Tharp Leads Race For Benewah Sheriff

Wed., Nov. 8, 2000

By Angie Gaddy angieg@spokesman.com

BENEWAH SHERIFF

Democratic candidate Bill Tharp was beating Benewah County sheriff’s detective Bob Loe in the county sheriff’s race late Tuesday.

Tharp, the 64-year-old former chief of the North Las Vegas police department, focused his campaign on bringing change to the small department.

Tharp said he wants to forge a better relationship between deputies and the public and said he wants to create a more organized department.

Tharp ran against Republican Loe and independent candidate Bill Rassmussen.

Loe, 50, began patrolling for the Benewah County Sheriff’s Department in 1977.

He worked for the Benewah County road crew and waste transfer station. Currently, he works as an investigator under Sheriff Joe Blackburn.

Blackburn did not seek reelection to the job, which pays $28,518 a year.

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