Rick Kelley picks up key endorsement, has big lead in fundraising
News May 11, 2020
WHITE COUNTY, Ga. – Rick Kelley picked up a major endorsement last week when retiring Sheriff Neal Walden threw his support behind his former captain to become the next Sheriff of White County.
In making the announcement, Walden said, “Rick has devoted his entire 17 year law enforcement career to serving the citizens of White County. He has worked his way up the ranks from jailer in the detention center, civil division, patrol division and criminal investigation division. As a division commander, he has been involved in the budget process for the operations of the Office of Sheriff.”
Kelly said he is proud to have Walden’s support. “That’s a big endorsement. I’ve had the privilege of working with him for 17 years. He did a good job and he laid the groundwork for whoever follows him.”
Kelley is in a race with Aaron Autry, Jeffery Ramey, John Murphy and Will Garrett for the right to succeed Walden who, after 28 years as sheriff, announced he will retire at the end of the year.
There is more good news for the Kelley campaign. The latest campaign contribution disclosure report (CCDR) shows that he has a substantial lead in fundraising. Kelly, has received $31,850 in contributions and has spent $22,277.
Second in fundraising is Alan Autry, who has raised $7,100 and spent $6,743.28. John Murphy has a negative balance on hand, having collected $6,500 and spent $6,684.51. Jeff Ramey’s contributions total $3,729.23 and expenditures $3,479.23. Will Garrett has received $2,130 and spent $1,942.28
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
White County Sheriff candidates debate on FYNTV
News May 12, 2020
WHITE COUNTY, Ga. – Five White County residents seeking the office of Sheriff brought their campaigns to a 90-minute candidate debate presented by Fetch Your News and the Republican Party of White County Monday.
Moderator Brian Pritchard of Fetch Your News questioned candidates on topics ranging from what they would do to improve the operation of the sheriff’s office to how they would manage the budget, especially in light of the governor’s demand that agencies reduce their budgets by 14 percent.
John Murphy said, “We are still behind in what we need to do in the computer age. We have to have more officer training, computer crimes training. Things like that will aid us to advance into the next century. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Will Garrett said, “We need AEDs (automated external debibrillators) in all patrol cars.” He also recommended deputies carry NARCAN. (NARCAN is the common name for Naloxone, a medication used to counter the effects of opioid overdose. “That’s a great tool. It works on drug dogs. It works on kids that may happen to get into a medicine cabinet. It’s those kinds of things I want to implement within the Sheriff’s Office to bring us up to par.”
Rick Kelley, who has worked in the White County Sheriff’s Office for 17 years, received a major boost to his campaign last week when popular outgoing Sheriff Neal Walden endorsed his campaign. Kelley said he wanted to improve communications with the public by launching Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
There was some back and forth over the need for a chief deputy.
Jeff Ramey, the owner of a tow truck company who lacks law enforcement experience, said he would not have a chief deputy. “When people come to the Sheriff’s Office, they come to see the sheriff,” he said.
Aaron Autry, who ran for sheriff against Walden in 2016, said he had considered the pros and cons of the chief deputy’s position, but is undecided. “If you don’t have a chief deputy, you could allocate more funds to give a raise to your employees,” he said. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t have one and I’m not saying I would.”
The others all said the position is necessary.
Murphy, said, a chief deputy is essential. “I’ve worked in five sheriff’s offices and they all had a chief deputy. A sheriff has state meetings to attend. He has county commission meetings to attend. It takes a second hand. A sheriff is only as good as his command staff.”
Garrett said, if elected, he would have a chief deputy. “The chief deputy is a good liaison between the sheriff and the other employees. The sheriff is not able to be at every location and the chief deputy is the proper person to fill that void.”
When the question of a budget was raised, Kelley, Autry and Murphy all said they had managed the budgeting process in the past. Garrett said his experience with budgeting was very limited.
Autry then said he wanted to create a work release program to supplement the budget. “The inmates would pay for the program and the money would go back into the general fund,” he said.
But the other candidates doubted the program would work because White County doesn’t house enough inmates to support such a program.
“In White County 90 percent of our inmates are pre-sentence and we typically have only six to 12 that are sentenced and they work inside the facility,” Kelley said.
Murphy said work release worked in Hall County because there were as many as 600 inmates and 40-50 were available for work release. “There are other avenues we could look at as far as generating money, like road cleanup crews. But as far as work release, I don’t see how that would benefit White County with the inmate population we have.”
Advance voting begins May 18 for the General Primary and Presidential Preference Primary.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com