At least 11 seeking sheriff's post

At least 11 men -- almost all of them from Norman -- have applied to replace Cleveland County sheriff DeWayne Beggs, who recently resigned and will leave office at the end of April.

As of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, all 11 men had submitted resumes to the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners. The application deadline closed at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Assistant District Attorney Dave Batton -- who serves as the county commissioners' attorney -- confirmed the applicants and said each meets the statutory requirements to be appointed to the sheriff's post.

Batton said the eleven include:

Roy D. Magerkurth, Norman, a former sheriff's department employee.

Lloyd D. Blaine, Norman, a current employee with the sheriff's department.

David Williams, Norman, a former undersheriff.

Jim D. Filipski, Norman, the current undersheriff of McClain County.

Christopher Manning, Norman.

Rhett B. Burnett, Norman, who previously ran for the sheriff's post.

Joe Lester, Norman, the former public safety director for the University of Oklahoma.

Neil Vickers, Norman, the former deputy chief of police for the city of Norman.

Eddie Thomason, Harrah, current undersheriff of Cleveland County.

Mark S. Hamm, Moore.

Don Holyfield, Norman.

While all of the men meet the statutory requirements to be appointed to the position, at least one of the applicants, undersheriff Eddie Thomason, would not meet the requirements to be elected to the office.

"There's a gray area in the law on appointments," Batton said. "And Mr. Thomason meets those requirements. But it looks like he might not be able to run for the office because he lives in Harrah and not in Cleveland County."

State law requires a person seeking the office of sheriff to be a "registered voter in the county at least six months prior to the first day of the filing period for the election."

Because Thomason lives in Harrah he wouldn't qualify to run for election to the post, Batton said.

And though state law doesn't require any applicant -- or person running for the office of sheriff -- to have law enforcement experience, Batton said all the applicants were certified by the Council for Law Enforcement Education (CLEET).

Batton said he is compiling a notebook with all the applicants' resumes. That information would be given to Cleveland County commissioners to review. Once the commissioners decide who they want to interview, county officials will interview those chosen and pick a successor to Beggs.

An announcement is expected by the end of the month.

M. Scott Carter 366-3545 scarter@normantranscript.com