GRANBURY - Voters in one North Texas county used Tuesday's primary to thrash their local sheriff after many became angered to learn that he recently let some jail inmates go home occasionally unsupervised.

Inmate furloughs have come back to haunt Hood County Sheriff Gene Mayo.

"I have gone home on occasions, not often." said one inmate who was allowed several visits home. "I always come back.

Mayo didn't duck questions about letting two prisoners go home. He said it was a reward for skilled labor that saved taxpayers thousands of dollars.

"If we can't do it, we won't do it anymore," he said. "But nothing bad has happened by these guys going home."

However, he can't say that anymore. Sheriff Mayo got trounced in the Republican primary.

"I think it embarrassed the whole county to know our sheriff was doing things like that without anyone knowing," said Rachel Miller, a Hood County voter.

At Garcia's Restaurant near Granbury, political talk still runs hot without a mention of anyone named Clinton or Obama.

"That's all I've heard for two or three months is, 'Sheriff, sheriff, who you going to vote for?" said one woman working the restaurant.

The County voted for Fire Marshal Roger Deeds, who got 52 percent of the vote.

Because there is no Democratic candidate, Deeds will take over as sheriff in January.

Hood County citizens didn't just vote Sheriff Mayo out of office, they vented at the ballot box as well. He came in third in a three-way-race and got just 19 percent of the vote.

Sheriff Mayo once rode a bull for charity and lasted two seconds, which tore up both of his biceps. He knows how it feels to get bucked, and voters just reminded him again.

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com