Posted by reneenickolson (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 6:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I hope someone will help Mr. Johns with some of these figures, he is questioning, I do not readily have the figures at hand, and neither do I know a lot about how this is spent and that's spent, but I do know we need the SWAT TEAM, and the Drug dogs , and updated equipment for the officers that put their lives on the line more than Mr. Johns must know. Does he have a police scanner? Only a fraction of what really goes on is ever printed cause then it would cast Chilton County in a " BAD LIGHT ". The very week the commission voted to not give the money to the county, the road commissioners were paying employees to go around taking up ALL the county road signs that read "SLOW WATCH FOR CHILDREN " Or anything they said would make them liable if a child got hurt. I was told that this looks as if it gives children the OK to play in the road. I had 2 on my dirt county road because I have grandchildren that have to walk to the end of the road to catch the bus and get off , they are only 5 residence on this road, but the idiots that continually fly up and down this road is APPALLING. They are using the lower end of the road where there are no homes for drug deals, garbage dumping and a whole lot of etc. Think how long it will take and they will pay for the signs being removed. You might need to check your roads and see if your sign are missing, and I say yours , because WE paid for them!!! I do not see the city removing theirs is it only a liability in the county? So it seems there is money to do STUPID jobs. I paid to have my own signs put up. So if you as citizens do not get your head out of the sand, next they will remove the deer crossing signs and cattle crossings and we will be paying for that instead of money to fight CRIME! This county is not as it was 10 years ago or for that matter 5 years ago. And some of the" good ole boy" syndrome keeps us from seeing the corruption with our own officials. WHY do they not want the drug dealers and suppliers from the top down put in jail? OH, could it be because most everybody in the county might be related to some of them or maybe they are good friends? I know for a fact that you can keep from getting punished for a crime if the ones prosecuting do not like the Victim. I helped vote our last sheriff in office, but it seems if people most, but not all, stay to long they get to comfortable with whats going own and do not want to step on anyone's toes. There is a lot more to be said, but maybe others need to get out and educate them selves on what is really going on, HERE!
P.S.
Our Sheriff Kevin Davis is doing a fine job. Thanks Kevin

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 8:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Actually, it appears as though YOU need more help with "these figures" than does Mr. Johns. You started out by saying that Mr Johns needed help with "these figures" then admitted that you didn't have any figures to back up your statement. Mighty curious.

Posted by bamareeds (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 8:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

O.k. I have been out of the county for a little while, what does the sheriff need with a fire truck? I am a proud military wife and we have been stationed in many different places some of which were not very wonderful and it is sad when you tell people where you are from and they joke about your SWAT team. Before our present base, we were stationed in Shreveport Louisiana. I will give my hats off to them. They were beyond the best professional police officers I have ever seen. They dressed like police officers (i.e in uniforms similar to the state troopers) and command respect as they walked into the room. The didn't act like paramilitary and would admit that they were police officers. They had a joint SWAT team and for the three years that I lived there, they were never called out. There was a wreck on the interstate and guess what, no delays, the interstate was closed immediately and traffic was diverted with no hold ups, we sat still for 5 minutes before we were moving again. The biggest complaint there was that they purchased a bullet proof vest for the K-9. The very next week he was shot but unharmed due to the vest, complaints stopped. I know Kevin Davis from past and he was a good gentlemen. I have also met the commissioners which I can not say the same for. I believe that if people will remember who they are, take responsibilties for their actions and act in a professional mannor we woundn't have all of this lawsuit/swat/firetruck mess. But that will not happen, this is a society of sueing and blaming others for their problems. You won't a budget, live on a military salary and move just as soon as you get the last box unpacked. On the sign matter, go down to the road department and you will see all the stuff that is going on down there and I promise you, you will be disgusted with what is going on there. At least the sheriff has a back bone to tell the commission he is not their lacky.

Posted by danwright (Dan Wright) on July 21, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I would like to clarify one thing if I may. The vehicle that continues to be referred to as a "fire truck" that was purchased by the Sheriff is NOT a fire truck. Yes, the vehicle was previously used by a fire department as a vehicle but it is NOT a fire truck. Fire trucks have ladders (aerial and/or ground), fire hose, fire pumps, numerous firefighting hand tools, and other firefighting equipment. I can not prove 100 percent but if I were a betting man I would bet that you will not find those items on this vehicle the Sheriff's department owns. Purchasing a vehicle and converting it from one use to another is common practice in all areas of government. It saves a lot of money to buy a used vehicle and refurbish it to its new use.

