Scott Noble declares candidacy via Facebook

By Brandi Makuski

Scott Kenneth Noble has announced his intention to run for Portage Co. Sheriff as the sole candidate on the Republican ticket.

As of July 6, Noble has not provided the press with a campaign announcement, but on the Raw Milk Farm Supporters of Wisconsin Facebook page, of which Noble is listed as the sole administrator, he described his background.

His lengthy, verbatim statement follows:

My name is Scott Kenneth Noble. My family goes back very far in the county history. My grandfather was Harry Noble and he was president of the Junction City School Board. My father and my aunts walked from the Noble Family Farm to the one room school where my grandmother Irene Noble was the teacher. I am a 3rd generation educator and we all graduated from the UWSP School of Education. My grandmother and my mother Maria Louise Berard Noble both went through the storied and prestigious teaching program and I did, too. I need to have over a 3.8 GPA to get admitted to the program and I made it in with just over that. I also went through the Rural and Native American Social Work Program. I teach Sociology with my areas of research, study and interest in Race Relations, Social Stratification, Social Work, Alcohol and Drug Addiction, Mental Health, Social Justice, Criminology and Deviance. I started working in mental health right out of high school at Norwood Health Center in Marshfield. I was trained as a Psychiatric Technician and worked on an acute psychiatric unit where we dealt with 51:15 (Suicide) and 51:45 (Alcohol) detentions. I worked in that for about a decade. I finished my undergraduate studies in Sociology, Indian Child Welfare Social Work and got placed by Professor Smart from the Social Work Program to Child Protection Services as an Indian Child Welfare Social Worker based in Black River Falls and had clients all over the state, country and even in Canada. I taught at a group home in Plover and at the Fernandez Alternative School in Stevens Point. I taught in inner city schools around the state and taught out of state, also. I ran a state licensed CBD processing and sales business in Portage, Wood and Taylor Counties. The now-defunct program that involved with cannabis is now at the federal level rather than the state as of the beginning of the year. There are many new federal farm bill policies that now allow for legal production, distribution and sales that even include THC as well. We as a department will work with the community to make sure all these policies are upheld by our local law enforcement. We are going to be supportive of commerce as we want to see it grow, flourish and prosper. Why am I running? I am running to bring back the Constitutional Peace Officer and build our community, the values that were instilled in me as a member of the Berard/Noble families. I learned that philanthropy and civic engagement with the community is the way to bring back the service and protection we need from law enforcement. I was very concerned when I found out that our department has been taping our citizens talking to their attorneys and giving to the District Attorney’s Office and Judges to use to prosecute. That is a very serious violation of our rights. I take very seriously the oath to uphold the Constitution. The culture of law enforcement is in need of big changes. We need to move away from incarceration to rehabilitation for those in need of AODA, mental health and homelessness issues. We need to treat our citizens with dignity and respect. Many of them served in the military and in our community organizations, churches and extended families in many ways we appreciate so much. We need to keep our families close-knit, strong and together with services that they need to succeed in life. We need to de-prioritize cannabis laws that do not serve the people of this county. Cannabis is not a “gateway” to severely addictive and dangerous drugs. Many of the most concerning drugs are prescribed and picked up at the pharmacy. Cannabis is an “exit ramp” off these dangerous substances that are destroying our county communities rural and urban. I support the decriminalization efforts of the Stevens Point City Council and will help advocate and pursue that this will move forward to being adopted throughout the county. Short-term goals? Uphold the oath of office is job 1. Immediately change all policies that violate our civil liberties and constitutional rights. Focus on the crimes that have victimized our county. We will rid our county of sex trafficking and protect our children and families. We will make sure parents have access to the school policy meetings. We will make sure all businesses stay open and will be viewed by our department as all equally essential to our county. Long-term goals? We will be changing the culture regarding cannabis and that goal will end up changing a lot of our long-term goals from where they are now and how law enforcement is handled in Portage County over the long-term. We will be the trendsetters for Wisconsin as we showcase our support for 83% of the county voting in favor of cannabis legalization in a widely publicized county referendum back in 2018. The support for this issue has grown and I suspect if another referendum were on the ballot, it would be very near full support. Biggest Challenge? How do we address it? The biggest challenge we face will be changing the culture of our law enforcement to reflect our new focus on being constitutional peace officers that serve and protect our community. It will also present new challenges as we implement our new cannabis policies and move away from incarcerating our citizens for using a plant for medication and recreation. It will take a lot of education, training and a significant change in our budget as we will not see a need to build a new jail going forward as our current one will serve us well. I look forward to talking with members of our community to get their thoughts on what we can do to uphold the role of constitutional peace officer by serving and protecting our county citizens. I look forward to talking to folks between now and the general election in November. I can be reached to text or call at (715) 384-3161 to discuss concerns, address questions and listen to comments and suggestions. I ask for your vote to become your next county sheriff.