September 6, 2007 Civil Service Board Reverses Itself: Sheriff Esco Jarnagin Was Right

The Hamblen County Civil Service Board met yesterday at 4:30 to "re-do" its previous hearing regarding Sheriff Esco Jarnagin's refusal to promote Jailer Lynn Wolfe to a road officer.

At its prior meeting, the Board had voted 2-1 to "order" Sheriff Esco Jarnagin to promote Wolfe. "Ordering" the promotion were Chairman Joel Seal and Brett Kilgore (who ran an ad supporting former Sheriff Otto Purkey in 2006 and stating that Kilgore would prepare to run for Sheriff in 2010) . Voting "no" was J. C. Wilson.

The prior meeting was determined to have been illegal, resulting in yesterday's re-do.

At the conclusion of yesterday's meeting, the Board in a 2-1 vote (Seal and Kilgore "yes"; Wilson "no") passed a resolution that now admits that Sheriff Jarnagin does not have to promote Lynn Wolfe.

Seal and Kilgore apparently added more to the resolution as they tried to cover for their prior error in ordering the Sheriff to promote Wolfe, but I'll wait to report on that until I see the actual wording of the resolution.

For those who have forgotten, Lynn Wolfe was a Detective under former Sheriff Otto Purkey. After attending a party, he totalled a taxpayer-owned cruiser in a one-vehicle crash.

Wolfe's blood alcohol level at the time of the wreck was reportedly more than twice the level for DUI.

Wolfe was fined, allowed to resign, given a severance package by County Mayor David Purkey, and ordered to provide restitution to the county in the amount of $6,250 cash or by community service.

Wolfe chose to do over 1,040 hours of community service work to "pay" for the vehicle. And where did he do his community service work? He "worked" for his father's (Harold Wolfe) County Maintenance Department.

Much more to come. 911 tapes. Conflicts of interest. Nepotism and family ties that are never mentioned in news reports.