Sheriff candidates speak at meeting

Sept. 20--GREENSBURG -- Decatur County Farm Bureau's annual meeting was held Tuesday evening at the Decatur County Schools' administration building.

Decatur County Farm Bureau President Patty Lange-Fischer greeted roughly 75 Farm Bureau members, guests. A dinner catered by Izzy's of Batesville was served, and after a short dispensation of her annual meeting duties, Lange-Fischer handed the microphone to Bill Fischer, moderator of the evening's first discussion.

With Decatur County Sheriff candidates Bill Meyerrose (R) and Dave Durant (D) on each side on the stage, Lange-Fischer asked several questions of the sheriff hopefuls, allowing them to introduce themselves and speak on their current experience levels.

"I have 35 years of continuous police force experience, most of those years in another place," Durant began. "I am an Elder of Williamsburg Christian Church in Decatur County, and have been on the Greensburg Police Force for 12 years. I am not a politician, I am a police officer."

Durant continued by saying instead of a political platform he has a "vision of what Decatur County law enforcement should be."

"Our local law enforcement is good, but we can do better. All of the law enforcement in the county, Westport, St. Paul, Greensburg -- we can do better if we lay our egos aside. We can get a whole lot more accomplished," he said. "I am a servant leader, and servant leadership means taking care of everyone else before the individuals needs are met."

He went on to say he is a big believer in "faith-based programs," because, pointing to his chest, "the change we need to make happen begins in here, instead of here," he said, pointing to his head.

"We must get Celebrate Recovery back into our jails. We can throw all the social programs at the problems we have, but nothing will change until we start with the heart. And we can say that we're finished with a certain inmate when they're put back out in public, but without agencies to help that person in their life they'll go right back to their same habits, their same friends. We'll never get over recidivism unless we change their lives," Durant said.

"Imagine what would happen if we were change the lives of 10 offenders in our community," he continued. "That would be 10 families in our community that are no longer following that cycle, in and out of jail. We've got to lay our egos aside and work together. We can make this happen. We can change 10 family trees for good and for generations to come if, instead of building more jails, we change their hearts."

Meyerrose thanked Farm Bureau for hosting the event and introduced himself.

"I was born and raised in Greensburg, and my wife, Connie, was born here as well," Meyerrose said. "My father's name was Bill Meyerrose, his fathers' name was Bill Meyerrose, and they were farmers. Now, I'm not a farmer, but I lived that life growing up, and I appreciate what you guys go through."

Meyerrose continued, telling of his roots in Decatur County, speaking of how he and his wife had, after college, returned to Decatur County where they were raised "because we value what the community did for us growing up, and we want that for our daughters," he said.

Meyerrose discussed his career path, saying, "In July of 1990, I started on the police force in Greensburg, serving for eight years as a uniformed patrol officer. I spent the balance of the rest of my career in law enforcement as a detective or as the chief of police."

Meyerrose continued by discussing a murder that happened "about 5 years ago" (presumably Devon Parsons, the murder/suicide case that received so much press).

"I had the honor, if you want to call it that, to lead a group of police officers to the scene of the murder of a young boy. This 12 year old boy, his mother was on drugs, and he was very unhappy about it, so he took the drugs and hid them," Meyerrose said. "His mommy and her boyfriend couldn't find the drugs, and so they tortured the boy for 10 or 12 hours until they did find them. I know everyone remembers that case."

"But it's seeing that boy beat up so badly, and many other cases, that fuels my desire to work in law enforcement in Decatur County," he continued. "I've seen what drug use has done to my community, and several individuals in my community, and fortunately, we don't see much violence in the community, but it's seeing that that has made we want to run for sheriff in my community."

The discussion panel continued, broaching several local issues. Both candidates responded quickly and offered the assemblage much thought-provoking commentary.

The evening's final program was another discussion panel consisting of Decatur County Health Department Director Of Preparedness Sean Durbin, Decatur County Memorial Hospital Director of Emergency Services Rhonda Venable and School Resource Officer Rob Duckworth.

The panel responded with their views of how the public health, hospital emergency trauma, and law enforcement factions of the Greeensburg community were responding to the wave of opioid abuse plaguing Decatur County and the country.

The evening also included local Farm Bureau elections and distribution of door prizes.

Contact Bill Rethlake at 812-663-3111, ext. 7011 or email bill.rethlake@greensburgdailynews.com

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