That’s the only imaginable scenario we could think of and we believe the silence of the Halifax County commissioners exhibited today should be broken come next Monday when the board meets again in a public vote.

There are three other people this silence affects — Tyree Davis, Chuck Hasty and James Warren — as we believe, based on no more than a hunch and talks with sources, that Tripp and Macon are the frontrunners for this position.

A public vote would allow Davis, Hasty and Warren to move on with their plans to file and run for sheriff of the county, along with the other two, who have also announced their intentions to file.

Most of these proceedings, except for the initial announcements of who was putting in their names for the appointment, some talk of how they planned to conduct the interviews and the schedule, were done out of the eye of public scrutiny.

While we believe, under law, the commissioners have that right, we also believe they have a duty, once the interviews are completed and they call for a special meeting to vote on the matter, to do it in public.

Obviously, discussions were made and some consensus was reached in closed session today that elected officials could not make a decision.

And now, since they plan to bring this up meeting upon meeting only when all six members are present, they should do so in an open session and not behind closed doors.

We feel it is the only right thing to do since this position happens to be arguably the most powerful elected law enforcement position in the state.

It seems to us the public has a right to know their commissioners are deadlocked in this crucial decision because there are no more personnel matters to discuss in this and everyone knows what happened today, whether they were there or have read media accounts of the meeting.

The board was intent on appointing a sheriff and today that intent became stymied for one reason or another.

Now we think it’s time for the commissioners to fix this and not draw it out like they did in the days when picking a chair was looking like an impossible possibility.

We know come next Monday the world will not stop if the board comes to a deadlock in a public vote. Tripp, by default, will become interim and law enforcement in the county will continue with the same professionalism and dedication it has under the current administration.

We just believe as a courtesy to those who have applied to be appointed to the position and to citizens, there should have been a public vote today and there should be one next Monday because if there was not a deadlock Wes Tripp or Mark Macon would have been appointed interim sheriff — Editor