S.C. Sheriff Leon Lott gets it !!!

Let me tell you about Richland County S.C. Sheriff Leon Lott. Here's a guy who "gets it".

I haven't met Sheriff Lott yet, but I can tell you already that he is a far cry from what McHenry County had seated in the soft chair at 2200 N. Seminary Ave. in Woodstock for too many years.

Sheriff Lott is a no-nonsense guy - with a sense of honor, dignity and humor.

Just last week he fired a deputy who stole a very minor object from the garage of a person to whose home he had gone on a call. What did he steal? A short piece of tape, possibly double-sided sticky tape. I don't remember exactly what the description was.

Another deputy saw what was happening and told the errant deputy not to take it. "Don't do it." But the deputy did, and the second deputy turned him in.

Sheriff Lott praised the second deputy for doing the right thing.

We can guess how this would have been handled at MCSD. I don't know how it would be handled by Sheriff Prim. Would he take the hard line, as did Sheriff Lott, that there is NO room in a sheriff's department for a thief?

For Sheriff Lott, the value of the item stolen had no bearing on his decision. Sheriff Lott was not bashful about calling the deputy a thief.

I mentioned Sheriff Lott's sense of humor. About a month ago he had been in his office, monitoring efforts of deputies to catch a daytime burglar. He wanted to attend his daughter's soccer game, and he apparently said aloud that he ought to just go out there and catch the guy, so he could get to his daughter's game on time. As he was driving to the game, his wife spotted the suspect, and Sheriff Lott stopped his vehicle, jumped out and ran the guy down! He is definitely a hands-on Sheriff, and the Columbia, S.C. area is all the better for it.