Candidate: Steve Livingston

Steve “Uncle Buck” Livingston for Sheriff of Hamilton County      

Member of the Hamilton County community, I need your help in the upcoming election to improve upon law enforcement here in our county. I care about fostering a safe community, equal justice, accountability, and protecting our natural resources. I would appreciate your vote to give Hamilton County a more diverse, transparent, and trusted law enforcement for our growing community.

I was born to Ben Livingston of Stockton, Georgia, and Gertrude Wetherington of Jasper. My father died when I was 3 years old and my mother moved us back to her hometown of Jasper. She was killed when I was 5 years old due to drinking and driving accident, which is why as Sheriff, this will not be tolerated in Hamilton County. After her death, my sister Bettie and her husband Ray Oxendine took my siblings and I into their young marriage and family to keep us all together.  I am forever grateful to their selfless act to raise us together and not have us split up or uprooted from our hometown. Ray and Pop Hester, who I was raised working on his farm, taught me to stick to your word, if you shake a man’s hand then mean it, if you speak to a man answer with respect Yes sir or No sir.

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MISSION STATEMENT

I would bring over 40 years of management and entrepreneurial experience to the county.  I understand the importance of our deputies having a voice in their community. They need someone in leadership who will give them the proper equipment for the job they have been trained to do. I will be a leader who will untie the hands of our deputies and allow them to stop the influx of drugs in the county. By my side will be Mike Holton with 30 years of police experience as Undersheriff, Mike Cohen with 15 years of police experience as a Commander, and L.J. Smith with 12 years of police experience. Together as a team, with our community, we will help usher the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department into the 2020s with justice that is truly for all.

WORK HISTORY

Youth: I grew up working on the farm of E.D. Hester. I was taught every aspect of work on the farm, from working hay to working on tractors and how to lead men to do the same. Farming taught me the importance of taking care of your equipment and understanding the safety aspect of everything you do. We were taught to not cross a fence without permission. We were taught to respect another mans land. In hunting and fishing on the farm we were taught to not take a life unless we were going to eat it, this taught me at a young age to respect wildlife and their importance. I believe it was Pop Hester who taught me to work hard and be a leader of men.

1977-1983 Timber Manager for Continental Timber Group. I was responsible for timber crews in Hamilton and surrounding counties. Cruised timber, worked fires, run heavy equipment. I know nearly every parcel of land in Hamilton County. I know how to read land plats. I know how to utilize heavy equipment. Timber management made me understand the environment, in that, what you take away from the earth you put back in its place through reforestation to save resources for future generations. Organizing a dozen or so hunting clubs throughout the county taught me how to work with neighbors and teach them to work alongside one another. This also taught me the processes needed to help landowners pay their property taxes and be able to enjoy the fellowship involved in hunting. All the above dealt with the maintenance of roads, bridges, heavy equipment. I worked with the Phosphate mine in testing and planning of the land areas during this time also. The importance of control burning and being prepared on stopping wildfires with plowing lines. Learning to work with the environment using what you had, such as wind or terrain, to stop a fire. Once again, a business to where a man had to mean what you say and say what you mean. Contracts were always final with a handshake. I continued to gain good management skills with this job and made friendships that I still cherish today.

1983-1985 Self employed with my own pulpwood truck and crew working under Bridges Management. This was hard work yet rewarding to build my own truck and be able to support my new wife and I, as we began our marriage. This taught me that hard work was not enough if the profit wasn’t there. Many things effect profit when managing your own business. Safety, weather, sickness, are all considerations of making a profit in your own business; but management skills is most important.

