Shoot-Out at Not So "O.K. Corral" in Lunenburg County Tonight!!!

Update Report.

Sheriff Candidates Debate Tonight!!!

Check all handguns at the door please!

As a community service, the Iconoclast is pleased to publish this reminder that four candidates for special Sheriffs election of August 8th, will be debating this evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Harry Wellons Auditorum at the old Victoria High School.

This promises to be almost as much fun as the legendary shoot-out at the "O.K. Corral" figuratively speaking of course.

However, since the Iconoclast first reported on this special election back in May, the rhetoric has been rather hot, a lot like flying lead going in all different directions. Given the news reports of vandalism against a number of the candidates' campaign signs, it may be fair to say that some individuals (not necessairly the candidates themselves) have resorted to dirty tricks.

Not a good example of civilized behavior.

The original post entitled "Sheriff Stoots Shoots Self in the Foot in Lunenburg County" can be seen here.

Initially, the Iconoclast became interested in this story because of what seemed to be the inappropriate actions of the acting Sheriff Randall L Stoots following the sudden and unexpected death of former Sheriff Charles W. Stokes. And yes, the death of Sheriff was by natural causes in case you are not from Lunenburg and were wondering.

As we reported in May "...in a master stroke of political ham-fisted poor judgement, the newly appointed Sheriff Stoots first announces his intentions to run for Sherriff in the up-coming special election, and second, summarily fires two senior members of the Lunenburg County Sheriff's department, one Deputy Arthur Townsend (21 years with the department) and two Deputy Jimmy Moses (25 years with the Department.)"

At the time Sheriff Stoots explained something to the effect that the two fired Deputies were asked for their "continued support and cooperation" and then when he learned that both planned to also run in the special election, he sumarily fired them.

Since that time Sheriff Stoots has made a mighty effort to re-explain exactly what happened and why his actions were not just a dumb knee-jerk act of political retribution.

Many citizens from the community have weighed in on both sides, some with serious comments, and some not so serious.

Presently there are four candidates vying for the coveted position of High Sheriff of Lunenburg County, the Old Free State of Virginia. They are:

Acting Sheriff, Randall L. Stoots, 9 years experience in law enforcement.

Former Deputy Sheriff Jimmy Moses, 25 years with the Lunenburg County Sheriffs Department.

Former Deputy Arthur Townsend, 21 years with the Lunenburg County Sheriffs Department.

Mecklenburg Correctional Center Office David R. Jackson, 26 years with the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Both Deputies Moses and Townsend were previous close contenders the 2004 special election for Sheriff when the late Sheriff Stokes was elected in the aftermath of an earlier untimely death of another Sheriff. (Frankly, with this history of untimely deaths in office, I am not sure why anyone would want this job.)

The Iconoclast, wishing to be as fair as possible republishes here all of those comments for your reading enjoyment.

There are so far 32 separate comments on record. They are as follows in order of receipt:


• At 11:09 AM, Anonymous said…
Sounds like Sheriff Stoots just gave a way the keys to the jail.

• At 5:13 PM, Conaway Haskins said…
I eagerly await what you find out. It's about time someone lit a fire under Lunenburg's figurative butt.

-- Conaway

• At 8:45 AM, Anonymous said…
I live in Virginia and this is the first time I've even heard of this County. Still this is interesting all the same, is the local media in the area covering this story? Seems like total BS to me.

• At 3:53 PM, Anonymous said…
Good insight and reporting!

• At 7:37 PM, Anonymous said…
Seems to me that the Sheriff would have been smarter to keep those two boys on the job and very busy so they wouldn't have so much time on their hands to campaign for the office of Sheriff.

• At 8:53 PM, Anonymous said…
Will,

It is just not right to make fun of Barney like this. Barney is a good lawman and may occasionally hit a few bumps in the road. But never, and I mean never, would he do something like this. So please, in the future, do law enforcement people everywhere a big favor and do not compare Barney to Sheriff Stoots.

Very sincerely,

Sheriff Andy Taylor
Mayberry, NC

PS. Y'all come down and see us sometime.

• At 9:17 AM, Anonymous said…
I would have to agree with my friend and collegue Sheriff Taylor. I personally find nothing wrong with Sheriff Stoot's behavior. He's a good man, and only has the best interest of the Citizens in mind.

