A County Sheriff Must Hold The Line On The Constitution

Transcript

Recording Start And Role

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey, I'm starting the recording, Matt. This is Matt Owens, and um what is your position at this time, sir, with the Martin County Sheriff's Department?

unknown 0:12

Yeah, I'm a patrol sergeant, and so I am one of the guys who supervise at night during the sheriff uh for the sheriff's office.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

So everything from supervising the road to helping in the jail if needed or dispatch if needed, but my primary focus is the patrol guys on night shift.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Okay. And how long have you been on night shift?

SPEAKER_02 0:36

So I worked for the sheriff's office for 25 years. I've been a sergeant uh there for four years now, and then sergeant and straight nights.

unknown 0:46

Before that it was back and forth, sometimes nights, sometimes days.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Um, but for the last four years being a sergeant and straight nights.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Okay. And uh 25 years with Martin County Sheriff's Department?

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Yes. Yep, I started there in uh July 1st of 2001. I started in the jail, and then July 15th of 2001, so just two weeks later, I got promoted out to the road. As I've been on the road for Martin County, the road being basically patrol deputy since July 15th of 2001.

Roots In Martin County Life

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Are you a a Martin County local or did you trans uh are you uh transfer here?

SPEAKER_02 1:25

So I grew up just outside of Truman. Okay. I've lived I've lived in this area most of my life. There's one year uh after high school that I moved to Alaska and I worked construction to earn money for college, came back to Martin County, but then went to Alexander Technical College for the law enforcement program. So besides that year in Alaska and then my time at college, I've lived in Martin County the rest of my life. So I grew up on a farm um between Trinidad and Trima. Um my my grandpa and my dad farmed early on, dad cattle. And then in the farming crash in the 80s, my dad had to go do other types of work. My grandpa continued to farm um with some of my uncles until he was no longer able to do that. So I grew up on a farm in Martin County and absolutely loved um the farm, the community, the farm life. Um, I think it's a great spot to raise our kids. Um just an excellent, excellent county to be in.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I I absolutely agree with you, and there there is no doubt for doubt for me. Um I couldn't imagine I couldn't imagine being um trying to raise children anywhere other than Martin County right now. The way the world is. So you have children and they're in the uh Fairmont School District or Truman School District?

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So I I have five kids. My oldest two have already graduated high school and they graduated from Martin County West.

unknown 2:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

We uh we technically we live in the Truman School District, but because of uh family, friends, and just the kids with our sports, they've always opened and rolled um or Vermont County West. My younger boys who are still in school um had been going to Fairmont Christian school and now they're homeschooled um because of uh of my three younger ones. Fairmont Christian one goes up to sixth grade and three and so oh, sorry, I got a lot more in the background. Um sixth grade when my one of my three younger boys, once they got out of uh age group, we moved back to homeschooling. So my three younger ones are now homeschooled, but my wife's Carly.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Outstanding. What a wonderful opportunity. Um yeah, I I like the open enrollment, I like uh the opportunity to homeschool uh that that this generation gets to do more and more. It started being a little bit when I was parenting, but it's more and more, and what a what a wonderful opportunity for for families to make make a choice for themselves.

Why Run For County Sheriff

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Um what is driving your choice to move forward and run for the position of lead?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

So there have been a lot of things over the years that I feel God's called me to this role. One of the biggest pushes, though, is how the state of Minnesota at the legislative level continues to try to pass laws that I feel are unconstitutional when it comes to um Second Amendment, when it comes to some of the things that they're trying to push down from the state level. And uh elected county of sheriff is that last line of sense that protects the constitution in a county. And so obviously, if the state legislators pass something that's unconstitutional, eventually the Supreme Court will overturn it and say it's not constitutional. What happens in that in that immediate time period? From when it becomes law in Minnesota, until the Supreme Court can hear it, there has to be a check and balance there. And so the county sheriff is that last line of defense is going to say, this law, whatever it may be, is unconstitutional or is not appropriate, um, and can sit there and basically hold that line until the Supreme Court has a chance to actually review it and see if it is a constitutional violation of some sort. So that's that's like the big push of why I feel like I I need to be in this role.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Wow. Wow, that's that that's that's a that's deep. You you don't really think about it until you think about it. That that makes absolute sense.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully Minnesota doesn't pass anything that's unconstitutional, but they tried. You know, this last this last uh session, they tried to pass a law that would basically make every somatomatic firearm illegal. But the the law that they're trying to push went so far as to say you'd have to register those guns, and if you register those guns, you allow law enforcement to come into your house to inspect at any given time to make sure that they are registered and documented.

unknown 6:10

That is so wrong.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

It is not the firearm, it's it's a more of a mental health issue. So we definitely need to be looking at people getting mental health help, trying to help the people who shouldn't have guns, like working on that, necessarily making it so that we law enforcement can just come and inspect everybody's guns. That's that's not the goal, that's not what the founding fathers had in mind when they um wrote the Constitution, and so there's a there's a lot that goes into it. So fortunately that law did not pass, that's not an issue, uh, but that's what has been tried in the recent history of at the state the state level.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

And then again, you would be the final defense for for our county. Um what what is the opposition in your position? Is there other people running against you, or what's the deadline for filing?

