HARDIN CO.—In a scene reminiscent of last May with the Elizabethtown fire department, it appears the entire Hardin County sheriff’s department’s deputy force is threatening to quit if the county board doesn’t relieve coroner Roger Little from his interim position as sheriff and place someone ELSE in as interim sheriff.
According to what we’re hearing right now, the deputies are specifying who that someone ELSE is, but we’re reserving that information at this point pending confirmation.
The problem, we’re hearing, is that the deputies DON’T want Little in as sheriff for any longer than he absolutely has to be. And according to the Constitution (U.S. and state), he, as coroner, assumes the position of sheriff if the duly-elected sheriff is incapacitated in any way (such as jailed, as in the case of Raymond Martin in Gallatin County three years ago) or if the sheriff dies while in office (such as is the case in Hardin, where duly-elected sheriff Lloyd “Smokey” Cullison died this morning at about 4 a.m.)
We’re working on why the deputies are so vehemently opposed to Little; if you know, please feel free to post here.
There is reportedly a meeting going on right now wherein the deputies are expressing their concerns and their intentions. No meeting has currently been scheduled to appoint Cullison’s successor; in fact, we’re hearing that the board is telling the audience present that they “can’t appoint anyone who was on the ballot,” (CORRECTED FROM EARLIER, and still inaccurate on Ralph’s part; while it’s true that the party of the administration can’t caucus that person who was on the ballot and lost, Smokey was an INDEPENDENT, so the “party” wouldn’t caucus because THERE IS NO PARTY), as they can appoint anyone they want.
If anyone doubted the moron status of Hardin County’s board, they can lay those doubts to rest as of this moment. More as we get it; keep checking back.