2018 Sheriff’s Race Heats Up!!! Candidate Opens Campaign Account To Run Under Petition Procedures-2,544 Signatures Needed!!! –Report by Robert A. Williams

Clyde Stephen Ledbetter of 116 Amberwood Drive Shelby, NC opened a “Statement of Organization-Candidate Committee” with the Cleveland County Board of Elections on September 14, 2017 for the purpose of electing Clyde Ledbetter to the Office of Sheriff of Cleveland County. Mr. Ledbetter, on September 15, 2017 filed his “Disclosure Report Cover Sheet” for the “Committee to Elect Clyde Ledbetter Sheriff of Cleveland County.” Mr. Ledbetter lists his Party Affiliation as “Unaffiliated” which means he will have to obtain 4% of the registered voters as of January 1, 2018. The Cleveland County Board of Elections estimates those required and verified signatures will be approximately 2,544. Sources report Mr. Ledbetter and his supporters are already working the Cleveland County Fair for signatures to add to Mr. Ledbetter’s “Petition” to have his name placed on the ballot in the General Election in November 2018 for the Office of Sheriff.

It is noted that the first instance of a candidate running under the Unaffiliated “Petition Process” in recent years is 2017 School Board Candidate Kathy Falls. Lazy Kathy Falls did this reluctantly after filing a failed lawsuit to get her out of having to raise any signatures at all. Falls would have normally had to raise 2,535 signatures, but Speaker of the House Tim Moore promised to help Falls by passing a law to allow Falls to only have to have 500 signatures. Moore promised this before Falls filed a lawsuit that directly and indirectly cost Cleveland County taxpayers about $50,000 in legal fees as well as having to hold a Democrat Primary Election. But Moore lived up to his promise after Lazy Kathy reneged. I suspect Tim Moore regrets helping Lazy Kathy to be lazy. In my considered opinion Kathy Falls did what she did to try to discredit the Republican controlled General Assembly as well as Tim Moore. Falls has promised to repay Tim Moore by helping him lose his 2018 re-election bid. Probably an impossible task. Maybe we should say Lazy and Noisy Kathy Falls, leader of the Ding-Bat Party in Cleveland County, who has done nothing but waste money and cover-up fraud on the CCS School Board.

On the other hand, the petition process for running for office as Mr. Clyde Ledbetter is doing is smart as well as clever. The Petition Process is open to all citizens, Democrat, Republican and Unaffiliated. It is required for Unaffiliated. The Petition, with the required number of verified Cleveland County voter signatures places you name straight on the General Election Ballot. No Party Primary Election is required which lets you avoid all the party “Bosses” dictate THEIR agenda to YOU. This process, when done over time is a clever way to campaign at the grass roots level to Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated over a much longer period of time. (Something Lazy Kathy Falls is NOT doing. Nobody ever accused Falls of being clever. Just lazy, noisy and wasteful of taxpayer’s hard earned money.)

Mr. Ledbetter is a graduate Civil Engineer retired from the State Highway Department where he was a supervisor for many years. Engineers, including Clyde Ledbetter, are know for their logical and pragmatic thinking and decision making processes. Always with the purpose of doing the most with the least amount of resources that are available. It is obvious that these characteristics are needed very much in all levels of government-instead of a bunch of lawyers running things. Mr. Ledbetter’s education and experience make him a viable candidate for the Sheriff of Cleveland County.

Incumbent Sheriff Alan Norman is also a viable candidate for Sheriff. And he has the benefit of being the incumbent who rescued the Sheriff’s Department from the chaos caused by several terms of ineffective and controversial previous Sheriffs. In other times Sheriff Alan Norman would be considered unbeatable.

However, much of Sheriff Norman’s Sheriff’s Office–Law Enforcement time has recently been diverted to such things as the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees, where he has been appointed to the “House and Grounds Committee.” Responsible for mowing grass, trimming shrubs and such. Also, Sheriff Norman’s votes on the CCC Board of Trustees have been proper in the recent scandals and controversies, but his and a few others demanding change have been drowned out by a majority that have their own agenda to cover-up and keep things as they are.

This lack of effectiveness and control at CCC as well as the menial Committee Sheriff Norman has been assigned to have marred Sheriff Norman’s public perception as an effective leader. I recommend Sheriff Alan Norman resign immediately from the CCC Board of Trustees and make loud and clear public announcements why he is doing so.

In any event, We need a Sheriff that is on the job full time at the Sheriff’s Office to effectively oversee law enforcement, to catch the thieves and drug dealers running loose in Cleveland County. Killers, rapists, sex offenders, white collar crime (at CCC and CCS too), etc. We want the crooks caught, tried and jailed for a long time. Catching and charging the crooks are the Sheriff’s Office’s job. The other part of law enforcement is the District Attorney’s Office. The DA’s Office will be discussed in other articles.

Also, we recommend Sheriff Alan Norman consider changing his party affiliation to the Republican Party. The Democrat Party such as it was when Sheriff Norman and myself originally registered has changed too significantly to now be affiliated with. The Democrats support gay agenda stuff like gay marriage and adoption, so called transgender men using girls restrooms, gun control, killing babies through abortion, taking Prayer and the Bible out of classrooms, removing historical monuments and even banning cotton that was used in the Burns High School FFA Fair Booth whose theme was the Agricultural Heritage of Cleveland County, all the while the Cleveland County Fair is an agricultural fair. Basically it is hard to cipher out why we still have so many registered Democrats in a moral and honest county such as we have in Cleveland County.

But, Some say that as soon as a Democrat incumbent Sheriff is missing from the Democrat Party, Phillip “Bully” will rush in and sign up to run for Sheriff. I say, so what? Glover was almost beat in the 2017 Democrat Primary for School Board candidates, even though Bully was the Chairman. Even if Bully should happen to get on the ballot for Sheriff as a Democrat, recent election history in Cleveland County shows Democrats all lose. Don’t believe me, call the CC Board of Elections about the 2016 election results and ask them. Facts are facts folks.