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I hope all have seen the debate that was televised on Channel 16 in Bella Vista.  The debate is downloaded onto my web page.  If you look at the home page, you can go to the right side of the page and click on “Bella Vista TV 16 debate”.  This is under the “recent posts”.

A very good week!

My wife, Holly, Linda and several supporters have covered a large area of Bella Vista. I have been working door to door in Siloam Springs.  I plan on having Siloam Springs covered by the end of the week.

The forum in Prairie Creek went well. I believe I made my point but you might like to know that our opponent said his first priority was the jail and his second was the safety of Benton County.

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Dog Wood Days in Siloam Springs was a good day for the campaign.  In total we had at least twenty supporters working the festival.  The campaign then traveled north to Maysville and had a super time with the residents from the Maysville area who were in attendance of their festival.

We finished the campaign this week in Church.  Holly and I were guests of Jerry and Sharon Smith.  We attended the Colonial Baptist Church on Olive Street. It was a wonderful time with a wonderful congregation of Gods people.  Thank you.

We are winning this race.  The energy I feel is unbelievable!  Do keep up the pace and the enthusiasm.

Holly and I want to thank you for your support.  Know this, we love you and we will win!

Andy

Here is a note written by Hunter Moore that I thought you might enjoy. He is an elderly gentleman kind of like a Mark Twain fella, this is what he wrote:

” There that newspaper goes insultin my intelligence agin. Someone over there is supportin the current sheriff cause he’s been so quiet? They equate doin a good job with quietness?? That’s downright ignorant.

My granddaddy used to say, when an elected official is too quiet they’re either, up to somethin, or up to nothin, and neither one one of those things is helpin us folks. I don’t recollect being a sheriff ought to be a quiet job, not if their doin their job and speakin up loud for me, after all, they’re workin for me, I’m payin their wages.

That’s what I always liked about Andy when a was sheriff, he wasn’t what they call, politically correct, he’d step on anyones toes when it came to doin the right thing. You see, when a true leader is turnin over lots of rocks to find the rattle snakes and bein a what ya call, a mover and a shaker, it does stir up some folks all around. Mostly, the very folks that needed to get stirred up and shakin in the first place!!!

I don’t want a sheriff who is a go-a-longer- to-get-alonger. I want a sheriff who talks the walk and then actually walks the talk!

Now if the county comes up with a new job such as commissioner of quiet naptime, that current guy has got my vote, but for sheriff, in these serious times, I’m votin for Andy Lee. I know that Andy built the County Sheriffs department up to what it is today. The current guy’s just been coastin on all the work Andy done before! Anybody could see that, cause during this campaign, now the current guy keeps adoptin all the ideas and things that Andy say’s need to start gettin done. I think Andy has given him every good idea he’s ever had.

Now we need Andy back, to take the County Sheriff’s Office up to the next level to meet today’s new challenges. Arkansawyers used to know how to recognize a lawman with true grit. Come May 20th, I hope they still do, and put Andrew Lee, Andy, back in the sheriffs offce where he can pick up right where he left off.”

Well, that’s the way the cow eats the cabbage, yall hear?.

Hunter Moore

First let me say thank you to all for the support given this past week with the passing of my older brother, Walt…

My son, Andy, and my grandson, Andy, went to his funeral this past week in Washington DC. After the funeral I took them on a tour of DC, including, all you baseball fans, a private tour of the new baseball stadium of the Washington Nationals and - for all you Holly fans, a trip past the house she grew up in. Before we left DC we were able to get Andy, son, a ride along with a DC Police Office in the 5th District- my old stomping ground. Andy got a close up view of what his father did for many years.

During my absence, the opposition has wasted little time in its distribution of its second Anti-Andy letter - filled with falsehoods and half truths of things I did as Sheriff. The current Sheriff should make a public statement and denounce the letters. He should not have an issue with this - unless, he knows and supports the source of them. If so, it should be revealed. As we know, all cowards hide behind anonymity. If you notice both letters released so far during this campaign - have been released without a name attached to it. Last campaign the same thing happened, but they only sent one letter out - again with no signature.

But wait you say, how do I know the Sheriff is aware of the letters? I don’t but his campaign does. Last year one of his campaign workers thought he was being cute by calling over a dog that belonged to a neighbor that was supporting me and tied the fictional letter to the dog’s collar and sent the dog home. The dog owner called me and told me they had a copy of the bad things I did and it came from their neighbor. How do we know that, the neighbor signed it!!!! Too funny…………..and guess who has that copy? Too funny, again……………

I did not get a lot of things done on the campaign trail last week but my wife did. Seems like a lot of doors were knocked on and the advertisement is well on its way. Thanks Holly for your support and love.

In addition to Holly’s help - I also want to say a special thanks to Guy Howe and Linda Napierala………for their help walking door to door with Holly. Thanks Guy and Linda!

My, my, my, the editorialist have just begun……. I know for many - this may be very frustrating to read- keep in mind that in general the press has been fair to our administration and our campaign. I can not say that about the editorial section. The power of the pen can be mighty. Through the years I have come to understand that editorialist and I come from different molds. I do not understand why they write the way they do.

