The Pike County Sheriff’s Department is joining the parade of law enforcement agencies hosting programs on church security.
Chief Deputy Johnny Scott told supervisors Friday morning that the department will host the seminar from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 9 at the county multipurpose complex on Quinlivan Road in Magnolia.
Employees of the Mississippi Department of Homeland Security will lead the program.
Discussion topics will include general protection measures, proper procedures for setting up security, laws covering churches and rights and other issues concerning firearms in churches.
Scott said members of the department would be contacting churches to invite attendance at the meeting. A flyer he handed out at the board meeting asks for at least one member from each church in the area to attend, and limits attendance to two per church.
Church representatives can also call the sheriff’s department at (601) 783-6767 to RSVP.
In other law enforcement matters, supervisors ratified a new county fire investigator and assistant.
Scott presented Sheriff Kenny Cotton’s request for Charles Bond and Vernell Felder Jr. to both be named fire investigators.
Supervisor Chuck Lambert questioned the move.
“Doesn’t this usually go through your office?” Lambert asked Civil Defense Coordinator Richard Coghlan.
Coghlan said he had served as the fire investigator for a number of years, but had no objection to Cotton picking a new fire investigator.
“I have no problem with it,” Coghlan said. “I’m glad to offer my support and do what I can to help Kenny.”
The board voted 4-0 to approve the appointments. Supervisor Gary Honea was absent.
The housing and billing report on state inmates at the Pike County Jail showed 82 inmates for 1,339 days during October, a little more than 16 days per inmate. At $20 per day, the county billed the state $28,340 for housing those inmates.
Prescription costs of $928.90 and medical costs of $2,537.34 pushed the total to $31,806.24.
The county also billed the state for 20 “technical violators” with 300 days spent in the jail, another $6,000.
The board also gave approval to an amended budget of the federal grant that funds the juvenile drug court.
The overall funding remains the same, at $131,911, but case manager Lisa Mathew got a $1 raise in salary and a $1,000 boost to retirement and insurance benefits. Travel reimbursement was lowered by $1,001.
The final grand jury report for the year reported a total of 116 witnesses heard, 133 true bills, 30 no-bills, seven remanded cases and 11 continued cases.
The report said jurors also found county prisoners to be securely housed and humanely treated.
