Questioning qualifications

My name is Ruth Cheney and I am the daughter of former Sanders County Game Warden and Sheriff, Lon Cheney.  I try to stay out of politics, but when my dad’s name and reputation are repeatedly used to establish the credentials of Billy Hill for Sheriff, I feel the need to set the record straight. 

My dad developed his opinion of Billy Hill during his 27 years as Game Warden.  He and Mr. Hill had a number of encounters in regard to fish and game laws.  As a result of those encounters, my dad had absolutely no respect for Mr. Hill and held him in the lowest regard.  My dad’s low opinion of Mr. Hill was consistent throughout the years, and encompassed his tenure as Game Warden and Sheriff.  In a phone conversation with Bud Biddle, who served as a deputy to my dad, Bud assured me that my dad “thought quite highly” of Mr. Hill and that “he would probably have supported his campaign for sheriff”.  That is an absolute fabrication.  My dad would have considered it pretty funny that someone who does not personally respect the law would be running for the job of chief law enforcer. 

 My dad had intense attention to detail and unrelentingly high standards. The thought that he would have called on an unqualified, untrained citizen, for whom he had the lowest of regard, to “bail out the sheriff’s office in emergencies” is not plausible.  Bud Biddle and Billy Hill claim that Billy had law enforcement authority under my dad.  I lived with my dad most of the last two years of his life.  As he reminisced about his experiences as sheriff, he never mentioned Billy Hill as having provided assistance to the sheriff’s department in any capacity whatsoever.  

My dad would not have recommended Mr. Hill for sheriff, he would not have voted for him, and he did maintain through his dying day that Mr. Hill had not earned respect as a law abiding citizen and was to be held in the lowest of regard.  He never, ever indicated, alluded to, hinted, or outright said, that Billy Hill ever assisted the sheriff’s office, was temporarily, briefly, conditionally, or used any other descriptive term, to indicate Mr. Hill had law enforcement authority during his tenure as the Sheriff of Sanders County.