By Melissa West
Sheriff Graham Knight with his wife Adrianna and son Hendrix pictured above welcomed community members to listen and ask questions about Knight’s plans for the county if he is re-elected as Sheriff in May. Graham discussed with those in attendance that he first came into the appointed position he worked alone without deputies (logging in over 2000 hours) doing court security, process serving and his other duties as the new Sheriff.
Within six months of his duties as Sheriff he was able to equip both new cruisers at a cost of about $24,000 out of his budgets.
He was able to hire 3 deputies, including the first ever female deputy who is currently attending the Police Academy (she has seven weeks left).
Knight went on to say “ it is important for everyone to understand the next four years are important for something to change hands so many times and for so many times it can be detrimental , but I’ve also built part of that from the ground up and it has not been easy’.
Knight went to express how the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department has improved with the help of his Chief Deputy Hunt, his other deputies Hannah Stephens and Chuck Stephens, his office staff and people in the community. Knight said “it was blessing of the people in the community for being as patient as they have been and understanding that there wasn’t a Sheriff’s department for awhile, there was things that needed taken care of and it wasn’t and that was something that needed to be addressed first.
Knight told the crowd that since he has become Sheriff he has only missed two court days as security, one being the day his son was born and there was an inmate had a medical emergency.
Knight told the crowd he is not a politician and how it was difficult for him to go out and meet with the community members because politicking involves talking about yourself to others.
He discussed that he began with a budget of about $39,000 to about $130,000 which will sustain the wages for four officers. He has only been the Sheriff for about nine months. He would like to see the county have seven to eight officers in the Sheriff’s Department to enable 24/7 law enforcement availability in the county.
Knight told the crowd “if I am elected in May and our four year term runs out, then the new incoming Sheriff will come into a fully operational department and not have to endure what he had to go through to have a fully operational department’. Graham spent the rest of the evening mingling and answering questions from community members.Knight had extended an invitation to his fellow Republican opponent Jeff Starcher to join him in the discussion, but he was not in attendance due to prior scheduling conflict.
Sheriff Knight would greatly appreciate your support in the community and re-elect him as Calhoun County Sheriff so he can continue improving the Sheriff’s department as well as continue to serve and protect the people who call Calhoun Home!
