Matheny wins sheriff showdown, beats Taylor by over 2,000 votes
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?I?m very thankful to the people of Warren County,? Matheny said. ?And hats off to Kenny for running a good race.?
Matheny added it is hard to serve in law enforcement for what now has been 12 years and not make some people mad.
?We?ve made over 2,000 drug arrests since I?ve been sheriff, so that?s going to make some people angry,? Matheny said. ?And, we?re not going to sit back now. We still have a lot of work to do.?
Matheny won by a count of 5,914 votes (63 percent) to 3,530 votes (37 percent), dropping just three precincts: Fairview, Three Star Mall and Eastside. The three precincts were the first ever lost by Matheny in what is now his four runs for sheriff.
Matheny first won election in 1994, defeating then-incumbent sheriff Mason Black and two others by a wide margin. Matheny then continued the next two elections to defeat another former sheriff, the late Everett Pearsall, also by a considerable margin.
Meanwhile, Taylor, who took office in 1986 after beating incumbent sheriff Billy Delaney by 700 votes, last sought office in 1990, losing at that time to incumbent sheriff Mason Black. Taylor resigned in the middle of his single term as sheriff.
Standing between Matheny and a return to office is his former deputy, Doc Smith, who will compete against him as an independent candidate in August. Smith finished a distant third in a field of four in the sheriff?s election of 2002.