Jimmy Ashe ( http://www.asheforsheriff.com/ )
Mary Rock
Tim O’Brien ( http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1203903804&ref=ts )
Jimmy Ashe ( http://www.asheforsheriff.com/ )
Mary Rock
Tim O’Brien ( http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1203903804&ref=ts )
Question to the candidates. What key differences do you see between yourself and the other candidates?
Any chance of any of the Candidates posting on here? Especially Jimmy Ashe? So, far he has not done it any where on-line that I have been able to find & it would be really nice if he took the interest to. Thanks for your time.
We have contacted contacts we would find info for. For the sheriff’s race none of the candidates have responded so far to our messages. Until then we’ll continue to gather all publicly available information. Feel free to ask any questions and we will make every effort to get an answer back from the candidate. You can also leave poll ideas or even register and request contributor account.
Does any one know anything about Marty Rhinehart? I do not even have a clue what this person looks like little long any info at all! I have not found any information on the Internet!
I am also very surprised that I have not heard of any kind of debate in person or blog that the candidates care to participate in. It is not the way I thought a campaign would be ran for Sheriff. This is a pretty important ordeal. Should people not be able to hear what they have to say in person & ask them questions all together at the same time in order to make a proper decision on voting? maybe I am all alone on this & we will all just close our eyes & go with blind faith? I would love some input please. Thanks
We have found several Sylva Herald articles where Mr. Rhinehart has submitted letters which links will be added to the profile. All candidates other than Mr. Rhinehart have been either contacted or messages left that they have questions here.
Have you added this one? http://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/wlos_vid_1771.shtml
Thank’s for the information. I’ve added the link.
Mr. Ashe, I have some questions I would like you to address if you care to. I’ve emailed you several times and I have also contacted your office and told you were unavailable for comment.
#1 Were you aware of the memo when you wrote the checks mentioned in the Asheville Citizens article? If so then why did you ignore the memo and if not why were you not aware of the memo?
#2 If you were going to donate tax payer dollars why do it to specific sports?
#3 What exactly did you use the bike for? Why 1300 miles? Why did you ride it at all given image it projects parading it around, literally?
#4 Its been mentioned more than once that somehow crime is down and the JCSO is leading the way in arrests. Doing my own research the state says crime is up by over 600% since you took office and other departments in the area according to the AOC have many more cases than the JCSO even thou the JCSO has more officers. Please comment or provide insight.
Mr. Gunnels, I have tried contacting you for sometime now with no direct response other than “Please wait”. A few questions if you have the time…
#1 I don’t feel that LE experience is as important as managment experience and leadership skills. Care to elaborate on these in relation to yourself.
#2 Do you care to mention who will be in your upper managment team?
Mr. Rhinehart, I have been unable to find anything about you other than the articles here on this site. If you don’t mind please tell me some about your experience and about yourself.
I do not believe any of the Candidates will come on here to participate due to the fact that Mr. Gunnels has already created his own website, has a phone number to be contacted at and a business he has invited people to visit if they have concerns or question. He has also set up a meeting for people the 20th of this month (February) to meet people and address their concerns and any questions they may have with food and music. Which to me sounds down home and very welcoming.
Mr. Ashe has an email address, phones numbers which include his office, cell phone & home phone number which he does not seem to get back to people.
Mr. Rhinehart I have no idea of. I do not even know what the man looks like little long an information about him which leads me to believe he really does not want to be Sheriff.
So far the only one I see making any effort to talk to people is Mr. Gunnels.
Again, I do believe none of them will come on here to answer any question and would prefer the information comes from them personally instead of a third party. In order to make an honest decision on who to vote for they need to personally participate. I do pray they will do so out of the respect of the people.
Despite where the questions are answered all we need is permission from Mr. Gunnels to cross post any Q&A. The problem with just his website is all the canidates are not being asked the same questions and thats where in a debate differences come out. Hopefully soon Mr. Gunnels will respond to both our request for Email address and permission to repost some of the Q&A on his site.
I am thinking maybe Sheriff Jimmy Ashe is to busy to come on here to have discussions with people. I would say he is very sure he will win again and feels he has no need to participate or even has the slightest interest. I would think he would at least return some ones messages to allow a post. After all he is still Sheriff and should show interest in the Citizens he is supposed to be protecting in order to get re-elected.
Robin Gunnels probably does not use the Internet much and would prefer people contact him in person. That way it is more personal. He has even left word for people to come to his place of business to talk to him or even call him. My opinion would be talking in person would be so much better since you can see some ones face when talking.
As far as Marty Rhinehart I have no idea who the man is. I do not even know what he looks like little long any thing about him. He may not even own a computer little long know how to use one. Surely if he did some one would be able to get a hold of him and know who the man is. How else can he run for Sheriff and get votes if none one has a clue about him?
