One of the two big stories I am not focusing on in Western North Carolina is the trial of Bobby Medford. The former Buncombe County sheriff has been hit with several allegations of corruption. One reason I am not interested in following this case, is because I hate to play up one man’s misfortune, regardless of his station. That one man makes mistakes is not cause for a policy overhaul. However, former sheriffs of Haywood and Rutherford counties are now being implicated. Like Medford, they are accused of accepting bribes for allowing businesses to operate illegal poker machines.

Still, I’m not interested. Everybody is innocent until proven guilty. Further, Medford got in trouble when somebody of the other political party succeeded him as sheriff. All kinds of people were acting as undercover agents for the FBI. How am I supposed to know what’s real, what’s a setup, whether or not somebody engaged in entrapment, or what’s smoke and mirrors for building up a greater case? What I do know is that video poker machines were legal until the state legislature decided it was the role of government, and not civilians, to capitalize on the human weakness of gambling, just like it does with alcohol and tobacco.