Justin King | The Anti Media

Walton County Sheriff, Michael A. Adkinson, Jr. attempted to play dirty southern politics by attacking the journalist that questioned his decision to equip the rural Walton County Sheriff’s Office with an armored vehicle straight from the wars overseas.

In an attempt to quash debate and stifle a free press, the Sheriff told WMBB that

“this came about as from a former federal inmate that Walton County arrested several years ago, wrote an article, sent it to some anti-government site, accusing the Sheriff’s Office of getting ready to take over people’s personal liberty or guns. It really is a little ridiculous.”

What’s ridiculous is that the Sheriff chose not to mention that when Walton County Sheriff’s Deputies needed training on armed and unarmed defense a decade ago, that very same “federal inmate” was one of the instructors. He is the same “federal inmate” that found ballistic plates for the department at a reduced price. He is the same “federal inmate” who offered to purchase hostage negotiation phones for the department, if they were willing to give up the MRAP.

The “anti-government” site the Sheriff is talking about is the one you are reading this article on right now. Despite the Sheriff’s claims, the previous article says nothing about him taking people’s guns, and the journalist he attacked is none other than Justin King (see my byline on this article). I would ask that readers humor me while I openly respond to the Sheriff because I initially went out of my way to leave the Sheriff’s character out of the debate, stating in a past article

“Sheriff Adkinson’s character is not part of the debate.”

Let’s forget that the Sheriff shouldn’t be discussing juvenile arrests to begin with, and instead let’s focus on how he probably obtained my arrest record. Since the Sheriff may be unaware, accessing law enforcement databases without a legitimate law enforcement reason is a violation of federal law. Although it may be hard to believe, attempting to intimidate or attack someone who disagrees with a Sheriff politically is not a legitimate law enforcement use, so maybe the Sheriff will turn out to be the next “federal inmate.” Even though it’s possible the Sheriff relied solely on gossip told around the campfire at the office, I’ve already contacted the appropriate agencies to launch an investigation. Don’t worry, I hear that orange is the new black.

The Sheriff pleads with us to trust him with an armored vehicle and promises that he won’t use it to infringe on personal liberties, but it certainly appears that the Sheriff can’t even be trusted with a computer. More important than his actions are his apparent intentions. He wants to end the debate over the militarization of a law enforcement agency that hasn’t had an officer shot and killed in more than 70 years. As much as the Sheriff may hate it, we still have a free press in this country. It will not be stifled on our watch. We will not rollover, we will not turn a blind eye, and we will not comply with politically-motivated demands. Instead of ending the debate or silencing me, this action has only encouraged me to further examine Walton County’s law enforcement. Every time that MRAP rolls, I’ll be there. Every time your deputies shoot a family pet, I’ll be there. Every time your department violates someone’s rights, I’ll be there. The force of ideas, not the force of arms is what makes this country great. Ideas, much like your MRAP, are bulletproof.

Since the Sheriff wants to talk about my arrest record, let’s talk about it. If the price of keeping the citizens and deputies of Walton County safe is the blackening of my name, it’s a price I will gladly pay. Just let me know where to send the check. In order to apprehend me for what amounted to improper paperwork, law enforcement agents inside Walton County conducted a daring daybreak raid. The problem is that they raided the wrong house. Luckily, the home was completely unoccupied so no innocent civilians or pets were killed. That little fact doesn’t really help the Sheriff’s case when he wants to deploy an armored vehicle. When amazing and thorough detective work located me at the house where I received my mail and that I had been residing in for a year, it was over an hour away and in another county. Those deputies of a different department knocked gently at the door and this ever-so-dangerous journalist walked out and offered the officers coffee before he was taken into custody without incident.

That arrest was so long ago that the Sheriff wasn’t even in office yet. Interestingly, that case which was apparently so massive that his deputies sit around the office telling him stories about it years later, did not require an MRAP. In fact, the only part of the incident that occurred in Walton County was completely botched, and the MRAP would have only torn up grass and intimidated an empty house.

If the Sheriff believes disclosing my past will embarrass or intimidate me into silence, he is very mistaken. I am more proud of the actions that led me to be labeled a “federal inmate” than I am anything else in my life. I wear that title with pride. As the saying goes, “if you aren’t on a watchlist by now, you should be ashamed of yourself.” I was accused of the horrible act of helping hundreds of people from Eastern Europe start a life in a free country, but alas not all of the paperwork was in order.

I served every day of my sentence without ever disclosing a name or cutting a deal. I wonder if he’ll have the honor to do the same if he is brought up on charges. It’s more likely that some dispatcher or deputy takes the wrap for his attempt at using his political office to run a smear campaign when he can’t take responsibility for his own actions. Before the Sheriff begins to tell the press that he didn’t access law enforcement databases or do anything improper, and that he based his statements simply on what he had heard through the grapevine, we should all consider whether the people can trust a man that would attempt to use the platform granted to him by his office to attack someone for their political beliefs based solely on something he heard. Either the Sheriff violated federal law, or he is a man that would use the power of his office to attack those exercising their constitutionally-protected rights.

Sheriff, if you want a character debate, I suggest you stick to your fellow politicians because, quite frankly, I’m out of your league. However, if you want to debate the idea of police militarization, name the time and place. I’m certain I can think of a radio show that would be willing to host the debate, which appeals to me because I don’t really have any desire to shake your hand in public.

This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Justin King and TheAntiMedia.org