AUGUSTA – Five deputies from The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department were the recipients of the 2014 “Caring About Lives in Maine” presented at Blaine House on Thursday.
The awards are presented annually by Commissioner Mary Mayhew of the Department of Health and Human Services for exceptional service to citizens in Suicide Prevention and Education.
Franklin County Cpl. Chris Chase, Detective Stephen Charles, Deputy Sandy Burke, Detective Kenneth Charles and Deputy Colt Bernhardt were recognized following an incident which occurred in July of this year. The deputies received a call of a suicidal citizen with a loaded handgun. Through sound tactics and at great personal risk to themselves, the deputies were able disarm the man and resolve the incident without harm to himself or the deputies.
Congratulations and thanks for your service.
Congratulations to all of you. Be safe out on the road.
Keep up the good work–it’s comforting to know we’re well protected and are finally getting
“more bang for our buck”! Congratulations to all of you and the rest of the deputies as
well as Sheriff Nichols. It’s finally a well functioning operation if we could only have
our jail back in Franklin County where it belongs. The jail had operated very well for over
125 years before the State of Maine allowed the creation of the boondoggle–a failed Board of
Corrections system which no other state in the USA uses. Now they want an extra $100,000
from Franklin County just because we have it in a contingency fund that was earmarked for just
that contingencies, because the Board of Corrections doesn’t have funds to pay the larger jails for
the room and board for prisoners that are brought in from other counties. Emergencies, possibilities, likelihood, unforeseen expenses, would come from that contingency account for our county.
The jail is going to need a new roof in the not too distant future; in the event of an accident
with a cruiser being totaled (moose or otherwise) money could be taken from that account to pay
whatever the insurance doesn’t cover due to mileage or depreciation instead of raising the
money from taxpayers. They have never had to pay Franklin County Jail money for prisoner
board and room. We were self-supporting, had good rehab programs and a work release
system that was beneficial to the town and the local taxpayer.