This race will be decided in August. The Red candidate is Jimmy “J.J.” Jones and the Blue candidate is Randy Tyree.

Jones has been with the Sheriff’s Department and KPD. He hasn’t bounced back and forth, in and out of law enforcement. He has stayed in the profession. No one can say that he is “the Tim Hutchison” man. While if he was that would not be a problem for me, I have and do support Sheriff Tim. However, we are talking about “J.J.” not Tim and after all “J.J.” ran against Tim several years ago. “J.J” is the only candidate with the experience continue the long legacy of improving our Sheriff’s department.

Let’s not take a step backwards to the 1980’s when the department was run by a blue Sheriff, Joe Fowler. Fowler did not advance the department with improvements in technology and tools to assist the department. Say what you will about Tim Hutchison. But you can not minimize the improvements that he brought to this department. When a crime is committed in Knox County we have the officers, technology and we have criminals behind bars.

Tyree, former Mayor of Knoxville. He brought Knoxville the 1982 Worlds Fair. He was safety director before being Mayor. He has achieved many great things for our community. He challenged Victor Ashe several times. I like Randy and Mary Pat. They are great people. I consider Randy one of my favorite blue people. But the fact remains that Randy is older now and the job of Sheriff is fast paced and kind of willy. We need someone with experience within the last couple of decades. Randy Tyree, I like you, I respect you.

However, Brian’s Blog is with “J.J.”