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Matter of perspective

Sheriff, state’s attorney candidates bring personal approaches to similar goals

Jill Schramm/MDN State’s Attorney Roza Larson speaks at a candidate forum hosted by the Ward County Farm Bureau Wednesday as sheriff candidate Robert Roed listens at left.

Ward County’s sheriff candidates both tout experience as a reason people should vote for them. Ward County’s state’s attorney candidates both want a well run prosecutor’s office but would come at it from different angles.

Candidates for sheriff and state’s attorney shared their views and answered questions at a public forum hosted Wednesday by the Ward County Farm Bureau.

“We both want to promote justice. We both want more safety for all of us and we both want to make sure that people are being held accountable for the things that they do,” said Minot attorney AJ Schultz, who is challenging State’s Attorney Roza Larson. “We both generally want the same things. We just have different ways of maybe going about it.”

His goal is to ensure the justice system goes as flawlessly as possible.

That’s the kind of system I want to create. That’s the kind of system I want to be in. It’s a system where everybody does everything right so we can best protect justice, safety and accountability,” he said.

Jill Schramm/MDN State’s attorney candidate AJ Schultz addresses an audience question at a forum Wednesday.

Schultz was asked about his campaign claim that the state’s attorney’s office has a high rate of jury trials that end in acquittals or partial acquittals.

Since January 2016, 68 cases have gone to trial, he said. Of those, defendants have been found guilty of all charges in 35 cases. Twenty were full acquittals, he said.

“That’s a lot, to me,” Schultz said. “We should and we can be able to do better than that.”

Larson responded her office takes on cases as they are, and it’s the jury’s duty to determine the credibility of the witnesses. Her office doesn’t choose the victims, and not all victims present with the credibility necessary, she said. Cases of sexual assault are particularly difficult because of lack of witnesses and often delayed reporting, she said.

“If we have a victim that is going to take the stand and say this happened, we are going to go with that victim and stand by them. Because at the end of the day, even if the defendant is found not guilty, the victims had their day in court,” she said.

Jill Schramm/MDN Ward County Commissioner John Fjeldahl, left, and commission candidate John Pietsch participate in a candidate forum Wednesday.

Larson also said her 21 years in the State’s Attorney’s Office, including serving as state’s attorney since 2009, qualify her for re-election.

“That’s not just experience with prosecuting and putting cases together but that’s experience with victims and analyzing cases,” she said. She added she has worked with law enforcement, defense attorneys, the county commission and legislators.

“I have developed that trust and that experience in all of those aspects of the job of the State’s Attorney’s office,” she said.

Asked about the qualities that would make them the best choice for sheriff, Bob Barnard and Robert Roed each cited their unique set of experiences.

“I have worked in a lot of different facets of law enforcement, and now as the administrator I supervise all facets of that law enforcement, so I think my experience throughout all the years has been very valuable,” said Barnard, who worked for the Minot Police Department and later Ward County Sheriff’s Office before being appointed sheriff in April 2017. “I have over 40 years of experience in law enforcement, from being the guy on the very bottom to now the guy on the very top.”

Roed said he has experience, although obtained in a different way. He began at the Ward County Jail as a corrections officer and has worked his way up the ranks to captain, currently supervising civil process, court officers, transport division, warrants and courthouse security officers. He highlighted his experience in patrol in the rural area during his 28 years with the sheriff’s office.

“People in the rural areas have a different way of thinking than people in the city. They want a little different type of law enforcement. They want it quiet but they don’t want heavy-handedness at the same time,” Roed said. He said having a presence as sheriff in the rural areas is important to effective law enforcement in these regions.

The candidates also weighed in on Measure 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana.

“Measure 3, as it is, is horribly written and is a bad law for North Dakota,” Larson said.

The measure would no longer define marijuana as a drug, which has implications for driving under the influence laws, she said. The expungement provision requires the state to waive its immunity from lawsuits, she added.

“I don’t think the state would ever want to waive its immunity,” she said. “It calls for automatic expungement for anyone who has been impuned by a marijuana offense within 30 days, and if it is not done within 30 days, then the state is sued. We have no way of identifying each and every person who has been impuned by a marijuana offense so in order to have all that accomplished in 30 days is an impossibility.”

Schultz added to Larson’s expungement concerns in noting that the 30-day time period also applies to the time frame in which a jury trial must be held if someone sues. Meeting that deadline would be impossible, given the court proceedings that have to be followed, he said.

One of his main concerns, though, is the measure covers anything made from any substance derived from a cannabis plant. Placing a child in an automobile made with parts from hemp plastic could be considered delivering marijuana paraphernalia to a minor, which is illegal, he said.

“So I have a real problem with it because of how it can be interpreted,” he said. “As it stands I think those are things that could potentially be fixed by the Legislature, so quite frankly, I don’t know how I am going to vote. I am open to new information and viewpoints.”

Roed and Barnard said they would be obligated to enforce the laws that exist, but they pointed out some difficulties with the law that would be created by Measure 3.

Roed said the department would have to look at policies on impairment by officers who drive and carry guns if marijuana use becomes legal. There’s a question about whether a drug arrest might be thrown out if drugs were identified on a suspect only because a dog in a K-9 unit hits first on marijuana, he said.

“I believe there are a lot of hurdles,” Roed said. “The way it’s written, the way things are looking right now, it would have to be refined quite a bit for us to really be able to deal with it effectively.”

Barnard said he has seen many people whose lives were ruined by marijuana as a gateway drug.

“I, for the life of me, just can’t see a bright side to legalizing recreational marijuana. I just can’t find an upside to it,” he said.

Commission candidates agree on need for difference

Ward County Commission candidates John Fjeldahl and John Pietsch were more inclined to distinguish themselves from the current county board than from each other during a Ward County Farm Bureau candidate forum Wednesday.

Commission candidate Dave Pankow was unable to attend. Two seats will be filed in the Nov. 6 election.

Fjeldahl, seeking his fourth term, said he’s found himself out-numbered in voting because he’s tried to be the most conservative commissioner.

“I have tried to limit the growth of the size of county government,” he said. “We just have to be real prudent about how we fund all positions of the county and all programs of the county.

“It’s also important to understand the importance of priority spending, to understand that there are things that we absolutely have to have,” said Pietsch, who cited law enforcement and support for seniors, veterans and vulnerable populations. “But we still have to look at the programs that have these names attached to them and still make sure that they are being run correctly and efficiently so we are getting economically the most for our dollar.”

Pietsch explained his interest in running for commission stemmed from an experience in which he felt he and other proponents of a zoning ordinance change were denied a hearing by a majority of the commission. He felt something needed to change.

“I believe everybody in this county has a right to be heard in front of their commissioners,” Pietsch said. “That would be the difference I would hope to be able to add – that the people would have an opportunity to be heard.”

Fjeldahl said he has sought to operate with that same mindset.

“I don’t care what side of an issue I am on, I do believe everybody should have their say,” he said.

One area where the two candidates admitted differing is weather modification. Pietsch said he supports the science behind cloud seeding but would like more current research. Fjeldahl said he has concerns about the local management of the program and questions the amount of money being spent.

“John and I are probably going to disagree on some things, but we have been able to disagree and we still keep talking, and that’s what’s important,” Fjeldahl said.

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