February 3, 2004

(AVOC NOTE:  These are excerpts of a long story appearing in today’s Savannah Morning News.  See entire story at:  http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/020304/LOC_sheriffhooks.shtml )

The law and a community in disorder

Former Treutlen Sheriff Wayne Hooks admits he slapped two suspects. Now, he faces jail time and the loss of the only life he ever wanted.

By Bret Bell

Savannah Morning News
bretb@savannahnow.com
912-652-0456

Wayne Hooks has big hands, thick and callused from years of breaking horses on his small ranch north of Soperton.

For two decades, they were the hands of Treutlen County law – the burly sheriff with blueberry eyes who kept order in this rural community with a hard-nosed, straight-talking swagger.

But in 2001, those same hands slapped two young men across the face as they sat in jail.

That act – and the successful federal civil rights prosecution that followed – turned this rural hamlet 90 miles west of Savannah upside down.

In the chaotic months that followed the August civil rights verdict, "Save Wayne Hooks" signs sprouted throughout the community, everywhere from the bumpers of deputy patrol cars to the lawns of some of the town's most prominent citizens.

Residents packed a rally for Hooks, embarked on a letter-writing campaign and filled town meeting halls to sniff out what they saw as conspiracies.

Wednesday, the 6,000 residents of Treutlen will brace themselves again as U.S. District Court Judge Dudley Bowen decides how much time Hooks should serve for slapping two men.

"I've been here for 57 years, and I ain't never seen anything impact us the way this has," said County Commissioner Gerald Hooks, who is not related to the former sheriff.

………………………………………

…..What happened to the sheriff is out of balance with what happened that night," Soperton attorney Felix Moring said. "This case seems to have a touch of selective prosecution. It does not seem to rise to the level of getting Washington involved."

Sheldon Nahmod, an Illinois Institute of Technology law professor and expert in civil rights law, said the prosecution appears "legitimate," even if "a slap in itself wouldn't usually be enough."

"My guess is it's message-sending, that this kind of willful violation will not be tolerated," he said.

Others thought politics was at play.

Some raised the name of State Court Judge Donald Gillis, with whom Hooks had butted heads over the years.

The Gillis family comes from a long line of Treutlen County politicians, including State Sen. Hugh Gillis, one of the most powerful legislators in the state, who denied politics played a role.

Not all in the county were supportive. A few signs appeared urging support of the FBI. Some residents, who did not want to be named, said this was not the first time Hooks roughed up prisoners.

Others said the incident was an outgrowth of the sheriff simply being the sheriff.

"I'm sure Wayne irritated a lot of people, including the (FBI), because this was his place – his county – and he let people know," said Wesley Crowe, owner of Soperton Pharmacy. "He had his faults, but he was an honest sheriff and he was dedicated to his job."

A life lost

Amid the debate, a crowded election to replace Hooks began heating up.

At its height in early November, the number of signs around town – both for and against Hooks, and for those who would replace him – were everywhere.

Tommy Corbin, a part-time deputy who was close to Hooks, won the job. He is well-liked, and his election helped calm Soperton down.

Today, the signs are sparse in Treutlen County. Some people – even those who support Hooks – now seem uneasy when they talk about it.

"I hate that it happened this way. I wish Wayne had retired first and then I ran," Corbin said. "This really tore a little community apart. But we are healing and getting back together. "

Wayne Hooks stays on his ranch almost full-time now, rarely venturing into Soperton.

He works with horses, breaking them with the same combination of patience and
toughness that sent him to office five times.

"I don't candy-coat nothing," Hooks said. "I'm just like medicine – I might taste bad going down, but once I've been in you for a while, you'll feel better."

He's prohibited from owning a gun. Living alone on his ranch without one sometimes frightens him. Twice, his lawyers say, he's been the target of assassination attempts.

Now he faces prison time and the prospect of living next to some of the people he arrested.

He admits that scares him, but even that admission is tinged with a certain indifference.

He's lost the thing that he loved most – a career in law enforcement. Hooks, 50, has been a police officer since age 21. He never thought about doing anything else.

Life outside the law, he said, is not a life he knows how to live.

"I'm ashamed," he said. "I can no longer do what I was born to do."

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AVOC COMMENT:  This story is very much like the conviction, imprisonment and later defeat of former Oconee County Sheriff Terry Roach.  Sheriff Roach was tried in the Middle District of Georgia and convicted of a misdemeanor involving a victim who allegedly “roughed up” a prisoner in Roach’s custody.

Many county citizens were very loyal to Sheriff Roach.  Some blamed his conviction on a “conspiracy” of many of the then and previous Oconee County officials. 

Sheriff Roach served a year in a minimum security prison in Alabama and returned to resume his duties of Sheriff.  He was defeated in 1992.

Rural Georgia Sheriffs have and exercise a lot of power.  Some are honest and benevolent with it.  Some begin to believe that they “.. are the law and are above the law….”   Local and state officials can’t or won’t do anything.  The Federal Government steps in to help restrain unfettered police power in some communities.

It is easy to allege conspiracy and point to many others for a Sheriff’s troubles.  There may be some grain of truth sometimes.  However, the Feds, like many areas of the United States, have a stereotypical image of a Southern Sheriff (like Smokey and the Bandit).   This makes Sheriffs targets.  

Most good sheriffs know this and do mind their “p’s and q’s”.  Some do not and some get caught and some do not.

It seems to be part of the turf of a Sheriff in rural Georgia.

Wendell Dawson, Editor, AVOC