Sheriff will face court on charges

Any talk of Smith’s resigning is premature, a Columbiana County commissioner says.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Columbiana County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said he was “highly disappointed” over reports that Sheriff David L. Smith is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

In addition to the OVI charge, the Ohio State Highway Patrol also cited Smith for speeding and driving outside marked lanes. He was stopped Thursday on Interstate 70 in Guernsey County.

The sheriff, a Republican, is due in Cambridge Municipal Court in that county this week. Smith, 57, of East Liverpool, has referred questions to his lawyer.

The patrol reported that Smith said he had left a dinner at Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, a professional law enforcement group, in Columbus.

Hoppel, also a Republican and chairman of the commissioners, said Saturday he had been asked by another newspaper whether Smith should resign.

The commissioner said he replied that Smith hasn’t even been to court yet, and any such action would be premature.

The charge, Hoppel noted, is a misdemeanor and wouldn’t affect Smith’s ability to hold office.

Smith will be up for re-election next year, which he mentioned to the state trooper who made the traffic stop.

Smith uses an unmarked police vehicle. Hoppel said he assumed that Smith was driving it when he was stopped, but that will be looked into.

Hoppel said news of the charges caught him and others in county government off guard.

The commissioner said that he could not recall any county official or worker being charged during his 11 years in office.

Smith and Hoppel clashed earlier this year over shortfalls in the sheriff’s office. But the commissioners recently gave Smith funds to lease new cruisers to replace worn ones and to hire at least two deputies.

Hoppel said the sheriff’s office would have an internal policy regulating the use of county vehicles. Each office would set its own policies regarding use of county vehicles, mileage on a personal car for county business, and reimbursement for expenses, he added.

The commissioners office doesn’t have a copy of the sheriff’s office policy, he said.

Nancy Milliken, the county auditor, who gets copies of policies to check that any reimbursements are properly made, could not be reached.

Neither Dennis Johnson, the chairman of the county Democratic Party, nor David Johnson, the county Republican Party chairman, returned calls Saturday night.

Smith has been sheriff since 2000. He graduated from the Southern Local School District in 1968 and received a bachelor’s degree in education from Young College in Florida in 1973.

He taught history at Southern Local until 1975. He was a supervisor for a cable television company, and then the Salineville and Columbiana Police Departments, before joining the sheriff’s office in 1979.

wilkinson@vindy.com