Steve Mueller (left) and Rick Burgess greeted and chatted with local residents before and after squaring off in a debate Thursday that was carried live on radio station WZZQ. (Ledger photo / TIM GULLA) At the end of an hour-long debate Thursday, Rick Burgess and Steve Mueller shook hands and smiled.

During the hour that preceded the handshake, however, the two law enforcement veterans worked hard to paint themselves as the better choice.

On Thursday evening, the two top vote-getters from the June 8 primary in the heated race for Cherokee County Sheriff squared off before more than a hundred onlookers during a live radio debate broadcast on WZZQ from the Broad River Electric Co-Op Auditorium. Burgess and Mueller, who survived a five-way contest for the Republican nomination, are headed for a runoff Tuesday. With no Democratic candidates in the mix, the winner of the runoff will replace longtime Sheriff Bill Blanton, who announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election after serving 20 years on the job.

Burgess, former captain of the Narcotics Division in the sheriff’s office, and Mueller, former commander of the Highway Patrol’s Troop 4, Post A, took questions from area reporters during the debate, and they often shared similar views on the basics of law enforcement.

They tried to separate themselves in other areas, though.

Burgess is campaigning on his experience, which he says includes all facets of law enforcement from traffic patrol to criminal investigations. He spent 23 years with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and has worked with the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office for the past four years.

While he said he was not “downgrading” members of the Highway Patrol, Burgess claims his opponent doesn’t have the practical experience in criminal investigations that he does since the Highway Patrol focuses on roadways.

Mueller countered that he has extensive education in all areas of law enforcement and that a trooper is already qualified to work for any police agency in the state without having to go back to school, which isn’t the case for any regularly-trained city or county officer who joins the Highway Patrol. Mueller further argued his experience in the criminal investigation of highway deaths in Cherokee and Union counties was no less important than the criminal investigation of other types of deaths, such as those by gunshot.

Answering questions from area media representatives, both candidates said they’d like to add female deputies and more minorities to the sheriff’s department roster.

Both men also said they would like to add more deputies to the roadways by reorganizing the duties within the sheriff’s office. In addition to some reshuffling, Burgess said he would do away with the chief deputy position, which currently is administrative, and transfer the sheriff’s office traffic enforcement unit back to patrol.

Mueller said both the sheriff and chief deputy need to be on the road and he thinks its possible to put seven to eight more people on the road through re-shuffling and a hard look at the budget.

Asked about the east side of the Broad River, both men also want to place a substation in Blacksburg to lower response times and improve service to the Blacksburg, Antioch, CKC and Buffalo areas. Burgess said deputies covering those areas would come from those areas. Mueller said he’d like to man a substation in Blacksburg with a civilian employee, which would keep officers on the road and give residents there the ability to handle business and get access to documents and reports without having to travel to Gaffney.

Asked how they would be “accountable,” both men said they would have open-door policies. Burgess plans to do away with automated telephone systems in the office so callers can talk to real people. Mueller said he plans on instituting new standards so no telephone call ever goes unreturned, saying people’s impressions of law enforcement are based on first impressions.

In combating drugs, Burgess said he wants to restore a multiagency drug task force comprised of county, Gaffney and Blacksburg investigators and maintain a strong presence in anti-drug education programs.

Mueller said he wants to step up patrols and forfeitures in known drug areas to drive drug dealers out of business. He said he also wants anti-drug educational programs to reach children at a younger age, arguing current programs wait