As a resident of Montezuma County, I have seen some good and fair sheriffs. I can say with confidence that a sheriff’s job is, first and foremost, to uphold the law. In a multicultural community, a good sheriff is not for one kind of people, but for the community as a whole. The community needs a sheriff who understands the multicultural background of Montezuma and Dolores counties, and be willing to work to unite, not divide, the community. Steve Nowlin is trying to know the community as a whole and the diverse population.
Dennis Spruell is not a sheriff; he is a politician. We don’t need a Sheriff that is only worried about fighting the state and federal governments. We need a sheriff who will first and foremost uphold the law and understands that to protect and serve is the priority of the sheriff – not to fight the government.
Mr. Dove said in The Cortez Journal Opinion page April 17, 2014, “We have a sheriff that is willing to stand up to the overreach of the state and federal government, and it’s about time. So many of our freedoms are being eroded away.”
These freedoms have been eroding away for years by both parties, and we have allowed it to happen. On April 10, 2014, Dennis Spruell said, in The Cortez Journal, “I refused the money, because I think we need to take this country back, and I think we need to do it one county at a time. I don’t want to go to the federal government and say, ‘I need your help.’”
I would ask Dennis Spruell take the country back from whom? This kind of talk is what brings animosity and divides the community.
Mirna Namingha
Yellow Jacket
