Winders files for fourth term as sheriff
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on February 19, 2006 2:07 AM
Wayne County Sheriff Carey Winders and county school board member Rick Pridgen filed for re-election Friday.
The filing period for public office ends at noon Feb. 28.
Pridgen represents District 6 on the Wayne County Board of Education. He is seeking a second term.
Winders, 49, is seeking a fourth term in office. He is the first Republican to hold the office of sheriff in Wayne County in more than a century. He was first elected in 1994.
Winders said, if re-elected, he would continue to concentrate his department's energies on criminal activity in the county and continue to target major drug dealers.
Since taking office, Winders said he has worked to help his department acquire almost $2 million in grant money and other funds to buy additional equipment and to pay for additional officers.
Winders said he has appreciated the support he has received from the county Board of Commissioners on important issues, including pay raises for deputies and jailers. The pay increases, he said, have reduced employee turnover and improved morale in the department.
Winders was appointed recently to the North Carolina Sheriffs' Standards Training Committee that ensures officers receive the latest in professional training instruction.
He graduated from Charles B. Aycock High School and the law enforcement program at Wayne Community College. He joined the Goldsboro Police Department in 1984 and was later promoted to investigator.
Winders has been certified as an investigator in homicides, sexual assaults, arsons, financial fraud cases, crime-scene processing and other areas. He is a graduate of the National Sheriffs' Institute and the FBI Command College.
Winders is a member of numerous law enforcement groups, including the state and national sheriffs' associations.
Wayne County residents will choose, or help choose, candidates for a number of public offices this year. They are the Districts 1 and 3 seats in Congress, the Districts 5 and 12 seats in the state Senate, the Districts 10, 11 and 21 seats in the state House, Court of Appeals judge and associate justice for the N.C. Supreme Court. Closer to home, races will be held for district attorney, Superior Court judge, District Court judge, clerk of court, sheriff and the Districts 1, 4, 5 and 6 seats of the Wayne County Board of Education.
There were no election filings Friday in Duplin County.
Primary elections will be held in North Carolina on May 2. The general election will be held Nov. 7.
For information, people may call the Wayne County Board of Elections at 731-1411. People interested in filing for a race can do so at the Board of Elections office at 209 S. William St.
For information on filing in Duplin County, people can call the Duplin Board of Elections at 910-296-2170. The office is located on Mallard Street in Kenansville.