By Billy Davis

Get ready for a horse race.

The race for Panola County sheriff, now moving to a November 23 runoff, is sure to pick up speed in coming days as Otis Griffin and Dennis Darby compel voters to return to the polls to vote again.

Election returns show 12,552 votes were cast in the election. The top two vote getters finished with a virtual split, with only 174 votes separating them.   

The final vote tally, completed Wednesday morning, showed that Griffin finished with the slight lead and Darby won 13 of 24 county precincts.

“My message to get voters to the polls is that the future of Panola County rides on November 23,” said Griffin, Panola’s interim sheriff, when the question was posed to him by a reporter.

Darby, responding to the same question, said, voters should return “to exercise what you believe in, and to express what is best for your county.”

The sheriff’s runoff may present a quandary for Panola voters since two experienced law enforcement officers are seeking the public office.

Griffin, 54, has served as interim sheriff since September 2009, when he was appointed by Panola County supervisors after the death of Hugh “Shot” Bright. Griffin had served as chief deputy under Bright, having moved up the ladder after beginning there as a jailer.

Griffin said he has not pushed his law enforcement experience before the General Election but plans to do so before the coming runoff.

“Most people are already aware of it,” he said.

The interim sheriff also took a swipe at Darby, comparing the state trooper’s experience to Griffin’s role as overseer of the 75-person sheriff’s department.

“Just because you ride up and down the roads, and write speeding tickets, that doesn’t make you experienced,” Griffin said of his opponent.

Griffin also pointed out that the chief deputy, Andy Estridge, represents experience at the department.

Estridge came to Panola County from the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Department. He retired from the Miss. Highway Patrol in 2003, where he worked for the Miss. Bureau of Investigations.

Griffin also questioned if Darby, if he wins the sheriff’s office, would replace Estridge with an equally experienced chief deputy.

Darby, 54, said his experience as a state trooper climaxed with a supervisory role, when he was overseeing a statewide drug interdiction program for the Miss. Highway Patrol.

“I’ve seized millions of dollars, thousands of pounds of marijuana and hundreds of pounds of cocaine,” Darby said.

“My expertise is in fighting drugs and I’m not going to apologize for that,” he said.

Darby also pointed out that he often conducted his own investigations after seizing narcotics, then worked with local, state and federal agencies to ensure an arrest and conviction.

“I bet I’ve got more investigative skills and more supervisory skills than he does,” Darby said of Griffin.

Darby also said his drug confiscations earned him a statewide Trooper of the Year Award in 2004. He earned a similar district-wide award in 2001.

Darby took a similar swipe at Griffin, saying Panola Countians are telling Darby that burglaries and illegal drug sales are happening without consequence.

“They’re burglarizing your home when you’re at work, and they’re flashing drugs in your face,” Darby said. “People are sick of it. I’m about to straighten this place out.”

Griffin and others at the sheriff’s department have touted drug busts, and the solving of a string of burglaries, in recent weeks.