Though lacking an opponent on the fall ballot for Lincoln County Sheriff, Lt. Adam Shanks told a group of staunch conservatives Tuesday, Sept. 10, he’s “campaigning like it’s a tight race.”
Shanks was the featured speaker among four candidates appearing before the 70-strong Hilltop Patriots in the Old Taft Fire Hall meeting center.
The Patriots, genuine flag-wavers who consider themselves local government watchdogs and supporters of conservative issues, heard the remarkable autobiography of a lawman who has served Lincoln County his entire adult life.
A graduate of Newport H.S., Shanks earned a degree in criminal science at Lane Community College. His first job was part time, as a reserve police officer in Waldport, but he soon found opportunity in 1997 with the Lincoln Co. Sheriff’s Office as a patrol deputy.
Promoted to sergeant in 2007 and later to administrative lieutenant, his wide-ranging assignments to the 161 bed jail, search and rescue , animal shelter, emergency management, and support divisions did much to prepare him for the top job.
Shanks will take the reins January 1, 2025, from retiring Sheriff Curtis Landers, who bequeaths a highly respected department but one that is understrength and underfunded. The LCSO is struggling to fill four deputy jobs and five corrections slots, vacant positions with real consequences for Lincoln County residents.
“We used to get 75 to 80 applications for an opening but we’re now lucky to get 15,” he said. Explaining a new recruiting effort to find qualified candidates residing in Lincoln County, Lt. Shanks said “walk-on” written and physical tryouts are held quarterly and are open to all interested citizens.
With personnel and budgets stretched thin, the LCSO has cancelled its nine-month citizens
academy and retired the volunteer Sheriff’s Reserve. What the county needs more than
anything, said Shanks, is a “stabilization center” where people with a mental crisis can cool-off instead of going to jail.
Some people debated the role of the Sheriff in enforcing “unconstitutional” mandates, such as edicts against public gatherings during the Covid crisis. But Shanks displayed his bonafides by speaking to the recent U.S. Supreme Court “Chevron” decision, promising “to balance Constitutional rights with my duty to uphold the laws.” Shanks was warmly applauded as people gathered to shake his hand and congratulate him on his forthcoming promotion.
Other candidates who spoke to the group included Cindi Ciuffo, running for mayor of Depoe
Bay on an open-government platform; Tammy Sanford, who seeks the Lincoln City Ward 3
council spot; and Rick Beasley, running for county commissioner.
