The State : Striking Deputies Backed

Madera County’s sheriff-elect, Glenn Seymour, promised that if county officials fire 42 deputies who are now on strike, he will hire them back when he assumes office in January. Earlier, county Administrative Officer Donald Handley said Sheriff Ovonual Berkley, whom Seymour defeated in the June primary election, had begun the paper work needed to fire almost every rank-and-file member of the department who ignored a 7 a.m. Wednesday deadline to return to work. But Seymour, who is presently a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Department, said county officials could end the standoff if they would only resume contract negotiations with the deputies. “The public wants their deputies back. They don’t want new ones. They want these guys, who are their neighbors, their friends, their buddies,” Seymour said.