THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408220055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PAMLICO BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Lorraine Linton, a 45-year-old housewife and part-time criminal justice student, didn't intend to make history when she filed as a Republican candidate for the Beaufort County Sheriff's race.
She just didn't like the way the sheriff's department was being run.
``It never dawned on me until the other day,'' she said in an interview not long after her primary victory. ``I look at myself as a person. . . who is sick, tired and fed up. If I didn't feel I could handle it, I wouldn't get into it.''
Until this year, no woman had ever filed to run for sheriff in North Carolina, although women have been appointed to fill unexpired terms.
Linton will face incumbent Nelson Sheppard, 57, who has held the post of sheriff since 1981.
She is one of an increasing number of women who are running for political office in local, state and national elections.
``There's just been a steady increase for 15 or 20 years in the number of women running for political office,'' said Anne W. Mackie, director of women's legislative issues for N.C. Equity in Raleigh, a think tank devoted to women's issues.
Linton is one of six women in North Carolina who ran for sheriff this year, and one of three women to advance to the November election after the May primaries.
In Lincoln County, Barbara Pickens won the GOP nomination and faces Jerry Hallman in November. Pickens is a chief deputy in the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department. In Alleghany County, Louise Sheets won the GOP primary and will face incumbent Mike Caudill in November. Sheets is a detective and drug education officer in the Sparta Police Department.
Three other women - in Ashe, Davie and Warren counties - lost their bids to be on the November ballot.
All are Republicans.
Linton, who stands just five feet tall, lives with her husband, Dallas, in a one-story, brick home on a dirt road near the community cemetery in Pamlico Beach, a community of commercial fishermen and summer cottage residents on the Pamlico River. Her husband is self-employed in pier and bulkhead construction.
``I'm little but I'm loud,'' she said.
Linton, a recent graduate of the Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy at Beaufort County Community College, could not find a job in law enforcement in Beaufort County after graduation, so she returned to school earlier this year to keep her certification up to date.
With no law enforcement experience, she faces a formidable campaign against Sheppard, who has worked almost 30 years in Beaufort County law enforcement.
Sheppard is focusing his campaign on that experience and his department's accomplishments, such as expanded narcotics and investigative squads. He is playing down the historic nature of this year's campaign and the gender of his opponent.
``It's good, solid accomplishments we've been able to make for the citizens of Beaufort County,'' Sheppard said. ``The fact that she's a woman has no bearing on me.''
In May, Sheppard faced a tighter than expected Democratic primary race with political newcomer Tim Alligood and won the nomination by only 306 votes out of about 6,366 cast.
Linton says his narrow primary victory makes Sheppard vulnerable.
It ``shows enough people are dissatisfied with the sheriff's department,'' she said.
When she talks about why she entered the sheriff's race, Linton doesn't mince words, a sign the campaign may become heated as the election approaches.
``Our sheriff does not do his job. I can get really mad when I think about it,'' she said.
She says Sheppard turned down her application for a volunteer auxiliary deputy's post because she is a woman, a charge Sheppard has denied.
``At the time she applied, there was no vacancy,'' he said. ``The fact that she went to school doesn't guarantee her a job.''
Linton has mixed feelings about her first political campaign.
``There seems like there's more to it than I thought there would be,'' she said. ``I thought it would be easy, but I'm determined.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Lorraine Linton
One of six women to run for sheriff
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE BEAUFORT COUNTY SHERIFF'S RACE
by CNB