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 2:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I think some of you are missing the point. It would be nice to be able to provide the Sheriff's Department with all the money they want, but that is just not possible. The sheriff began this year knowing that he would have to operate his department on a tight budget. What do you do if you have a tight budget in your personal affairs? You probably try to limit your spending to the necessities. However, that is not what the sheriff did in my opinion. I don't see how anyone could classify painting all of the department’s vehicles black and re-modeling the Sheriff's office as a necessity. The same could be said for the new SWAT vehicle. It is nice to have one, but I simply don't see the point in spending the money to purchase one while on such a strict budget because it will rarely be used. How many times in the past five years has the SWAT team needed such a vehicle?

Posted by theunknown (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

FYI bamareeds, the swat team has won the state competition the last 3 years in a row. They are very professional at what they do. Everyone can gripe about the sheriff's department, but I am sure that when you call for help you'll think differently.

Posted by bamareeds (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

FYI theunknown, 1. you should read UAEng's comment since they hit the nail on the head and 2. it is great that you can win a competition but guess what, life is not staged. There are times when you need SWAT but there are times that I have seen the Chilton SWAT called out and it was a waste of tax payers money, the NORMAL police officers could have handled it. My father was a County depty for 3 years before taking a job with the state and guess what, they handled it without the SWAT. In fact they had a stand off with just him and the sheriff, guess what, all parties lived. WOW. And that wasn't that long ago (if you are going to say times have changed, he was asked to be on the swat and turned it down). And if you would have read I didn't gripe at the sheriff, I like him, there are just ways he can cut the budget with things he doesn't need. There is a difference between wants and needs. And don't worry about me calling for help, the Santa Rosa sheriff's department has a less than 5 minute response time, and they have a horrible budget too.

Posted by reneenickolson (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 4:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I wonder Why Mr. anomyous is anomyous? I can find the figures they are coming shortly, as so could you if you tried. What are you hiding from , Truth? As it is typical in small towns we like to sit around and judge and spectulate. Chilton County is growing and we MUST let our protection grow ahead of whats to come, are we will not be ready in a crisis. I do know the last sheriff had 2 offices and Kevin Davis has only one. And I do not know for sure , but I will find out I asure you about the cars being painted black, but I think those might be NEW cars. And I can remember other county officers in the past, getting new cars. To bammareeds, Do you really wont to take that chance everytime, I am glad you father lived, but I bet there would have been alot of critics out there if he had not. I have already cut my budget but I am not in charge of keeping our county safe either.

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 5:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Dadgummit there reneenickolson, I think you must have your britches on too tight or something. Take a chill pill or something, you're going to get your pressure up, your little sheriff's gonna be OK, it'll be alright.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 9:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The "Fire Truck" we speak of is a Tack Team Truck and only cost $30,000 and it was purchased with Drug fund money. The tack truck took the place of 4 other operation vehicles and now the county is only having to pay insurance for one, not four vehicles. "Drug fund" money is money put into a fund from seized drugs, vehicles and cash. All the drug fund money is put back into the department. And for The Sheriffs office he only spent $60,000 to remodel it and it also came out of the Drug Fund money. But, if you check the county commission recently remodeled their "Meeting Room" with the taxpayers money. The deputies have not had a raise in over 5 years and each year health insurance is raising and they are losing more and more money each year to health insurance. But, the county commissioners recently voted to give themselves a 17% raise. The county commissioners only have to come into work twice a month and they make 1/2 as much as the deputies who are working 40 hours a week and putting their lives on the line for US everyday. There is more wrong with our county than anyone knows maybe we all need to be more informed and educate ourselves before judging others. All the information I have given to you is public knowledge and available to anyone who wants it. Also, I can tell you this the Sheriff himself would set down with anyone of you and answer any questions you have. But, try contacting any of the 7 county commissioners and see how many answers your questions and have proof to back up their statements.

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 9:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well, with all that seized drug money out there, maybe the sheriff's office needs to be funding the county commission instead of the other way around.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 5:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Why? The County Commission doesn't fund the Sheriff's dept. they only over see the money and maybe they just don't know how to handle money....Have you ever checked to see how many of the county commissioners past and present have their own money woes? Some have even filed bankruptcy and all of this information is public knowledge also.

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 6:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

reneenickolson I'm sure that the sheriff's department didn't get an entirely new fleet of vehicles and that the majority of them are the older cars that have been painted. You keep blaming The County Commission for lack of funding, but I'm sure that the money alloted for the Sheriff's Department could have lasted a little longer into the year if it would have been spent wisely.

