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Tonight, young children throughout the Dan River Region will take part in Halloween activities. It’s all fun and games for the kids, but it can be a nervous time for their parents. How many nights do children go door-to-door, take candy from strangers and walk around after dark?
What won’t change when the sun comes up Sunday is the concern people have about public safety issues. One of the most basic and important functions of government is to protect the governed, and the offices of Danville Commonwealth’s Attorney and Danville Sheriff are key parts of the local criminal justice system. On Tuesday, Danvillians will have to replace two long-serving incumbents.
For Danville Commonwealth’s Attorney, we endorse Michael Newman, who currently works in the office as a senior assistant and has spent more than a decade prosecuting the criminals that prey on society.
Newman believes the core function of the job he seeks involves, “holding the most violent offenders responsible for their actions.”
He is concerned that some minor charges in the juvenile courts aren’t handled appropriately while some young offenders are getting into more trouble than their rap sheet would indicate. “I think it’s because I started in J&D Court,” Newman said. “I see a pattern that develops.”
Those patterns are the recidivism and escalating criminal activity that often leads to young people throwing their lives away.
“We are not there just for a body count,” Newman said of criminal prosecution. “We truly do have a passion that all communities are safe.”
For Danville Sheriff, we endorse Mike Mondul, who currently works for the Danville Police Department and is best known as the department’s public spokesman. Mondul brings a valuable outsider’s experience to this race and has pledged to find better ways to use existing resources more efficiently.
During the campaign, Mondul has criticized what he considers to be a clunky, inefficient booking system that duplicates efforts and keeps police officers off the street. He has advocated cross-training police officers and sheriff’s deputies to help one another out in emergencies. In the future, he may have to help develop a regional jail with Pittsylvania County.
Mondul has shown the management potential and out-of-the-box thinking that we think Danville’s next sheriff will need to handle future challenges while avoiding past mistakes.
“You can’t sit in your office all the time,” he said. “I would focus more on preventing things from happening.”
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Reader Reactions
Interesting. Some of you obviously have an inside track not available to the rest of us. How do you think the general public will assess these candidates? Does it really come down to superficial things like appearance, campaign ads and signs?
There is something that I have noticed about Mike Newman’s campaign. Mike Newman has been in the C/As office for several years. He has worked with Danville Police Officers, Probation Officers, Sheriff’s deputies, as well as his coworkers in the C/A/‘s office. Why have none of the people he works with on a daily basis openly supported him? Why has the man who presently holds the office Mike Newman is running for and whom Newman is now employed by openly supporting him? The answer is this, Mike Newman does not have there support. People who work with Mike Newman on a daily basis know him as a self-absorbed man who acts as if he is superior to everyone else around him. Mike Newman lacks the all to important people skills that are needed for dealing with witness that are so important to the cases brought to the C/A’s office for prosecution.
At least one of his coworkers has left the office, in part, because of the chance of having to work for Mike Newman should he win this election. There is a fear in at least one of the agencies that works with the C/A’s office that Mike Newman could win this election. The fear stems from a belief that Mike Newman would be more concerned with his office’s stats than protecting the citizens of Danville. This may not be the case but there is a basis for this concern. Take the advise from someone who has experience working with all three candidates….. Vote for Jim Martin.
CITIZEN: experience is important. Fresh ideas are too. Being the CA is MUCH more than trial experience. It
is an executive management position, by definition. I like Ms. Robetson’s style and drive to improve the way the CA’s office does things. To each his own!
Hey, I’m for a “DRUG COURT”. what I meant to convey is that some candidates talk as if there is one already. it looks to me like we’ll probably be talking about it four years from now. Big plans = big expenses. Todays (and tomorrows) economy are roadblocks. (maybe some stimulus $, lol)
DISPATCHER: Ms. Robertson is interested in exploring the possibility of a “JUVENILE DRUG COURT”, modeled after the one in Franklin County. There hasn’t been a real opportunity for her to bring this into the forefront. Her take is to address the drug issues while offenders aren’t yet adults! ADULT drug offenders ought to know the consequences of their actions!
I’m for ROBERTSON, for REALISTIC CAHNGE & INNOVATIVE IDEAS!
Thank goodness we all have an opportunity to VOTE our choice!!
completely aside from that… wasn’t Newman the supervisor for the two junior assistants that left the office? and i hear there is another who has very recently left, though i ndont believe that one is the fault of Newman
VOTE MARTIN
thought i had run out of room…
what is your reasoning behind voting claudette? i am not a personal friend of hers but i have met her and she seems to be a very fair and nice lady. HOWEVER… with 6 years (and i think i may be giving her a few months) she has a third of the courtroom experience that Jim Martin has and a little more than half of the experience that Newman has. i have met Newman and personally feel that he is mean and unprofessional. i have been told of a time in court when he pumped his fist after a “win.“ i do not see this in either Robertson or Martin. i will be voting for Martin on tuesday because he is experienced, he is CAPABLE and he has GOALS.
please respond to this i think i need to vent…
dArtagnan: first of all… i dont believe anyone thinks that simply having a drug court will solve all of the problems we have in danville. it will keep the first time offenders in drug cases from being locked up in jail with the likes of murderers and rapists. if you disagree then please tell me so. they will have a second chance at becoming a productive member of society like everyone wants. when these first time offenders are caught up with these violent people, they are more likely to return to crime after jail time… THAT IS A FACT!!!
if Danville truly wants to clean up the drug problem we will find the funding, and the judge. For christ’s sake, Franklin County was able to do it…
also you stated a statistical failure rate of 50%. i will give you the benefit of the doubt and not even check up on that. you are saying that with a 50% SUCCESS rate you would not implement this? out of 50 first time drug users you would have 25 success stories and you think thats a bad thing? without the drug court all of these people would be in jail clogging up space and costing money to feed/ etc…
Dispatcher, actually I do know the whole story. And yes, Mr. Fuller did originally encourage Mr. Newman to run. But things have changed, perhaps you should ask Mr. Fuller if you don’t believe me. There is a reason behind his decision not to endorse Mr. Newman, and it has nothing to do with appearing neutral. Also, Mr. Newman is the sole reason that the CA’s office is two people short. Once again, if you don’t believe me, ask the two in question.
ABC is correct in why the two attorneys left the office. It was due to the actions of Mr. Newman. Does Danville we need a Commonwealth Attorney who does not work with and be professional to his own staff? I think not! Newman may have tried more cases in the recent past than the other two, but he is not capable of running an office of 20+ people.
Also, I think it says volumes that Bill Fuller has not come out and supported Newman. Mr. Fuller is not a shy man and often speaks his mind. Maybe Mr. Fuller has seen the kind of person that Newman really is and it is simply too late to do anything about it.
Mr. Newman is not the kind and caring person that he and his supporters portray. He is a ruthless and demeaning individual who only cares for himself, not the citizens of Danville. He is only after the power of the office, not the good that can be done with it. A vote for Newman is a vote against the citizens of Danville.
Support a candidate who has the experience, leadership qualities, and personality to run the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney. That person is Jim Martin.
ABC, you obviously don’t know the whole story. Mr. Fuller is the one that encouraged Mr. Newman to run. Maybe Mr. Fuller just wants to remain impartial. Mr. Newman had nothing to do with the CA’s office being two people short.
Some members of the Danville PD, with 15 years + of dedicated service, are saying the drug court is a realistic proposition. And I don’t mean the least respected ones, but some with clean conduct and sensible heads. I don’t live in the city, so I have no dog in this fight, but I tend to go along with law enforcement, not against it as I did several years previous. Maybe they know something that we don’t?
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