Sincerely,

Sheriff Boss Hogg
Harzard County, TX

• At 8:24 AM, Anonymous said…
The blog site owner here presents himself as some sort of self-appointed country legalist with the community's best intentions in mind. He, however, is a the real Boss Hog of Brokeback Mountain. Besides, Barney Fife was a great guy. Just ask Andy Griffith.

Check this Hogg's blog.

He supports gay rights! Gay marriage! And who knows what other kind of perversion.

It's not about community for him except in the sense, perhaps, of communism. We heard about the free love movement and communism in the 1960s. Now we have the gay love movement. Gay sex, the gay lifestyle, etc. are OK if you really love someone. Just be free. Just love the opposite sex.

Guess what?

Freedom is not the be all and end all. America was built on Christian values by Christian people. And Christianity declares homosexuality immoral. It is nothing more than disguised pedophilia. Child molesters and homosexuals want to have sex with persons outside the confines of a God ordained, anatomically and biologically destined design (even Darwin would view homosexuality as a significant aberration.)

Human anatomy states that men were made for women, humans were made for humans, and adults made for adults, not some other combination. That's the truth. It is plainly obvious.

Romans 1:19-20 tells us, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."

You simply cannot deny it. It is inherently obvious. You would be a liar to deny it. Even Darwin would agree that humans evolved for those purposes. The sex roles of males and females from the plant kingdom to the animal kingdom are immutable and obvious. Penises were made for vaginas. Penises were not made for other penises. Vaginas were not made for other vaginas. But homosexuals would deny the truth.

Romans 1:25-27 tells us, "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

If the propaganda were to say that we should all defy anatomy and only have one arm. How many people would be made unhappy, if they believed they had to remove their arm? Only the most disordered would actually enjoy having their arm removed. Maybe that is due penalty for your perversion. You choose homosexuality, then you cannot have children.

Stop the gay propaganda and set people's minds free. Thought control hasn't worked in China. It won't work here.

• At 8:25 AM, Truth 2025 said…
The blog site owner here presents himself as some sort of self-appointed country legalist with the community's best intentions in mind. He, however, is a the real Boss Hog of Brokeback Mountain. Besides, Barney Fife was a great guy. Just ask Andy Griffith.

Check this Hogg's blog.

He supports gay rights! Gay marriage! And who knows what other kind of perversion.

It's not about community for him except in the sense, perhaps, of communism. We heard about the free love movement and communism in the 1960s. Now we have the gay love movement. Gay sex, the gay lifestyle, etc. are OK if you really love someone. Just be free. Just love the opposite sex.

Guess what?

Freedom is not the be all and end all. America was built on Christian values by Christian people. And Christianity declares homosexuality immoral. It is nothing more than disguised pedophilia. Child molesters and homosexuals want to have sex with persons outside the confines of a God ordained, anatomically and biologically destined design (even Darwin would view homosexuality as a significant aberration.)

Human anatomy states that men were made for women, humans were made for humans, and adults made for adults, not some other combination. That's the truth. It is plainly obvious.

Romans 1:19-20 tells us, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."

You simply cannot deny it. It is inherently obvious. You would be a liar to deny it. Even Darwin would agree that humans evolved for those purposes. The sex roles of males and females from the plant kingdom to the animal kingdom are immutable and obvious. Penises were made for vaginas. Penises were not made for other penises. Vaginas were not made for other vaginas. But homosexuals would deny the truth.

Romans 1:25-27 tells us, "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

If the propaganda were to say that we should all defy anatomy and only have one arm. How many people would be made unhappy, if they believed they had to remove their arm? Only the most disordered would actually enjoy having their arm removed. Maybe that is due penalty for your perversion. You choose homosexuality, then you cannot have children.

Stop the gay propaganda and set people's minds free. Thought control hasn't worked in China. It won't work here.

• At 8:25 AM, Truth 2025 said…
The blog site owner here presents himself as some sort of self-appointed country legalist with the community's best intentions in mind. He, however, is a the real Boss Hog of Brokeback Mountain. Besides, Barney Fife was a great guy. Just ask Andy Griffith.

Check this Hogg's blog.

He supports gay rights! Gay marriage! And who knows what other kind of perversion.