SPEAKER_02 7:03

So the deadline filed to file was in the beginning part of June, and I was the only one to file, so there's no, there's nobody else running against me. Um and so now if I lose really embarrassing. If I if I'm the only one on the ticket and I still don't win. But yeah, it's it's just um I felt that'll be on the ticket for this year.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Okay, so um then the big part of your campaign then is just reassurance, confidence, and um uplifting your your position as where you stand for the community then.

unknown 7:33

Right. I I feel like I know a lot of people in my county already. Um, but I'm still doing meet and greets. Um we're trying to make it to every town to have a time just go and sit down and visit with people. Um do still doing the parades, also do have a booth at the county fair.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Um for people that want to come and ask questions, they that want to know more. So I'm always open and available if people want to call or go grab a cup of coffee or or just sit down and talk and see uh what their concerns are, what their questions are, and they can hear my viewpoints on things. Um and so even though it's not the the typical like have to go door knocking, I want to be available. People have questions, they can sure reach out to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Um, absolutely. And I've seen that when you've when I've been at meetings where you've been involved.

Power Line Proposal Concerns

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Uh so I'm gonna ask a farming question and a community member question. Do you have any thoughts of uh these power lines that they're talking about coming through for us? Those 750 things. Isn't that annoying?

SPEAKER_02 8:37

I I um to me it does not make sense why they would have a power plant so far away from where they want the power to get to. Why why then run power lines on a tire trunk? That none of that makes sense to me. Um you'd think it would make way more sense to have wherever you need the power, have the power plant built but where you need the power at. Um so uh unfortunately I d I don't have necessarily any say in how any of that goes. Right. Um but if if I did, I mean for what they're proposing right now, the option that they've listed, I would say along the interstate would be the best option, but I don't I really don't think it's a good idea in general to string power for hundreds of miles. Um I think you'd be better off putting those two entities by by each other instead of having to run across the country uh across multiple states to get to where you need the power to go to.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Right. I totally agree. So that that that that's a community question. Um then I'm going to go to one more police policing question.

E-Bike Rules And Safety Balance

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Everybody's very concerned about the e-bikes, um, the e-scooters, uh, the kids having and and and I think you and I have met and spoke real quick about this. Uh as a grandmother, I'm so borderline on it because I like my my little kids being able to get that experience. So I have a granddaughter in Iowa that's 14 that's driving um across state. Well, she's driving back and forth to school, so she drives across Cedar Rapids from one side of the city to the other. Um there's uh l limited rules at this time, is that correct? I mean, are you guys enforcing what are you guys doing, especially the sheriffs at the sheriff's level versus towns?

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Right. So they the e-bikes are relatively new in the fact that they've uh come under the scene and just exploded in the last couple of years. And so at the state level, uh in my opinion, it's kind of a knee-jerk reaction that they're like, whoa, we gotta we gotta put some kind of guidelines on this. And so they're doing knee-jerk reaction legislation. And so is everything they're proposing or have have made laws at all bad?

unknown 10:57

Not necessarily. Their goal is to try to keep people safe, and I get that.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Um on the same hand, as a dad, I like that uh that my kids can be outside and go do something instead of sitting and watching a movie or being on screens. And so like I like the idea of kids having fun outdoor activities to do, and so how do we balance that? Um, like like you and I talked before, like we want kids to be kids. We want them to do it in a safe manner. And so the the law that's currently out there is fairly restrictive that uh um they have to be 15 years old to be riding the e-bikes on public street and roadways. And so what we've been telling kids is ride them in New York, you know, find private property that you can ride on, because we still want you to go out riding, we still want you to go out and have fun. We just have to do it in a safe way. And the end of the day, our main goal is that nobody gets hurt. And so as fans right now, the laws that are in place with that goal in mind, and so we've been using it more as like an education. Like we tell kids um to find safe places to ride these because it is they are a lot of fun. Um we just need to do it in a safe manner.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

I I I like that. Thank you. That is a great, like, great answer. I like that. I like that a lot. Find a safe place to ride, guys. Very appreciated. Um, is there anything else that you would like to meet like the the community know like the community to note, excuse me.

Jail Costs And ICE Cooperation

SPEAKER_01 12:19

And I wanted to follow up with the question, what is the most common question that people are asking, and what would you like to add to this interview, so that uh one of the most common questions is do we need a new jail?

SPEAKER_02 12:33

And that's one that uh has been on the topic and discussion lately w at the county commissioner level. The bottom line is I don't want my taxes going up, and I think most people don't want their taxes going up. If we were to build a new facility, you would bring taxes up at some level, there's some getting around that. Can we work with what we have? Absolutely, we can work with what we have. Um and so I think that's probably like the number one question I've been getting a lot of. Um it's like a decision that the commissioners have to make. I have no no say necessarily either way on it. And we can work with whatever they decide they want to do on on their level. So I think that's probably the number one question I've been getting.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Okay. And um I did ask what was our policy on uh ICE coming to our community. I I will follow up with that question because it was it was very very uh informative what how you respond to certain things to share with others.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah. So uh the way it is working right now and it seems to work well, is if we arrest somebody for whatever the crime may be, and if they end up being somebody who's here illegally, uh we are working alongside of IS just letting them know that this person is here, and if they say that they want them, we're gonna release them. ISIS is allowed to come into our facility to grab the person and then take them when they're done. It is not something that we're going around knocking door to door for them on on their behalf, and and they've been to our community a couple times, uh, but primarily it's what's we're gonna custody on another crime will not show up and then I'll take the person from our facility at that time.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Okay, outstanding. Again, thank you for all that you're doing for our community, and uh I appreciate all that you've had to share with us. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.