An angry discussion Thursday

night has boiled over into a full-fledged fight between the Fayette County

Sheriff's Department and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners over

the sheriff's department recent purchase of a helicopter.

On one side is Maj. Bruce Jordan

who claims he got the County Commission's blessing before the helicopter

was purchased in August.

"The sheriff and I sat

down and talked with (Fayette County Commission Chairman) Greg Dunn and

(county administrator) Chris Cofty," said Jordan. "Greg gave

me his blessing and said he would talk it over with the other commissioners

and hold a meeting when he had the votes to approve it."

Dunn, though, has a different

account of the Aug. 16 meeting.

"We did have a meeting,

but I told Bruce to write down what he needed," said Dunn. "He

wants the board to pay for maintenance and other costs at about $50,000

a year. He never submitted us a letter and purchased the helicopter on

Aug. 20."

Dunn also was upset the helicopter

was titled to the board.

"What would have happened

if the helicopter had crashed on the way back from New Hampshire? We would

have been liable," he said.

During Thursday night's County

Commission meeting, Jordan was peppered with questions from the commission.

The major explained the department

had to purchase the helicopter quickly, because a good deal had been discovered

in New Hampshire.

"We found an excellent

helicopter, and sent somebody with a deposit to New Hampshire," he

said.

Other agencies wanted the chopper,

but Jordan said Fayette County was the only agency who took money with

them and was able to purchase it.

Jordan told the board the helicopter

would be used in 10-hour shifts, five days a week to aid in high speed

chases that run through the county and marijuana eradication. Although

it would be available all during the day, he said it would probably be

in the air about two hours a day.

Commissioner Herb Frady, who

has a flying background, said he was told by an aviation expert the chopper

would cost about $450 an hour to operate, which would cost the board far

more than $50,000 a year.

In fact, Commissioner A.G.

VanLandingham said if the copter were used three hours a day, it would

cost $327,000 a year to maintain.

Jordan said many of the expenses

incurred by the copter would be funded by the department's drug seizure

fund, and he felt sure the board would only be liable for his budget request.

The board also made it clear

that they did not like finding out about the purchase through local news

accounts. Jordan said the personnel for flying the copter would be funded

through this year's personnel requests and explained the helicopter served

the same purpose in high speed chases as 15 deputies in patrol cars.

But Commissioner Linda Wells

said the department had said they needed every one of the deputies they

had requested during the last budget period and had a problem with departments

asking for more money so soon into the budget year.

In the end, the County Commission

decided to wait two weeks before it made any decision on funding the copter.

They are expected to make a final decision at the Sept. 26 meeting.

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