It's not about community for him except in the sense, perhaps, of communism. We heard about the free love movement and communism in the 1960s. Now we have the gay love movement. Gay sex, the gay lifestyle, etc. are OK if you really love someone. Just be free. Just love the opposite sex.

Guess what?

Freedom is not the be all and end all. America was built on Christian values by Christian people. And Christianity declares homosexuality immoral. It is nothing more than disguised pedophilia. Child molesters and homosexuals want to have sex with persons outside the confines of a God ordained, anatomically and biologically destined design (even Darwin would view homosexuality as a significant aberration.)

Human anatomy states that men were made for women, humans were made for humans, and adults made for adults, not some other combination. That's the truth. It is plainly obvious.

Romans 1:19-20 tells us, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."

You simply cannot deny it. It is inherently obvious. You would be a liar to deny it. Even Darwin would agree that humans evolved for those purposes. The sex roles of males and females from the plant kingdom to the animal kingdom are immutable and obvious. Penises were made for vaginas. Penises were not made for other penises. Vaginas were not made for other vaginas. But homosexuals would deny the truth.

Romans 1:25-27 tells us, "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

If the propaganda were to say that we should all defy anatomy and only have one arm. How many people would be made unhappy, if they believed they had to remove their arm? Only the most disordered would actually enjoy having their arm removed. Maybe that is due penalty for your perversion. You choose homosexuality, then you cannot have children.

Stop the gay propaganda and set people's minds free. Thought control hasn't worked in China. It won't work here.

• At 9:03 AM, Anonymous said…
What's even better is that the mayor of the town is rumored to have put him up to it. This mayor is also the undertaker, fire chief, and once a furniture store owner as well.

• At 10:33 AM, Anonymous said…
Truth 2025 seems to be upset because you took a shot at Sheriff Taylor..funny!

• At 10:34 AM, Anonymous said…
What in the hell does gay marriage have to do with Sheriff Stoots' insane decision to fire two experiened Deputies????????

• At 11:08 AM, Anonymous said…
Truth 2025 has way, way too much time on his hands worrying about gays. When an individual fixates too much on any one thing, they begin to see the object of fixation everywhere. There is help out there for people so aflicted. But first they need to acknowledge that there is a problem.

• At 6:20 PM, Anonymous said…
Truth, what the hell is yor problem?

• At 10:08 PM, Anonymous said…
Ok. So we got some crackpots out there. Get back to the subject of Sheriff Stoots and his problem with judgment.

I would like to hear from Sheriff Stoots. Why should we vote for him? Does he have some ideas? What are they? We got some issues in Lunenburg and I would like to hear how he is going to address them.

So, Sheriff Stoots, what do you say?

• At 8:09 PM, Anonymous said…
We see recently that Sheriff Stoots' defenders are attempting in public letters to do damage control by justifying the dismissal of two deputies as appropriate behavior. All he is trying to do is to eliminate fair competition for the office of Sheriff. The voters see through this excuse and will send him a message on election day.

• At 9:02 AM, Anonymous said…
well before the last election

deruty Townsend lost his weapon,at central high school when he took off his gun belt to play basketball. To this date his gun has never been recovered. When sheriff Adams was alive he and mrs.Townsend caught deputy Townsend and the dispatcher having sex in the sheriff's office. He should have been fired then. Iannot vote for a person who cannot keep up with his own weapon.

• At 4:18 PM, Anonymous said…
This is getting juicy. Now, if Sheriff Stoots can just get some good dirt on former Deputy Jimmy Moses and the other dude, he will have it made on election day. So much for taking the high road. Lets get down and play in the mud.

• At 11:51 PM, Anonymous said…
Jimmy Moses is the best choice. He has a lot of experience, and is a nice man who would keep the citizens in mind. Also there have been spray-paint on some Moses and Townsend signs...what does htat say to you?

• At 10:53 PM, Curtis Brooks said…
I am a Sheriff Stoots Supporter and understand that he is probably the only man for the job that will break up the good ole boy PD's of Lunenburg County. Randall Stoots also had his personal property and signs vandalized but this was not mentioned in the paper. This county and the local newspapers are tendentious of our sheriff.
"Arthur Townsend and Jimmy Moses... Each having over two decades of experience" does not make them automatically qualified for the job.

