Local & State Headlines

Baker sheriff out of office

• He’s no longer sheriff in Baker County, but Isaac Anderson will try to remain a candidate for sheriff in November.

Susan McCord

NEWTON — Nearly four years after his law enforcement certification first was revoked, Baker County Sheriff Isaac Anderson is out of a job.

The next in line under Georgia law, county coroner Andy Belinc, assumed the duties of sheriff Monday, Baker Probate Judge Angel Hendricks said.

Hendricks was informed by a letter Monday from the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council that the office of sheriff was “vacant” because Anderson “no longer meets the necessary requirements to hold the office of sheriff.”

A similar letter issued in March also declared the office vacant, after the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling reinstating Anderson’s certification, which is a requirement to be a Georgia sheriff.

But on June 16, the Georgia Supreme Court refused to review the appeals court’s decision.

Anderson left the office peacefully Monday, Hendricks said.

Elected Baker’s first black sheriff in 1996, Anderson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Anderson’s loss of his certification stems from a 2002 incident in which he was accused of fabricating an alibi for a man accused of assaulting his wife in Florida.

Anderson was cleared of the charges in a federal trial, but his certification was revoked for his “refusal to assist in a criminal investigation.”

While Anderson is out for the remainder of his term, which ends in December, his lawyer, Phil Cannon, has a new approach for keeping his client in office.

Cannon said he’d challenge Hendricks’ authority to keep Anderson from running again for the post.

“She is basing her decision to remove him on what that letter from the attorney general says,” Cannon said.

As probate judge, Hendricks also supervises elections in the county of 3,933 people.

Anderson was the only candidate to qualify to run for sheriff during party qualifying this spring.

But the issue is complicated by the fact that one person did recently qualify to run for Baker County sheriff as an Independent, Baker County attorney Tommy Coleman said.

If Hendricks disqualifies Anderson from running for sheriff, he can appeal, Coleman said.

“The law frankly didn’t contemplate this directly,” Coleman said. “There is no specific statute that says if you get your certification removed, you can’t be a candidate again.”

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