Candidate profiles:Smith seeks to ‘stir up’ department

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July 29, 2012

Candidate profiles:Smith seeks to ‘stir up’ department

Rachel Brown rachelbrown@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Sun Jul 29, 2012, 06:30 AM EDT

— Repeatedly arresting users won’t alone stop the drug problem, but targeting illegal drug suppliers will, said Ken Smith, a Republican candidate for Murray County sheriff.

“They need to not just arrest the users. Those people have fallen into a trap, just like smoking or drinking Diet Pepsi,” he said. “They shouldn’t have done it to start with, but they are in that, and the people that are feeding them the drugs, they’re the ones that are making out like bandits, and they’re the ones that need to be stopped.”

Smith ran unsuccessfully for office in 2008. This time, he faces fellow Republicans Gary Langford and Wyle Keith Pritchett. The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Democratic incumbent Howard Ensley in November and could face an independent if one qualifies.

Self-employed in conjunction with his other jobs for the past 40 years, Smith is the semi-retired owner of Smith and Sons Painting and Reconstruction in Chatsworth. Born in Copperhill, Tenn., he said he lived in several places including Dalton and New Orleans before moving to Murray County 26 years ago. He is 62. He is married to wife Pat and has seven children (Burt, Jason, Shane, Stephanie Hall, Keisha, Camron and Kye, some of whom are still living at home), 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

He is a member of Smyrna Baptist Church and frequently visits God’s House in Dalton.

Smith said he has been “in and out of law enforcement for 30 years.” His work experience includes time at the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, city of Bogart, Dalton State College and the Murray County Sheriff’s Office. He said he’s worked “every aspect of law enforcement” including working as a patrol officer, in radio, at the jail, in booking and in serving warrants.

He said if elected he also wants to rotate the employees’ schedules so at least one detective is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He said he’ll begin a volunteer-based program in which deputies coordinate hunting and fishing trips for teens a few times a year to spend quality time with them and teach them about safety. For the younger kids, he said he’ll start programs in which sheriff’s office representatives talk with children about the dangers of drugs, firearms safety and how they can trust the sheriff’s department. He also wants to “get back where we mingle with the people and let them know that we are their friends and that they can count on us,” he said.

He wants to help start a state- and federally-funded drug task force for Whitfield, Murray and Gordon counties to address the area’s drug problems, and he said no local tax money will be spent to do it.

Smith said he believes Ensley and his top officers are good people but have grown too complacent in their jobs and that he can “stir up” the department. He said rumors he intends to fire everybody in the sheriff’s office if elected are untrue.

“I would like for it to be known there are three people who will be going, and they know who they are,” he said. “Everybody’s not going to be looking for a job when we go in. We have good people there.”

Smith’s phone number is (706) 264-1531.

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