Justification for building it? Is Roane Co. jail overcrowding regularly? Losing accreditation, certification or whatever that's called?

$35 Mill, wow, that is a ton of cash. How many beds?

In 1994, Knox County built a 500 bed jail for $33 million. Adding 192 beds to it this year will cost $15 million. Knox County will close an "annex" for a net gain of 100 beds.

We should choose money for education over money for jails for sure. In my experience defendants in criminal cases have a high school degree in about 2 out of 10 cases.

Robin

Hi Steve!

Even though I may not agree with everything you say, I appreciate your view on our County.

Thanks for posting on this topic. It's about time someone peeled the carpet back so the roaches will scatter.

Problem is, in our county, the roaches are so used to being left alone, they're like deer, owlishly blinking at the new bright light.

I see you got several positive responses, and one guy throwing baseless, groundless accusations. Welcome to Roane County!! (laughter)

For those not familar with Roane County, we are an island unto ourselves. We live there, but work elsewhere. You never see a patrol car. The roads are seldom paved.

Many like it that way, but there is a growing, vocal faction that is tired of not being able to leave anything but work boots on their porch. Tired of the word meth. Tired of watching taxes increase without visible improvements in the county.

That's why one of the largest elections in history is coming up. With the current screwed up system, it is nearly impossible to beat an incumbent. A lot of people run, split up the vote, and the incumbent weeble-wobbles back in.

 There are, in fact, SIX people running for Sheriff. It's 38 days til early voting, but already the rumormongering, backstabbing, whisper campaigning, and other typical shennaniganery has already started.

Like the guy posting above, for instance.

My vote, like the majority, is for Gene McClure for Sheriff. I did my homework. The incumbent has GOT to go. Our Law Enforcement is a national laughingstock. The crime solving rate, thoughtfully provided by a rival, is around twenty percent. The turnover rate of employees is great. Roane County is the only county in the 95 counties that has state legislation giving the county commission power to hire employees, bypassing the sheriff.

So, minus the incumbent, who else? The guy that ran last year couldn't knock the incumbent out. His current campaign is floundering. There's two other guys running with ties to the incumbent. Both worked directly for him. Neither are trying to run. Unless they are waiting til the last day, you rarely see/hear from them.

Then, there's another guy. He shows much promise, but doesn't have all of the necessary qualifications, and community support. Yet. He follows some advice, and does right, in four years he will be just about unstoppable. But now he is like a potato that needs about twenty more minutes.

That leaves Gene McClure. I wasn't even planning to vote in the Sheriffs' race this year until I found out he's running. A former Police Officer, he also has worked as an upper-level management guy, so he is used to leading large companies, and getting results. He's from here, he has community support, he has the guts to actually go after the bad guys, he isn't accepting fund$ from the Big $pecial Interest$, and he has the positive, outgoing personality we need in an accessible Sheriff.

He is the Next Best Hope for our county. And, I am putting all my support behind him.

Sorry to take up the bandwidth, but I wanted another side to the situation presented here.

-Shawn