KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Matthew O’Berry owns a masonry company and doesn’t shy from lacking any law enforcement experience. But he said his proactive approach is what the Clay County Sheriff’s Office needs to attack illegal drugs.

“It seems like there’s a lot of different stuff, different crime going on over here (in Keystone Heights), and I just wanted to put my name in the hat and see what I could do to help alleviate some of it,” he said. “It’s just not here in Keystone. It’s all of Clay County, especially the methamphetamine and fentanyl.”

O’Berry filed paperwork to join the ballot on Thursday, July 20. The only other candidate is Sheriff Michelle Cook.

Since both are Republicans, they will face each other in a primary election on Aug. 20, 2024. Prospective candidates have until noon on June 14, 2024, to qualify for the election.

The general election will be on Nov. 5, 2024.

O’Berry said he wants more agency-led neighborhood walks, drug treatment, and prevention programs in the jail.

“It’s been like this for 30 to 40 years,” O’Berry said. “It shouldn’t be the same. It really seems like it’s getting worse. In the last couple of months, there have been multiple overdoses and overdose deaths, and we’ve had some high-profile murders (in the Keystone Heights area).

“I don’t think anyone should run unopposed. I think somebody should run against her (Cook). We need to get out in the neighborhoods and knock on doors.”

O’Berry admitted he had a personal reason to fight drug addiction. His brother died of an overdose, he said.

“I’ve dealt with addiction in my lifetime,” O’Berry said “Is it right for parents to be burying their kids, knowing that drug houses have been out here for the last 10 years and people have been dying in the same houses, and nothing’s being done? “It just seems like we’re always forgotten every time we turn around. I’ve been going around Middleburg talking to people, and it’s the same thing in Middleburg Clay Hill, Orange Park.”

O’Berry knows his lack of law enforcement experience will be challenging.

“I’m a private citizen. And I’ve already been asked about my law enforcement. I don’t have it, and I know that’s always going to be a stickler because Michelle Cook is a 30-year veteran,” he said. “I’m not doing a smear campaign by any means. This is a very important election. And a lot of people have a lot to say about it.”