Well, I am not so good with words but I do try. If things did not come out right I do apologize. Please bare with me. Thanks
I am just as confused and frustrated as every one else.
Do you read the Sylva Newspaper?
http://www.thesylvaherald.com/html/county_changes_procedures_for_.html
I really do not think any one is reading this site or going to participate. I know for sure Jimmy Ashe will never participate. It seems like he could care less about losing the election or is convinced that he will not lose so he has no interest in bothering with us or anyone that has no benefit to him. That is just our opinion though. The more I see him refuse peoples requests to participate in talking to people the more I dislike him & distrust him.
This is such a shame. After all the insults Robin Gunnels received about asking for $10 for the BBQ Dinner with the music he is having this Saturday he decided to do it for free. I know that will be expensive & I am sure he is not made of money. I think that is really good of him to do. I also understand about him wanting to meet people face to face to answer questions people have & their concerns.
Robin Gunnels said…
I’ve decided that the BBQ dinner that i will be hosting Sat Feb 20th 6-9 will be free of charge to anyone that would like to attend. I want to be sensative to the current economy. my intent is just to be able to meet and greet the public and share concerns. All are welcome so please come and enjoy some live music and great BBQ.
Thank you for your interest in my participation on this site. I welcome questions and comments; I’ve attempted to respond to reasonable and relevant questions on the blog site and on topix. I will attempt to monitor and answer as many questions and comments on what I feel are relevant and useful. I will not engage in he said or she said conversations. There has already been too much redrick. I don’t believe that stuff has a positive impact on this election or our county. I do however prefer face to face or phone contact. I believe we’re losing our communication skills through the email’s and internet. I know that this is the way of your future but I can’t hear a person’s passion and feelings in an email. So that is why I prefer to talk in person face to face. Someone asked me previously about who I would choose as my chief deputy and I would not respond as to whom that person is, that is still the case. At the appropriate time I will answer that question. Some one on this site asked me about management skills and experience. From my first job at the age of 15 I worked at ingles and was moved into the deli after 6 months of employment I became the shift supervisor over 3 other workers. Every primary job I have had has led me into a supervisory capacity. I currently own my own business and have been very successful in managing it. I believe I’m very well rounded having the benefit of my law enforcement experience, along with retail sale and service. I feel very competent that as Jackson Counties new Sheriff I’ll be very efficient. As for the upper management as for the upper management team I cannot mention any names because these individual’s are currently employed with the sheriff’s office. And I can with out reservation say that if I divulge names, these people will be hurt by Mr. Ashe. He will believe they are in contact with me and as a result he will take action against them. I haven’t had any contact with these individuals, I just personally know these people. I’ve worked with them in the past. I already know what I need to know about the people that I will have in my upper management.
Mr. Gunnels, Thank you for your response. WNCDebate is for debate and a place to compare the candidates. It is impossible to do real comparison and get to each candidate in person. Thus the need to be able to debate online gives the public a way to ask candidates questions in a open platform. We try to be fair and only allow relevant posts. If you would like you can register and create your profile here as other candidates have done (Tom Massie and Steve Ford are good examples). Also this would be in your own words as well as the ability to respond to any debate yourself. Also if you have links or other verifiable info you would like posted in this race article we’ll be glad to add them.
Regards,
WNCDebate Team
Are there plans for a public debate between Ashe, Gunnels and Rhinehart? I feel the people should hear the candidates answer certain questions in public.
http://www.wrgc.com/news.php
County manager Ken Westmoreland addresses the Narcotics fund.
Hello to all! I googled to find this site. I am available to answer questions. I do have an email address , it is: ladyrock4jackson@yahoo.com.
There were widespread rumors stating Cruzan did not report crimes to the state as required. I am working on a project to show that the crime rate per population is about the same as before Cruzan was elected. If crimes were not reported to the state, the report would show a false statistical drop in crime during those years Cruzan was sheriff. I don’t expect this comment to be published on the wncdebate website. But since you referenced my comment in Sheriff Ashe’s summary I felt the need to clarify. Take an honest look at the “drop” in crime, (from previous years) it is almost too good to be real.
Responce to cmdrtaco: as to the difference between myself and the other candidates, i don’t know them very well and am not clear as to how they will perform as sheriff. i can only address what I would do if elected sheriff.
i would change things. If elected i would do my best to represent the people. To become the voice and the arm of the people. Our county is in crisis. We need to establish task forces with officers who would be trained in the area in which they would work. We need a child abuse “expert” officer on our department. Units to work the drug trafficing, larceny/robbery,child & elder abuse, domestic violence,murder/serious assault and a cold case unit.
