Mobley fends off 10 challengers, retains Jailer post

Whitley County Jailer Ken Mobley can remove the interim tag from his position as the voters of Whitley County overwhelmingly supported his campaign to continue serving in the position to which he was appointed in January.

Mobley defeated democratic challenger Joe Allen Fuson and nine write-in candidates in the race to serve out the remainder of the four-year term that came open when newly elected jailer Les Moses resigned the position eight days into his term.

"There is a lot of good people in Whitley County who supported me and I’m thankful for that," Mobley said.

Whitley County Clerk Kay Schwartz said previously that it could be several days until a winner had been determine if more write-in votes were cast than either Mobley or Fuson received. By 8:30 Tuesday night, the write-ins became moot as Mobley had 3,540 votes, Fuson had 1,504 and 1,392 write-in votes were cast.

"I just want to thank all of the voters that supported me," Fuson said. "This is the first time I have run for office, so I am just getting my feet wet, but it won’t be the last time. I will be running for this office again."

Mobley said he will be back in his office at the jail on Wednesday, picking up where he left off on Tuesday as he continually tries to make the jail operate more efficiently.

Under Mobley’s direction, a former storage area was renovated and will now be used as a cell to house state prisoners. He estimated it will bring in an additional $102,000 annually.

Plans are continuing to plant a vegetable garden in the spring to help provide food for the jail.

With several drug treatment programs and a program to help inmates obtain a GED, Mobley said the next area on which he will be focusing is to improve medical care at the facility.

As with everything else at the jail, Mobley said money is the issue and he and is staff is constantly working on ways to better manage the jail’s financial resources.

Mobley concluded by saying he foresees few, if any changes to the jail staff, but added that he will ensure that his staff members not only meet, but exceed the 16 annual man hours of annual training required by the Kentucky Department of Corrections.