I had a very short conversation with Sheriff Patrick Ray a couple of weeks ago, and he said something to me that really disturbed me. (I'm not going to give the exact number he told me; that would embolden the bad guys.)  But, it was a heck of a lot smaller than I expected for the size of the county that he has to cover. When he told me how many deputies he has for each shift actually patrolling, my jaw dropped!
Maybe it's just me, but the way the world is going, with everyone hostile to America, and it seems to be catching on within our own country. We need people to do the things that have kept this country growing for 235 years. LAW ENFORCEMENT! We have had the protection of law since this country began.
We need more police, period. Now, I know that we pay enough taxes as it is, and I really don't want to pay more, but, here’s a case that I'd be willing to pay more for. I'm an old guy, and I can't do the things I could do 25 years ago! I don't move as fast  (and when I try it hurts,) I don't hear as well, (so hearing something bad happen is getting harder), and my eye sight, kind of sucks (so I might not hit what I try to hit.) Even though, in my mind  I  can still do all the things I did at 50, even 60. But, now the rest of me says, “Whoa, there stupid, that’s going to hurt or hurt someone else.”
I know that with the influx of strangers into this community things are slowly changing, Heck, I'm new here and I can see the changes taking place. There's more personal crime, like drugs, abuse of spouses, children, mother  dog or farm animal. There’s more drunkenness getting out in public, then there’s the things we don't see or know about YET!
I think that if I were a bad guy, a community like this is just perfect. Quiet, relaxed, safe and EASY to take advantage of. Or to hide in. The thing is, there’s never just one. Those people that want to do the wrong thing, it dosen't matter how small it may be, need to be stopped from harming our lives. We need to be more protective of our town, our county, our state and especially our country. But for now, the County of DeKalb is my primary interest. We need to give the County Sheriff more access to funds to better serve the law enforcement needs of this county.
   As far as I'm concerned, we never have enough military, never enough reserve forces, not enough FBI, state, county or local police. WE, the people of this county that care, need to take a minute and call Sheriff Ray and ask him how many deputies he has available on any given day, then ask him if he could really use more. If you take that minute and ask him, please come on the Smithville Review website and tell me your opinion of his response.
Please think about the limited amount of protection we have as a people! We used to be able to trust most folks. Not any more and its our culture's loss. and our personal loss We can no longer depend on each other as we once did, so we need the law. And those that enforce it.
We need more dedicated police that will serve and protect the people of this county.
Until next week, enjoy the fruits of your garden and remember that it’s not free.
He has you pay in one way or another, and that’s fine with me.