NOTE: The SCPR is focusing on the naming of a new Stark County sheriff. With each new blog, The Report will include links to other blogs written since Friday, January 4th.
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"We can see no better time for him to possibly make that wish come true by my nominating him (Lt. Louis A. Darrow) to the Democratic party to fill the vacant position."
Those are the words of Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson in his e-mail response (about High Noon today) to a SCPR inquiry asking for confirmation that Darrow (apparently, known to his acquaintances as being "Lou") is, in fact, his choice to succeed Mike McDonald as sheriff of Stark County due to the tragically unfortunate circumstances of McDonald's career ending illness.
Though yours truly does not know Darrow at all, he likely will be a better choice than either George Maier (safety director of Massillon) or Tom Ream (safety director of Canton) for the reason that he is not known to have a strong association with leading Stark County political operatives.
In the case of Maier, the association is with his brother Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. who is a former head of the Stark County Democratic Party.
In the case of Ream, the association is with his boss Mayor William J. Healy, II of Canton.
Whether they will admit it or not, the SCPR sees both Maier and Healy as competitors for dominance of the Stark County Democratic Party. Right now Maier is "king of the hill." However, Healy, in the opinion of The Report, is watching and waiting for his opportunity to bring the king down.
Insofar as everyday Stark Countians are concerned, we should not want political operatives like Maier and Healy dictating who is going to be Stark County's next top cop.
So Swanson is to be lauded for presenting an alternative to the Stark Dems and the SCPR suggest the central committee folks (who actually vote on whom will be the next sheriff) give great weight to the sheriff's expected nominee.
Here is the full e-mail that Sheriff Swanson sent to the SCPR:
Lou has been a member of this Office for twenty-six years and has been assigned to work in every division of the Sheriff’s Office.
He’s shown the professional demeanor and leadership skills and has worked his way through the ranks and became a Lieutenant in August 2012.
He began his career here as a corrections officer in 1987 and attended the basic police academy in 1988 and became a Deputy Sheriff in the spring of 1989 at the completion of the academy.
Since that time he has worked and supervised in the Civil Division and Operations Division.
He was promoted to Sergeant in April of 1997 through competitive testing.
Noting that with the budget difficulties the Sheriff’s office has experienced for several years Lieutenant Darrow was called upon many times to perform the duties of a higher ranking individual because promotion weren’t feasible due budget shortage and manpower. He has always performed those duties in an exemplary fashion with due diligence.
After completive testing he scored number one on the test of which nine other sergeants tested. He was promoted to Lieutenant in August of 2012 and upon the retirement of Chief Rick Perez he was made the division commander for Operations.
Operations division consists of Road Patrol, Detectives, Dispatch, Civil Division, Court House Security, Mechanics, VAWA, Sexual Abuse Investigator, MRDD Investigator, METRO Narcotics, word processing, Records and property.
For the past two years Lieutenant Darrow helped fill the void of not having Captains assigned to the Operations Division with the retirement of Captain’s Rutledge and Shankle.
Lou has expressed to me through the years of being interested in some day running for the Office of Sheriff. [SCPR Note: Darrow did take out petitions in 2012 to run for sheriff but did not file them]
We can see no better time for him to possibly make that wish come true by my nominating him to the Democratic party to fill the vacant position.
1 comment:
I have known Lou Darrow for over seven years now and can wholeheartedly say that he is the absolute best man for the job. He loves his job and works very hard at it.
I am very happy to see that Sheriff Swanson is supporting him and said that he has been performing the duties of a higher ranking officer for years. I have heard many times that he should have been higher rank due to his leadership ability and actions, but the budget could not allow it.
To me, I feel as though there is no better candidate than Lt. Darrow; he has put his time in (over 25 years), knows the ins-and-outs of the stark county sheriff's department (the bureaucracy, the laws, the other officials), and has good rapport with his fellow officers (as far as I know).
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