Resident Deputy Program Could Be On The Line

Montesano, WA - With budget woes at the county level, and the County Sheriff's Department struggling to find requested cuts, Sheriff Mike Wheelan tells us about one essential service they're trying not to cut "I've been talking with the Commissioners, and with citizens from the North Beach, and one of the last things to go will be the Resident Deputy Program. If it comes down to 'do we save jobs, or do we save the resident deputy program,' I'm going to do what I can to save jobs."
A Grass roots effort to save the program was started last month called SWORD by Sara and Jesse Owen. The group, in it's infancy, plans to petition to keep the program that assigns Deputy Sheriff's to outlying communities to patrol and live in.