BOLLINGER COUNTY TO ADD OFFICER; COMMISSION GIVES OK TO THIRD DEPUTY

MARBLE HILL -- The Bollinger County Sheriff's Department will add a third deputy to its force next month.

After operating with a sheriff and two deputies for several years, hiring of a third deputy was approved by the county commissioners early this year.

The deputy likely will be hired by early March, said Ernest Darr, a member of the Sheriff's Advisory Committee, which will help select the new deputy.

Darr said more than 15 applicants have responded to the advertised position, many of them from out of state. He said the committee will begin reviewing the applications next week.

"This is going to be a big help to the sheriff's department," Darr said. "More manpower at the sheriff's department will definitely make for a safer county."

The committee and Sheriff Dan Mesey have repeatedly requested that a third deputy be added to the force, but county commissioners until now have denied the request, saying the county could not afford to pay one.

Darr said the county has needed a third deputy since at least 1989, and that since the advisory committee was formed last year, they have tried to convince the commissioners to hire one.

"The committee is definitely behind this 110 percent," Darr said.

Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser said paying a third deputy was not possible until a new budget was approved in January.

"They've been clamoring for one for some time, but we just didn't have the money," Mouser said.

In all, Mouser said, the sheriff's department was allotted about $35,000 more this year to cover the deputy's salary and raises for employees of about 50 cents per hour.

The deputies now earn about $6 per hour.

Darr said the addition of a third deputy is long overdue.

"It's been a long struggle, and an unnecessary one," he said, adding that increasing the sheriff's department force was never a priority for county commissioners.

He said the addition of a third deputy will cut down on the amount of overtime the sheriff and deputies are now putting in.

The six-member advisory committee will narrow the list of applicants to four or five, Darr said.

The final decision will be made by the sheriff. "That's the way it should be," Darr said.

Mesey said he welcomes input by the committee on the selection of a third deputy.

"I think the citizens of the county should have a say in who we choose," the sheriff said. "This being a small community, anyone who comes in here will become a part of it."

Mesey said the department will now have more time to investigate crimes.

"We will not be just a reporting agency," he said.