• At 10:22 AM, Anonymous said…
If I had to guess it sounds as if Sheriff Stoops, and his supporters are attempting to do a little "damage control" at this moment. If Sheriff Stoops is interested in breaking the "good ole boy" system, then he will have his chance to do so come this August. But what qualatative standards do you apply to someone to determine if they are "good ole boys" or not, seems to be alot of "wiggle room" in this definition.

I don't know this to be true, but it wouldn't surprise me if Stoops (and some of his supporters) are attempting to martyr the Sheriff (by destroying his signs) in order to once again deflect attention from his silly decision.

If Stoops is confident that he is indeed the best man for the job, the voters will elect him. Dismissing the two deputies was a poor decison, and he should have know better...it just looks bad!

• At 4:26 PM, Anonymous said…
It is a shame that one small community has nothining else to do but make comments and threats to a man who is doing his job. NO ONE could ever understand the responsibility and stress that has been given to Sheriff Stoots who wants to do the job he was given with grace and honor. There have been to many years where people in authority have taken advantage of there position and gotten away with more then anyone could imagine and those individuals know who they are. I applaud the honest man and the only honest man on the ticket for Sheriff is STOOTS!!!!!!

• At 9:57 PM, Anonymous said…
I think your still missing the point..i assume that stoops was appointed to the postion to "hold hte postion" until a special election could be held..correct? if this is this case, then indeed it was poor decision (some might say stupid) to fire two senior deputies. If what you claim is true, then stoops will be vindicated in august...

still, good people can make bad decisions, and I think this is what the blog author is trying to communicate...

• At 1:23 PM, Anonymous said…
As a relative newcomer to Lunenburg, I don't know personally any of the candidates for the special election for Sheriff.

However, if I may observe, I would suggest that this discussion is a good thing and shows that there is some interest in the community to make things better.

Over the past three and a half years, I have listened to people grumble about the problems with our County officials here in Lunenburg. But when it comes to doing something about the problems, I see too much apathy.

So, I am happy to see this discussion on the special election for Sheriff. It is only one office but it is important.

And no, I am not prepared to endorse any one of the four candidates at this time. I am still listening and looking for answers.

Thanks.

• At 2:13 PM, Anonymous said…
All these problems the Sheriff is having is unfair. He was just doing what Barny would have done. Nip it! Nip it in the bud!

• At 2:31 PM, Jeff Paul said…
I personally know each of the three major candidates in this election. I have worked side by side with them all for several years as a law enforcement officer in Lunenburg county. I know alot that the general public doesn't know. Not from rumors or hearsay, but because I am behind the scenes with them. I know the answers to most questions you may have and will give them honestly. If I don't know the answer I will simply tell you I don't know. As far as Mr. Stoots goes, I've never really had any problems with Stoots until this whole firing of the Deputies scandal. Stoots has always seemd to be an ok, laid back, country boy kind of guy. I would never in a million years have expected him to do something like this. The two deputies that he fired were both honest, hard working deputies with lots of experience and were both an asset to our Sheriff's Office. I was extremely dissappointed with Mr. Stoot's "Insecurity" based decision. Some people say "well if Sheriff Stokes liked him enough to make him Chief Deputy, them he must be ok"...WRONG!! Sheriff Stokes told me himself that the only reason he made Stoots his chief deputy was... and I quote..."Because everybody else ran against me". Stoot's sidekick Curtis Brooks is obviously being fed information. The problem with that is that if you don't know the truth firsthand, then second hand information can get you in alot of trouble You can't always rely on what someone else tells you as being the truth. This is where the possibility of Slander Suits come into play. Mr Brooks needs to verify the information he is being fed before posting or printing it. He could be facing alot of trouble. Stoots and Brooks have both made comments that are at the least very misleading, but some are just flat out untrue. For example, Stoots having the same training as everyone else. This is a completely untrue comment that can be verified. I can personally tell you several areas of training that Townsend and Moses have had that Stoots has not. I find it interesting that Stoots thinks that the people of Lunenburg are not smart enough to realize that it is very unlikely that a person with only nine years of experience could possibly have as much continued training as someone with over twenty years experience. In closing, I would like to say that if anyone has a question that they would like answered truthfully, please let me know and I will gladly answer it for you if I know the answer. If you choose not to put them on this discussion you can e mail me personally at jpsjb@yahoo.com .

