{"id":60331,"date":"2014-02-14T01:14:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T08:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fox-announces-run-for-sheriff\/"},"modified":"2014-02-14T08:14:52","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T08:14:52","slug":"fox-announces-run-for-sheriff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fox-announces-run-for-sheriff\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox announces run for sheriff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Fox\"
Fox<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Diane Fox, a cancer survivor and mother of three, has thrown her hat into the ring to become the next Montezuma County sheriff.<\/p>\n

If elected, Fox would become the first female sheriff in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 2014,\u201d she proclaimed. \u201cWe need more women in leadership. We need more trailblazers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Republican candidate, Fox told The Cortez Journal this week that many elected officials, friends and colleagues have encouraged her to seek the post as the county\u2019s top law woman. It\u2019s a decision she\u2019s wrestled with for weeks, said Fox.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I\u2019m supposed to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After a 20-year career with the Cortez Police Department, Fox retired last spring after successfully beating breast cancer. During her fight with the disease, Fox became septic after a chemotherapy treatment, hospitalizing her for 40 days. She was in intensive care for 10 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was perched on the brink of death,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

Fox said her cancer battle changed her outlook on life, and every moment she is blessed with in the future is gravy. Today, Fox is cancer-free, and getting healthier every day, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCancer changed me for the better, but I\u2019m still a pretty tough chick,\u201d she said. \u201cYou never know how strong you are until strength is all you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father, Don Davis, who served four terms as a Rio Blanco County Commissioner, taught Fox that serving your fellow man was the best and most rewarding profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know public service,\u201d Fox said. \u201cI bring a strong voice and know how to build relationships. I will serve all the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to support, Fox said she also opted to seek the sheriff\u2019s seat, because \u201cthings are not good\u201d under current Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell\u2019s administration. She cited his agency has experienced a growing turnover rate, and records confirm nearly 30 deputies and jailors have either resigned, retired or were terminated from the sheriff\u2019s office since 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county deserves better law enforcement,\u201d Fox proclaimed. \u201cWe need a sheriff that will serve all the people with common sense and decency. That\u2019s the key to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox said Spruell has also failed to accept responsibility for his agency\u2019s own shortcomings, specifically the ongoing public corruption trial of former undersheriff Robin Cronk. Forced to resign, Cronk faces 17 counts of embezzlement for allegedly pilfering $7,500 from taxpayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need accountability from the top down, and that accountability starts and ends at the top,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

At the Cortez Police Department, Fox said she served in multiple divisions, including patrol, records, investigations and even dispatch. The lone area she doesn\u2019t have experience is animal control, she admitted.<\/p>\n

At the start of her municipal police career in 1993, Fox had to endure wearing little boys boots and a man\u2019s bulletproof vest, because tactical gear for women had yet to be manufactured. The lack of appropriate gear, however, never stopped her, and she\u2019s most proud of helping to establish the area\u2019s school resource officers program. In 2013, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Association of School Resource Officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always told ladies that I\u2019ve worked with that you\u2019re never going to be a man, so don\u2019t act like one,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

As a woman and mother, Fox believes she would bring more compassion and better communication to the sheriff\u2019s post. That female perspective and intuition leads to greater nurturing and caring, and ultimately, better law enforcement, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually people come in contact with law enforcement maybe once or twice in their lifetime,\u201d Fox said. \u201cYou have to treat them how you\u2019d want your mom to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Rangely, Colo., Fox has resided in Cortez since 1992 with her husband and former U.S. Marine Ray Fox. She received an associate\u2019s degree in law enforcement from Colorado Northwest Community College in 1989, despite being a single mother at the time.<\/p>\n

Fox currently serves on the Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 school board.<\/p>\n

Retired Colorado State Patrol trooper Steve Nowlin has announced he also will run against Spruell, the incumbent, in the November election. Nowlin and Spruell are also Republican candidates.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

would be first female sheriff in Montezuma County<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2786,13,52,308],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-60331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-candidates","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-law-enforcement","tag-local-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60331"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=60331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}