Posted on 07/21/2003 6:28:28 AM PDT by Stew Padasso
Region | Officials say Hege's foundation not licensed
DAVIDSON COUNTY
LEXINGTON - A charitable organization started by Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege to help families of police officers killed or injured in the line of duty lacks the proper licenses to solicit donations, officials say. Officials with the Internal Revenue Service in Ogden, Utah, say they have no records indicating that the Blue Line Foundation, which Hege began in 1999, is tax-exempt. Pamphlets and a Web site about the foundation say all donations are tax-deductible. Officials with the state secretary of state say the Blue Line Foundation has not been properly licensed to solicit donations.After inquiries by the Winston-Salem Journal, officials with the secretary of state's department sent a letter June 16 to Hege's wife, Geri Hege, the foundation's secretary, asking for information to clarify the status of Blue Line. As of last week, Geri Hege had not responded , a spokeswoman for the secretary of state said.
Gerald Hege told the newspaper he was not familiar with how the foundation handles its tax situation.
Self-proclaimed as "America's Toughest Sheriff," Hege has used his star power to sell merchandise bearing his name or the sheriff's office logo to raise money for the foundation. Hats, T-shirts, calendars, posters, a statuette of Hege and a CD single with Hege's theme song, "The Man in Black," are also for sale. Sheriff Hege's Lexington-Style BBQ Dip costs $30 a case.
In June 2000, Geri Hege said that the Blue Line Foundation had about $74,000 -- about $61,000 from money Hege was paid for a defunct cable TV show where he interviewed inmates in his pink-walled jail. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
You would think that he would have consulted an attorney before setting up his foundation. It's a shame. Hege was refreshingly un-PC.
NO! You don't say!! Did Jim set up the questionable fund!?
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