Response on Sheriff's Overtime

The people of Knox County had a chance to elect a really exceptional sheriff in Jim Andrews, but they chose an arrogant, corrupt slease instead. They deserve what they got.

I'am not ashamed of who I am nor who I work for. My name is Mark Belliveau and I work for the KCSO. I have been a law enforcement officer with this department for 12 years now. I know of no other leader than the one I admire and work for now. Each and every election the media outlets in this county, including yours Gene, begin furrowing like little ferrets with the intention of pointing your finger, like false pens to paper, at our sheriff. Gene, I smell a rat here, HMMMM...From WATE...to mayor's officer, back to WATE, what exactly, is your intention with this story? Your station, like your competion, consistantly skews the stories regarding the Sheriff's Office...ie, our strife for a pension. A 512% wheel tax is so skewed, it boggles the mind. We could, in reality, overcome the country's deficit with a 512% tax increase. Sheriff Hutchison and Chief Spangler have worked very hard to protect this county from the criminal elements. The sheriff and Chief Spangler went to help Katrina victim's with no thoughts of dollar signs in mind. While FEMA was still establishing a ground attack 2 and 3 days after Katrina hit, the sheriff knew exactly what needed to be done...as is the case with everything he does. He established a network of very good officers and headed south to help, not make money on his own behalf. He, the sheriff, ate crackers and drank water for days. No showers, no comforts of home, and no family was everyone's sacrifice. You, Gene, try sleeping in the cockpit of a helicopter for two weeks. $20, 000 dollars FROM FEMA, not Knox County, is a mere unexpected compensation, compared to what conditions and hours were spent helping others. Take a break Gene and move on to other issues, ie, compare the upcoming county budget and the hidden wastes it represents to our pension. Report on the fact the we just tore down a Farmer's Market, put up a Target...and low and behold...another million has been set aside for yet another white elephant, Farmer's Market. Stop skewing the issues regarding the KCSO and represent the whole truth.

Thanks for looking into this. It is ridiculous that Tim Hutchison should be compensated anything additional to what he was already earning for going to assist those in the aftermath of Katrina. FEMA should most certainly help with reimbursements to the county for fuel, operations cost, etc., but for Tim Hutchison to profit from such a tragedy on the premise of volunterring is not only deviant but disgusting. However, there seems to be a permeating culture of head-turning in Knoxville and Knox County on these types of issues. The reported salaries was also interesting - but let me say that if you wanted to investigate a real salary scam you should check out the area non-profits and report on what their CEO's are earning. I was stunned to see that the CEO of Child and Family Tennessee and the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley earn MORE than the sherrif of Knox County!! One of these CEO's earns as much as Mayor Ragsdale and I hardly think the two jobs are equal. (and yes I know these things for fact).

There is something wrong when taxpayer funded - salaried employees such as Tim Hutchison would so blatantly disregard the rules of propriety and abuse his power time and again. But also is it equally wrong for prominent citizens of Knoxville to use city, county, state and federal funding to compensate CEO's of local non-profits despite their fledgling budgets, poorly paid employees and the fact that they barely meet their payroll. We won't even mention the debts they owe for periods of one year or more. This is the permeating philosophy of head turning that exists in this town. When your investigation (and thank you for it) brings the facts public such as the case with Tim Hutchison, the tax paying public gets to see and hear the truth. Public truth is the only way to effect change. By embarassing those who have abused their powers and those who have turned their head while they did it places the appropriate pressure against them to redeem their own reputations and to "do right" as they should have been.

I would strongly encourage you to take this investigation to all levels by including not only elected officials but those who run "charitable" organizations. Oh and by the way - as good as your intentions were/are Gene, you should be very careful about the Board of Directors you sit on, even in an honorary position. You've worked too hard to establish yourself to have your reputation tarnished by association. Dig more, deeper. You want a story - it's there. And thanks for this one. It's a doozy.

What does FEMA have to do with this issue? Folks are trying to change the subject.

The Sheriff makes plenty of money and to rack up that much cash out of this county while not serving local citizens is too much for me to defend. I've voted for him before but this is a pretty big issue with me. I know our deputies work hard but I have heard too much about the corruption in Cocke, Campbell Co and the THP just to blindly trust the rote spiel from law enforcement anymore. I think this issue will resurface when/if the pension proposal makes it to the ballot.

First of all I would like to say that ch 6 has confused a lot of people. The overtime paid to the Sheriff and his employs wasn’t paid from the Knox County tax payers but from FEMA. I don’t believe any of the members from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office that left the day after Hurricane Katrina expected to be compensated for any overtime, but went because of a felling they wanted to help those in need. It wasn’t until they returned FEMA asked for operating cost not only from those in New Orleans but all the officers and equipment who went to the gulf cost. I don’t believe many people would work 16 + hours a day, not complain and not expect anything in return in conditions most people couldn’t even image. That was the feeling from the officers who went to the Gulf Cost. It wasn’t until several months later they found out that FEMA was going to pay them for the time they put in OVER AND BEOND there normal time. I don’t think anyone could fault them for accepting it. And you also haven’t heard the hole story the Knoxville police officers who went to the gulf cost aria also received overtime pay. But you aren’t hearing about that are you? And several of you who posted on here need to get your facts strait or stay out of the discussion.