Ohio sheriff taking heat for wife’s comments
Social media posts made by the wife of Hocking County Sheriff Lanny North that include calls to overthrow the government, references to “white pride” and promises of another civil war have a local activist group calling for his resignation.
For his part, North says that he hasn't seen the posts in question but that his wife, Kathy, has the right to her opinions and that he has no plans of stepping down.
“She posts a lot of things on social media that I'm not familiar with. It's her opinion,” Lanny North said.
Screenshots of posts from Kathy North's Facebook page and comments she's made on those she follows were compiled by Athens County Copwatch, an activist group formed last year to examine issues of police accountability and social and racial equality.
Members of the public who were troubled by North's posts forwarded them to the group, said Damon Krane, 41, a social media consultant and one of Copwatch's founders.
“You literally have the wife of the sheriff calling for violence against the government, against the sheriff 's constituents, Krane said. “At the very least, we believe it undermines his credibility.”
Most of the posts could not be independently verified as they were not on Kathy North's Facebook page on Wednesday, when the page had very few posts at all. There was, however, a picture of President Joe Biden with a banner proclaiming: “Not my president.”
In response to a comment on that
January post, she responded that he is “a body with Satan’s ideation and plans to destroy our Country.”
Requests from The Dispatch for comment from Kathy North made through her husband and through social media did not receive a response.
In response to another post from different Facebook account holder about government insurrection – according to a screenshot provided by Copwatch – Kathy North responds: “I totally agree with you and pray it happens soon, civil war is the only answer against Satan’s Democrats that are ruining our Country and those that can’t understand that pray for them.”
A screenshot of a Oct. 25 Facebook post of her own shows Kathy North writing, “I don’t care who this offends, but I stand by it. War is coming, sooner or later!”
And in a racially charged post on June 17, Kathy North wrote, in a screenshot provided by Copwatch: “...when we announce our white pride, you call us racists. You rob us, car jack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist. I am proud ... But you call me a racist. Why is it that only whites can be racists??”
Asked if he was aware of his wife’s postings and if he would consider leaving the office he’s held since 2001, Lanny North said simply, “No.” He added that his wife’s views likely are shared by the local and state Republican party, as well as conservatives in the community.
Bob Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association, said that unless the sheriff has committed a crime or other wrongdoing, he should not be criticized.
“He’s not saying these things, so he should not resign. He can’t be responsible for what his wife thinks,” Cornwell said.
He said that intolerance from leftwing groups might be fueling the controversy in the case of this sheriff.
“Even if he went home and said, ‘Hey, sweetheart, don’t do that,’ that will not satisfy these people,” Cornwell said.
Athens County Copwatch accused Kathy North of exploiting her husband’s position to advance dangerous opinions.
“She’s used her husband’s position to expand her own power and influence and even to gain access to the governor,” said Krane, noting a photograph on her Facebook page that includes the couple with Gov. Mike Dewine in 2019.
Krane asked: “Can the people of Hocking County trust Sheriff North to protect them from the sheriff ’s own farright insurrectionist wife any more than they can trust him to eliminate white supremacist racism within his department?”
In 2016, two of North’s deputy sheriffs were found on an audiotape using the N-word, making racially charged comments and laughing about cross burning. Each was reprimanded and required to take a one-hour, online class on the awareness of cultural diversity from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso