This weekend marks the anniversary of my first year in the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office. I appreciate all the kindness and support I’ve received from the community. Bradley County is my home town and I believe it’s the best place in the world to live.

When I look back over the past 12 months, I see a year marked by much progress and positive change. I’m proud of the fact that we have more deputies out on patrol and I’m proud that I was able to restructure top heavy management and redistribute salaries in such a way as to increase deputies’ starting pay by $2,000. We’re still running about 22 percent behind the regional average in wages for agencies of similar size and responsibility, but at least it was a start.

For more about my first year as Bradley County Sheriff, read the in-depth interview I did with J. Michael Leonard here at the BCSO website. We've all been working hard to improve and update the BCSO website in order to provide the public with a reliable and accurate source of information regarding the Sheriff’s Office and some of the things we’re doing. Check in with us regularly. And if you have any comments, suggestions or observations you’d like to share, you can email me at: comments@bradleysheriff.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

I’d like to acknowledge Capt. Gabe Thomas, head of our Corrections Division , who continues to do an outstanding job at the Justice Center. We have recently reinstated the inmate work program, where low-risk inmates are put to work cleaning roadways and public property. I think this program is good for Bradley County and good for the inmates as well. Good for the county because it helps the environment and saves taxpayers money when county employees can concentrate on other matters; good for the inmates because it allows them to earn their keep and be productive while paying their debt to society. The work crews are also available to perform clean-up duties for certain non-profit organizations, such as charities and churches. If there are any non-profit groups who would like to inquire about the work program, they can contact Capt. Thomas at (423) 728-7383.

Also, we’ve had to make another slight change to our Sheriff’s Town Hall schedule. We’ve reset the date for the Oak Grove School meeting to September 27 (check the BCSO website for updates). Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing you all this Thursday at Valley View Elementary , beginning at 7:00 p.m.

I feel like these Town Hall meetings have been very informative for myself as well as those who attend. In fact, a good example would be the gentleman at the Walker Valley meeting who questioned why the Sheriff’s Office had so many numbers listed in the telephone book. I wasn’t even aware of that situation until he brought it up. Those numbers have probably been running like that for years. I don’t know if it will save any money or not, but just for the sake of clarity, I will be cutting those numbers back to about a half dozen or so. There really is no need to have so many phone numbers listed and I appreciate the gentleman who brought that to my attention.

I hope you will turn out for the remaining two Town Hall meetings. I really do take your comments, suggestions and concerns seriously, and these meetings have proven to be a terrific forum for meeting so many of you face-to-face.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend with friends and family.