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 6:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

mimsisnumber1--- No, I haven't. Why don't you inform us? I would be the first to agree that we don't need any commissioners who can't manage their own money mismanaging ours. Sounds like you've done some research, so fill us in.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

UAEng-If you would pay closer attention to ALL of the cars, all of the cars are not black only the new ones and the older cars are still white. None of the cars have been painted!! And maybe the money alloted for the Sheriff's dept. could have lasted longer if it had NOT been cut $519,000 from last years budget!!!! Has everyone forgotten that the price of fuel has tripled since last year? That alone would make anyones budget go up. So, what does the Sheriff need to do? Stop paying the deputies or stop buying fuel for the vehicles?

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The price of fuel has not tripled unless you bought fuel last year for around $1.40 a gallon which if this is the case then I wish I had bought my fuel where you did. Well, I think you may be wrong about the cars because I haven't seen a white county car recently. Surely you’re not implying that the only possible way to cut spending is to "Stop paying the deputies or stop buying fuel for the vehicles." Of course everyone has the right to have their own opinion. Plus if everyone always agreed then the world would be less interesting.

Posted by reneenickolson (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 10:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't think the commision should get any drug money, unless they are out there putting their butts on the line to help retrieve it. It sure is taking those roads workers a long time to take up all those road signs , can they move alitte faster ? Know one seems to want to tackle that issues, although not as important as the Sheriffs department issues, it still is about the STUPIDEST thing I have heard of in a long time. AND Sheriff Davis is not Only MY Sheriff , He is Everyones, in this County.

Posted by jjslittleangel (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

While we’re informing and clarifying I’d like to go back to the original post by reneenickolson.

First, the commissioners are not Road Commissioners, they have not had that title/responsibility for 20+ years, they are Revenue Commissioners which means it’s their sole job to best decide how to spend the county’s revenue (i.e. budget) and where to get more revenue…neither of which are they doing very well right now.

Second, as for the signs being removed; they’re coming down because our current engineer is a traffic engineer as opposed to a transportation engineer. This means his specialty is making traffic flow efficiently after the transportation engineer has designed and built the road. The county’s only transportation engineer has resigned and is leaving his position next Wednesday due to the problems at the road department and the treatment he has received due to these problems.

Also, just for information…if you have paid for your own signs and put them in the right-of-way the county has every right to come back and remove them too because 1) the right-of-way is not your property; it’s the county’s, and 2) having an encroachment in the right-of-way affects funding received from the state (i.e. they don’t get state funding for state funded roads until all obstructions are removed…the project won’t even be approved to begin until the owner or the road department has removed them…this includes brick mail boxes, fences, etc.).

Posted by NoSugar (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 11:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

As mentioned above the Commissioners regardless of whether are revenue or road, they still operate as road commissioners because unfortunatly that seems to be the only way they can get votes. I cant stress enough how important it is that more people get involved and hold these comiissioners accountable for what they were elected to do which is make the best decisions using our tax dollars and be informed about what is going on in each every county office.

Posted by Weasel (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Let me help clarify here, because out of all the clarification so far, no one really seems to know what is going on. And for the record I'm affiliated with every aspect of Public Safety in this county, from the E-911 Center, Sheriff's Office, and the Fire Departments.

10 new cars were purchased through a joint agreement with the Sheriff and comission and all 10 were black. Less then 5 of the old white cars were painted black. There are several of the white cars still on full-time patrol and 4 or 5 more that are utilized as back-up cars and also for part-timers to use. Oh and the two new Tahoes that were bought for the K-9 Officers were also purchased black. The Sheriff's Office does not operate a S.W.A.T. Team, they operate a S.O.U., which consist of multiple law enforcement disciplines, such as the dive team, crime scene investigations, and high risk search warrant service just as a coupe of examples. The S.O.U operates two vehicles, a Ford F-150 4wd truck and the Special Operations Command vehicle, AKA the "Fire Truck", thanks to Mr D. Wright for clarifying the difference in a fire truck and a command vehicle! The F-150 was previously operated by the local EMA and was transferred to the Sheriff's Office when the EMA purchased a new vehicle and it was painted black at that time, and that is where the concept for the black color scheme grew from, this truck was painted black under the previous admin. The F-150 is used as a rapid deployment vehicle for the S.O.U. and the majority of the set up work on it was performed by the S.O.U. The Command vehicle was purchased for under $30,000.00 and again all work was performed by the S.O.U. members with assistance from inmates at the jail. The unit was painted by a local body shop. Thats enough about that for the time being.

