Robeson County didn’t duck a bullet on May 8; it dodged a nuclear warhead.

That is the day that 65 percent of the voters said no to electing a police chief as sheriff who was a known perjurer at the time — and, as we have now learned, many times worst. Incredibly and sadly, more than a third of the voters were OK with a liar as sheriff even as there were four other qualified candidates of substantial character.

Ronnie Patterson, whose employment since 2010 as the Red Springs police chief should be coming to an end, at one time was considered the front-runner to become sheriff, buoyed by a coalition that was cobbled together by what passes as county “leadership.” These same leaders, and you know who they are, are always giving the black community the crumbs if there are any, but in the election they supported Patterson for reasons we all know well.

This week it became publicly known that Patterson isn’t only a perjurer, but he has used his position in office to enable a fraudulent worker’s compensation claim, as well as to obstruct federal investigations, and the list continues. The inventory was published in Wednesday and Thursday editions of The Robesonian and can be found at robesonian.com if you look now.

This is what we know; imagine what remains hidden.

Then there are the recent charges, yet unproven, that Patterson and Town Manager David Ashburn removed damning documents from Patterson’s personnel file, presumably to protect Patterson’s candidacy. If they did that, it’s illegal. It is also dumb; it is easier to break into Ft. Knox than it is to get hands on a personnel file.

These charlatans who pushed Patterson are a lot of things, greedy, incompetent, corrupt, self-serving and, of course, liars. They will now begin distancing themselves from Patterson, and their next lie will be that they had no idea.

We knew, but lacked the solid evidence to share with you. How could they not know? And even if they didn’t know the extent of Patterson’s baggage, it is because they purposely looked the other way and didn’t dig deep.

We don’t know if Patterson’s campaign suffered mightily when we broke the news he had lied while defending himself in a lawsuit in 2008 of the accusation that he sexually harassed a town employee while a captain of the Red Springs Police Department. We worry that it didn’t — worry because it continues in this county that too many people vote blindly and stupidly, with consideration only for skin color and what that candidate might offer in return, a $5 coupon or an $80,000 job.

In December, Kenneth Sealey will exit as the county sheriff, a position he has held since being appointed in 2005, when Operation Tarnished Badge had torpedoed this county’s confidence in the Sheriff’s Office. We know there are varied opinions about how Sealey has performed, but we also know that three times he has been re-elected.

One charge that we have never heard levied against Sealey is that he is a crooked cop.

Had Patterson been elected, this county would have turned the clock back to a time when federal and state law enforcement agencies looked with a jaundiced eye in our direction. These so-called leaders knew that, but they didn’t care, because as their actions demonstrate repeatedly, they only lust for power — and they care not one wit if it comes at the expense of this county or you.

This county faces many challenges, and right up there at the top is a crime problem that requires that all hands, including the state and federal agencies, be on deck. That could not have happened with Patterson in office.

And, we would tell you, that might have been the least of our worries had Patterson taken a seat at the largest desk at 120 Legend Road.