Unbelievable, mold, the boats, the cars, prisoners that don't wear the same outfit as the others are sent down the road, unbelievable. I am having a bit of trouble finding my give a darn.

A, I retired as a Corrections Officer just shy of 21 years service. The first thing I learned was that being consistent with all inmates is number one. Have you ever had children and gave something to one the others didn't get. It causes problems and the local inmates’ rebel against the employees because of it. We had problems with the Jail and the Boats but the Sheriff didn't give back a boat load of money he fixed the problems as they were discovered so it didn't cause him to shut down cells that house rental inmates and areas the employee's and public use. Do you really want Inmates with the weapons charges getting visits from the same kind and then moving here when they are released? Why have people to come here to visit inmates? They just may see our area for the great place it is and decide to move here. I think the current Sheriff should be thanked instead of belittled because he sees problems and attempts to fix them instead of hiding them with paint. That’s like saying if you can't see it’s not there. Robert A. Wilson , Fountain.

These are all problems Sheriff Cole told us about that were going on and certain people decided not to believe him and tried accusing him of wanted to spend too much money. I guess we see why so much money was "saved the last 4 years. It’s sad to see someone would ignore problems just to try making themself look better. Thank you for coming out and fixing the problems Sheriff Cole.

The MDOC must have some standards to follow when it comes to routine maintenance in public jail systems. Sounds like we have none here. So, who's fault is that? Mold has been around since time began, so this is not a real issue either. I'm sure there are plenty of prisoners that would gladly volunteer for this work as in incentive for some good time towards their sentence too, so, why can't the administration get a bit more involved and act, instead of just belly-ache again? Being a union member shouldn't mean that you can't get your hands dirty, or look for solutions to daily problems, instead of crying to the public for sympathy.

I wonder if Feirs knew about mold? Or if he just kept his mouth shut, like he did with the boats and all of the other problems that have been let out of the bag since the change in leadership. Sounds like things really went down hill under the leadership of the previous sheriff, but now the jig is up.

I believe the previous Sheriff knew something. I remember during Coles campaign he stated that the jail had leaks and a lot of problems and Jeff just ignored the concern. Jeff came out and said that there wasn’t anything wrong with the jail or the boats. It’s a shame that he would put so many people’s health in jeopardy just to say how much money he has saved. We are lucky to have Sheriff Cole in there.

The main problem I have with no longer housing out of county prisoners is, if memory serves me correctly, the new jail and renovation project under Sheriff Stewarts watch was sold to the taxpayers with the understanding that we would house out of county prisoners for the expressed reason of raising money. Now this practice has been pulled, leaving the tax payers of Mason County to pick up the difference. It appears a few prisoners would go a long way in paying for maintenance .

A, If you read the story when it was announced that the last of the DOC inmates were gone, you should have seen that Sheriff Cole stated that the Jail was working on or already had a contract with I believe it was Kent County to house non weapons offense inmates, in the last 45 days of their sentence. With the DOC inmates when I worked there they didn't always have the cell full either. I would much rather have County Inmates than DOC inmates as the DOC inmates always complain that county jail time is too hard on them. They were in jail just like the rest and went by the same rules and regulations. We didn’t give in to their complaints. The prior Sheriff gave the DOC inmates longer visits and let them have things our local inmates didn’t have. See the problem? The local inmates held it against the Corrections Officers when the DOC inmates had things they didn’t. It could have resulted in assaults to the Officers. The only way to change back was to get those DOC inmates out and start over. Once again all inmates now have the same rules and visits. Robert A. Wilson Fountain

"a" If your going to comment, know your facts. Per the LDN, Sheriff Cole never stated he was getting rid of the program of taking in other inmates from other counties. He said in a nutshell he was getting rid of more violent inmates and was speaking with Kent County Probation Officers to bring in some probation violators instead of the more violent inmates. I look at this as Sheriff Cole is concerned with his county residents and his county employees. Looks like a lot more then that last Sheriff we had. Employees and inmates breathing black mold for who knows how long while it appears fiers knew about it, less violent inmates from out of the area over the violent inmates fiers brought in, and it looks like I won't be going on a boat anytime soon since it appears as though fiers let the county boats go to the wayside as well. "a" what did fiers do for this county that Sheriff Cole is not paying for now? Thanks for all you are doing for this county Sheriff Cole! Me and my family (kids and grandkids) feel much safer now with you as Sheriff. It appears as though you were handed over a crap sandwich and have handled it very well. Me personally would have thrown past administrations under the bus but you have stayed classy and have not gone down that road.