A chronology of events in Tim Hutchison's career
1970
Graduates from West High School.
1972-74
Self-employed with Hutchison Construction Company.
1974
Hired as process server for the sheriff's office. Later becomes correctional officer.
1975
Hutchison applies to be patrolman.
1976
Takes exam; scores 94.
January 1979
Transferred to Metro Auto Theft Division, a joint Sheriff's Department/KPD outfit.
November 1981
Promoted from sergeant to patrol lieutenant.
1990
Runs for sheriff. In Republican primary, opponent Bill Wilson calls him a "Fowler pawn." The Knoxville News-Sentinel describes his platform as "progressive professional." Hutchison pledges to set up special patrol zones in Halls and Farragut and get more patrol officers by reorganizing the department. He accuses Fowler of losing control of the jail and questions whether Fowler's young enough to be an effective sheriff. Wins general election by about 26,000 to 21,000 votes.
October 1990
Sea Ray Boats donates a 23-foot boat, allowing the Sheriff's Department to start a marine unit.
March 1991
A few months after taking office, Hutchison announces he's starting a county narcotics unit, separate from the city-county Metro Narcotics Unit, which he says spends too much time on crimes in the city. Police Chief Phil Keith is outraged.
August 1991
Sheriff announces big drug bust, claiming deputies seized 200 pounds of marijuana. Later it's revealed that the Sheriff's Department supplied the pot and that one of those arrested was an informant; Sentinel aggressively reports and editorializes against sheriff's deception. Hutchison writes angry letter claiming paper jeopardized life of informant. Beginning of rift between Sheriff and Sentinel.
October 1992
Sheriff's deputies arrest Thomas "Zoo Man" Huskey and later charge him in murders of several prostitutes.
1994
Rudy Bradley, a KPD higher-up, runs against Hutchison in general election. Sheriff takes a beating in the press for a series of associations and events. County Medical Examiner Randall Pedigo, Hutchison's friend and supporter, is arrested in June after a shootout with TBI agents. Allegations of abusing prisoners—"angel-cuffing" and a "Be Sweet" helmet—come out just a week before the election. But Hutchison beats Bradley by about 32,600 votes to 27,627.
1995
Hutchison builds a firing range, training center and driving track on Maloneyville Road using more than $100,000 of money seized from drug suspects. He also uses inmate labor and undisclosed donations. County Commission didn't know about the facility until it was almost completed, even though it was on county property.
February 1995
Les and Carol Dotts are killed in their Farragut house when they return home to find burglars. Sheriff's investigators track the killing back to members of the notorious Gagne family and charge them with the murder.
1996
Hutchison campaigns against city-county unification referendum, which would have reduced his job to county jailer/process server. Unification was supported by Mayor Ashe and city Republican elite, and its defeat adds to perception of Hutchison's power.
August 1996
With the help of Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., Hutchison and Blount County sheriff obtain a surplus helicopter from the Department of Defense. They quickly put it to use, finding a crop of 370 marijuana plants in the Mascot area.
1997
County auditor and state comptroller find that Hutchison misused drug money by building the firing range. They say the money should be paid back from the general fund. Sheriff ignores findings.
March 1997
Sheriff's deputies find the body of Kathy Holladay Beadle, buried in a concrete slab for 10 months, and charge her boyfriend Tony Vick with the murder.
1998
Wins National Sheriff of the Year award from National Sheriff's Association, for among other things modernizing the department with air and dive teams and building training facilities. Beats Carlos Ramsey in primaries. Runs unopposed in general election. Wins re-election without a serious challenge. His support of Cathy Quist for a county court clerkship helps her unseat Lillian Bean.
May 1999
Dissatisfied with Public Building Authority's management of the $90 million Justice Center project, Knox County Commission turns control of it over to Sheriff Hutchison. Soon after, Commissioner Wanda Moody files a lawsuit challenging Hutchison's authority to manage the project.
August 1999
 Sheriff starts a new policy at the jail, requiring attorneys to meet with their clients in the regular visiting area where they talk by phone through a glass shield. More personal contact requires a court order and three days' notice. Outraged defense attorneys file suit against the sheriff. A month later, a court orders the sheriff to abandon the new policy. Some wonder whether the policy was instituted to keep attorneys from witnessing raids by jail anti-riot SORT team. Wearing masks and dark clothing, the raids allegedly included pulling inmates from their cells and hog-tying them.
Knox County Commission doesn't reappoint Jim Haslam II, a political power broker and 28-year veteran of the Public Building Authority, to another PBA term. Some believe Haslam's ouster was orchestrated by Hutchison, but he denies any part.
Jimmy "J.J." Jones, Hutchison's chief of detectives, resigns from the sheriff's department, with a letter calling the sheriff a "paranoid, selfish, power-crazed tyrant" interested only in his own "personal gain." He also accuses him of not cooperating with other law enforcement agencies.
January 2000
Hutchison resigns as overseer of the Justice Center project, saying his involvement has made opposition to the project political. Later that month, County Executive Tommy Schumpert suspends all work on the Justice Center. Project goes into limbo.
July 2001
Sheriff's investigators arrest suspects in the Ramsey's Cafeteria slaying, after finding money and the alleged murder weapon in the Tennessee River. KPD investigators say the Sheriff's Department never informed them it was working on the case.
September 2001
Sheriff's department signs one-year lease agreement with Scott Sheldon Walker to keep its six helicopters at his Mascot Road airstrip. It later becomes public that Walker was convicted of transporting 300 pounds of marijuana and was awaiting sentencing at the time the agreement was signed.
May 2002
Hutchison defeats Jimmy "J.J." Jones in the Republican primary with 55 percent of the vote. His supporters say it shows the sheriff is still popular, but opponents claim it shows his strength is waning and predict his defeat in August's general election.
June 13, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 24
© 2002 Metro Pulse
| 
