(This article first appeared in the May print edition of the Hendersonian.)
In what has become the most contentious race in this spring’s primary, both candidates for jailer have slung barbs and made accusations. And both Eddie Vaught and Anthony Willett claim that they are the honest one, while their opponent is lying.
The leadup to this point has included, according to different sources, an accusation that Willett would come in and make wholesale firings if he wins the seat.
Then, Willett organized a March 21 meeting in which he invited jail deputies so that he can set the record straight that he would not fire anyone, this according to Willett.
Next up, Willett posted to his Facebook page training documents from the Henderson County Detention Center that he says shows that a good portion of the training occurring is via online classes, and not the in-person training needed to both practice protocol and handle inmates correctly. This, he said, is important in the campaign because Vaught is the training coordinator at the jail.
But before Willett posted the files he had received in October through an open records request to HCDC, he didn’t redact personal information—social security numbers and dates of birth—of 73 HCDC employees listed on the training documents.
Furthermore, when the records were sent from the jail to Willett, jail employees didn’t initially redact the personal information, either.
The county employee assigned to do the investigation, Angela Comer, said the jail was at fault and should have redacted the information. But Willett should have redacted the information, too, before he posted it, she said. (Once Willett was informed of the unredacted information, he took it down, redacted the information, and then re-posted it.)
More recently, Willett has charged that Vaught lied about his military service record, saying that his opponent’s military records show that he served from 1989 to 1991, not until 1993 as Vaught he wrote on an application for a job at the jail years ago and on a Hendersonian candidate introduction in which candidates answer set questions about themselves.
In a Facebook video he posted on April 26, Vaught said he made a mistake in writing that he was in the Army from 1989 through 1993. Vaught said in his video that he should have written that he served from 1989 through 1991 and then was inactive reserve till 1997.
Willett, who served in the Marines, likened this incident to “stolen valor.”
But Willett’s charge of stolen valor has its own problem. Willett sent to the Hendersonian—with what he thought was an anonymous email address—the documents that prove the length of Vaught’s time in the military. According to a document from the National Personnel Records Center: “Edward Vaught served in the Army from October 2nd 1989 to September 24th 1991.”
When this paper was gathering information for this article, the Hendersonian told him that his name was on the email, and he asked that he not be named. The paper’s response was that it felt like he was asking the Hendersonian to lie for him.
In response, Willett said he would eventually make a post about Vaught’s military service.
The Hendersonian called Vaught two times and left messages on April 24 and April 25. He did not respond before the deadline for this article.
This is the extent of what this newspaper knows about the hijinks in this race.
So, what does this mean for the voter? The Hendersonian used the April 16 Republican candidate forum for answers about how the jail should be run.
That evening, Vaught, currently a captain at HCDC, said leadership starts from the inside. He didn’t deny that the jail has problems. “And I’m going to fix them,” he said.
He said remaining fiscally responsible, as it has been for 20 years, is a goal with the coming expansion of HCDC that will bring 100 additional beds to the facility.
He also said that the community service program, which includes the jail’s garden, needs to improve.
And he wants to start a campaign to publicize some of the things that deputies do so that people know positives coming from the jail, not just negatives.
He said escapes at the jail in the last couple years should be described as walkaways because the inmates just walked away when out doing outside work and there weren’t any barriers.
Another priority for Vaught is taking care of the mental health of deputies who work at HCDC. Now, Vaught wants to start programs dealing with that and hopes it can spread across the state and nation. Working in corrections is rough, he said, and it’s important that those who look after the community are taken care of.
Willett worked 10 years at the jail before moving over to the sheriff’s office, where he’s been for 14 years. Willett said former Jailer Ron Herrington (who wrote a letter to the editor endorsing Willett that appears in this issue) gave him his blessing if he got the jail running right, which he did, soon taking a job in the sheriff’s office.
Years later in 2024, he said current Jailer Bruce Todd asked him twice to fix problems at the jail by conducting trainings. When Todd asked a third time, according to Willett, he told him he was just going to run for jailer and fix the problems when elected.
Willett said challenges at the jail are recidivism among inmates, the jail’s safety and security and fiscal responsibility. He said he wants to work with local employers to help inmates find work opportunities when they are released.
He also contended that an October escape, or a walkaway, should not have occurred as the prisoner had a history of escapes and should not have been outside on a work crew.
Training is one of Willett’s main concerns, as witnessed by the open records request dealing with training. More and better training is needed at the jail, he said. Currently, the jail requires 16 hours of training before a deputy works the floor, Willett said at the forum. Vaught, on his Facebook video, said that new employees get more training than what Willett claims.
Willett wants new deputies to be trained for two weeks before shadowing a current deputy for two more weeks before they can work the floor alone.
Willett also said if elected he’s going to implement a public information officer to increase transparency.
