Calling him "Bubba" does indeed sound a bit racist. There are very few African Americans up in Yreka (on I-5 past Mt. Shasta, less than 50 miles from Oregon), and the fact that Siskiyou County keeps re-electing Sheriff Byrd suggests that he has done an excellent job.

It sounds like he has a realistic, down-to-earth attitude about law enforcement, and his re-election campaign could probably use any contributions after the RDD security morons did their thing.