The Sheriff's office was redone to provide a little security and privacy to the ladies who work in that office and to provide the deputies a place to do the mounds of paperwork required in that job and to provide the Sheriff with a large enough area with some privacy to meet with the citizens or any other persons who would like to have a meeting with him. It also provided the Sheriff with a permanent office to where you can locate him at most of the time.

Thats enough for now. For the record, MOST of you should quit posting these comments because you absolutley have no idea what your talking about!!! But as long as you do there are those of us that will continue to strive to do our best to provide you with CORRECT and ACCURATE information.

I must also say that any opinion that I give is mine and does not neccasarily reflect the opnion of any agency I speak of unles otherwise noted.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 3:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks, Weasel for the clarification. I knew one of you would come to my rescue....

Posted by whitneyadamssmith (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thank you weasel for your correct and accurate information. I am one of those who hears comments everyday about our sheriff and how he should be managing the counties budget he was given.Our last sheriff{a republican}was given a much larger budget to work with,no problem with him having that amount of money,{given to him by a republican ruled commision}. But, taking the kind of cut that our sheriff has had to endure hurts from anyone standpoint. Also alot of comments have been made about the so called firetruck. but not a word about the armytank that was acquired by our last sheriff.Oh yea, don't forget about the 18 wheeler he bought also, but he still got the money he needed to run his office. the uniforms that the sheriff had his deputy buy,came from money that each deputy is alloted to buy new uniforms. When a new part time deputy was hired recently the commisioners refused to pay for him a uniform.So the sheriff took it upon his self to pay for it out of his pocket. One of the commissioners was recently quoted in the newspaper to say, that the county was having a hard time following last years budget with this years price increase. Can they feel where the sheriff is coming from then? Now I know the sheriff is still receving his paycheck, but I wonder if the foot was on the other leg and the sheriff told the comissioners, Well their is no money to pay you with and were cancelling your insurance till we can find the money, how many commisioners would be flying to hire them a lawyer and suing the county for their money.And as long as were talking about their money why should the county be paying seven commisioners nearly $2000.00 a month{including insurance} for a job that meets twice a month but can't afford to buy a part-time deputy one suit of clothes.Drugs is running rapid in our hometown.Let's back our sheriff and let him protect us the way he knows how. And the next time you have a problem call the sheriff home phone number. If he doesn't answer then, I bet it will only be a litle while before he calls you back.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 9:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Amen, whitneyadamsmith... well, said. And also to the comments made by november162000 & UAEng it was all good earlier today when you was giving our Sheriff down the road about all the "unnecessary" expenses but, now that someone you know has need the very services you were gripping about it's a different ball game. Today was an unthinkable tragedy and I feel for the family and friends of Mr. Courtney. But, the point is the officers couldn't have even tried to help Mr. Courtney if they had not had this previous training. Unfortunately, all the training in the world can never really prepare you for a situation like that. But, I hope you all consider what has been said here the last couple of days and understand that maybe none of us really know the whole story and maybe we need to take this time to educate ourselves before we head to the polls this November. And pray for Mr. Courtney’s Family & friends tonight but, you also need to include our Sheriff in your prayers as well, he faces a lot everyday and catches a lot of grieve from others maybe if we lived in a perfect world we wouldn’t need a sheriff at all!!

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 9:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Oh, yea and to Larry Johns of Verbena the original writer of the editorial the K-9 officers are required to do 4 hours a week routine training with their K-9 . This is a law set by the state not our local department. So, the K-9 officers only get paid for the 4 hours a week that they are training. All the other training has been on their personal time without pay!! Have you ever volunteered to work at your job and not get paid? I didn't think so.....................

Posted by whitneyadamssmith (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 9:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr.Johns
You asked earlier how much was the lawsuit going to cost he county, I belive all the sheriff is asking for is what was alloted to him to begin with.This mis information is what gets people upset because they belive what they hear from others instead of trying to find the facts for themselves. We as human would rather belive the bad things about people then good things, its just nature.

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 7:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)

mimisnumber1------- First of all you need to study grammer and sentence construction a little bit. It's hard to take someone seriously when they sound like a four year old through their writing. Second of all before you go shooting off at me, you need to make sure you read properly what I said. I didn't say anything about the sheriff's "unnecessary" expenses. Everyone else pretty well covered that. And by the way, while I FULLY support everyone's right to their opinion , even sheriff's deputies, I think the sheriff would be wise to advise his deputies to keep their's to themselves. Public servants (in case some of you deputies have forgotten it, you are public servants) are paid to serve, just do your job, that's all. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an opinion or that it doesn't count but you will find that you will cause the sheriff more harm than good when you publicly spout your opinion, even when you are trying to help him. He should be big enough to defend himself. Y'all just go do your job and let him handle the politics and let us 'civilians' handle the public opinion. Of course that's just my opinion and I'm sure you respect it about as much as I respect yours.

