TASK FORCE IS WORKING, KEEP WORKING IT ...

Talk that a cooperative effort between police agencies in Johnson County
may be on the verge of collapse is disheartening. Insinuations that the
failure may be more the result of that ever-present city versus county,
county versus city attitude than a lack of results is downright
discouraging. The unified effort to battle drug trafficking in Paintsville
and Johnson County has produced results, and the paintsville Police
Department and the Johnson County Sheriff's Department should be proud of
that. Johnson Countians, including those who live inside Paintsville's city
limits should be proud of that, too. Frankly, we cannot think of a single
reason why this project should not continue, but we aren't so naive as to
overlook some of the problems with it. There has been more friction than
cooperation between the two police agencies for some time. The city police
department has suffered some embarrassment in the past over some high
profile drug raids within their jurisdiction by Sheriff Bill Witten and his
troops. The city police department had also struggled with some image
problems arising from some unflattering issues concerning department
personnel...high ranking personnel. The task force, and its cooperative
approach to a very serious problem, has been a deep breath of fresh air.
And now it's falling apart.

Why? We don't know the answer to that question, but we've heard the talk.
We won't spread rumors here, opting instead to give the city and county
police departments a show of our unwavering support for a resolution of
their problems and a revival, if a revival is necessary, of the task force
concept and operations. Surely the powers that be will not let this truly
effective project fail. Surely the people of Johnson County, including
those who live in Paintsville, want this effective fight against drugs to
continue. Just one bit of advice...

If this truly effective project is threatened by personality clashes, those
in charge of personnel should remove the personalities in conflict and
replace them with officers who want to do police work. If this project
fails because of egos, we aren't going to be disheartened or discouraged,
we're going to be disgusted. Surely it won't come to that.

- --Scott Perry