We will keep plugging away by knocking on doors, handing out the fliers and spreading the word! State the facts and only the facts. Unlike our opponent, we must not lower our standards when it comes to getting the truth out to the public.

A good Sheriff will do what is correct; a great Sheriff will do what is right!!! 

And the right things to do is….

• Stop gangs in their tracks!

• Stop holding Federal Prisoners in our county jail and turn our jail back over to Benton County!

• Open up the beds that the Federal Prisoners are taking up and start holding those who have been arrested in Benton County.

• Stop the Criminal Networking between the Federal Prisoners and local prisoners.

• If you are going to spend our property tax dollars, spend it on a new, state of the art juvenile detention center and juvenile court. Do not spend it on an expansion of the jail just to bring up and hold Federal Prisoners from Louisiana!

Again, I want to thank each and every one of you for joining me in this campaign endeavor. I can never thank you enough for your support!

Andy

Ps; do you remember my prediction that the Sheriff would get off the kick of expanding the jail and bringing in more Federal Prisoners? Well it looks like I am correct. Here it is April and you have not heard a word from the Sheriff referencing the expansion.

There a few reasons for this:

1. The Sheriff knows it was a bad idea to start with.

2. The Sheriff knows the public is not in support.

3. The Sheriff knows the public is disappointed in him when they learn he is turning away a criminal arrested in Benton County because there is a no bed spaces available because the needed beds are being used by the Federal Prisoners he is holding.

4. The Sheriff knows that the criminal networking with Federal Prisoners and local prisoners is just wrong and he knows the public feels the same.

5. The Sheriff has failed to tell the public and the Quorum Court that the cost to hold a prisoner is now up to $35.00 (read story) a day and he only collects $40.00 for Federal Prisoners.

6. The Sheriff knows the public will not except the fact that for an extra $5.00 dollars a day we are using bed space for a Federal Prisoner instead of holding local prisoners.

7. The Sheriff knows that if he was really running the jail correctly we would not be having the problems we are having today with bed space issues.

Just a little FYI; I keep hearing about all the law suits I had when I was Sheriff.  Well I may have had several but I am not sure if I ever had forty (40) pending at one time like the current Sheriff.  His little buddies should look over their shoulder and check their facts before spouting off.  It would be interesting to know what his total lawsuits are from the time he took office to now!

Take the time to read this article(click here).  Remember the current Sheriff still says we do not have a gang problem.  Also remember when Ferguson is pressured about gangs, he will say if we do have any, they are in the cites where he has no jurisdiction (click here).  At a recent Sheriff’s debate the Ferguson alluded to the fact that gangs started in Rogers.  The Sheriff was shooting jabs at Sgt Cradduck, a candidate for Sheriff.  I felt the Sheriff was saying if you the citizens of Rogers and the Rogers Police had their act together we would not have a gang problem in Benton County.  Remarkable!  Ferguson blames the City of Rogers for gangs.  However he will ask you for your vote while saying, remember if you reelect me as your Sheriff and you live in a city there is nothing I can do to keep you safe because I have “no jurisdiction”. Remarkable, again!

You know what would be informative?  If Keith Ferguson, Sgt. Kelly Cradduck and myself would sit down on live radio to discuss the issues of gangs, the holding of Federal Prisoners and other issues that have surface during the campaign?

Keith my campaign will pay for the hour of radio time if you do not want to share the cost. 

Another solid week for the campaign! Attended three networking coffees and one Chamber of Commerce meeting. These meetings have given our campaign good exposure to a cross section of business owners.

This week’s “Too Funny” comes from a supporter from the Beaver Lake area. Here is his email….

Holly/Andy:

Use this at will, too funny.

A very elderly lady in our community was walking by my house yesterday
as I was raking a few leaves. She kindly asked me ……….
Is Andy Lee a good realtor and has he gotten me any good offers on my house”
I sad “who?”
She said “I see your sign here and I was looking for a good realtor myself!”
I had all I could do to hold my composure.
I was gentile, kind, and all ended with the facts.
She was dead serious!

Jim Platanitis

This coming week our campaign has been invited to two talks. On Monday, March 24 we will be giving a short talk to the Bella Vista Republican Women. They hold their meeting at 9:00 AM inside Concordia in Bella Vista.

The second talk will be hosted by Northwest Arkansas Property Rights Association on Tuesday, March 25th. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM and is held at the old swimming/restaurant complex at Lake Atlanta in Rogers. KURM will do a live broadcast.

Well the “Silverbacks”, fergie’s sign chasers will get a break. I am out of signs, so I guess I will hold off buying any peanuts, dang! Too funny……

I am going to close on a sad note and give you a heads up about something.  My brother who lives in Florida has been assigned to Hospice and is not expected to live very long. He had surgery a few weeks back when the doctors discovered he had cancer in his liver and lungs.

It is amazing how fast cancer works. It was believed without treatment he would live for six months which gave him time to visit with doctors to see what his options for treatment were. Not in God’s plan. When he passes I will travel to Washington D.C. where he wants to be buried. My brother is a Marine and served in the Koran War. He was wounded and was a recipient of the Purple Heart. Say a prayer would ya……….