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 7:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I still do not see how the S.O.U vehicle was necessary. Could 4 divers not have been transported by one of the SUV's that the Sheriff's Department owns? I've never said that it isn't a nice piece of equipment for the Sheriff's Department to have, but with the current financial situation of the county being what it is I don't think it is a neccesity. I wish we could give the Sheriff's Department all the money they want, but it's just not possible. My only complaint was that you used a story about a man dying as a forum to discuss the counties budget problems. That shows the kind of person you really are.

Posted by mimisnumber1 (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I may not have the best grammar But, I'm also not in English class. God made me this way and thank goodness he loves me!!! My grammar my not be the best but, at least I have the facts and I'm not running off at the mouth.

Posted by larryjohns (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Whitneyadamssmith, what he was originaly alloted would still not account for the amount of money that he is over budget. No matter how you look at it he has not made good decisions on how he spent the money. You cannot possibly think that with as high as gas is it was a good choice for SUV's to be put on the road. If you don't get the money you want to run the department, you have to be conservative and not just spend money like it is growing on trees. Billy Wayne did not get the money that he asked for all the time either, but for the good of the county, he made do, and I think that is one of the many things that made him a good Sherrif, he had the tax payers money on his mind and not just blow it just because he could.

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)

mimisnumber1 You are absolutely correct about at least one thing. God does love you.
By the way, I don't know if you have the facts or not. Just because you write the words does not make it fact. Sometimes human nature tries to convince us that our opinion is fact. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. Happens to me, too. Anyway, just scroll up through all the comments and I think you'll get a good idea of who it is that's "running off at the mouth". I believe you're ahead of me by a nose.

Posted by Weasel (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 12:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

4 divers and all of their equipment could never be carried in an SUV, especially in one of the Sheriff's Office Tahoes, because they are set up as K-9 units. They have the kennels in the back of them for the K-9's as well as storage for the equipment used to care for K-9's, Then they have a back seat to where they can transport prisoners, etc..The S.O.U. unit combined what was previously three sepeate vehicles into one.

I hate that a tradgedy had to be used to help show the need for some of this "unnecessary" equipment.

While I'm sure some on here are trying to defend their choice for Sheriff, most on here are only trying to counteract the speculation and inaccurate information with the the correct information so that the public will have a better understanding of what a "public servant" does and has to go through.

Again I must also say that any opinion that I give is mine and does not neccasarily reflect the opnion of any agency I speak of unles otherwise noted. Although this is all fact and no opinion.

Posted by reneenickolson (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

My heart goes out to the family of the Al. Power employee. But the story is all over the front page of the paper , does that show what kind of people they are that run the paper? They are using it to sell papers, thats what they do for a living. IT WAS USED AS EXAMPLE to explain how the converted fire truck and the equipment is used in an emergency. Like I said before we have a copy of the budget and we are trying to get one of the papers to print it. I really don't know what the problems are with that? And far as the SUV'S, there sure are alot of them out there on the road, maybe they made a mistake and did not realize as most of us didn't ,that gas would cost an arm and a leg. Billy Wayne was good for the county for the first few years, but there at the last I am not sure he was the one in control. And I do know he used prisioners to do work for him on county time at his home.

Posted by BLogical (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 1:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree with UAEng. The funds should have been spent more wisely. I do know the Sheriff just rehired and promoted an individual that had to be fired just a few years ago because of drunken bar brawl. He was convicted in that case. The victim was hospitalized in a comma. That is the kind of actions that concern me. I would rather see officers with proven good judgement being promoted and egomaniacs fired. The actions and attitude of his officers will more greatly affect peoples opinion of the sheriff. It is hard for people to swallow the need for more money when you see money being spent so lavishly everyday. The color of a new car does not matter. The SOU truck was not a waste of money, but it was not neccessary. The commision is performing their duty of revenue management. It is time to be held accountable. There was a lot of discussion prior to the law suit from people about the spending by the Sheriff's department. Much like society and a spoiled child they think they should get everything they want.