I would be a working sheriff, if elected. I would, as would all officers, wear a uniform and be accessable to the citizens. I would require training in all areas of law enforcement and department heads would be required to have specialized training in thier respective areas.
I would myself, as would every officer in the department act with respect to and in service of all the citizens of jackson county.
We need a very active anti-drug DARE program. We need to reach out to the youth in Jackson county and encourage them to be drug free. We need to be examples and role models for them.We need a high standard of integrity and professionalism.
If elected I will strive to make any and all changes necessary to serve the needs of the citizens of jackson county and protect the integrity of the office.
I have been out talking to citizens and will continue to do that.
Mary Alice Rock
The crimes reported below only include the serious charges of Murder, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Larceny and Motor Vehicle Theft. As you can see there are more crimes but there are more people here. The percentage of crimes committed per population, under Ashe is still less than Cruzan’s in 1999. Cruzan failed to make a report in 2002, the year he was defeated, and the crimes reported in 2000 – 2001 speak for themselves. I think it says “unverified” at the top of those two reports. The population count does not include all the people who live outside the county and travel here to work or school and the thousands of students who takeover the county most of the year. Maybe Ashe is better at doing his job than you think. My information came from the US Census webpage and the NC Crime Statistics webpage.
Year Population Crimes % of pop Sheriff
1991 22,087 704 3.19% Allen
1992 20,010 627 3.13% Allen
1993 20,147 559 2.77% Allen
1994 20,344 712 3.50% Allen
1995 20,795 814 3.91% Cruzan
1996 20,817 804 3.86% Cruzan
1997 21,217 804 3.78% Cruzan
1998 21,259 798 3.75% Cruzan
1999 21,797 751 3.45% Cruzan
2000 33,271 211 .83% Cruzan
2001 33,618 199 .79% Cruzan
2002 34,059 No Reporting Cruzan
2003 34,059 350 1.03% Ashe
2004 35,444 754 2.13% Ashe
2005 35,646 714 2.00% Ashe
2006 36,271 781 2.15% Ashe
2007 36,272 1158 3.19% Ashe
2008 36,739 1145 3.12% Ashe
Does anyone have links to statistics on crime? Care to share?
If Cruzan did not report crimes to the state, and 2002 indicates he did not, of course there would appear to be an increase in crime. Did you even look at the numbers population wise? The crime rate was 3.19% in 1991 with Allen as Sheriff and hit an all time high of 3.86% in 1996 when Cruzan was sheriff. As of 2008 our crime rate was 3.12%. I got the crime statistics from:
http://sbi2.jus.state.nc.us/crp/public/Default.htm
And, the population statistics from:
http://www.census.gov/
If you have another source indicating otherwise, please post a link. There has been a slight increase in crime the past couple of years but with the horrible economy, collapse of the building industry and the constant supply of illegals in this county, it could be a lot worse. We are not in the middle of any “crime wave”.
I feel you are showing bias in your statements. If this is a “debate” website, the moderator should show indifference to candidates when making opening statements. If this is not an unbiased website, you need to let people know that up front.
Thanks for the links. We’ll revaluate the text. However in the meantime do you care to register and contribute directly to the article? WNCDEBATE is run by voters like yourself wanting answers. We are not a closed source site. Anyone is welcome to directly submit information. In this race we’ve not gotten a lot of response from candidates so we do the best we can to compile information we can find.
Does anyone know the law on what proof is needed when criminals break in & steal property? Or where I find the law?
I’m afraid we’ll need more detail to give an exact reference to law and somehow you’ll need to make sure your response pertains to this article.
Tim O’Brien has a 4 year degree in Criminal Justice Administration, is a graduate of the SBI Academy and holds an Advanced Law Enforcement Certification. Tim O’Brien has over 17 years of law enforcement including serving as a 1st lieutenant in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Platoon Leader. He has also worked as a Municipal Police officer, Sheriffs Detective, State SBI agent and Chief of Police. According to the NC Dept. of Justice, O’Brien is a licensed Private Investigator and State Certified Firearms instructor.
Tim O’Brien has had so many jobs in law enforcement, he is not a carer officer, he has made a carer out of working at some of the best jobs there are to offer as a cop and failing miserably to continue at any one of those. What would make anyone think that becoming sheriff would change that? State SBI is a difficult school to attend and pass, but then to quickly quit there after, not good. He worked some time ago in HIghlands as a police officer, and saw very little duties there compared to an officer in Jackson County today. He was detective in Macon co for a little while but again, quit. His chief of police status was when he was working at Sapphire Valley/Blue Ridge Public Safety. He worked under Dave Finn who owns the place. They are private police. In other words, they provide hired police services. He supervised very few people there and completed the main task of being a security guard with powers of arrest as a Company police officer/chief. Why isn’t he currently working as an officer anywhere? Why does he run a coffee shop? When you look at his credentials they may appear OK, but dig dipper. Also, his personal life is not the greatest. He left his wife and new born baby to date a girl that was nearly 20 years younger than himself. Qualities we don’t need. Don’t be fooled by what some body can put on paper.
