| The Sheriff’s View #51 for Dec. 15 to 19, 2008. |
By: Sheriff J.B. King
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Posted: Monday, December 15, 2008 8:07 am
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Sheriff J.B. King
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Welcome aboard one more time for a look at the activity of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department. I would say it is a great morning to have a day off but I would be pulling your leg. My entire house seems to be swaying with the strong wind and I just made the mistake of checking the online weather forecast. Lots of nasty words in the forecast like snow, sleet, icy, accumulation, and very cold to name a few. I think you get the message that the next week may not be fun.
We had a very busy day on Saturday the 13th. It seems that the new courthouse generator was to be wired into the courthouse system that morning so we were once again without power for about five hours as the wiring circuits were joined together. The wiring effort kicked off at 7:00am. Once again we could not depend on our obsolete military surplus generator so the Waynesville Rural Fire Department came to our rescue. They parked a truck in front of the office with a small but powerful generator to keep us in partial business. Once again I would like to thank Chief Doug Yurecko and the merry members of his fire department for the terrific assistance they rendered to their brothers in brown. On behalf of my department I would like to thank all members of their department. It was your usual job well done effort by the fire department.
Then at 8:00am the Shop with a Cop bash kicked off at the St. Robert Wal-Mart. Lots of police officers from every department in Pulaski County joined together with kids who deserved a nice Christmas and the shopping spree was on! It was fun, one of the better “jobs” that we get to do each year. I only had the opportunity to escort two kids on their shopping spree before I had to split the scene for another mission. But it was fun and I know the officers enjoyed the morning. My thanks to all the people who support our yearly effort with your donations and purchases. It is definitely a good cause.
Then at 10:00am we had to be in Richland for the lineup for the yearly Richland City Christmas Parade. Once again I was amazed at the number of people who came out to watch the parade in what seemed to be forty mile an hour steady winds. It seemed like the float in front of me with the flags kept trying to tip over in the wind. Despite the force we added to the candy throws we did not achieve much distance when we threw into the wind. And throwing with the wind we cleared the parade route. But once again it was a blast. You throw candy and the kids go wild.
In other business the new generator hookup went off without a hitch. We did not lose any equipment burned out and everything is up and running. I would like to say thanks to the St. Robert City Police for looking after one of our inmates with a special medical need that required electrical power. Since we could not furnish power to our cells we sent the inmate to St. Robert for the duration of the electrical operation. And they sent the inmate back in good condition.
As of 12-14-08 our calls for service/case number count stands at 10,216. Over the past months a lot of people have questioned these numbers and made all kinds of comments. Would it interest anyone to know that Chief Curtis Currenton of St. Robert and I had a little discussion on the issue of calls and Curtis gave me a number to use today. As of 12-9-08 the St. Robert City Police calls for service number stood at 8,462. It is not a secret that the population Center of Pulaski County rests in the Waynesville-St. Robert-Ft. Wood triangle and that is where the bulk of the people who generate these calls for service will be found. And that is where we handle the bulk of our calls. I thought the St. Robert numbers by themselves might lead to some new thoughts on the issue.
I know that many people just look at the numbers and have no clue what they mean. I also know that the folks in Pulaski County who have a scanner and listen on a regular basis have a very different view of the emergency services in Pulaski County. We do not have to tell them how busy we are they already know.
On Friday the 12th we turned over the last of the 2008 bills to be paid. Any bill submitted this next week would be paid sometime near the end of January 2009 out of the new budget. I will be honest with you the thought of the 2009 budget and what it may bring scares me because I feel too many of my past budget predictions such as employee layoffs are going to happen this time around. I hope I am wrong but I suspect I am not. I also cannot help but think that had the LE tax been placed on the ballot back in 2006 we might not be in this mess today.
Once again I seem to be out of time and words. Please drive extra careful the next few icy days and please stay legal. Our jail budget is shot for this year and we cannot afford to house you. But if you just have to visit the jail and stay for a few days we shall leave the light on for you.
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