Posted by Weasel (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 1:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

On the SUV thing I will share a little on that as well. The two older model Tahoes you see, I believe one is black and one is blue, were purchased from a grant for help in combatting drugs. The green Ford Expidition you see is used by the Chief Deputy, second in command of the Sheriff's Department. The white Ford Explorers are used by the Investigations Division, in case you dont know, investigatoors have alot of stuff they have to drag around with them. All of these vehicles were purchased under the previous administrations watch. Now believe you me I'm not blamin any administration for anything, I'm merely providing yall with the facts. I'm friends with Sheriff Fulmer and both of his sons and hold the utmost respect for them as Law Enforcement Officers.

The only SUV's purchased by the current administration are the two newer black ones that are used as K-9 vehicles and they are also the only two SUV's used in routine patrol activities.

Any opinion that I give is mine and does not neccasarily reflect the opnion of any agency I speak of unles otherwise noted. Although this is all fact and no opinion.

Posted by Weasel (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 2:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Do you know the person you are speaking of and the facts of the case you are speaking of or are you just quoting rumor mill? I'm gonna go with rumor mill because if you knew the facts you would know that a conviction of the kind your speaking of would be a felony, and if you know law, you know a "convicted" felon can not carry a weapon, law enforcement or not, and since this person is back as a law enforcement officer then he must be carrying a weapon because they have to protect themselves as well as the citizens from all the yahoo's runnin around out there. Most of the facts you need are public record at the courthouse for you to go review if you would like to take the time.

Yes every Public Safety Agency should get everything they want!!! These people have husbands, wifes, children, grandchildren, pets, and other loved ones who have to spend 8, 10, or 12 hours a day wandering if they will come home or not. These "public servants" MUST be provided with the very best to protect themselves and the citizens!!! Just this past weekened a 22YEAR OLD Firefighter/Paramedic was shot and killed and TWO Police Officers were wounded when they were AMBUSHED at a car fire!!!!! Shot and killed and wounded by a "citizen" while just trying to help. If you do not belive this does not happen everyday, please let me know where I can provide you with places to go and view this information on a daily basis so you will have something better to do then sit and gripe and gossip about what you know nothing about.

Any opinion that I give is mine and does not neccasarily reflect the opnion of any agency I speak of unles otherwise noted. Although this is all fact and no opinion.

Posted by BLogical (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 2:48 p.m.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Posted by BLogical (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Those cases are about typical as police corruption and brutality. There will always be extreme cases in both directions. No amount of money will ever prevent it. You are a prime example why a commision must exist. A commision, not just one person, making decisions. Unfortunately, poor mangement skills can also be elected to the commision as well as the sheriffs office.

Posted by BLogical (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 3:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Chilton County Sheriff's Department has two fallen officers. The Sheriff from an assualt by an insane inmate in 1900. The other officer died of a heart attack. I am not down playing the service of our officers. They have my admiration and respect. I do not agree with the changes made by the sheriff without his officers getting raises. To be a leader people must be willing to follow you. Neither the commision nor the sheriff have made perfect decisions. The future commission and sheriff will also make mistakes. The fault it is not important, the problem needs to be indetified, and a solution implemented. Neither entity will benefit from the current course of action. Me, you, and everyone else will pay for it.

Posted by NoSugar (anonymous) on July 23, 2008 at 4:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I have known Sheriff Davis for many years. He has worked his way up to where he is by being an honest, caring, and open person who has voluntarily served this county in various ways. I can assure you all his top priority is the safety and well being of his deputies and all who work for him. I am certain that if any of the money used for all the above mentioned items could have been used for salary, that would have been his first choice. However there are many restrictions on public funds and how they must be spent. I am sure a phone call to his office can verify that. I also know him well enough to know that filing a lawsuit against the County Commission was the only option after his numerous attempts of trying to work through this budget problem in other ways. If you are posting on this site and have not been to a Commission meeting I encourage you to do so soon so you can see how they operate first hand, not just read the results in the paper or hear them on the street. They drag everything out, often dont make a decision at all or wait until they are legally forced to address a problem, or worse yet make the decisions behind closed doors. It is a rare occasion where any issue comes up in one meeting and they make an educated decision about it. It is also a rare occasion that they show up at a meeting and are familiar with the issues and what is going on in the county.They operate by the Good 'Ol Boy System, it seems that is all they know. I think if the problems with the Commission are straightened or voted out then I doubt there will be any more budget issues with the Sheriff's Department as they seem to be doing quite well doing their jobs taking the sex offenders, drug dealers and long time ignored criminals off our streets.