Request By:
Mr. Joe D. Kitchen
Carter County Sheriff
Grayson, Kentucky 41143
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your question concerns a person you are thinking about making a deputy. Your letter reads:
"I would like to deputize a person who is a Union representative and organizer and has the duties of handling arbitration cases, negotiating contracts and if necessary the organization of union strikers. As such he would not actively participate in a strike but would visit the picket line to check picket rosters and advise pickets as to their rights. Is this person eligible to be a deputy under KRS 61.300(1)(d)."
First, the only legal deputy sheriffs are those appointed under regular deputy positions established by fiscal court and who are properly salaried. See KRS 64.530 and
Funk v. Milliken, Ky., 317 S.W.2d 499 (1958). See OAG 72-815, copy enclosed. Special deputies for dire emergencies are provided in KRS 70.045. Other than the special deputies for great emergencies, there is no such thing as a special deputy in Kentucky.
If this deputy position is not a regular deputy position, as outlined above, then your question is moot and requires no answer.
If the deputy position is a regular deputy position, and the applicant you have in mind has within a period of two (2) years hired himself out, performed any service, or received any compensation from any private source for being an active participant in any labor dispute, the applicant would be disqualified under KRS 61.300(1)(d).
It would be up to the courts, under the factual situation you mention, to determine precisely whether this applicant comes within the disqualifying language of KRS 61.300(1)(d): "An active participant in any labor dispute. "