President Kent Harris of the East Tennessee Constables Association said the association had a tremendous year. Thirty-one constables received diplomas after successfully completing 40 hours of training in Morristown. Harris says the training was put together by Chief Training Officer Ken Potter, who also serves as 7th District Constable. The school covered 23 topics such as civil process, active shooter, building search, use of force, domestic violence, child abuse, EVOC and other topics. Harris said the instructors who delivered the instructions were great with the topics. They were Constable Ken Potter, Sheriff Eddie Tester, S/A Jerry Stout, Retired Trooper Carroll Glover and Retired Narcotic Officer David Walker.

During the program, 3rd District State Representative Timothy Hill was made an honorary member of the Association. Harris praised Representative Hill for all that he has done to help improve the Constables. Ken Potter said Representative Hill is an asset to all law enforcement.

Johnson County Sheriff Edward “Eddie” Tester was given the prestigious award of Sheriff of the Year. Harris said Tester is respected throughout the state. He won the award by a unanimous vote of the membership. The Elizabethton Star and publisher Delaney Scalf were voted newspaper and publisher of the year by the association. Potter said the Star is a great newspaper along with the professional employees and that they are top.

Harris thanks the Elizabethton UPS Store for making and issuing ID cards to each member of the association. He said this is the first time this has been done. President Harris said the goal of the East Tennessee Constable Association is to help them and to have open communications to help each other. He also said the association took in new members and are already making plans and looking forward to next year