U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Bowling Green made a stop in Hopkinsville Tuesday morning at the Christian County Sheriff’s Department and spoke about issues facing law enforcement and other topics.
On the top of many people’s list of worries locally has been the possibility of budget cuts at Land Between the Lakes, but Senator Paul says they’ve been watching proceedings very closely and staying in contact with officials about the matter, and he’s pretty confident LBL won’t face cuts.
He says he’s not sure about of any potential change to which agency oversees operations at LBL, meaning that it wouldn’t likely change from TVA for at least the foreseeable future.
Speaking on the U.S. now completely pulling out of Afghanistan, Senator Paul says most everything that could have gone wrong did, calling it disappointing that America had tried for 20 years to instill a solid government in that country that fell apart rapidly. He says he’s disturbed that the government left far too much equipment, military or otherwise, in the hands of the Taliban and he would like to see something happen to change that.
He fielded questions and concerns from a small crowd of local law enforcement leaders, from issues about the pension system—whether an agency should be classified as hazardous or non-hazardous—hiring complications in today’s environment and more. Concerning a law enforcement reform bill at the federal level, that would include modifying qualified immunity, Senator Paul says right now it could be dead on arrival.
CCSO and HPD officials told the senator that they are blessed to have a community that supports them and to have a good relationship with citizens, and they continue to look into ways to create trust and foster good will.