LOCAL NEWS
SECOND CANDIDATE JOINS RACE FOR SIOUX CO SHERIFF
By John Axtell
Sep 1, 2010 - 10:30:02 PM

   There will be two candidates for sheriff on the Sioux County ballot for the November election. Joining Gering police chief Mel Griggs...who won the Republican primary as a write-in...will be fellow Republican Lyle Staudenmaier, who qualified via petition.

      Staudenmaier...who grew up in Sioux County and is a local ranch hand...submitted 139 signatures...20 more than required. He says he decided to run so that the voters would have a choice, and thinks most would prefer to have a sheriff who knows Sioux County and its residents.

       Although he is not a certified officer, Studenmaier says he took some criminal justice courses while attending Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, and forsees no problems taking Nebraska's required 14-week certification course if elected sheriff.

      Nebraska law requires all sheriffs in the state to be certified law enforcement officers, and gives them 7 months after taking office to do so.

      It appeared for most of the month of August that there might not be any candidate for sheriff in November. Griggs, who defeated then-appointed sheriff Bill Roe in the primary, said in July he was dropping out for what he finally identified as concerns over pending knee surgery that he felt would keep him from working.

       Late in the month, though, Griggs said he was still running because the procedures would be less-serious than he had feared and that he would still be able to do the job. Since he'd never officially withdrawn, Griggs retained the GOP nomination. Staudenmaier will be listed on the ballot as a candidate "by petition."

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