Voters want new blood in sheriff’s department

Sheriff’s candidate Sharon Wehrly had the edge among voters interviewed by the Pahrump Valley Times in front of the Bob Ruud Community Center on election day, who wanted a fresh change in the sheriff’s department.

“I voted for Sharon Wehrly, give her a chance,” said Daniel Lett. “Give it a try, get a fresh change. Don’t get me wrong, if Sheriff (Tony) DeMeo ran for office again I’d vote for him.”

A businesswoman who only identified herself as Melinda, said she voted for a pair of incumbents because of their excellent qualifications for the job, like Fifth District Judge Robert Lane and Pahrump Justice of the Peace Kent Jasperson. Asked her choice for sheriff, she said, “Wehrly, Rick Marshall’s too much of a bully.”

Bruce Bryson, a registered Democrat, voted his party ticket and supported Wehrly. “It’s just new blood you know, I mean it’s not anything against Rick (Marshall),” he said.

“I voted for Sharon Wehrly for sure and then I really think that we need a Court of Appeals because the judges out here are handling way too much. I personally have something in the court system right now that’s been taking over a year,” Dawn Coursen said.

“I like Wehrly in the election and all Republicans. We’ve had enough of Obama’s stuff,” Ed Williams said.

“It’s just a matter of who’s bad and who’s worse,” James Ritchie said. “For the sheriff, my choice there I voted for Rick. But what’s his name, who’s his opponent who’s running for sheriff?”

Steve Forbes said he voted for anybody who’s not a Democrat. He added, “Rick Marshall I thought was the better candidate, less negative stuff on the campaigning, more talking about the issues and stuff.”

Ralph Blettner said he voted Democratic. “Sheriff, that was a tough one. I think I went with Rick Marshall, figure might as well keep the old in there,” he said.

“You did?” his surprised wife Shirley Blettner asked.

“I want (Robert) Lane for judge, (Shirley) Matson for assessor,” Ralph Blettner said.

While Shirley Blettner liked Wehrly, she said, “but I don’t know, there wasn’t too much to read up, nothing on her.”

A man who identified himself only as Steve said, “I was so curious that so many wanted to vote for a lady for sheriff, that was interesting. I voted for Republicans, I voted for that fella Rick. I really don’t know what the big deal was with everybody, ‘Anybody But Rick’ and all that.”

“I was under a misunderstanding about something that Sharon, the lady running for sheriff, has said and it apparently was taken out of context. She did not say that the UN decisions or treaties would trump the Constitution, that was taken out of context. She and I had a pretty good conversation about that, I was enlightened,” said Cynthia Miller, who voted for Wehrly.

“I just voted for Wehrly because I wanted to see the culture change in the sheriff’s department and by keep voting people in that are already there nothing’s going to change. We need new blood, new people,” Ron Oleson said.

Pam McClelan said she was tired of the mudslinging.

“I like Wehrly, she’s a stand-up, she’s to the bone and we need fresh blood,” McClelan said. “We need somebody new in there who will stand up to what they stand for and what our laws should be and follow through. We have a lot of not following through here.”

While most voters mentioned the big sheriff’s race, Sarah Doyle referred to the district attorney’s race. “I was coming out to make sure to cast my vote for Brian Kunzi. I want to make sure that he got back in because I’ve been to a few of the debates and speeches around town and his opponent was rather uneducated in regards to BLM land and state matters and I just feel he’s held up to what he’s been saying he was going to do.”

Bill Vine complained there’s not enough “none of the above” on the list.

“I was unhappy with the choices for governor and the same for our representative in Congress,” Vine said. “We got to never vote for an incumbent because you’re going to keep the same crap in effect that we got.”

“The guy I’d like to talk about isn’t in this election, he won’t be up until 2016. I could talk about him all you want, can’t stand him,” Jim Hane said, referring to President Obama.