Kevin Hensley
Publisher, The Graham Star
Three months of speculation regarding the purchase of a new search and rescue boat was cleared up at a quick convergence of local and regional officials Aug. 14.
Graham County Sheriff Brad Hoxit and Swain County Sheriff Brian Kirkland thanked Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Hendersonville) at the Lemmons Branch Boat Ramp on Fontana Lake, for his assistance in obtaining $80,000 in federal funding to purchase a 2025 Yamaha AR250.
“This is a prime example of someone in public service listening to the needs of folks that serve the area,” Edwards said. “I heard so many stories from Graham County and Swain County, of law enforcement officers that were called to duty on the lake. Sometimes, they had to use their personal boats to get bodies out of the lake during rescues; sometimes, they had to go to marinas and borrow boats.
“While I know there’s a lot of needs out here in these western counties, this is just a small part of that. I’m really honored to be in a place to help with that and I applaud the folks in Graham and Swain County law enforcement.
“I hope you don’t have to do any rescues in this, but I’m glad you’ve got it if you need it.”
Edwards said funding for the boat came from the Community Project Funding Grant, which falls under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Per the department’s website, grants are awarded yearly for projects such as housing, homelessness prevention, workforce training, public facilities, parks, resilience planning and other critical infrastructure and services
Purchased from a Tennessee dealership, it first appeared outside the Graham County Sheriff’s Office in the spring.
“It’s being housed in Graham, but it’s available for us if we need it,” Kirkland said. “We’ve had to use deputies over the years that go home and get their personal boats, and come out here for search and rescue operations. We have multiple houseboats on this lake and we have domestics out there, just like you would in any neighborhood or community that you get to by land.”
Hoxit relayed his personal motivation behind wanting to obtain a boat suitable for rescue missions in a press release issued to The Graham Star on Monday.
“Before I was elected as sheriff of Graham County, I was employed by another law enforcement agency and assisted the Graham County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff (Jerry) Crisp with a suspicious drowning on Lake Santeetlah,” Hoxit said. “Sheriff Crisp and the Graham County Sheriff’s Office requested a boat and I volunteered my personal pontoon boat for their assistance. After a lengthy search they recovered a deceased person and used my personal pontoon for the recovery efforts.
“Shortly after I was elected into the Office of Sheriff, Graham County had another drowning incident in which we had to wait several hours for another county to respond with a boat. Shortly after this incident the Graham County Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic dispute call on a house boat in the Panther Creek Area of Graham County. Deputies and I had to commandeer a pontoon boat with no navigation lights from a local marina to respond and had to use flashlights to navigate the boat in pitch black darkness.”
Both Graham and Swain counties share Fontana Lake; Graham is also home to Calderwood, Cheoah and Santeetlah lakes, as well. The Monday release noted that the Graham County Sheriff’s Office has 350 houseboats on Fontana Lake under its jurisdiction.
Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower donated an additional $25,000 toward the effort, which went toward the purchase of fuel, equipment, solar electronics, radios, blue lights, marking the boat itself and a canopy for the boat to be housed under outside the Graham County Sheriff’s Office.
“I know there has been a lot of discussion about Graham County taxpayers having to purchase the boat,” Hoxit said in Monday’s release. “I just want to state that this information is not correct and everything purchased has come 100 percent from the federal grant and donation from Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower donation. The residents of Graham County should be very thankful and blessed that we have such partners that wants to work to help and keep our county as safe as possible.
“I also want to give Congressman Edwards and staff and Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower a big thanks for their efforts and donations into making this possible.”