GEORGE - Metal thefts, youth crime and the county jail were just a few of many topics covered at a George town hall meeting led by Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones.

Last Thursday's meeting attracted about 20 George residents who posed a broad array of questions to Jones and his four chief deputies. Grant County commissioners Cindy Carter and Richard Stevens were also in attendance.

County jail

Jones opened the discussion with an overview of the Grant County Jail. He said a 23 and 1 lock-down he instigated has reduced inmate assaults and other problems by only allowing medium and maximum security offenders out of their cells two at a time for an hour a day in rotating shifts. Inmates are in their cells for 23 hours a day.

Excluding meal breaks and showers, Jones said he can legally hold offenders in their cells for up to 72 hours at a stretch, and he uses the hour out as a tool for keeping prisoners in line.

"It's probably pretty tough for the guys who've been there eight, nine, going on 10 months, but the hope is once they get released they don't make the same mistakes and come back," he said.

Overcrowding is an ongoing issue at Ephrata's main jail facility and the work release center for low to medium risk offenders, Jones said; adding about 180 offenders are housed between the two buildings on an average day. The main jail was originally built for 85 offenders and, while a second bunk was added to each cell and a portion of the exercise yard converted to more living units, Jones said the facility is "still stretched out to the max."

He's still looking to build a tent jail behind the main facility, but said he's waiting to get on a list for less-expensive surplus military tents on offer from the federal government after the Afghanistan conflict concludes.

"The bad thing is we need personnel to man it," Jones said. "We can get everything built and we have the area to build it, but without personnel to be able to watch them, you have inmates scaling the fence and off they go."

County-wide tax

This raised questions about a proposed 0.3 percent county-wide sales tax increase aimed at funding law enforcement.

Stevens explained all 14 communities within Grant County need to buy in to the new tax before he and his fellow commissioners will agree to put it on the ballot this fall. If passed, the county would get 60 percent of the new revenues - which Stevens estimated would be about $4.5 million - while cities receive the rest unless they opted to give it to the county.

He detailed several hurdles to effectively using the money, including a state law dictating it must only go toward new programs and can't be used to fund existing services.

"We haven't got the ability to continue our core services in the county, but if we pass this they'll only let us have money to start new services," he said. "It doesn't make sense, and the legislators have been dragging their feet on taking that language out (of the law)."

Another problem, Stevens said, is the "snowball effect" of hiring more deputies. More law enforcement will result in more arrests, leading to a need for more county defenders, prosecutors and jail personnel, he said.

"All at once we've got 25 people we've hired, which has taken up close to $2.5 million of the money and then we may need a new (jail) facility, which could cost $50 million."

Stevens encouraged residents to voice their opinions about the proposed tax to their city councils or contact the board of county commissioners directly.

Metal thefts

Another hot topic was rural metal thefts, which Jones said remain a priority for him. Over the past year, he said his office updated a "no buy list" and worked closely with the five Grant County recycling businesses to assure they're no longer accepting potentially stolen scrap from disqualified sellers.

A recent inspection of four metal recyclers found just one violator, according to Chief Deputy Ryan Rectenwald. They have two weeks to correct the problem before being reinspected, he said, and all recyclers are on notice that undercover officers will be paying them visits.

"It's making an impact," Rectenwald said. "Last year when we first started the program we'd would go in and see receipt slips for $500 to $800 worth of copper. This time I couldn't find a receipt slip that was anything close to above $30. Our goal is not to slow legitimate business, but to stop people from ripping off circle wire and turning it into scrap yards. I know farmers aren't in the business of raising copper."

Jones said the county prosecutor's office is now taking an average of one metal theft related trial to court every week - nearly triple the number from when he became sheriff last year. Even so, he said he understands the anger of farmers and other rural residents who are still seeing their property stolen.

"I just want you to know that I understand your frustration," he said. "It's also frustrating for us as an agency not to be able to respond as I would like to, to make sure your property is secure and safe ... But we're going to work with what we have and do everything in our power to make sure that you, your homes and property is safe."

Response times

This raised the issue of response times to George and other rural areas, which many residents have found sluggish.

Commissioner Carter asked people to remain patient, as the sheriff's office patrols more than 2,500 miles of county roadway.

"So when it takes a little time for an officer to respond to your call, you've got to remember to look at the vastness of our county. It takes a while," she said.

One woman said she often hears gunshots in George but no longer calls 9-1-1 because in the past she's waited for hours after calling only to have no deputies respond.

"Those kind of things are not acceptable to me. I don't stand for that," Jones replied. "Please don't get discouraged and please continue to call. If they don't respond down here that's something I need to know. I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken."

Other residents said they'd like to see changes to the Multi-Agency Communications Center (MACC), which is the main dispatch call center for Grant County.

"They need to change the people on the other end of the phone," one man said; adding he's been frustrated at how he's been treated and the type of questions he's asked.

Another woman said she reported gang activity across the street from her residence only to have MACC dispatchers broadcast her name over the scanner, resulting in harassment from the alleged gang members.

Jones, who sits on MACC's board of directors, explained callers can ask dispatchers not to broadcast their name and said he'd pass along the other complaints.

Youth crime

Finally, Jones was asked what the county can do to curb youth crimes in George, such as shootings and drug use.

The town, which doesn't have its own police force, recently hired a private security firm to patrol the streets, but residents say they're limited in their effectiveness.

"We have several drug houses and gang houses in George but, as private security, they're not allowed to carry guns, not allowed to stop or arrest anybody," one man said. "All they can do is make their presence known and the drug people and gang people have realized they're pretty toothless."

Another resident asked if more manpower could be directed toward the gang task force.

"It seems to me the gangs have only gotten worse," she said. "I hate to see it be like Mattawa, we live in a nice little town."

Overall, county-wide gang incidents have decreased since last year, according to Jones, who said he'd look into bringing the gang task force to George to try and get criminals to either quiet down or leave the area.

"Folks, just remember, that we'll come down and we'll patrol and put pressure on these folks, these kids, but at the end of the day please understand that as commissioned law enforcement we have to follow the Constitution of the United States," Jones said. "If we don't then I'm subject to suit, the county is subject to suit, everybody is subject to litigation because we violated somebody's constitutional rights whether they're 12 or 80."

The next sheriff town hall meeting takes place May 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Grand Coulee at Pepper Jack's Restaurant, 113 Midway Avenue. Another is scheduled June 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Royal City at the Royal High School Library.