Hawkins County sheriff warns of limited services, safety concerns if budget is cut

ROGERSVILLE — Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson warned residents of possible consequences to public safety if the sheriff's office does not receive full funding in the county budget.Lawson was among two guest speakers who addressed the United Citizens of Hawkins County at the County Cattlemen's Association.Invest in police"I just think it is time for Hawkins County to invest in the police," Lawson told about 20 people who attended Tuesday's gathering.Lawson pressed the need to retain officers and increase their pay."My office hasn't been fully staffed since 2019," Lawson said. He said that many deputies are leaving for better pay elsewhere.Finding people who could handle the jail, and who the prisoners would respect was one challenge in hiring new correctional officers, Lawson said. The jail has a capacity of 268 inmates and has over 300 inmates right now.Lawson repeatedly said no applications were coming in.Many audience members were concerned with the tax increase coming to the county, and the $1.7 million going to the sheriff's department. Lawson did not speak long before the rest of the evening turned into a question-and-answer session from the concerned citizens."If something's not done, I would say the safety of our citizens is in jeopardy," Lawson said.Lawson explained the schools did not have enough school resource officers and that four officers were responsible for over 300 inmates.Deputies and jailers are both paid $17.21 per hour. Lawson said that was not enough to retain officers, and many of his employees were struggling."You can hire people but you can't retain them," he said.Chief Deputy Tony Allen said the new budget allows the starting pay to be approximately $4 increase. From there, pay increases by rank by a certain percentage.Some of those present responded by saying they also were struggling and questioned if those higher ranked needed such a significant increase. Allen said it was the way the pay scale worked, those ranked higher needed a pay that reflected their rank and experience.He said he wanted people to retire in the force, and that rarely happened in the current state of things. He repeated that if people wanted to have a quick response time from officers, safe schools and a well-run jail, the sheriff's office needed the money."You can't blame the officers for wanting to feed their families," he said.Budget MeetingOne audience member voiced his support for the Sheriff's Department budget, but questioned if all parts of the new budget and taxes were needed.Eyes turned to the two county commissioners present at the meeting.District Three Commissioner Danny Alvis told them to attend the Hawkins County Budget Committee meeting at 3 p.m. Monday, June 24. The committee members are meeting to re-discuss the budget, and Alvis encouraged people to attend and voice their concerns there."Some of us are very disappointed in the budget," District One Commissioner Syble Vaughan-Trent said.She said in some instances, their hands are tied."There's only so many of us who try to be frugal," Vaughan-Trent said.Health FreedomTennessee Director of Stand for Health Freedom, Bernadette Pajer talked about her concerns that the government was not being honest with the American people regarding their health and safety."There is absolutely no reason any man, woman, child or animal on this planet should fear a virus," she said.She said iodine and hydrogen peroxide "will deactivate any virus on the planet." She said there was science behind nasal sprays, nasal rinses and gargling that contained those ingredients, among others. She said one study showed the success of those practices.Pajer said she was working with Stanford Health Freedom to both promote and fight against different health legislation."We're sending out health freedom surveys to candidates, so we're putting together at this time, a voters guide for Tennessee, based on your health freedom status," she said.She encouraged those present to send the surveys to candidates they knew, and to share the voter's guide once it comes out.Pajer said she wanted people to consider other science-based alternatives to maintain health, instead of simply what the government promoted. She said the government was lacking safety studies for vaccines they promoted and people were not fully informed on health risks regarding vaccines and medication.Pajer brought attention to new laws that were passed and would be in effect soon, along with a few in the works for next year. She said the bills are all related to health, freedom of choice and protection of people's rights to not be coerced into making health decisions by their doctors.