I think I may ramble a bit today.

Well, as I was reading some of my older post it really hit me just how much my life has changed the last 2 years. I lost my re-election bid for Sheriff by 12 votes..now I could go into about a million scenerios as to why, I could blame uneducated voters, the Democratic party, etc etc etc...BUT, that would all be a lot of B.S.- the simple truth is this: I followed through with my promises, the same promises that got me into office in the first place, cost me in my re-election. I am one of the naive I guess- but I still believe justice is blind and that justice is best served equally, regardless of financial standing, community status,religion, sexual preference, race, creed or any other bias that you can throw my way. I was proven wrong. While in office and serving my term I was able to lower crime by over 29% (all crimes combined)..I had 13 vehicle burglaries in 4 years, 16 residential burglaries and 1 business burglary in 4 years- i went from having 14 sex offenders in my county to having 4! I will put my numbers up against ANY county in the state- ANY county. In the first 60 days in office the new Sheriff had 11 business burglaries, one being an armed robbery! The drug problem is once again rampant, sex offenders are moving back in and at last count there were 9 again..Deputies do very little patrol and can usually be found at the local cafe or at the office playing computer games..I had a friend call and tell me that he could not get a deputy to respond, so he called the cafe and had one dispatched by the cashier- (I swear to it)....I have gotten many calls from citizens, many of which are having "buyers remorse"..begging me to come back and run again..to them I say.."bahhahahahaha!"..no thanks!" It would serve no purpose- I have moved on. I would go back and do things EXACTLY the same way as before-and in the end the result would be the same in 4 years. Me and my family have relocated 60 miles down the road. I have taken a job with a good paying Police Dept. I work my shift, solve a few crimes, and go home. My family has become more of a priority then before simply do to less demands on my time..I am more focused on family time, vacations, and activities with them.I am making memories with them...that is "JOB 1"...the rest as they say is gravy. I won't lie and say that I don't miss the job- I do..it was the best job that I have ever had..I liked making the crucial, tough decisions-and I was damn good at it. But the only constant is change and I am rolling with it, more or less. I still have really hard days- attempting to fit in where I am merely a cog in the wheel and not a decision maker is rougher than I could have ever imagined. Being in a new county I have contemplated running for Sheriff here..this is the county that I was raised in..and I have had a few say that they would like to see me run.....I still have 2 years to decide. On one hand I would love to..on the other..I would be back to extreme demands on my time if I win...and what I can only imagine as incredible heartbreak if I don't. Do I really want to sign up for more of that or just enjoy the privacy that myself and my family currently have? I have some thinking to do. The wife, ever supportive as she is says she will support my decision either way. I know she means it, too. We shall see....stay tuned.