Apache County, Brian Hounshell accused last year of theft in office and other crimes : AZ IMC

Sheriff reignites rift in Apache County

Republic Flagstaff Bureau
Mar. 9, 2006 12:00 AM

ST. JOHNS - As sheriff of Apache County, Brian Hounshell is charged with keeping the peace. But lately, his presence can do as much to stir controversy as restore order.

Ever since he was accused last year of theft in office, the blustery sheriff has become a lightning rod in this northeastern Arizona county, where the lines are rigidly drawn between the majority, Native Americans of the Navajo Nation, and the minority, Anglos.

On the reservation, the 40-year-old former football player is so popular that he is known as the "White Navajo."

Other constituents accuse him of putting the safety needs of the reservation ahead of theirs.

County officials, meanwhile, are losing confidence in the sheriff.

This year, the Board of Supervisors stripped him of anti-terrorism duties by creating a new Homeland Security Department. The board wants him to pay for a $100,000 personal performance bond to ensure the county's insurance company continues to cover the Sheriff's Office.

The board also has considered placing Hounshell on administrative leave until his problems are resolved. But the supervisor with the swing vote is on medical leave, so the issue is on hold.

An indictment against Hounshell was dismissed in October by a Maricopa County judge, who said it should have been filed in Apache County. Attorney General Terry Goddard is appealing the ruling, hoping to have the case reinstated in Phoenix, where he thinks he has a better chance of getting a fair trial. And an investigation continues into the misuse of more than $8,000 of county money over a four-year period.

Hounshell dismisses the indictment as "full of political innuendo with no merit."

"If they had any faith in the case," he said, "they would file it in Apache County."

Hounshell also said his "report card" speaks for itself.

"More than 70 percent of the voters cast ballots for me in 2004," he said, "and I was the only elected official to win in both the north and south part of the county."

Two-thirds of Apache County voters live on the Navajo Reservation.

Hounshell deploys 14 of his 29 deputies to the reservation to supplement the Navajo Division of Public Safety.

But county supervisors, under pressure from the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool, have demanded that Hounshell pull the deputies because of liability concerns that they are acting as first responders. Deputies are supposed to act only in backup roles on reservations.

Voice of criticism

Some think Hounshell, whose wife is Native American, is devoting too much manpower to the Navajo Nation, where he was a deputy.

"I doubt you could even find a deputy in this area, he's got so many people on the reservation," Eagar Mayor Sandra Burk said.

But Hounshell said he has 15 deputies stationed off the reservation and accused his opponents of "fear-mongering."

"You could make the case that we are still shortchanging Navajos given the overwhelming percentage of the population they are," he said.

Alpine garage owner Rex Van Slyke agrees that someone is being shortchanged. But he sees it differently in terms of where the problem is.

"There's no law in this town," Van Slyke said of the unincorporated community in the southeastern corner of the county. "I can count the times I see deputies here in one month on one hand."

When Arizona decided four years ago that every county should have a team to respond to homeland security threats, Hounshell was put in charge of Apache County's unit.

This year, county supervisors did an end run around the sheriff, creating a new department that doesn't involve him.

But Hounshell still has the keys to the storage sheds of emergency equipment and said he has no plans to give them up.

"We'll go take the locks off the barn and do what we need to do with the County Attorney's Office (if an emergency arises)," Apache County Manager Delwin Wengert said.

Hounshell is just as adamant when it comes to a demand that he pay for insurance coverage.

Citing Hounshell's legal troubles, the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool said it would no longer insure the Sheriff's Office without more surety. Supervisors asked Hounshell to pay the $100,000 personal performance bond.

He has refused. Hounshell also has filed a lawsuit, claiming that the county is required to cover insurance needs of elected officials and that an unprecedented action has been taken since he is not under indictment. A hearing is scheduled for March 30.

Last month, the Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on whether Hounshell should be placed on administrative leave.

Then, the only non-Indian member suffered a stroke and isn't expected to participate in county business for at least three months. That leaves Hounshell's political ally and his political enemy to split their votes.

A divided county

Hounshell's legal troubles have reignited a long-simmering divide between Navajos and non-Native Americans. And Hounshell, who has received a string of strong endorsements from Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., is taking full advantage.

"The bottom line is if they (county supervisors) blow me out, the Navajos will never forget it, and it will take the county back to all the troubles of the 1970s," Hounshell said.

Problems between the Navajo and non-Native Americans resulted in a virulent county-split movement in the 1980s.

It ended only when then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt vetoed a bill that would have created a non-Indian county. The U.S. Justice Department has since regularly monitored elections.

Burk, Eagar's mayor, wishes the county-split issue could be revisited.

"This is a really, really bad situation which is dividing this county once again. People in the southern part of the county resent the sheriff and what is happening."

The Navajo majority could work in Hounshell's favor if Goddard's office loses its appeal to have the indictment reinstated in Maricopa County. Filing the charges in Apache County could be a worst-case scenario for the state.

Almost all Apache County juries are about 70 percent Navajo, said Brad Carlyon, chief deputy attorney.

The county manager, though, said he would have no problem with a trial in St. Johns.

"All of our problems here revolve around the sheriff being indicted for misuse of public funds," Wengert said.

"The people in our county can sufficiently analyze that as well here as anywhere else."

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