By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - After Harold Don Gabbard confirmed Monday that he would not seek a fourth term as Butler County sheriff, his chief deputy announcedhe would run for election.

As of Monday evening, Richard K. Jones, 49, of Liberty Township, was the only person who had approached Republican Party leaders to seek endorsement for the seat Gabbard will leave when his term expires at the end of 2004.

Party officials say they have heard about other people interested in running. There also could be Democratic opponents in this Republican-dominated county.

Now in his 11th year as sheriff, Gabbard said, "I've flown my journey; it's time to land," laying to rest months of speculation about whether he would seek office again. Gabbard said he actually had decided against seeking re-election after the 2000 campaign.

Robert Mosketti, director of the county Board of Elections, said he suspected Gabbard wasn't running again after the sheriff didn't sell tickets to his annual July hog roast and campaign fund-raiser.

Gabbard, who turns 72 in December, has spent 45 years in law enforcement. He said he now wants to spend more time with his wife of 53 years, Phyllis, their six grown children and a dozen or so grandchildren.

Jones, meanwhile, is preparing for the political arena.

"I have never run for office in my entire life - and I know this is not for sissies or the weak-hearted," Jones said. "But I'm mostly excited and pumped up... I'm ready. I've basically been in training for 11 years - and I've always planned on running for sheriff when Sheriff Gabbard was no longer a candidate."

Jones, who picked up his petitions from the elections board Monday, said he will seek the GOP endorsement at a meeting next month.

Some party faithful say Jones is an heir-apparent to Gabbard's post, noting Jones is married to the sheriff's niece. But that connection has no bearing on whether Jones will receive GOP approval, County GOP Chairman Joseph Schwarz said: "He will rise or fall on his qualifications."

Also, Gabbard has yet to decide whether he will use his war chest - which totaled $132,158 in January - to support Jones.

"There are a lot of other excellent leaders in law enforcement that could aspire to be the Butler County sheriff, but I don't see anyone else in a position to take the reins," Prosecutor Robin Pipersaid of Jones. "He's been Sheriff Gabbard's right-hand man for all of those years."

Jones has more than threedecades of experience in law enforcement and holds a trio of college degrees.

The Gabbard file

•  Gabbard joined the Hamilton police department in 1958. He retired 28 years later, then ran for sheriff, defeating Richard Holzberger, the Democratic incumbent, in 1992.

•  Since becoming sheriff in 1993, Gabbard pushed until he was able to get a new jail and administrative office complex built.

•  Gabbard said he is proud of the "Are You Ok?" program, a telephone service that checks on elderly residents; a farm where inmates grow hay to feed sheriff's horses; and buying surplus government equipment for the sheriff's office for low cost or free.

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E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com