1986-1996(beyond as an advisor and when needed with family who continued in the business) as Asbestos Project Manager and Vice President of Field Operations. Worked projects for AT&T, Southern Bell, Prudential, Disney World, School boards all over Florida, Airports, hospitals, and Titusville Courthouse. I was responsible for an evidence room at Titusville Courthouse for months and did not misplace or lose a single case. I took care of jobs from bid to completion. I worked over 100 men on many of the larger jobs to get the job completed and dealt with engineers, building owners, managers, local and state government officials. Worked many delinquent young men and kept them working and out of trouble while dealing with parole officers and sheriffs while they were under my employment. This also included jobs following major hurricanes IVAN, KATRINA, among others, that we had to get jobs done under the most difficult and stressful situations. This taught me so much about the movement of air and how to protect people from something they cannot see. This has made me especially aware during the present time of how we could best protect our county and workers from Covid-19 and other potential germs in the future. I learned about the containment dangers of air in a building. I learned about the use of negative air to clean the air in a room and keep it clean. I learned the importance of clean air when people are contained in a building for a long period of time. I tried to offer my expertise to those in leadership positions to no avail. I believe I could have prevented some of the problems we have seen in our county during this pandemic. Definitely, an environmentally conscious sheriff could be helpful in the future. I could see the dangers of germs in our air, dumping in our rivers and aquifer, could understand the environmental issues certain businesses could pose to our county. I understand EPA laws protecting our citizens should be adhered to and enforced.

1996-2020 Pilot truck operator/owner for Super load trucks. Worked with ULA Space, NASA, numerous port authorities. TWIC Certified through 2023, NASA Security Clearance, and Department of Homeland TSA security clearance. Super truck owners respect me as a man who will do my best to protect their load and keep them safe. This job has taught me the importance of safety on our roads and interstates. Taught me much about not damaging our roadways, railroad tracks, and the understanding of how traffic flow actually works and the importance of speed and what it takes to stop a heavy load and the ignorance of the public in knowledge of heavy loads. Once again, the management of your profit and equipment and the safety of the people you work with and for should always be number one in your mind.

2000-2012 Operated my own sawmill and river logged the Suwannee River part-time between doing pilot driving for super loads. I was also involved with the Ax Men show on History Channel during this time where I gained the nickname Uncle Buck. This taught me how to read sonar and about the bottom geography of much of the Suwannee River in our area. The rivers are an important part of our environment, but should be respected for the danger they impose. Our journeys on the river taught us the obstacles in the river, like in life, are sudden and unexpected. Bodies, artifacts, wildlife, dangerous currents, and other boaters were a constant thought. Once again in my life, all had to be done while protecting the river’s environment. Leaving it the same when we exited as when we entered. Television taught us the use of the media and how the camera was always on and nothing was hidden. I believe this is how a sheriff should run a department, open with nothing hidden except what must by law be hidden. As sheriff I would work with the EPA, the State of Florida and Georgia to do whatever possible as sheriff to enforce any laws I have power over to protect our rivers and lands. I can use the knowledge gained on the river and working with a diver to know what will be required to look for a possible victim in the rivers.

We have citizens:

• Scared to sit on their porches in our towns
• Unable to sleep for fear there will be gunfire
• Who have drug deals taking place in their backyards
• Who have loud cars and music disturbing the peace
• Who fear their own children because of the effects of drugs

We need leadership who will:

• Listen to the citizens
• Act using state laws
• Fully support and equip officers to handle the job at hand
• Consider and adopt appropriate measures for emergency situations with our officers, including protecting them from public pandemics
• Care about our environment. We are surrounded on 3 sides by water and we need a leader who understands part of a Hamilton County Sheriff’s responsibility is protecting and preserving this natural source. I believe our department should assist the FWC to assure laws are being followed so that all families can enjoy the rivers.

We have a great group of men excited to help their county and wanting to do the job they expected to be doing when hired as law enforcement. I will be a leader who will observe and listen and put our officers doing what they are happiest coming to work to do, then we will have men doing the best job possible. I believe we need more veteran officers with a good moral and community attitude incorporated with our younger officers. I believe they can learn from each other and build a force that is more in sync with one another.  I have been approached about combining the 3 city police departments, and their budgets, with the sheriff department. This would enable us to have a force that works in teams, which would create better accountability and allow for greater degree of safety for our officers and the entire county. This would also solve the conflicts between city and county officers we now see and hear about on the streets. Our county problems cannot continue to be ignored by not allowing officers to make arrest to keep numbers in check, or to keep things hidden from the public. Citizens hear about the suspicious deaths, shootings, gunfire, drug problems, and domestic abuse regarding county employees and hiding the problems only confuse and invite corruption. I intend to keep things very transparent; when all is great or when things are not so great!

My information:

Phone: 386-855-0253

FaceBook: Livingston For Sheriff 2020

Instagram: livingstonforsheriff

Email:  LivingstonForSheriff@gmail.com