Hodge to seek third term as Sheriff, defends record

Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge ended speculation about whether he would seek a third term in office Tuesday, officially filing re-election papers with the county clerk’s office at about 2 p.m. — two hours before Tuesday’s filing deadline.

"We’ve come too far for us to go back to closing the doors at 5 p.m. We try to take care of everybody," Hodge said. "When we started here, we had nothing. We literally didn’t have a pencil.

"We have a top notch department. I’m proud of all of them. I’m proud of my deputies. I’m proud of the job we have done."

Hodge said that in 2009, his department answered over 10,000 calls, arrested over 600 people, transported over 500 people to either juvenile detention centers or mental facilities, and served 1,700 papers.

The department also provided security for courts in both Corbin and Williamsburg.

Hodge added that his deputies are also required to check churches, cemeteries and schools in addition to doing some extra patrols for the elderly.

Hodge said that he didn’t give any thought to retirement after everything that happened over the last year involving the department.

In June 2009, the state auditor released a scathing audit of Hodge’s office that listed about $125,000 in missing money or undocumented spending.

The office was broken into in mid-December and several guns were either taken or the department didn’t have paperwork to show that they had been returned to owners.

Hodge has also faced intense criticism by some media outlets.

"Not over that," he said. "It’s a tough job. It’s a thankless job. I knew that going into it. There are enough good people out there to see through this stuff. I’m not going to let them run me off with politics."
Hodge is convinced that he can still win.

"The break-in, that is unfortunate," Hodge said. "I don’t want to go as far as to say it was politics, but I would go as far as to say that the timing of it was critical.

"We’ll just have to get out there and work hard, and let our record stand for itself."

Drug cases

Hodge said that he tries to resolve most of his cases in district court rather than take the cases to the grand jury and circuit court.

"We have two district judges elected by the voters of Whitley County, and probably the best prosecutor sitting right here in district court," Hodge said.

"We have nothing but complete confidence in our two elected judges, and our prosecutor, Whitley County Attorney Paul Winchester. We trust him to do a fair job for everybody concerned."

Hodge said that his deputies don’t get paid any overtime, and don’t receive any comp time either for court appearances.

"We answer 96 percent of the calls out here in the county," he said. "Other agencies that work the county get paid overtime and comp time and they make triple what my boys make.

"If you can’t pay somebody, it isn’t fair to make them go up there and stand in line. If you get up to circuit court and you are just out a lot more time, and people are going to get the same amount of time at the end of the day."

Hodge said that resolving the cases in district court also tends to help out the families of some victims with reduced legal fees for attorneys.

He said that in many cases parents and relatives are the ones footing a defendant’s attorney fees.

"A lawyer is probably $20,000 cheaper in district court than they are in circuit court," Hodge said. "There is no sense in ruining the working man out here because his kids have problems. We have full confidence in our district judges."

Hodge said that he feels the number of meth labs in Whitley County are down in large part to efforts by his department in recent years to crack down on them.

"I attribute that to my deputies. We have fought meth labs in this county for six years. We don’t even hardly get a call on one. The stats for 2009 were three meth labs taken out of Whitley County," Hodge said. "I like to think my deputies and myself had a big part to do with that."

By contrast, Knox County had seven meth labs reported in 2009 and Laurel County had 67 meth labs reported.