I feel the same way about O’Brien. I am curious as to why he left good jobs in LE to serve coffee, but now wants to be LE again. Something just isn’t right there.
His personal information is appreciated also. So many people say a candidates family life has nothing to do with their job, but when it goes to someones character, it certainly does.
What happened to all the links?
We will no longer being doing research on candidates and the site is to be used for debate between the public and the candidates.
If you would like to submit an article referencing information please register and request contributor access.
As someone who lives in Cashiers, my main question is are there going to be more patrols in the area and will the criminals in this town actually be caught AND prosecuted? The arrest and incident reports the Chronicle puts in the paper always include breaking and entering incidents, but there are never any reports of these people getting caught. I feel like the criminals here are getting more brazen because they are not getting caught. I feel like Jimmy Ashe has done NOTHING to keep our town protected. I know we are at the southern end of the county, but bad things happen here, too. 2 people were shot in town today and apparently one of the suspects were arrested, but there may be up to 4 more on the loose. I will commend the officers who were here in town; they were on the scene in no time. But when my neighbor’s house got broken into, he waited TWO days for someone to come out and take the report!
I do not know much about Mr. Gunnels, but I think the fact that his place of business was set on fire is awful. That’s dirty politics.
I would caution people from leaning toward Tim O’Brien. He has worked for Public Safety in the past. Dave Finn won’t run for sheriff because he’s a jerk and everyone knows it, but with O’Brien in the sheriff seat, you can bet Public Safety is going to wreak havoc on 64 and 107 in Cashiers. They are a PRIVATE security firm and they should remain as such.
Ashe supporters keep harping about the outside, independent auditors. However, year after year the auditor failed to identify the problems at the Sheriffs Office. It took a reporter from the Citizen-Times to uncover the misuse of tax dollars, lack of oversight by commissioners and possible illegal use of a seized motorcycle. Some Ashe supporters claim that if Ashe had done anything unlawful the he would have been charged by now, that’s naive. It would take a formal request from the District Attorney or Commissioners for the State to get involved in investigating a sitting Sheriff, and that’s unlikely. All you have to do is look at some of the public statements from Commissioners like Massey and Jones to realize they have circled the wagons. The question on my mind is, did the reporter uncover everything or is what we’ve learned so far just the tip of the iceberg.
Other than some pretty lame excuses to try and cover his butt, Ashe has not been forthcoming. In light of the controversy, Ashe needs to step up to the plate and request the Attorney General to have the SBI conduct a forensic audit of the financial and seized property / evidence records of the Sheriffs Office. Ashe needs to re-assure the citizens who elected him twice that he is still worthy of their trust, that he has nothing to hide, and would welcome a full and independent inquiry. What say you Sheriff?
I would like to comment on the recent arson of the business of Robin Gunnels.In my opinion,this was a cowardly act carried out by a person who is trying,( and obviously desperate) to manipulate the outcome of the election.This type of attack upon any person is unacceptable and threatens to undermine the freedom of the people to choose from the candidates whom they want to serve them. Our great country established democracy for the benefit of all citizens. I hope this is weighed out in the hearts and minds of our citizens and that they vote accordingly.My prayers and thoughts are with the Gunnel family as they try to rebuild.
I think its terrible that Jackson County Detectives do not hold any type of college degree. Even an Associates Degree. They do very little leg work in there criminal investigations because they rely on criminals(snitches) some felons to bring charges on individuals that they think, or may have heard in rumor to have done a criminal act. And than drop or lower the charges for the snitches. Something needs to be done A.S.A.P to stop this way of investigation. Its lazy and unethical and needs to be stopped. It may not be the detectives fault. It could be what they are ordered to do.
Responce to sabame: If I were to be elected as sheriff, i would access the situation in cashiers and make necessary changes to provide that community with much needed patrol and office staff. I have heard from several citizens concerning the lack of presence of our sheriff”s deputies and that would not continue. We all deserve help when we need it!
As to the breaking and/or entering there is alot of these cases all over the county, as well as larceny crimes. These persons are comfortable that they will keep getting by. Rest assured, i understand the victimization and insult a person feels when this kind of a crime occurs.People work hard for what they have and deserve to enjoy it. No person deserves for thier home to be entered in such a way, it takes away the security of home we all need to have. We will hunt them, catch them and prosecute them!
I am announcing that I have received the required number of signatures from Jackson Counties registered voters, and the Jackson County Board of Elections certified them on April 21. I will be on the ballot in the November general election !! I want to thank all the people who signed them and gave me the nomination.