Thank you.

• At 1:49 PM, Anonymous said…
I think it is a shame that you would quote our previous Sheriff when he is not able to confirm or deny this quote. I knew Sheriff Stokes very well and have a hard time believing that this was his only reason. This only proves that you may not be a reliabe source and may be giving biased information. Are you still in law enforcement or just the lead singer of Southern Justice? Stoots is a very fair man and my support goes to him!! Go Sheriff Stoots!!

• At 12:42 AM, Anonymous said…
This is a lot of lies and crap on this website. All I have to say is get your facts straight or shut up.

• At 6:39 PM, Adam said…
I believe that any person in any organization should strive to excel, and work towards the highest position in that organization. If a senior deputy of 20 plus years has no aspirations to be sheriff then their goals are not being set high. (After saying this I do understand that some law enforcement officers want to do just that. Enforce the law and not do so much administrative.) A person should not be punished for wanting to make the best of themselves, and fulfill their goals. Author Townsend taught me and everyone one of my peers about drug abuse when we were children. He is friends with many people in the county and is a very nice man. Jimmy Moses is also a caring man that also has many friends in the county. Firing two men wishing to excel to the best of their abilities, and that have such a strong network in such a small county is political suicide.

• At 10:29 AM, Anonymous said…
I live in Lunenburg and cannot comprehend why people would vote for a whiny Sheriff like Stoots. All he ever does, it seems, is complain, complain, complain. "My wife is being threatened. She's scared to leave the house. My kids are in jeopardy. People throw their trash in my yard." What Stoots will never say is that his wife is going door-to-door every day handing out campaign literature. She sure seems scared to me. Townsend, on the other hand, won't talk to the press. Jackson is NOT a deputy, nor has he ever been - no experience in the field. So, it seems that my vote has to go to Jimmy Moses by default. I will say this, one local paper has printed fine interviews with all of them (except Townsend) and has done other articles about the race. If you want to know about these candidates pick up a few past issues of the Southside Messenger. Other than that, I can't wait for the "Royal Rumble" tomorrow night in Victoria!

• At 10:07 PM, Jeff Paul said…
First of all, if you choose to be at all credible don't be afraid to post your name. Quit leaving comments anonymously. I quoted what Sheriff Stokes told me because it is fact. That is word for word what he told me. Also, if it was so terrible for me to quote what the late Sheriff said, then it seems like your candidate Mr. Stoots has some explaining to do as well. Have you seen the articles in this weeks local papers? They are full of things that Mr Stoots says was told to him by Sheriff Stokes. Was it alright for him to print them but not me? In final rebuttle to your comment, yes I am still proudly employed as a police officer in Lunenburg County. If you know as much as you think you do, you wouldn't have to ask that. Since my article in the paper, several law enforcement officers within the boundaries of Lunenburg County (including deputies) as well as many citizens have come to me, shook my hand, thanked me, and expressed great gratitude for printing the facts. One comment (from law enforcement) was "I'm glad somebody's telling the truth around here". It's a shame that the only people who know the truth about the lies being told are law enforcement officers who can't openly tell the public because of their position. There is great concern within the law enforcement family in Lunenburg about Mr Stoots but it is not expressed due to employment concerns. Mr Stoots' latest articles are full of misleading information and flat out lies. I have known Stoots for a long time and it is extremely hard for me to believe that he has chosen this strategy for his campaign. I once highly respected Mr Stoots but am now extremely disappointed in his actions. I hope I have answered your questions and I invite you throw more at me if you want more facts. But once again, step out of your cowardly costume...be proud of what you believe in...let everyone know who is supporting Stoots...tell us who you are...but if you don't, I really don't blame you. I would be ashamed too.

Yours Truly,
Jeff Paul
Victoria PD


As of this date, July 20th, 2006, the Iconoclast has not endorsed any one of the four candidates.

The Iconoclast is unable to attend tonight's festivities, but wishes to encourage the good citizens Lunenburg County to attend tonight's debate.

Please, as soon as the dust settles and everybody runs out of bullets, send us your comments.

We are waiting breathlessly.

Good luck to all four candidates! May the best candidate win!