Nichols to serve as KCSO counsel

Randy Nichols

We broke some news today, reporting that former long-time Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols will serve as Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones' special counsel for mental illness, drug abuse and domestic violence awareness. He starts Jan. 5.

The two have long tried to get a safety center that would help the mentally ill rather than lock them up.

You can watch the entire interview about that discussion and his appointment RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Nichols, a Democrat, opted not to seek re-election earlier this year. Jones, a Republican, won re-election. I'm not sure at this point what he will earn, but Nichols is a good hire. He genuinely wants to help the mentally ill and has a strong interest in a number of the issue that the sheriff wants him to focus on.

In a released statement, the sheriff said:

He will advise me on these issues and represent my office on all boards and commissions that deal with these most significant matters of concern. We all know that the prescription pill epidemic must be dealt with from many fronts: prevention, enforcement, rehabilitation, incarceration and through our state laws written by the General Assembly. This involves many meetings and some lobbying in Nashville to make sure the legislature is fully aware of the problems and will hopefully listen to law enforcement about our ideas on how to make it better. His 25 years of experience dealing with these matters will be of great use to me and the citizens of Knox County.

Our continued work dealing with domestic violence is critical. Violence in the home means violence outside the home and we must prevent our children from generational family violence.

I have long supported a Safety Center to divert the mentally ill from going to jail to a less costly and more efficient way to deal with the population. We are spending millions of dollars that I believe could go to better use if we implement the Safety Center concept. I am the first to say we need more input, more research in best practices, and looking at other ideas in this area, but we must move forward.

I believe my friend, Randy, will be of great assistance to me and my office and I know that he is a skilled lawyer who will represent me well. He starts on January 5, 2015.

I am glad that he has agreed to serve as my Special Counsel and I look forward to working with him as we make Knox County a safer place to live, work and raise a family.

Also in a released statement, Nichols said:

Thank you, Sheriff, for allowing me the opportunity to continue working in the areas of prescription pill abuse, domestic violence and matters dealing with the mentally ill. I will try my best to represent you in a way to make you proud and help our county move forward on these issues that cause great misery to our people and incur massive costs for the taxpayers. You and I think alike in that there has to be better ways to deal with these problems that can only be achieved with considerable work and the ability to bring people together to make decisions.

I look forward to serving the citizens of Knox County and hopefully help in bringing about positive change.

DA Nichols retiring after 22 years

It's a courtroom career that rivals the movies: a serial killer, assassination attempts, and more convictions than you can count.

After 22 years as the county's top prosecutor, District Attorney General Randy Nichols is retiring. In his time in office, he's locked up the most criminals of any DA in the history of Knox County.

But as he prepares for his last day at the end of this week, he's looking back on what he calls his "war stories."

"Its just been some things that you wouldn't believe. I've always been amazed at what people will do to each other," Nichols said in an interview with 10News, "I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I can remember these cases like it was yesterday."

If you haven't checked out Mary Scott's story on Nichols, well, you really should. And, if you have seen, then you should watch it again!

Click RIGHT SMACK HERE for it.

What's really going on with the safety center and why no traction

We’ve got a story regarding the safety center, a long talked about proposal that would help take care of the locally mentally ill and maybe help ease the overcrowding problem at the local county clink.

It’s a great idea, but I just don’t see this thing happening. (Actually, I’ve said this plenty of times in the past, but  . . . whatever. And, hey, I hope I’m wrong.)

Anyhoo, here’s the deal.

The county asked for proposals to build and operate the center and in February wrapped up the bidding process. Only Helen Ross McNabb submitted a proposal. I’m pretty sure no one has even looked at it. 

It’s certainly not been vetted.

There’s a public safety task force designed to look into these things. I think they might have met in February. They have nothing scheduled.

In the meantime, Andy Black, who’s run Helen Ross since forever and was a huge proponent of the safety center is retiring.

Randy Nichols, the county’s district attorney general and another huge proponent, also is retiring.

(The third major proponent, Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones, still has his fingers crossed from what I understand and says that the state does have a grant that can help. I’m told the grant is good for about $250K, which isn’t enough)

Then there’s the debate over who is going to pay for this thing.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett says there’s agreement that if the county puts up $1 million (which it has) and the city puts up $1 million (which it hasn’t), then the state will put up $1 million (it hasn’t).

(The center by the way is expected to cost $2 million to build and another $1.7 million annually to operate. However, there’s supposed to be some savings, although it’s hard to pinpoint a number until it’s up and running.)

Now, the city folks say there is no agreement, and were pretty surprised that the mayor said otherwise.

Also, the city isn’t so sure it’s willing to put up $1 million. Don’t get me wrong: Officials there want to help, but they want to see a “viable” plan first.

In the meantime, there’s the issue of whether city residents get double-billed.

The county says the jail is filled mostly with folks from the city. The city, however, points out that the sheriff’s office and jail is a county responsibility. Further, city officials note that city residents pay county taxes.

So, if the city chips in $1 million and they pay county taxes, are they paying double? Well, it does sound like it.

Then there’s the fact that the city has all sorts of social programs and homelessness initiatives that the county doesn’t fund. (They also supply a ton of coin to KCDC.)

Burchett says he’s willing to wait another year and get everyone on the same page. If not, then they’ll have to go to Plan B.

At this point there is no Plan B.

In another year, however, I suspect they’ll have to come up with one.

Anyway, here’s the story.

County prosecutor picks up petition to run for criminal ct clerk post

Jason Hunnicutt

Well, well, things might get interesting in the race for the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk’s seat.

Jason Hunnicutt, a prosecutor in the District Attorney General’s Office, picked up a nominating petition today to run for the post. This comes less than a day after incumbent (and embattled) clerk Joy McCroskey told her staffers thatshe would not seek re-election.

At this point Republicans Mike Hammond, a county commissioner, and Steve Williams, a local attorney, are running. Candidates have until noon tomorrow to turn in their petitions.

Hunnicutt, 40, has worked as an assistant district attorney for Knox County since 2002 with a one year intermission (2005-06) when he served as counsel to the Commissioner of Safety. He’s also worked as legislative counsel for the Tennessee General Assembly.

He received a degree in political science from the University of Tennessee and a law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys College of Law in 2000.

Anyhoo, you can find a lot of this stuff right smack here.

District Attorney General Randy Nichols has a policy that if any of his employees run for office against an incumbent then they have to take a leave of absence. Since McCroskey opted out of the race, Hunnicutt will be allowed to continue working in the office.

The county primary is set for May with a general election in August.

DA to commish: Table Baumgartner plan

Apparently, the good attorney general isn't too keen on that resolution the County Commission unanimously approved during last week's work session.

You know, the one that asks Big Bill and some of the boys (and ladies) in the state Legislature to request from the TBI for a copy of the unreleased Judge Richard "da Creeper" Baumgartner file.

Click right smack here for the initial story I wrote about the resolution.

The commission this afternoon was set to rubber stamp this thing, but Chairman Mike Hammond said Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols asked him to hold off.

In a letter, written by Nichols to Hammond today, the DA said his office had something similar cooking and he didn't need the commission meddling in it. (Actually those are more my words than his.)

Anyhoo, you can read the letter by clicking right smack here.

Hammond said Nichols has 30 days or the commission is bringing back the resolution.