Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Octavia Johnson re-elected Roanoke sheriff
Frank Garrett, who lost by less than 1 percent of the vote, has the option of requesting a recount.
KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times
Roanoke Sheriff Octavia Johnson (right), who first took office in 2006, was re-elected to the post Tuesday.
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From The Roanoke Times
Election Day 2009
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Election Day 2009: Full coverage
Octavia Johnson was re-elected Roanoke sheriff Tuesday, beating out two challengers, one of them a deputy in her office.
In a close race, Johnson defeated Democrat Frank Garrett, a deputy, by 141 votes. Independent Brian Keenum trailed with nearly 16 percent of the vote.
Johnson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Garrett can request a recount because he lost by less than 1 percent of the vote. He said Tuesday that he had not decided whether to do so.
Johnson ran a quiet campaign that touted her accomplishments as the first female and minority to be elected sheriff in the Roanoke Valley.
She won the sheriff's race four years ago when she beat incumbent George McMillan, who had been named in a federal sexual harassment lawsuit just months before the election.
She has said that when she took office in 2006, the jail was in need of repair. She has taken credit for renovating the entrance to administrative offices, jail intake and the control room.
Among her other accomplishments, she has said that she issued inmates more conspicuous uniforms, implemented a program to alert victims when offenders are released from jail and installed biometric fingerprint scanners.
She has said she would continue updating technology and replacing old equipment as sheriff. She also wants to develop a Sheriff's Office Citizens Academy.
Garrett had called the past few years at the sheriff's office "difficult" and said that he had the support of the deputies, who were ready for a change.
Garrett was a Roanoke police officer for nearly 25 years. He retired from that job and in 2003 joined the sheriff's office, where he has provided courthouse security and taught Drug Abuse Resistance Education in elementary and middle schools.
He also said he would improve morale by creating a committee of deputies to take ownership of issues.
Garrett said that Keenum's campaign may have hurt his chances at becoming the next sheriff.
"It's pretty obvious he may have pulled some votes away from me," Garrett said.
Keenum, the regional director of development for Special Olympics Virginia and a former Roanoke County sheriff's sergeant, took almost 16 percent of the vote.
"I was actually very shocked," he said. "I had a pretty good showing."
Johnson's challengers had criticized her term and said they hoped to bring back a sense of professionalism and restore morale.
Garrett also was critical of Johnson's decision to hire her sister, Patricia Johnson, as the office's spokeswoman.
Garrett and Keenum had said that they would eliminate that position or add more responsibilities to it.
Johnson also faced criticism in 2007 when an inmate was mistakenly released from the city jail. He was later killed by police as he threatened his girlfriend with a knife.
Earlier this year it was discovered that Johnson had allowed a controversial sniper training to take place in 2008. That training involved putting officers downrange during live fire and led to the sheriff's office and city police department's ban from Roanoke County's firing and driving range.
