To the editor:

Betty Ussach and David Ehrens each had recent letters in their anti-Tom Hodgson series appear in Dartmouth Week. They both seem to be singing in the same choir about the Sheriff’s alleged collusion with white supremacists, but neither of them identify who these groups are. It would be interesting to know just who they think fits into this category. The Better Business Bureau? Or maybe the American Legion? Mr. Ehrens quotes Sheriff Hodgson as stating in an interview for a documentary called “American Sheriff” that he “boasted of giving inmates substandard food.” Funny, I checked out that documentary and the sheriff clearly stated: “We give them sound nutritious meals.” Perhaps Mr. Ehrens can explain in his next screed against Sheriff Hodgson how “substandard” is a synonym for “nutritious.”

Among a number of criticisms he hurled against the sheriff was his alleged “recidivism problem due to poor management.” The online stats I could find concerning recidivism were from 2016. That’s relevant because Tom Hodgson was sheriff then too. Statewide, the rate was 32%. A sample of counties: Barnstable 32%, Bristol 35%, Berkshire 36%, Franklin 47%. Yes, Bristol County was slightly higher than the state average, but not much. In contrast, the State of Delaware clocked in at 64%. Perhaps the prisons down there are too country-club-like to serve as much of a deterrence. That is just one reason why Sheriff Tom Hodgson does not run a country club in Bristol County.

Harry J. Booth,
Dartmouth