Update: No action taken about sheriff’s agenda item by commissioners

Following an approximately 30-minute executive session about the extended absence of the sheriff and sheriff’s department matters, the Stephens County Commissioners voted to take no action on the matter.
“It’s a difficult situation, but the law is pretty clear,” District 2 Commissioner Todd Churchman said. “The laws are there. We’ll have the election process and that sort of thing. That’s where we’re at.”

District Attorney Jason Hicks, who was also in attendance during the executive session, also spoke briefly.

“The only thing I would add is this board in conjunction with our office has looked at all the duties and responsibilities in the sheriff and has made a determination that no action is necessary at this time,” Hicks said.

McKinney was interviewed by The Comanche Times after the meeting. He said there were some incorrect statements made about his absence such as no contact with the department and no one knowing where he was or who was running the department.”

“I maintained contact with my office regularly,” McKinney said. “I was involved in any kind of major decision that had to be made. Since I was elected in 2009, I’ve structured this office and put the right people in the right positions so that it is going to function whether I’m here or the undersheriff is here or the captain is here. These people know what they are supposed to do. They are professional, and they’re very efficient at their job. There were no safety-related issues with the public in my absence. All that I can say is that I’m sorry it happened.”

The chain of events that happened when the McKinney and his wife Julie went to Florida was one problem after another. They were originally scheduled to go to Florida to pick up a motor home (continued on page 3)

and drive back to Oklahoma on a 10-day trip.

“We got 200 miles from Fort Myers where we had bought it and started having problems,” McKinney said. “You hear people talking about supply chain issues and I’m telling you that they are real. We just couldn’t get the parts we needed.”

In fact, McKinney said he does not the motor home in his possession now.

Events just snowballed from there according to McKinney. There were supply chain issues to fix the motor home, both he and his wife got sick, and even the family dog along for the trip got deathly ill.

“I hope people don’t have to face something like what my wife and I did over those weeks,” McKinney said.

He said he is feeling better with what he thinks was a bout with COVID.

“My doctor told me the test came back negative, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have it because of the different strains of the virus,” McKinney said. “I’m not 100 percent now, but I’m feeling okay.”

Addressing the rumor of undersheriff Bobby Bowen resigning because of the sheriff’s absence, McKinney said that was untrue.

“He told my back in January that he may get a job offer from Halliburton and if he did he would have to seriously consider to taken it because it was twice as much money as he was making with the sheriff’s department,” McKinney said. “I told him to do what is best for his family.”

McKinney has hired a new undersheriff, Rick Lang, who has more than 30 years of law enforcement experience. He has served as an assistant police chief and as a captain with the Duncan Police Department. He has also been a sergeant and a lieutenant.

“He’s a man that brings a lot of the traits that I was looking for, for someone to be number two undersheriff in this county,” McKinney said. “This man brings it and more.”