Montezuma County Sheriff candidate advocates for anti-trans policies if elected
A candidate running for sheriff in Montezuma County told a crowd Monday that if elected, he would put armed deputies in classrooms to make sure teachers do not teach critical race theory or gender issues and for deputies to teach a class on the Constitution.
The comments came at a town hall-style meet-and-greet event for Odis Sikes in Montezuma County. A parent asked for Sikes' comment on diversity curriculum.
"Will you stand for our kids? Will you go into the junior high and tell the principal that he cannot use this transgender crap on our kids?" a parent asked Sikes.
"I think those people need to be in jail," Sikes responded to a room full of applause. "That's child abuse. And they want to do that in our library."
That comment is in reference to a drag queen story time event held at a library in Montezuma County.
"I think the sheriff should have gone in there and said 'You're going to jail right now. You can either get out of this county and never come back or you're going to jail,'" Sikes said.
While answering that question, Sikes notes that if elected, he would post deputies in classrooms to prevent teachers from teaching diversity topics.
"Not in a bully way, but I think law enforcement should be involved in school boards like critical race theory. I think we ought to show up and say 'that's a parent's job, we're not going to teach that to our kids.'"
"Maybe the sheriff's department starts a program where once a week, once a month, you go in and have a class on the Constitution," Sikes said.
Sikes has no previous law enforcement experience.
"I've got plenty of experience, I just don't have experience in law enforcement," Sikes said.
CBS News Colorado has reached out to the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners, the Colorado LGTBQ Chamber of Commerce, and Montezuma Pride for comments on this story.
