Donald Yow wishes to remain sheriff

Many MC residents are aware that the election for sheriff is fast-approaching. There are three candidates running for the position. Incumbent Sheriff Donald Yow, Ken Grace and Danny Cryer all wish to fill the sheriff's office seat. The Madill Record asked each candidate a few questions. Here are Yow's responses.

What platform or issues will I be running on?

My platform is to continue to build the Marshall County Sheriff's Office into a professional organization. We are going to continue to take the fight to the people who want to commit property crimes and deal in illegal drugs. We are increasing our training for the Deputies in the areas of Drug interdiction, human trafficking, and several other areas to better serve our communities. We are working on training with the Cattleman's Association. We are going to continue and grow our community involvement with all the different events that take place in our County.

Why should Marshall County residents vote for you? 

I have 32 years of law enforcement experience inside of Marshall
County. My first election, I ran on several issues, and I never made promises but told our citizens that I would address those issues. All of those areas have been addressed. We have increased the number of Deputies at the Sheriff's Office. There were four deputies when I took office, and we are now 11 deputies. We have become more involved with our communities. We have gone after and arrested several people that deal in the illegal possession and trafficking of drugs and thievery. We have revamped the sex offender compliance by checking continually to ensure things are up to date and going and doing compliance checks. We have built partnerships across the State with other Sheriff's Office's, Volunteer Fire Departments, Police Departments, State Agencies, Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police, and the Chickasaw Nation. I have the experience to lead this agency into the future. I am a working Sheriff; I usually get to work at 6:30 am and generally go home about 6:30 pm. Over the last three years we have saved the County close to 180,000 dollars that I have been able to reinvest into our Sheriff's Office. We constantly look at products we must have from the Detention Center to the Sheriff's Office to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. We have upgraded our weaponry (will not say what we have done for safety reasons). We have started a citizen's academy and are putting together a youth academy for the summer. I am committed to our citizens and the growth of the Sheriff's Office. A partnership with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has allowed us to have an agent stationed in-house with us. We have grown our Reserve Deputy program and hosted two reserve deputy classes in Marshall County. For the first time I am aware of, the Marshall County Sheriff's Office has a boat that we can patrol the shores and marinas from the water to aid people and patrol these areas by water. This program is run by our Reserve Deputies and does not take away from regular patrol. This boat was purchased through a grant and did not cost our county any monies. Another partnership that was made was with the Kingston Public Schools to add two full-time School Resource Deputies. These Deputies are assigned to the school and are both Certified School Resource Deputies. These two deputies will also be certified in the D.A.R.E. program to be taught in the Kingston School's. Sheriff Yow will continue to teach D.A.R.E. also. We now have citizens partnering with us when we need help with information and just checking on the deputies when they see them out and about. (there is nothing we cannot accomplish when we work together). I do apply for and have been awarded grants that will benefit Marshall County. It is my commitment to put Marshall County First in all things we do, this is a part of the things we have accomplished over the last three years. We have added two full-time investigator positions, these two deputies follow up on cases reported to the Sheriff's Office.

What is the vision for the future of Marshall County:

We have come a longways and we are going to continue to build, one of my goals is to have 15 patrol deputies for our County. With 15 Deputies, I will be able to split our County into 3 sections and have 24-hour patrol in those three sections. This will help us to be an even bigger deterrent against those people who want to steal and transport drugs through our County. This will also allow the deputies assigned to those areas to get to know the people who live there and better serve them. We are going to keep growing our Reserve Deputy program by continuing to add reserve deputies and have another reserve school in Marshall County. Watching the growth of our County, I am gearing up to add additional full-time deputies to keep up with call volume. With the County growing I have already started working on an additional dispatch station that will allow us to have three dispatchers at one time if needed. We are running two dispatchers at a time now. As the community and Sheriff's Office grows, we will need to address our communications center to keep up also. It is easier and cheaper to stay caught up rather than play catch up. I believe our Citizens Academy and our Youth Academy are going to be great things and will continue to spark interest, allowing us to be more involved with our communities. We will continue to have a community night out for all our citizens, they can come and meet and get to know several first responders in our County. This is usually a good family time with our communities. We have built a strong team in our Communications Center, Detention Center, and Sheriff's Office. Our team cares about the people we serve. This in turn allows us to build trust with the people we serve. We will be installing License Plate Readers in areas of our county that will notify us when and if something comes through that may be reported stolen, a vehicle of interest, and child abductions. Training will be increased to ensure all deputies are trained in areas to better serve our County. We are going to continue to train and maintain the detention facility to keep up with the current standards for the detention center.

What short term goals do I have?

The biggest short-term goal is to get deputies hired to reach the goal of 15 full-time deputies. Work on keeping the Detention Center up to date and repairing items from when it was built. Apply for grants to help better the Sheriff's Office and our county. Maintain equipment that is needed. Continue to build upon and create more partnerships with other agencies. Work with and plan events with all the communities in our County. Finish curriculum and set a date for the youth academy. Planning for another dispatch station to help keep up with call volume. Continue to keep the equipment we have in good working order.

How do I plan to combat the criminal activity that comes with the black-market demand for legal medical marijuana in Oklahoma?

We will continue to work with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics on the licensing of marijuana growth and if someone or a business is not in compliance we will go after them. If we conduct a traffic stop and marijuana is in the vehicle and the right paperwork is not in hand. We will file charges for the possession or trafficking of marijuana. We have filed charges for this in the last three years, where legally grown marijuana was being illegally transported heading out of State. Those individuals who are caught are arrested and taken to jail. In the last three years, we have worked with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and raided three illegal marijuana grows, arresting several individuals. Later this summer, we will be training our deputies on drug interdiction to combat the illegal drug trafficking that skirts between I-35 to our west and 69/75 to our east. 

Are you from Marshall County and do you currently live in Marshall County?

I may not have been born in Marshall County, but I have lived here almost all my life. I moved to MC when I was very young, and attended Madill Public Schools.