County Commission passes Blue Line resolution

The Hardeman County Commission passed a resolution during their Tuesday, October 20, regular meeting at the Hardeman County Courthouse, calling for the State of Tennessee Legislature to enact a law making any assault or death threat against a law enforcement officer a felony.
“Our law enforcement personnel deserve this,” Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain said. “”We could be the first county in the country to pass a resolution like this.”
According to the proposed law, any person who intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to a law enforcement officer, or any person communicates to another person a threat concerning a law enforcement officer, if the threat is directly related to the officer’s scope of employment, the threat involves the use of a firearm or other deadly weapon, if the person whom the threat is made reasonably believes that the person making the threat intends to carry the threat out, and the person making the threat intentionally engages in conduct that constitutes a substantial step in the commission of the threatened act, shall be guilty of a Class E Felony with a maximum fine of $5,000.
Commissioner Mike Madden wanted to know why it would only be a Class E Felony. The resolution passed 13-1 with only Commissioner Mac Vaughn voting no.
In other action, commissioners approved a resolution allowing Sain to enter into an agreement with the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to construct and develop a hunter education/shooting park facility. The Funds would come from a 75/25 percent grant from the TWRA and would be built on the UT 4H Center property at Lone Oaks Farm. The use of the land would constitute the county’s 25 percent match.

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