By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. A series of events over the past 30 days prompted Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir to challenge local officials to do something. After an impromptu announcement on social media Tuesday afternoon, Bellendir spoke about concerns during Wednesday's Barton County Commission meeting. His chief complaint involves the drug-testing policy at Community Corrections for the 20th Judicial District.
"The Barton County Commission, I believe, has the authority to hire, fire, discipline, do what you need to do," Bellendir told the commission. "Community Corrections is a governmental department. It's a county department in our county. We are the home district. You have the authority over that department. Therefore, this morning I'm asking you for either an immediate change in policy or an immediate change in leadership. This is not going to work. This is endangering our citizens."
Bellendir cited three incidents over the past month, including a hit-and-run head-on collision on March 9 that left a woman hospitalized in Wichita. Timothy Chism, who was on Community Corrections at the time and has been booked into the Barton County Jail 53 times, was later charged. Bellendir also cited the theft of brass nozzles from oilfield equipment, and an April 1 pursuit out of Hoisington that resulted in shots fired at a Hoisington police officer.
"What if that was your wife, husband, child who was struck head-on by a meth head?" Bellendir asked. "What if that was one of my deputy sheriffs, if the angle of that gun would have been three degrees higher and the bullet went through the windshield? I'd be here asking you today to pay for a funeral. This has to cease in our county."
Bellendir said Community Corrections allows its clients to fail drug tests without sanction. He has filed a Kansas Open Records Act as a private citizen to determine how many drug tests one of the accused in question failed but was denied the information by the state attorney general's office. He said he is only asking for accountability, and would even compromise with several failed tests before sanctions are issued.
"I am the first to say treatment is important," he said. "That is also why I am fully supporting Oxford Houses. You come up with a dirty UA in an Oxford House; you're out. You know why? They're getting treatment. They're getting rehabilitation, and there's accountability."
Commission Chair Shawn Hutchinson said Bellendir first addressed the commission with concerns about a month ago. Since then, the body has looked into possible solutions.
"We found out there is a Policy Advisory Board for Community Corrections, 20th Judicial District," Hutchinson said. "My perception of it is that it was a fairly inactive board. They were meeting quarterly. I looked back at the last several years of minutes, and they are mostly parliamentary, and they were mostly financial, just accepting grants and things like that."
The commission also learned three more spots on the board could be filled. Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger and a former Kansas Department of Corrections investigator filled two of those spots. The board has also moved from quarterly to monthly meetings.
"I understand you've made appointments to advisory boards," Bellendir responded. "I understand we have attempted to make this more accurate. We don't have that much time. We don't have enough time to have board meetings about board meetings about advising people."
Barton County Counselor Patrick Hoffman explained that Community Corrections for the 20th Judicial District serves five counties and is funded by the state of Kansas. And there is a process to change policy that should be followed.
"The comprehensive plan for Community Corrections for the 20th Judicial District is created by that board in conjunction with the state of Kansas Department of Corrections," he said. "If the proposal is to amend or change policy, it needs to go through that process, or else it's not legal. That's how the process is created by statute. That's why the commissioners have taken the action to put some more people on there, get some more voices in that meeting."
Hutchinson said the Policy Advisory Board may be asked to meet more frequently than monthly until the problem is solved. Hoffman said policy is on the agenda for the board's next meeting on April 25.