Noble enters sheriff's race

Jon C. Lakey , 072103 , John Noble

By Jessie Burchette

jburchette@salisburypost.com

John Noble wants to refocus the Rowan County Sheriff's Office on preventing crime through community meetings and task forces targeting drugs and gangs.

And Noble believes his 30-plus years in the Rowan County Sheriff's Office has prepared him well to be the next sheriff.

The seven-term East Spencer Alderman is the first Democrat to announce his candidacy for sheriff.

Filing for local races starts Feb. 8 at noon.

Noble served under four sheriffs — John Stirewalt, June Bost, Bob Martin and George Wilhelm.

"I know the workings of the department," he said. "I've done all the jobs. I've seen what works and what didn't work."

He stresses the importance of the sheriff re-connecting with the people and being accessible, citing John Stirewalt, the five-term Republican, as an example.

"I would have meetings all over the county, go out and meet people," he said. "That's the way you can find out what they want. É they're the people who put you in office. The sheriff doesn't have to be in the office. You can designate somebody to run the office."

Noble said he has a lot of ideas about changes, ways to improve service. The ideas include:

- Adding more deputies;

- A unit to focus on gangs;

- A drug interdiction unit to target drugs moving through Rowan on Interstate 85. Success in that effort, he says, could create a windfall in federal taxes that would flow in to the department. "We could buy whatever we need and not have to ask taxpayers."

- A focus on preventing home and business break-ins;

- He says it was mistake to take resource officers out of middle schools; he would like to create youth programs in schools to give exposure to law enforcement and keep them out of the courts and jail. "DARE isn't working; kids are learning about drugs before DARE."

- Take a serious look at opening the Sheriff's Office to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week;

- Establish close working relationships with other local law enforcement agencies;

- Would like to see some color and design changes in the current uniforms, but says he wouldn't do it if it costs a lot of money.

Noble retired in 2008 as a lieutenant in charge of the courthouse operation. He continues to work part-time as a deputy and is a lab courier for Rowan Regional Medical Center.

Running as a Democrat, Noble admits he was a registered Republican for years while serving under Republican sheriffs.

"I had to be loyal to them. That's what I was doing," he said. Since retiring, he has changed his registration to Democrat.

Noble said he wants to take the best of the four sheriffs he worked for and use it to serve Rowan County.

"I know a lot of people. I just want to be honest and fair to the citizens and to the people who run businesses," he said. "I'll have an open-door policy; people can come see me anytime."