Cedar County Sheriff asks Chair of Board of Supervisors to recuse herself

Lang
10/12/19

Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington has asked Dawn Smith, the chair of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors, to recuse herself from further issues dealing with the sheriff’s office.

The tensions began earlier this year when Wethington refused to honor arrests made in Durant, citing Durant officer Robert Smith, one of the town’s three full-time officers. Wethington claimed Smith had a history of being untruthful, using questionable force and generating complaints about his harsh demeanor.

Robert Smith is Dawn Smith’s husband. He has since left the Durant police force.

The recusal request came after the two sparred during a board of supervisors meeting on October 1st. According to The Tipton Conservative, Wethington had expressed concerns about county Human Resources Consultant Paul Greufe, who had been arrested by a deputy for Driving While revoked. The sheriff said he didn’t think it was a good image for the county when its HR representative “can’t stay out of jail.”

Smith shot back with a comment about Wethington having an OWI conviction of his own from when he was 19 years old. He was later pardoned by Governor Tom Vilsack in 1999.

Wethington then said he was not surprised Smith brought up his OWI, calling it “merely a frail attempt” to discredit Wethington as sheriff during what he called “a very stressful time” for Smith and her husband.

Wethington wrote a letter to the board two days after the confrontation, saying, “there is absolutely nothing about Dawn Smith that I find useful, interesting or a threat to me.” He went on to note that there were no YouTube videos of him pointing guns at or hitting young people during traffic stops…and apparent jab at Robert Smith’s controversial time as a peace officer.

Wethington also claimed that Dawn Smith has said Greufe was specifically hired to deal with HR issues at the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff says his comments at the October 1st meeting were not meant to provoke Smith.