Muller credits hard work for win
BY JOHN MESSEDER
Times Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 7:16 AM EDT
With an unofficial 1,616-vote margin, incumbent Adams County Sheriff James Muller claimed a decisive win in the Republican Primary Election Tuesday night.
“We worked hard for it, though,” he said. “We went door to door.”
“I was still out beating on doors last night,” he added.
Muller’s closest competitor, fellow Republican and Franklin Township Constable Michael Redding, received 2,631 votes to Muller’s 4,247. In third place was former Cumberland Township Police Chief Barry Sease who brought in 948 votes.
An additional 1,700 write-in votes on the Democratic ballot will be tallied Friday. The results likely will not be known until Tuesday, when Muller will learn whether he will be opposed in November. To win a spot as Democratic nominee, a write-in candidate must garner at least 100 votes, and then more than any other candidates on the Primary ballot.
Muller won his job in 2005 when he narrowly beat another Republican, Kenneth Kuntz, by four write-in votes on the Democratic ballot. Muller went on to win against Republican incumbent Raymond “Rocky” Newman the following November.
Sease said he wished he had done better at the polls, but noted the election was his first time to try for elected office.
“I did the best I could with the limited amount of money that I had,” he said, noting “I was out (knocking on doors).”
“Adams County is probably the only place if the world you can walk up and shake a guy’s hand and you’ve got the guy’s vote,” he said.
In addition to a cash shortage, Sease suffered a heart attack that took him out of action for several weeks of the campaign.
“That’s the way things go in politics,” he said. “I wish him (Muller) well.”
Redding did not respond to a telephone call in time for this story.
Readers may contact John Messeder at jmesseder@gburgtimes.com.
Muller likely to stay sheriff
By STEVE MARRONI
The Evening Sun
Posted: 05/20/2009 02:17:21 AM EDT
Sheriff James W. Muller has secured the Republican nomination for sheriff and will likely serve another four years as sheriff of Adams County.
"It feels great," Muller said late Tuesday after the final numbers came in. "This is what we worked so hard for."
It would be Muller's second term as sheriff.
He sat back in the Register and Recorder's office in the Adams County Courthouse, dressed in a flannel shirt, jeans and a ball cap that read "sheriff," and calmly watched the numbers come in.
He beat his two Republican opponents with 54.2 percent of the vote.
He beat challengers Michael Redding, who had 33.58 percent, and Barry J. Sease, 12.1 percent.
Redding has been a state constable since 2000, and had previously worked for the Department of Defense. Sease was the chief of the Cumberland Township Police for 28 years.
There were no Democratic candidates on the ballot. Barring a successful write-in campaign on the Democrat side, Muller will retain his office as sheriff.
"Now I can finally get back to work and concentrate fully on my main job," he said. Even when working, the campaign often weighs on one's mind, he said.
In his next term, he said, he plans to get new, updated software for the sheriff's real-estate division. A bus purchased for prisoner transport is just about operational and about to be put in use, he said.
He has a few other projects in mind, but said he has to run those by the county commissioners first.
Gettysburg Times article BY JARRAD HEDES
Times Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 8:12 AM EDT
The three candidates for Adams County Sheriff addressed topics including
the department’s K-9 unit, gun safety and transporting prisoners among
others at Tuesday night’s public forum at the Gettysburg Hotel sponsored
by the Gettysburg Times, 1320 WGET and the Adams County Farm Bureau.
Mike Redding and Barry Sease will challenge incumbent Jim Muller in the
May 19 primary election. All three candidates are Republicans.
“I’m the only one at this table who has actually ran the sheriff’s office,”
said Muller, who has 19 years of law enforcement experience including
the last three-and-a-half as sheriff. I knew what it would
take to make the office better and I did it. I know what still needs
to be done and when I’m elected, I will do that as well.”
Redding, meanwhile, has been a state constable since 2000.
“I bring something besides experience to this race,” he said. “I received
a Bronze Star for my service in Vietnam. I graduated at the top of my
class. I received numerous promotions while with the Department of Defense.
My wife and I ran a restaurant and sold it at a profit. I have a proven
track record and the managerial experience it takes to be sheriff.”
Sease served for 28 years as police chief in Cumberland Township. After
he retired, he spent a year in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2007 training
police officers.
“If given the appointment of sheriff, I believe I would provide Adams
County with the most professional sheriff’s office it could have,” he
said. “It would be an office the people could be proud of.”
A large crowd of about 225 residents turned out Tuesday.
During the question and answer session, all three candidates differed
in opinion on the future of the sheriff department’s K-9 unit.
“The past handler of the dog left for another position and the current
handler is not certified so really we have a dog right now that we can’t
use,” said Redding. “I believe the dogs primary focus should be in tracking
those who have warrants out on them. We have another dog in the county
for drug searches.”
Muller, however, said the current handler is taking classes and will
be certified to use the K-9.
He added that the dog is a benefit when looking for missing persons.
“It is also trained in narcotics,” he said. “We use him a lot. The food
for the dog is donated and when people think about taking off, they know
they can probably outrun me, but they think twice about outrunning the
dog. It keeps us from having to run through the woods at night. It really
comes down to being a safety issue.”
Putting the dog to a sheriff sale, Sease said jokingly, would be his
solution.
“We don’t need a K-9 unit,” he said. “Cumberland Township has a dog that
is reliable. We don’t need the extra food. One thing we have to do is
prioritize the sheriff’s job and perform it.”
On the issue of gun safety, all three candidates agreed it starts with
education.
“My weapons, all through my children’s’ lives, were never loaded and
locked in a box,” Sease said. “I taught my children that a gun was dangerous,
but a tool that dad could use.”
As someone who teaches gun safety to children in Adams County schools,
Muller said the pupils are not the only ones who need education.
“I send handbooks home to parents too,” he said. “It starts with them.
We also have gun locks in at the sheriff’s office for anyone who wants
them.”
Redding admitted to having bad habits when it came to gun safety, albeit
ones that have changed over the years.
“There are happy homeowners who like to have that gun by the bedpost
at night,” he added. “But you never know what can happen. You fall asleep
and your teenager sneaks in to get it. Safety doesn’t just happen, it
has to be practiced.”
Manpower was the top challenge acknowledged by the candidates.
Muller said the department is currently transporting, on average, about
40 people per month into arraignment court.
“Our workload has essentially tripled,” he said. “We went from transporting
20 people a month up to sometimes 60. I went and got a bus at no cost
to the taxpayers to try and cut down our overtime. The staff hasn’t grown
in my time as sheriff.”
One suggestion offered by Sease was to add a second court arraignment
date each month, which would lighten the transport load.
“I don’t know if that has been talked about or not, but having to transport
that many people is one of the biggest problems the department has right
now,” he added.
Redding, meanwhile, said he would sit down and look at how best to use
the money allocated to the sheriff by the county commissioners and the
use those resources to maximize the effectiveness of the department.
In a question unrelated to the specific duties of the sheriff, the candidates
were asked what they would give to their neighbors if issued a magic
wand.
A cure for cancer, answered Redding, who acknowledged that his mother
died from the disease and many people his age continue to deal with it.
Muller said he would like to see the sheriff’s department as an arm of
the community and that he would like to give back more of himself to
the county.
Sease, meanwhile, opted for “a completely crime-free society.”
View full article here
Citizens to Re-Elect Muller for Sheriff