Commissioners surrender guns

In the first regularly scheduled meeting since they learned taxpayer funds had been used to purchase weapons, the Board of Elmore County Commissioners turned the handguns over to Sheriff Rick Layher to be issued as needed.

Commissioner Calvin Ireland made the motion that the three Glock handguns be stored in the sheriff's arms room for use as the sheriff sees fit. The motion quickly received a second by Craig McCurry, followed by a unanimous vote. With that the sheriff picked up the three cases to be stored in his armory to be issued when needed.

Each of the commissioners said they had understood the weapons could be paid for out of the grant funds. They never expected tax money would be spent for the guns, said McCurry.

He felt the only options available to the commissioners were (1) to see if they could be returned to Glock; (2) to issue them to new special deputies; or (3) to purchase them out of their own pocket, paying all the necessary taxes.

Commissioner Larry Rose reiterated his thoughts that it could be a benefit to the citizens to have people properly trained to use the weapons and being able to assist the sheriff's deputies when necessary.

Last spring, the sheriff's department applied for and received a federal Local Law Enforcement Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to standardize the weapons in the sheriff's department. Twenty-one guns were purchased for the department's use, with the county paying approximately 10 percent match for the $9,000+ grant funds. Four additional weapons were ordered -- one for the Elmore County Prosecutor and three for the commissioners.

Payment for the weapons will be made from the commissioners' budget, coming from the equipment line.