Lincoln recall petition official

Sheriff's response: 'It's totally false'

Elections officials have approved a revised petition, now in circulation, for the recall of Lincoln County Sheriff Daryl R. Anderson.

A group of Eureka-area residents began drafting the petition early this year, alleging that Anderson failed to properly investigate a series of rape complaints.

Anderson has roundly and repeatedly rejected the group's claims of incompetence and wrongdoing.

Elections officials initially rejected the Lincoln County Recall Committee's petition because of its form and substance, but the group resubmitted the document with changes and earned approval this week from Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder and Election Administrator Tammy D. Lauer.

The petition must be signed by at least 1,946 people- 15 percent of the number of residents registered to vote in Lincoln County's last general election - to force a countywide special election with Anderson's recall on the ballot.

Among other allegations, the Lincoln County Recall Committee accuses Anderson of failing to investigate six rape complaints, according to Diane J. Kaechele, the group's spokeswoman.

"What we do know is that there haven't been any convictions on any of these rapes," Kaechele said. "That's what we do know."

Anderson, however, said Wednesday that some of those cases were unfounded and in others the alleged victims have so far failed to make a complaint.

"Everything that's been reported has been investigated," Anderson said.

The recall committee also has expressed dissatisfaction with Anderson's handling of an April 2008 case where a black Labrador dog was found dead in the Tobacco River near the Pigeon Bridge off Montana 37.

"The reality is that it was an animal cruelty case that should have been investigated as an animal cruelty case until it was determined it wasn't," Kaechele said.

But investigators have said the case was blown out of proportion and evidence does not exist to support a theory that the dog was beaten and tortured.

The petition also accuses Anderson of denying a man a permit to carry a concealed weapon permit without a written statement of probable cause and hiring a deputy without sending him to the state's law enforcement academy.

But Anderson, a self-described proponent of Second Amendment rights, said the weapon permit was denied because the applicant was involved with the Freeman uprising of 1996 in Eastern Montana.

And the deputy was only hired on a temporary basis as a non-sworn civil officer, pursuant to state regulations, and now is a Lincoln County justice of the peace, Anderson said.

"I don't know where they get their information, but it's totally false," Anderson said. "They continue to come up with these things that have no merit, it's unfounded."

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com