Speed a concern on county roads
Dec. 14—Excessive speed by vehicles traveling on Garvin County's road has one commissioner concerned about the future tragedies that could come unless something is done.
District 3 Commissioner Mike Gollihare brought up his concerns during a regular meeting earlier this week.
While driving recently Gollihare says he was traveling around 55 mph on a county road when he "was swallowed up" by a vehicle going so fast it was clearly a danger to others.
His concerns center on the possibility of more deadly wrecks on Garvin County's roads in the future.
"We've got to figure out a way to put more officers in the field on patrol," Gollihare said as his fellow commissioners Gary Ayres from District 2 and Randy Chandler from District 1 listened on at the meeting.
"It's getting bad and going to effect someone in a bad way. They know there are no consequences, so they just go fast. Watch how they drive on 1600," he said about about an east-west county road with a long stretch on the eastern side of the county.
Then it happened again as Gollihare estimates a second vehicle he encountered was traveling around 100 mph at the time.
"They were moving. They're flying on these smooth county roads. They know no fear of being stopped. It's speed and it's coming," Gollihare said, referring to the potential for more accidents.
"I'm not putting this on the sheriff's department. This is pretty much on us to figure out how to come up with the money to do this."
Also there was Garvin County Sheriff Jim Mullett, who agrees more can be done to patrol Garvin County and help keep the roads safer.
"Our guys are working very hard for this county," Mullett said.
"They're working some tough cases. You're actually right, we definitely need some more people."
The sheriff then used just the facts to show commissioners what his department is up against.
Over the past full year the office has taken more than 8,500 calls, which comes to about 23 calls per day for each deputy.
Out of that nearly 1,000 reports were generated — about three a day.
More than 700 arrest warrants were served during the year, about the same for papers served, and more than 1,500 individuals were booked into Garvin County jail. That's maybe four or five a day.
As for the staff to deal with all these numbers, Mullett says counting himself and Undersheriff James Richardson he's got 15 deputies to work cases and patrol county roads.
In reality, one of those deputies has a job to transport inmates to and from other facilities, which really leaves 12 deputies to tackle all of the daily things expected of the sheriff's office.
Currently there's one candidate undergoing officer training, which Mullett says costs around $10,000.
The sheriff's office was also in the neighborhood of spending $8,000 for gasoline last month.
"We go from call to call. We respond to all calls; that's what we do.
"OHP's got four guys for three counties," he said, referring to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
"So who's getting those calls to secure a scene. We're getting those calls."
