Oklahoma: The Law and Love County

The jamboree last weekend in Love County, Okla., was merry but with a sober purpose: raising money for the defense of Sheriff Wesley Liddell Jr., 47, and his son-in-law, Marietta policeman Roger Ray Hilton, 27. The two are charged with scheming to kidnap a suspected north Texas drug dealer and torture him with an electric curling iron to elicit information.

Tipped off, federal agents taped the two men plotting the abduction. They were arrested in May and are due to be tried next month. County residents were shocked. Said a friend, Jane Lake: “It’s hard to understand why drug dealers get protection and the sheriff gets arrested.”