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Sheriff says ‘thank you’ to deputies
sheriff's deputies thank you
Bryan County Sheriff's Office employees after a promotion event Saturday. Photo by Jeff Whitten.

Bryan County Sheriff Mark Crowe said he wanted to do something special for newly promoted men and women who work in the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, “rather than just hand them a certificate and say, ‘here’s your promotion.’” “We wanted to say thank you,” Crowe said.

And so he did late Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Hill City Center, handing out promotions and appointments and praising the performances of those on the receiving end during a catered event that lasted a little under two hours.

Among those to be recognized were Chief Deputy David Ellis, one of a number of law enforcement officers hired by Crowe when he took office in January; Maj. David Blige, commander of BCSO’s patrol and traffic divisions; Capt. Dennis Davis, the county’s new top detective, and Capt. Rick Hughes, assistant patrol commander; Lt. Resa Deal, the county’s new sex crime investigator; Lt. John Futch, a longtime patrol deputy and sergeant promoted to assistant jail administrator; and Lt. Joey Waters, who is in charge of courthouse security and civil papers.

Promoted to sergeant were Jenny Hammond, Matt Lynn, Sydney Sapp, Matt Spacek and Billy Williams. Chris Brown was promoted to sergeant of detention at the jail while Cynthia Sims was named office administrator, Jodie Jernigan was appointed E-911 director and Chaley Davis was promoted to assistant E-911 director. Leeannah Good was named BCSO’s communications training officer.

Crowe, who took office in January, spent time talking about each of those he promotion or hire, saying he wanted those who’ve been entrusted with more responsibility to know they earned it.

“We’ve surrounded ourselves with a lot of great people so far, and these certificates up here, they say you have been chosen because of your exemplary character and your willingness to do the things that matter,” he told them. “We wanted to say thank you, and we appreciate everything and every part of what you do.”

The event was funded with seized drug funds, according to Crowe.

Blige, who has been with BCSO for decades and was recently honored with Richmond Hill’s first friend of the city award, said it was a good thing and likely a first in his experience at BCSO.

“It means a lot to be recognized in our line of work,” he said. “It really does.”

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