RUSSELLVILLE – In a tense meeting Tuesday, Logan County Fiscal Court reviewed a grand jury report commending the county’s jail, but also cited it for drug problems.

The discussion was put on the court’s agenda at the request of Magistrate Dickie Carter, a frequent critic of Jailer Bill Jenkins. Carter said he would like to see a drug dog at the jail more often.

Jenkins said searches are conducted randomly and that a sizable amount of marijuana was found taped to a state inmate’s &#8220private parts” during a recent strip search.

&#8220Right after they come back from work release is the best search time,” Jenkins said.

In addition to contraband activity, Carter also said a sexual contact allegation was made. Jenkins then criticized Carter for operating under the assumption that county deputies were lying rather than the inmates.

&#8220The three people who made the allegations were convicted felons,” Jenkins said. &#8220If all someone has to do is say you touched them, I wouldn’t want to work there.”

Carter, sifting through a list of points he wanted to make, said his criticism stems from the fact that the fiscal court is ultimately responsible for any lawsuits brought against the jail.

Defending himself again, Jenkins said only one lawsuit, which the county won, has been brought against the jail in his 10 years on the job. He calmly responded to Carter’s questions, a departure from the last fiscal court session in which he walked out of the room frustrated.

County Judge-Executive John Guion urged Carter to hasten his comments so the court could move to other matters.

&#8220I’m getting worn out with riding a wet horse to death,” Guion told Carter.

&#8220Bear with me, I’ll be done in just a few minutes. You’ve got an attitude today, judge,” Carter responded.

Carter said it is unrealistic to expect the jail’s problems to be completely solved; nevertheless, he wants to check progress periodically. Carter also said lighting conditions outside the jail need to improve.

In his department report earlier, Jenkins said a new, 16-camera surveillance system has been ordered and should be installed within the next week.

&#8220It’ll record 16 cameras simultaneously for six months,” Jenkins said.

Afterward, cameras will be reset to save storage space, but important videos can be saved to compact discs, he said.

In 2005, 2,207 inmates were booked, their median age was 34, and they averaged 246 days in Logan’s jail. The inmates cost the county $36.40 a day, according to Jenkins.

In other department head reports, Logan County Sheriff Wallace Whittaker sought and got the courts’ approval to apply for a $1.5 million grant from Kentucky’s Homeland Security office.

The grant would help develop communications systems, an emergency preparation awareness campaign, and regional response teams. In the event of a disaster, Whittaker said Homeland Security’s first priority is to have a radio system in place where everyone can communicate on the same frequency.