The State - News from Sept. 27, 1987

Layoff notices were issued to 127 Fresno County workers, including a deputy sheriff who returned a heroism medal in protest. About half of the notified employees were told they may accept demotions and keep working, but 64 will lose their jobs unless voters approve a Nov. 3 bond issue to bolster the county’s financial condition, the Board of Supervisors declared. Deputy Troy Garey, an 18-year employee who was wounded four years ago while protecting a fellow officer and won the county’s Medal of Honor, charged that the proposed layoff of 31 deputies is a political ploy to gain more state funding. Garey described the supervisors as “obnoxious, arrogant, paternalistic and condescending.”