Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills not only has a reputation for being tough on law-breakers, he can be just as hard on lawmakers.
The immediate past president of the Georgia Sheriffs Association was honored as the organization’s 2013 Sheriff of the Year at a luncheon Thursday.
When Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece offered to host a barbecue, Sills imagined a small gathering behind Reece’s jail. What he got was a pavilion full of political powerhouses at the Walnut Creek Shooting Preserve.
“Who says I don’t have friends at the Capitol?” Sills asked as he took the stage before hundreds of colleagues, elected officials, judges and friends. “Look around here, now. There’s all manner of senators and representatives here, so they don’t hate me near as much as you thought they did.”
J. Terry Norris, the association’s executive director, said Sills was selected for the second time as Sheriff of the Year for his “tireless efforts in helping people understand the role of sheriff and helping with legislative issues at the General Assembly. He was also Sheriff of the Year in 2008.
The Eatonton native, who has nearly 40 years in law enforcement, is known as a fierce advocate for evaluating whether proposed legislation is in the best interest of public safety and local taxpayers.
“People tend to glaze over the fact that we as taxpayers pay for the office of sheriff, whose duties are defined by legislators,” Norris said.
For example, lawmakers mandated sex offender registries at a great cost to sheriff’s offices, he said. Sills currently is fighting legislators’ efforts to make it more difficult for law officers to seize drug dealers’ assets, funds that can purchase valuable equipment when budgets fall short.
In his remarks, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said the state needs more people such as Sills, who stand up for what they feel is right.
via Putnam Sheriff Sills honored by peers | Crime | Macon.com.
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