Dr. O. R. Depp, resident of MEetairie who came to the front today as a leader of the move to recall Sheriff William S, Coci, accepted the assignment only after given assurance it would be divorced from politics.
A quiet but firm man, Dr. Depp was named chairman of a newly organized Citizens Defense Committee of Jefferson parish last night.
He accepted the chairmanship after a conference with several ieaders of the recall movement, which began snowballing after Coci's continued failure to enforce antigambling laws.
Dr. Depp, gray-haired graduate of the Louisiana university medical school, told the leaders ne would accept the chairmanship only if he had assurance that the move was not a political one and that it was not a ''fly by night" gesture.
