While all eyes are focused on the presidential election, those living in Southern Arizona are saying that one issue being ignored is border security. Unfortunately, they also will have an election on November 6th for a new Sheriff of Cochise County. Larry Dever, the incumbent sheriff, died when his truck overturned on September 18th. He was first elected in 1996. His department's mission statement, a quote from Sir Winston Churchill, "It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required." During an interview with American Thinker earlier this year he commented, "If the federal government had been doing its job in securing the border Arizona would not have had to step up." Sheriff Dever was running unopposed, but following his death, Mark Dannels is running on the ballot and Rod Rothrock is running as a write-in candidate. American Thinker was contacted by those supporting Rothrock and interviewed him on why he should be chosen to replace Dever.

Rothrock feels he should be the new sherriff on the block. He cites his forty-year law-enforcement experience, thirty-one of them with Cochise County. In 2008 Dever appointed him second in command where his duties included running day-to-day operations. Rothrock told American Thinker that he was notified the day before about a hastily-called meeting to decide who would replace Dever, and lost in a whisker-close vote. After getting calls from numerous people living in the area he decided to run as a write-in candidate.

According to Rothrock, "The border is not safe down here. Just look at the signs posted by the Federal Government that say 'enter at your own risk.' This has occurred just a few years ago but to me this alone shows that things are not safer today."

He hopes that if elected he will continue the legacy of Sheriff Larry Dever. He wants to continue to be the educator of government officials and the American public on border security issues. What needs to be told is that although the human migration wave has slowed, the drug smugglers who run covert operations have replaced it. Rothrock commented, "Someone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and encounters these people can be put in serious danger."

Secondly, he wants to continue Dever's mission of pressing the government to give the Sheriff's Department effective measures to address the problem, including technology, triple fencing, and ground troops, just as were given to Yuma and San Diego County. He also wants to continue Dever's legacy of making the Sheriff's Department into a cutting edge, professional, top-of-the-line department.

What he wants Arizonians to know is that his official title is the Chief Deputy executing the Office of Sheriff, in other words, acting Sheriff. If elected, he plans on "continuing to force the issues on the Mexican border. We want the same that San Diego and Yuma County received. Instead, President Obama tells us we can have a moat of alligators. The problem is we cannot afford transporting the water. It is ridiculous that this administration picks and chooses which areas will receive adequate security and which areas they will turn their back on. Unfortunately, Southern Arizona is the latter. People will see I will continue the mission of Sheriff Dever, if elected."

The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews, author interviews, and has written a number of articales on national security, politics, and foreign policy.