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PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- A familiar name will be on the Nov. 7 ballot for sheriff in Grant County: Andy Griffith
No, not that Andy Griffith, but a Platteville man has legally changed his name to the man who famously portrayed TV's fictional sheriff of Mayberry and he said that he hopes the move will get him elected, WISC-TV reported.
Griffith is now the legal name of the former William Fenrick, a co-owner of Downtown Discs, a Platteville music store. He filed the paperwork in May to change his name and run as an independent for sheriff. (For trivia buffs, the character that the actor Andy Griffith played on the '60s TV show "The Andy Griffith Show" was actually called "Andy Taylor.")
"I'm doing this so people will pay attention to this race," Griffith said. "And I think if they do pay attention, then they will vote for me."
Griffith said that he wants to give voters a choice. Sheriff Keith Govier, the Republican incumbent, has been in office for 10 years while Doug Vesperman, the Democratic opponent, has worked in the sheriff's department for 16 years.
"What I wanted to do was bring attention to this sheriff's race and the only way that I could think of to do it -- actually, the best way that I could think of doing it -- was changing my name to Andy Griffith," he said.
Govier and Vesperman said that they are focused on discussing issues -- getting in touch with area youth, jail overcrowding and domestic violence -- affecting the community. Griffith said that he thinks a big concern is speed traps, WISC-TV reported.
"They never did that in Mayberry! They never did unethical stuff like that in Mayberry," he said. "See, that's the thing about Andy Griffith. He was honest and straightforward and people respected him for that."
Govier said that he disagrees with Griffith's assessment.
"We don't have the manpower or the time to do stuff like that," Govier said. "And it's not a practice of ours to set up speed traps."
On Tuesday, voters playing euchre at Zippy's Brass Rail, a Lancaster tavern, said that they thought some might just vote for Griffith, but others might look at the name change as a cheap gimmick.
"It was a unique thing to have happen," one patron said. "But personally, I wouldn't vote for him because I don't know him."
"He stood for a lot of moral things," another patron said of the TV sheriff. "And what in this country do we have that's moral any more? Stop and think about it."
Vesperman said that he's skeptical the name change will affect the race.
"If I felt that changing my name would help me in the race, I would have changed mine to Kenny Rogers," he said. "But, you haven't heard me sing."
Griffith said that he wanted to run anonymously, but a local newspaper identified him. Now, he's actively campaigning by putting up yard signs and passing out campaign T-shirts, WISC-TV reported.
http://www.channel3000.com/politics/10099473/detail.html
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