Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510120004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As a farmboy growing up in Botetourt County, Reed Kelly often dreamed of being a math teacher one day.
"Numbers always came easy to me," Kelly says. "I never even thought about law enforcement then."
Now both numbers and law enforcement are important to Kelly as he tries to win re-election for a second term as Botetourt County's sheriff.
Kelly says campaigning for votes doesn't come easily for him.
"I think it is darn personal asking people for their votes," he says. "I grew up around people who didn't tell their spouses how they voted."
Kelly says that kind of upbringing caused him to be a little reserved.
"I'm not real outgoing," he says. "I'm not a greeter."
On the stump, Kelly does not come across as a career politician. He usually emphasizes his department's accomplishments in a matter-of-fact manner, void of promises. He wears his crisply laundered uniform rather than a business suit. His hair is cropped like a Marine sergeant's.
On public relations issues facing his department, he is usually out front. He has worked for four years to dispel the perception of the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office as a closed society.
That is not to say that he can't play political hardball. His deputies and supporters are well-represented at political forums, questioning the experience of his independent opponent, Scott Beard.
Kelly, 43, grew up on a 100-acre dairy farm in the Mill Creek community as one of five children. He and his brother, Tony, were responsible for chopping corn, planting hay and milking.
"When I wasn't in the hayfields, I was milking cows," Kelly says. "We worked our butts off."
And when he wasn't working on the farm, Kelly was working in the classroom or playing on the athletic field.
At Lord Botetourt High School, he gained a reputation for his prowess in math, which earned him an academic award and a place in the National Honor Society.
He also lettered in football, basketball and baseball before graduating in 1971.
It was his maturity and sense of humor that caught the eyes of his teachers.
"He was a super student," says Sam Sutherland, who taught Kelly senior government. "He was a good student, a star athlete and a scholar. I knew that Reed would do well in anything he decided to do."
Cynthia Adcox, his English teacher, remembers that he liked to poke fun at classmates.
"Still, he was kind and considerate," Adcox says. "Do I sound biased? I am. He was terrific. I'm glad that he stayed here rather than going somewhere else."
After high school, Kelly worked his way through Virginia Western Community College by driving a Botetourt County school bus, working in a seed store, and substitute teaching - an experience that ended his desire to teach.
"Let's just say I have a healthy respect for those who choose a career in education," he says.
Ben H. Griffin, a former assistant superintendent of Botetourt County schools, remembered being impressed by Kelly's seriousness about his school bus driving job.
"He demonstrated to me he was responsible in his thinking," Griffith says.
In 1973, Kelly's father heard that Sheriff Norman Sprinkle was looking for a jailer/dispatcher familiar with the Mill Creek area.
"I didn't have a clue as to what a jailer did," Kelly says. "I never even thought about law enforcement as a job."
About six months after he started working at the sheriff's office, Kelly was promoted to road deputy. He later became an investigator, specializing in burglaries.
"It was like my niche," he says. "I was pretty good at it."
Through his work on burglaries, Kelly formed a working relationship with detectives in Roanoke. From there, Kelly worked as an undercover narcotics officer who helped weed out crack cocaine dealers on city streets.
Life and crime in Roanoke were a culture shock for the farm-grown Kelly.
He let his hair grow shaggy and donned blue jeans and a T-shirt.
"People were dealing crack right out in the open," he says. "I have never seen anything so blatant."
Vinton Police Lt. Bill Brown, Kelly's partner in the undercover work, says Kelly has an intuitive feel for police work.
"You've got to have a nose for it," Brown says. "Even as sheriff, he's got a day-to-day involvement in the work. The thing that is good about Reed is that he understands the administration as well as the streets."
Kelly laid the groundwork for his run for sheriff in the mid-1980s, getting involved in Democratic Party politics. He became the party's county chairman in 1989.
After the 1987 election, he figured that Sprinkle probably wouldn't run again. Kelly started wooing Democratic voters with an eye on the party caucus in 1991.
After Sprinkle retired, Kelly won a bruising battle for the nomination against Jerry Caldwell, who had been appointed to fill Sprinkle's unexpired term. Kelly beat Caldwell, who ran as an independent, by a razor-thin margin of 280 votes.
Caldwell still questions Kelly's message.
"He says whatever he thinks people want to hear," Caldwell says.
But Bud Brummitt, a member of the county Republican committee, says Kelly's appeal may go deeper than that.
"We certainly haven't had any runaway crime sprees," Brummitt says. "I talked to some people about running. Nobody came forward and asked for the endorsement. They thought they couldn't win."
Actually, Beard put out feelers about getting the Republican nomination before announcing his independent bid. He was told thanks, but no thanks.
Kelly hopes the same voters who elected him in 1991 will stay with him again this year. He has crafted the department's emphasis to meet what he thinks are residents' major concerns.
He has targeted burglaries, particularly in subdivisions. The year before he took office, more than 100 were reported; this year through September, just 20.
Conversely, the department arrested more than 100 drunken drivers last year, compared with just nine in 1991.
In his personal life, changes have been fast. Kelly has been divorced, remarried and become a father for the second time.
Long gone are the dreams of teaching and the lack of interest in law enforcement as a career.
"Now I know this is where I am supposed to be," he says. "I'll guess we'll find out in November if I have improved at the political part of it."
REED KELLY
Name: B. Reed Kelly
Age: 43
Family: Married, two children
Employment: Sheriff
Hobbies: Reading and landscaping
Experience: In more than 22 years in the Sheriff's Office, he has worked most every law enforcement position he now supervises. For the last four years, he has supervised 55 people and administered a $2.5 million budget.
Platform: Effective, experienced leadership.
Keywords:
PROFILE POLITICS
by CNB