January 15, 1995 Sunday, HOME EDITION

SECTION: TELEGRAPH, Pg. A20, CURRENTS

HEADLINE: Sheriff denies politics with permits

BYLINE: Royal Calkins And Russell Clemings

"I'm sure not going to give them to my enemies," he'd quip. And then he'd say the system was too political and ought to be changed.

Eight years later, the system hasn't changed and McKinney's successor, Steve Magarian,  is hearing the same accusation. He doesn't laugh it off, however.

"There's no truth to it at all,"  Magarian  said last week, bristling at any suggestion that his  system favors his friends, campaign contributors and others with clout.

Fresno City Council Member Robert Lung and others trying to liberalize the city's permit policy say that the Sheriff's Department favors campaign contributors and wealthy white men. They say it discriminates against minorities and people living in high-crime neighborhoods.

Department records show that permit holders tend to be older white men living in rural areas or relatively affluent north Fresno. The list of 2,441 people is dominated by professionals, correctional officers, farmers, businessmen and their relatives.

A full racial breakdown was not available, but fewer than 3 percent have Hispanic surnames.  (Ed. note by Jim March: given the area, this is extremely significant.)

Though  Magarian  says there is no connection between permits and campaign contributions, put a list of his contributors next to the list of those who hold permits and you'll see a lot of the same names.

Magarian  points out, however, that many permit holders received them from previous sheriffs. Though he renews them annually,  Magarian  says the renewals are virtually automatic.

In 1993, while running unopposed for re-election,  Magarian  raised $33,125  Of that, $ 11,100 came from permit holders or businesses they own.

In 1991 and 1989, other major fund-raising years for  Magarian,  permit holders accounted for more than half the $ 48,000 he collected.

Magarian  said he follows state law, which gives him discretion to decide when an applicant has "good cause." He said he has never exchanged a permit for a contribution.

"I have people say all the time, 'Hey, what's it take to get a gun permit?' but it's just a joke."

Magarian  said he's not responsible for the racial makeup because most of the licenses were issued by previous sheriffs.

His records show that  Magarian  has granted 245 permits in his eight years in office, including 19 to applicants with Hispanic names. He said he has angered many constituents by not granting many more permits.

Among them is Fresno trailer salesman and gun dealer Tom Thomas, who has asked the state Attorney General's Office to investigate the sheriff's policies.

Thomas, 48, sought a permit because he travels to trade shows with his guns and wanted to carry one loaded.

In a rejection letter,  Magarian  told Thomas, "You do not have a compelling reason." Thomas responding by poring through the sheriff's permit files.

"In my frustration I said 'I think I'll go down and see what people with permits gave as a compelling reason,' " Thomas said.

"After many days of research I got angrier and angrier. The people who receive permits in Fresno County are campaign contributors, friends, associates of the sheriff.

"The people with power get them but the people who need them, like the waitress working nights out on the highway, don't have a snowball's chance."

Thomas said he was bothered by the number of influential people on the list, such as county Supervisor Deran Koligian and eight of his relatives, Fresno County Supervisor Stan Oken, 55 lawyers, 50 doctors and 11 judges, most of whom got their permits from previous sheriffs.

Many, Thomas said, hadn't provided specific reasons, much less compelling reasons.

Most galling to Thomas was the successful application last year from Jeff Nighbert, Oken's son-in-law.

Magarian  said he approved it because Nighbert's job at the family ranch requires him to drive on foothill roads far from police protection.

"I didn't talk to Oken about it,"  Magarian  said.

Nighbert said he was surprised his permit was approved "because you hear about how many people can't get them," but he said he never asked his father-in-law to help.

Thomas confronted Oken about Nighbert's permit.  "I got kind of smart with him," Thomas said. "I asked him if I could be his son-in-law."

As a result, Thomas was temporarily barred from continuing his research.  Oken said he complained about Nighbert's application being disclosed, and county officials told Thomas the files were closed.

The county has since reversed its position -- primarily because of a 1986 California Supreme Court ruling that says gun permit paperwork is public record.

Magarian  said that if he was trading gun permits for campaign contributions, he wouldn't have cut the number of permits by 28 percent.

In the 1950s and '60s, the county had more than 6,000 permits on file.  McKinney slowly reduced the number to 3,400.  Magarian  has whittled the number down, partly by generally restricting permits to people outside city limits.

When exceptions were pointed out -- such as Nighbert, a city resident -- Magarian  said, "There is no hard and fast criteria. That's why I get so many people calling me to say they're not going to vote for me again.

"I guess you're damned if you do and damned if you don't."

Source: The  Fresno Bee

GRAPHIC: Steve  Magarian  SW Parra -- The  Fresno Bee County concealed weapon permits in Fresno
(See microfilm for map and other statistics)

LOAD-DATE: January 17, 1995

Copyright 1995 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.