Posted on 03/05/2019 9:43:47 AM PST by Magnatron
Before making a wave of cutbacks across his department, Martin County Sheriff John Kirk delivered a grim warning to residents of this hardscrabble Appalachian community.
“Law enforcement as we have known for the last four years will not exist,” he posted on Facebook last month. “WE ARE BROKE… LOCK YOUR DOORS, LOAD YOUR GUNS AND GET YOU A BARKING, BITING DOG. If the Sheriff’s office can’t protect you, WHO WILL?”
In a sense, it was political bluster. When he can, Kirk still patrols this remote former coal mining region on the eastern edge of Kentucky, responding to traffic accidents and break-ins, knocking on the doors of suspected drug dealers, serving papers and transporting prisoners.
But with only one other paid law enforcement officer on staff now to help him monitor a 231-square-mile area day and night, his department is stretched to its limit.
“I have to be straight up with my citizens,” the 50-year-old said one morning as he squeezed into his Dodge Durango, switched on his blue lights and siren, and bolted down a winding two-lane road to a house fire 20 miles away. “We can’t be everywhere. We don’t have time to do the job the way it needs to be done.”
(Excerpt) Read more at officer.com ...
Some us do have our teeth and wear shoes, you know. LOL
I need to revisit Kentucky. Some of my ancestors (45ers) got their start in the new world there..
If you have a loaded gun with a willingness to use it if needed and a territorial family dog you have better than police protection. My little town went from two policemen to eight over our objections. We may abolish our police department and just use the county sheriff. BTW we probably average 4 firearms per resident and usually settle things without calling the cops.
In Eastern Ky. what this sheriff is saying is what others have said for 40 years that I know of firsthand. If you know who is breaking into your house they tell you how to take them out and get away with it. If the leos have had problems with them in the past they well tell you how to end everyone’s problems with the thug and give you a number to call of someone who is aware of the situation. In my case it was a Lt. in the state police. All the thug has to do is attempt to rob you again.
The major industries in eastern Kentucky have for years been: Living on disability; filing law suits; and dealing oxycontin.
________________
Bullshit!
LOL!
Shoot!
Shovel!
Shutup!
Also Kentucky pensions for state employees are the worst funded in the U.S.
https://wfpl.org/studies-show-kentuckys-state-pensions-worst-in-nation/
Did he really need the sarcasm tag?
No, sounds like most of the residents blame Obama and his targeting of the coal industry. County used to collect almost $1 million a year in coal-related taxes (back when there were 800+ miners on local payrolls). Now, the number of working miners is less than 100, and the county is collecting under $100K annually in coal taxes.
More of Zero’s handiwork. And, according to the article, the county elders also decided to build a new administration building that carries a $55,000 monthly note.
Wonder how many other counties in coal country are in similar shape.
The county officials were idiots. Of course my county lives off organized crime otherwise known as casinos.If the gambling stopped a whole lot of bloated budgets would be hurting.
I blame my lack of sleep. It was a rough night and I think my brain decided to enjoy the morning and afternoon off. I see the sarcasm clearly now.
Tell me, please, what supports more in Eastern Kentucky.
I like Kentucky a lot, but the farther east you go, the dicier it gets. I handled cases in eastern Kentucky, and I assure you litigation was what kept them afloat.
I agree that things have changed. I left over 30 years ago. You see I remember how it was and for a lot families how it still is. Some of us still have our self respect.
When LBJ implemented his Great Society we lost roughly a third of our workers. Large families were the norm then, 8 or 10 children were not rare and basic math told them they were better off being porch monkeys than working. That created the downward spiral that still exists today. It was not always so.
Coal miners in the old days had pride in their work and being able to take care of their families. It was considered shameful to take a hand out from any damn body. They joked and laughed while they worked. They could not be convinced that someone or some large corporation was holding them down. Ghetto think did not exist then, it does now and that thinking will forever make them and their descendants slaves.
I was quick to call bullshit because I know in my family dozens of examples of the ones that stayed and became well off and even quite wealthy. I took your observation as a blanket condemnation of many people I know and many of my own relatives.
I left not because I couldn’t find work but because I did not want on my conscience what could well have happened had I stayed.
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