said seizing assets of drug dealers,
along with keeping children in school would be a top priority, since there
is a direct correlation between dropouts and drug use. Monteleone refused
to divulge his plan for tackling the drug problem. "I'm never going to sit
here and tell them how I'm coming after them," he said, adding that "I went
after them in the '70's." "We do need better equipment and training," he
said. "But, I won't divulge or tip my hand to them." Enforcing drug-free
zones at schools with deputies and drug-sniffing dogs is how Falgout would
attack drug dealers. The schools wouldn't know when his deputies would be
visiting until they were there, but the public would know afterwards what
schools were visited and what deputies found during the searches. "I'd set
up a 'Meth Watch," Falgout said, to inform druggists and clerks to be aware
of people buying volumes of ingredients needed to manufacture
methamphetamines. Gideon said he would attack drug dealers from the street
level and on to the higher level. "In Ponchatoula, we have the only case in
the parish of an adult soliciting a juvenile to sell drugs," he said,
adding that the offender now faces 30 years in prison. "It's one way
tonight and a different way tomorrow," he said of plans of attack. "We team
up with the Drug Enforcement Agents. It's what we've done in Ponchatoula,
and it's worked.

It's what I'd do in Tangipahoa Parish."

Response time The next question concerned deputy response time to calls and
how the candidates would increase the number of deputies on patrol. Wells
said substations, even small ones, need to be opened throughout the parish.
He pointed to areas like Wilmer, Loranger, Bedico, Robert and Kentwood
where reserve officers could staff substations in vacant buildings. "People
love to get involved in law enforcement," he said, adding he would let
those people work radio dispatch. Edwards talked about the geography of the
parish. "I'd take four to five districts, and two to three deputies who
would patrol every road in the district." Increased deputy visibility would
help the community and deputies get to know each other better, he said.
Monteleone said professional people are needed to man the radios and he has
already talked with the Wilmer Fire Department which has agreed to put a
substation in their building. He would also put deputies in zones or
districts and would rotate them every 90 days so they wouldn't get bored
and would know each district in case of any terrorist encounter. Falgout
said there was no question in his mind that increasing the number of
deputies on the street would reduce response time. He would put detectives
in uniforms and send them on the streets, too, he said. People behind desks
at the department would be uniformed, too, he said, and he believes a
districting system would increase response time.

Gideon said deputies shouldn't be sent to communities; rather, they should
already be there. "A deputy needs to be there 24 hours a day." Increase the
number of deputies for better response time and increase morale, he said.
Piazza said more deputies in zoned areas in both the north and south ends
are necessary to reduce response times. "Make them accountable for where
they're at," he said. Better equipment is also needed for deputies to
communicate with local and state police for better response time.

Terrorist In the past few years, Raj said, the nation has seen terrorist
alert warnings, the search for the serial killer, the creation of homeland
security and school crisis situations. He asked the candidates if the
public is safe and how is the parish prepared for such situations. Edwards
said that after 9/11 it was important to have plans in place to deal with
any situations the parish might face. Going after grants is important, but
it can't stop there, he said. Joint training should be conducted with
police and fire officials and emergency medical services. A
well-orchestrated plan must be in place, he said. Monteleone said the
public isn't safe. The sheriff's office doesn't have radio communications
with the state police, he said. They rely on the telephone. Yes, go after
the grant money, he said. Cross train personnel with emergency response and
SWAT teams to interact with fire departments and chiefs of police locally.
Falgout said education is needed.

Deputies have to know what to do in the event of a crisis.

They have to know how to operate and should know their strengths. Both the
deputies and the public they serve should be educated, he said. Education
is a must, Gideon said. After the terrorist attacks, the Department of
Homeland Security spent one year spinning its wheels learning what to do.
He said the local police are the eyes and ears of this country and by
joining anti-terrorist task forces and meeting with the government people
who work on them on a regular basis, the public is made safer. The serial
killer case in Baton Rouge was solved by a good, educated police officer,
he said. Piazza said the public isn't safe but can be made safer with
better training and getting all of the agencies together and on the same
page and frequency. The community also needs to be involved because the
police can't do it alone, he said. Wells said that government can never
make the public safe. He said as a card-carrying member of the National
Rifle Association, if he were sheriff, he would issue gun permits. He said
the serial killer was the result of a sick, psychopathic mind and he drew
laughter from the crowd when he suggested he unfortunately he knew a little
about that.

(Sunday: Candidates tell what they think is the single-most important
attribute a sheriff must possess and why. Each answers what education and
experience they could bring to the office.)