Challengers file as candidates for County Attorney post

Three candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring to become the next Whitley County Attorney – and of the two challengers, one is a newcomer to politics, and the other a seasoned prosecutor who served two terms in the position in the 1980s.

Corbin attorney Graham Trimble was the first to officially declare his candidacy for the position. He filed paperwork to run for the post last Wednesday.

If the last name sounds familiar, it should. Trimble, 31, is the son of long-serving Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble, who serves the 34th Judicial Circuit that covers Whitley and McCreary Counties.

"It’s something I’ve always been around since I grew up in a prosecutor’s home," Trimble said. "My father never really pushed me into it. People always assume that if your father is an attorney or you go into the same business that your parents were in that there’s been a lot of influence there, but that’s not the way it was with me."

Trimble said he was actually interested in a career in architecture when he graduated from Corbin High School in 1999. He studied political science and history as an undergraduate at Eastern Kentucky University, and then moved on to Northern Kentucky University’s Chase School of Law where he received a degree before returning to Corbin to practice law with Howard O. Mann.

On Tuesday, Trimble got opposition in the race as veteran attorney and prosecutor Bob Hammons filed to run for the office of County Attorney Tuesday. Both men are Republicans and will face off in a primary special election scheduled for May.

Hammons, who served two terms as Whitley County Attorney in the mid 1980s, was a finalist to be appointed to the position earlier this year after it was vacated by Paul Winchester. Winchester was selected to be Circuit Judge, filling the unexpired term of Paul Braden who died in office. Williamsburg attorney Don Moses got the nod as County Attorney instead.

"I’m running on my record in the past. Some people will remember it, some won’t," Hammons said. "I’m doing this because I think I have the experience, the maturity and the integrity to do the best job for the safety of the citizens of Whitley County."

Hammons, 56, who started his law practice in Williamsburg 31 years ago now practices in Corbin. He first became a prosecutor when he was tapped to be Assistant County Attorney under former County Attorney Emby McKeehan. When McKeehan was elected as Circuit Judge, Hammons was appointed to fulfill the remainder of his term. He won another full term in an uncontested election, but did not seek a third in favor of spending more time with his family.

"I thought it was critical that I be at home and be a father," Hammons said. "My kids are older now and I think I’ve come full circle. I love being a prosecutor. I want to do that again."

Hammons has served as a prosecutor, either as County Attorney or as an assistant, for all but four years of his 31-year career practicing law.

Hammons is a 1973 graduate of Corbin High School. He studied political science and English as an undergraduate at Eastern Kentucky University and is a 1980 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Trimble and Hammons are slated to face off against current interim Whitley County Attorney Don Moses, who was appointed last month by Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. to serve in the spot until the results of a special election are finalized.

On the issues

Both Trimble and Hammons see room for improvement in the County Attorney’s office if they are elected to the post.

Trimble said he would aggressively embrace any technological improvements that would make the office more efficient. He points to Kentucky’s implementation of the EWarrants system as an example. Essentially, EWarrants provides a centralized, electronic database of warrants from all of the states 120 counties accessible round the clock.

"Anytime you can include more technology into the legal profession, I think that’s good," Trimble said. "It’s seems to be a slow profession to evolve sometimes. Everybody likes hard copies of everything, but technology should not be discouraged at any level."

Trimble’s biggest point of emphasis if he’s elected will be to ensure that cases moved relatively swiftly through the district court system. He’s advocating expanding the number of trial days. Currently, there is only one a month for misdemeanor cases.

"Just from the scheduling standpoint, there has been some issues with the docket and getting things moved along … I don’t see any reason why things should stay on the docket for months and months at a time, especially at the district court level. It either needs to be moved up and be classified as a felony, or it needs to be prosecuted."

Hammons said he plans on improving citizen accessibility to the county attorney and making the office more transparent.
"I’m going to make things more visible," Hammons said. "If somebody calls me, I’m going to talk to them. I think communication is so important. I will return phone calls."

And adding a victim’s advocate to the County Attorney’s office is something Hammons said it desperately needed. Too often, he contends, victims of crimes are left in the dark or are confused about what is going on in their cases. Impersonal court summonses or letters don’t cut it.

"I think a lot of times, victims are left out of the process. I get frustrated sometimes with all this impersonal contact we have nowadays, and I think they do too," Hammons said. "I guess I come from the old school, but I just think that victims need to be contacted by a person who will talk to them and be honest with them and let them know what their options are and what they can expect. If it’s not me, then it needs to be somebody in the office that specializes in that."

Both men vow to more aggressively prosecute those who refuse to pay child support, and are in favor of having offices in both Williamsburg and Corbin to deal with child support issues.

Also, both say they would enforce a county ordinance that makes willful non-payment of occupational taxes a misdemeanor offense. Over 1,100 individuals and businesses currently are delinquent in paying the tax in Whitley County, but not a single person has ever been prosecuted since the law was enacted in 2005.

Famous in their own right

Hammons said his interest in a legal career started when he was a young boy. His class had taken a field trip to Williamsburg to watch a trial. He returned the next day, on his own, to see the conclusion of the proceeding.

"I came back and I told my mother I wanted to be a trial lawyer, and that’s what I did," Hammons said.

Less than 20 years later, he was doing just that … prosecuting a juvenile on theft charges when one of the more publicized events of his career occurred. The juvenile, who was convicted, had asked the judge presiding over the trial, C.B. Upton, if he could speak to his family before being led away to jail. Upton granted the request.

"Next thing I know, I hear the doors to the back of the courthouse open and he took off," Hammons said. "I looked at the bailiff, he wasn’t doing anything. There was a deputy Sheriff there and he didn’t do anything, so I took off running."

Hammons tackled the convicted criminal on the courthouse law, but his heroics came with a price.

"I looked up, and when I did he nailed me with a punch," Hammons said. "He knocked me out. He got away, but they later caught him."

Hammons never pressed charges for the incident, even though he suffered a wicked black eye and was knocked out from the incident.

"I’ll take a black eye for Whitley County, but I won’t give Whitley County a black eye, I promise that," Hammons said. "I think I have maturity as a prosecutor. I know you have to use level-headed reasonableness when you are in that office. I will be a prosecutor, but not a persecutor."

Hammons has long served as legal counsel for the city of Corbin, the Corbin Board of Education and for various agencies like the Corbin City Utilities Commission, the Corbin Chamber of Commerce and the Corbin Tourist and Convention Commission.

Though with fewer colorful tales to tell as an attorney, due to the relative brevity of his career, Trimble made a name for himself as a star tight end on the Corbin Redhound football team, a standout forward on the basketball squad. He played two seasons for EKU’s football team before being sidelined by injuries.

In his four years of legal practice, Trimble has begun to build a respectable practice, delving into personal injury law, property law, and criminal defense at the federal level and in Knox and Laurel Counties. He said he avoids defending felony cases in Whitley and McCreary Counties since his father serves as Commonwealth’s Attorney for those areas.

Before returning to Corbin to start his practice, Trimble gained experience in the Cincinnati municipal prosecutor’s office and was a volunteer Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 34th Judicial Circuit.