Last week was certainly an odd one even by Whitley County standards

Even by Whitley County standards, last week was a bit odd.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Last Wednesday, the Whitley County School District terminated second year Whitley County High School Head Basketball Coach Mark White. (In case anyone is wondering, there is no relation, but I do think he has a cool name…LOL.)

It’s not unusual to see head coaches get fired after the season ends, towards the end of a bad season, and sometimes during the season after a slow start. What makes this one a bit odd is that White’s team was off to a 2-0 start this year.

Also, while White got fired as head coach he is still apparently employed by the school district in his day job so he must not have done anything too bad. Timing wise this is definitely a bit strange.

At any rate, I wish White, the team and his replacement, Austin Horn, well.

The team didn’t seem to miss a beat in its first game under Horn’s leadership defeating Hazard Thursday night by a score of 75 to 71.

This Colonel’s squad has some athletes, and if they stay together and play as a team, then I think they can make some noise in the 50^th District.

The other rather strange happening came Thursday afternoon when incumbent Whitley County Jailer Brian Lawson withdrew from next year’s jailer’s race.

You don’t typically see incumbents file to run for re-election then suddenly drop out of the race.

As many of you know, earlier this fall, Todd Shelley announced that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election as sheriff. Shelley then retired at the end of November leading to the appointment of Danny Moses as interim sheriff.

In other words, we are going to have wide open races for jailer and sheriff next year with no incumbents in the mix.

I won’t be at all surprised to see 10 or more people toss their hats into the ring in the jailer’s race. This is what happened in 2014, which is the last time there was no incumbent running in the jailer’s race and 11 candidates ran with Lawson coming out on top.

On Friday alone, three other candidates tossed their hats into the ring in the jailer’s race, including jail employees Sandra Hoke and Andrew Fuson along with Jeff Hurst. Already in the race was Williamsburg Police Lt. Brandon White and Matthew Leach.

I hope the voting public pays attention, informs themselves, and elects a well-qualified jailer because a bad jailer has the potential to almost, literally, bankrupt a county.

The sheriff’s race also is a crowded field with retired Kentucky State Police Lt. and current Corbin school resource officer Bill Elliotte, retired KSP Trooper and current Whitley County school resource officer Scott Bunch, and current Whitley County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Tim Baker already filed. In addition, Williamsburg resident BJ Leach has filed to run for sheriff.

I also expect to see incumbent Third-District Constable Jim Thornton and former Jailer Ken Mobley toss their hats into the ring for the sheriff’s job, which will put us at six candidates and counting.

2022 is going to be an interesting year with some interesting races on the ballot in next May’s Primary Election.