Ask Mr. Answer Person: "When was the last time we had a Winneshiek County Sheriff that did not resign or retire before his term expired?

Darin e-mails: "When was the last timewe had a Winneshiek County Sheriff that did not resign or retire beforehis term expired?"

Mr. Answer Person says: "Thanks for your question, Darin.  Sorry it took awhile for an answer, but quite a bit of historical research was required.  Here's the list we came up with for Winneshiek County Sheriffs dating back to the mid-1950s:

Pierce Anderson (1953 to 1957)
Bob Hitesman (1957 to 1962)
Eugene Simonson (1962 to 1976)
Mel Lee (1976 to 1992)
Floyd Ashbacher (1992 to 2002)
Loen Bohr (2002 to 2015)

As you can see, Winneshiek County has had only six Sheriffs in the past 62 years, so this has been a stable county office.

Of the six sheriffs listed above, three retired or resigned early and three served until the end of a term.  Bob Hitesman left his job as Sheriff to become Decorah Police Chief and Floyd Ashbacher and Leon Bohr retired during one of their terms.

A word about those retirements: Unlike most other county department heads, sheriffs tend to be already serving as deputies when they become Sheriff.  That means they have retirement accounts which often determine how long they wish to remain Sheriff.

The above list--assuming Mr. Answer Person's historical research is accurate--shows both situations have come up over the last 60 years or so.

Mr. Answer Person, however, welcomes any e-mails from people alive in the 1930s and 1940s to update his historical research.

In the meantime, Darin, the short answer is: "There's no trend in whether new Winneshiek County Sheriffs get appointed or elected."