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- Oxford Eagle, Monday, November 10
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- Deputy Sheriff Taylor Sheldon to take
office November 14
Long-time deputy maintains that he will
stay the course
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- Chase McFadden
STAFF WRITER
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- Yoknapatwapha County Officials announced late last
night that long-time Deputy Sheriff Taylor Sheldon, a
15-year veteran of the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's
Office, will assume the vacant office of deceased Sheriff
Charles Lamar beginning November 14, after being sworn in
by the county's board of supervisors.
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- Sheldon, who was contacted last night by this
reporter, thanked the county and city for their
confidence in him and said that he will "continue the
work that Sheriff Lamar has done for the county," adding
that his utmost priority is to "stay the course."
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- Deputy Sheldon replaces Lamar following Lamar's
apparent suicide on the evening of Saturday, November 8.
A note found at Lamar's North Oxford Hills home states
that Lamar no longer believed that he could live as an
honorable man. Lamar apparantly ran his car into a
culvert on Highway 7 South where the car flipped and
ignited, killing him.
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- Sheldon, who will be a pallbearer at Tuesday's
funeral, says that the influence of Lamar was one of the
greatest in his life.
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- "He really got me into law enforcement, and I'm
grateful for that," Sheldon said in his telephone
interview. "I didn't really have any direction, and he
gave me a job and took me under his wing. He was a great
man. I think the citizens understood that -- they
overlooked his mistakes."
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- Sheldon said he has no objections to holding an
election in early 1998 to determine who will occupy the
sheriff's post in the long run.
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- "I think we all need some time, as a community, to
heal, but people need to have confidence in the law, and
if they want an election, I wouldn't be against it,"
Sheldon said.
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- Supporters of Harold Mazza, the attorney who lost to
Lamar by a narrow margin in last week's election for
sheriff, have claimed that Mazza should be installed as
sheriff. But county officials have ruled out that option,
saying an 1879 law precludes appointing a person without
prior law enforcement experience in time of war, or in
case of sickness or death of the predecessor.
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- Officials say Sheldon will be sworn in at a simple
ceremony in the Yoknapatawpha County Courthouse Main
Courtroom Thursday morning at 10 a.m. The public is
invited to attend.
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