Slater From 1A Olympics, he shuns the spotlight. "He has a lot of drive," said Weber County Sheriffs Lt. Klint Anderson said of his boss. "One challenge for us is keeping up with him. He works hard at moving the organization forward. "He's quite a visionary. Despite him feeling he's undeserving, 25 other sheriff's think he was.... He's very ambitious. His programs are geared toward efficiency." Over the course of an hour, you may find out Slater is bit of a history buff. Looking out his window, he begins speaking about how the old transcontinental railroad runs right by the jail; he talks of old Weber County farming communities in the early 1900s; he speaks candidly of past sheriffs and their contributions. "History's a good predictor," he said. "If I'm such a visionary, I have to know where we've been." Cox said: "He does have a weakness though. The man can't drive straight to save his life. He can't drive from point A to point B. He loves the outdoors, so there's always a point D, E, F and G, and probably an S." Slater, of course, is the same guy who called in an air strike to emergency dispatchers years ago as a joke, annoyed by the people using Pineview Reservoir. Minutes later, Hill Air Force Base's commander called, wondering what the problem was. "I was just messing around on the radio," Slater confessed This is the same guy who was so nervous while making his first arrest of a drunken driver, he said, "You're under arrest of driving under the affluence of inkohol." The suspect then replied, "If you think I'm drunk, you can't even speak straight." It's been a heck of ride for Weber County's top cop. In law enforcement since 1978, Slater has moved up the ranks slowly - being a sergeant, K-9 officer and narcot-ics agent to name a few - before he was appointed sheriff in 1997. He has since helped try to make the Weber County Sheriff's Department the "best in the West." "That's our motto," he said. "I'm sure I plagiarized it off someone.... The fact of the matter is, I still love this job. It's a different job every day of the week. That's what I like. It's 99 percent sheer boredom, but complemented with 1 percent sheer terror." Granted, since becoming sheriff, Slater doesn't have nearly as much time to hit the streets, but he still patrols as much as he can. "How am I supposed to understand what these guys go through if I don't do it myself?" he said, estimating he issues about two citations a month. Currently, his biggest challenge is making the Sheriffs Office an accredited organization in order to set up a standard of policies and procedures, with all expectations of making the organization as professional as possible. Only 23 percent of law enforce-ment organizations in the nation are accredited, and no other agency in Utah currently is. Cox said the people of Weber County should be thrilled Slater represents them and is working hard to make sure their tax dollars are being spent wisely. Slater simply says he's doing what he was elected to do, represent the people. "Wayne Gretzky said it best when he said, 'You've got to skate to where the puck is.' I guess that's what I've tried to do." You can reach reporter Mark Gray at 625-4227 or mgray@standard.net. October 7, 2003