Rural Jackson County voters will decide on May 19 just how much law enforcement they need. A yes vote would put 20 more deputies on the road with two more sergeants and two more clerks to back them up.

Supporters of Measure 15-66, which would fund a rural law enforcement district, say that at present low staffing levels they could wait an hour or more for a response in an emergency -- or weeks and months for a routine patrol.

Douglas Williams is a 67-year-old Wimer resident who says he's been assaulted, menaced and had his property vandalized by an ornery neighbor half his age.

"Our problem right now is police protection," Williams says. "You start a civilization and that's the first thing you do -- protect your people."

Williams says right now a county resident injured in a violent crime could wait over an hour for medical aid because ambulances have a policy not to respond to a crime scene until it has been secured by police.

Opponents of the measure question why the Jackson County Board of Commissioners formed the district in the first place without putting it to a vote of the people last year.

They worry about establishing a permanent tax rate to fund the district. And they wonder if the need really warrants the added expense -- for example, $90 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

Sams Valley resident Walt Fitzgerald, who frequently attends county board meetings, says the answer is no.

"I have asked my neighbors, `Is there a lot of crime in the neighborhood?' And the answer that invariably comes back is no."

Fitzgerald says the creation of a permanent tax rate rather than a voter-renewed levy opens the door to a heavy-handed law enforcement presence with an us-vs.-them mentality, officers more interested in making arrests than resolving problems.

"I would be looking for quality, not quantity -- an officer who is more of a social worker," Fitzgerald says. "If it did come in, I would be very interested to see the formation of a civilian review board to go right along with it."

Some county residents also ask why additional funding is needed when city and rural voters approved a countywide criminal justice levy just three years ago.

Sheriff Bob Kennedy has a quick answer to that last question.

"The '95 criminal justice levy had absolutely zero dollars for patrols," Kennedy says, "because we didn't want to fight the cities again that they were being double-taxed for city police and county deputies."

Such a measure was attempted without success in 1989, Kennedy adds. So the 1995 measure was crafted to win endorsement of city councils throughout Jackson County. It raised $3.8 million for jail deputies and other criminal justice services upon which rural and urban residents alike depend.

The 1995 measure enjoyed the city councils' support -- and victory at the polls -- because everyone recognized that these were services cities used but had not paid for during the years of big federal timber payments to the county, Kennedy says.

"People say, `How come there's no money for patrols?"' Kennedy says. "I try to tell them that was $3.8 million, and the jail's budget alone is $8 million and part went to the district attorney's office, the juvenile department and to community corrections."

Sheriff's deputies traditionally had been funded by federal O&C timber receipts, which have declined steadily even after Congress approved a 10-year "safety net" of non-timber related payments to counties.

Currently, the county has budgeted for 22 deputies. Kennedy says that because of departures to other jobs, administrative leaves, vacations and other factors, that full-strength force is never actually achieved. Only 20 are now on the payroll.

Realistically, the county averages about three to four deputies per shift to cover an area 26 percent larger than the state of Delaware.

If rural voters approve Measure 15-66, hiring an additional 20 deputies and two sergeants over the next two years would allow for an average of seven to eight deputies per shift, Kennedy says.

Here's what approval of Measure 15-66 would do

In 1997, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners established -- but did not fund -- a law enforcement district covering all of Jackson County outside of incorporated cities and the White City Law Enforcement District. The proposed Measure No. 15-66 asks voters if they want to fund and staff the district by:

• Establishing a permanent tax rate of 90 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

• Raising an estimated $2.5 million annually.

• Providing for the hiring of 20 deputies, two sergeants and two clerks, all dedicated to rural law enforcement.

• Under provisions of Measure 50, the tax bill could not increase by more than 3 percent a year regardless of increases in assessed valuation.

• A similar tax-funded district already exists in White City, Oregon's largest unincorporated residential area.