Letcher County has a new sheriff. Tuesday, Judge-Executive Terry Adams appointed Deputy Billy Jones to fill the remainder of the term of Mickey Stines, who’s accused of fatally shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins September 19th. Before the shooting, Stines announced he would retire in 2026 and Jones had begun campaigning for the post. “It’s definitely not how we wanted to take the office, but you know, we’re going to embrace it and do our best to get our office back in order and get back to doing what we do best, and that’s serving as citizens of Letcher County.” Jones is a Letcher County native who served in the Air Force and was a Nicholasville police officer for 20 years before joining the Letcher Sheriff’s Department in 2019 as a school resource officer. He said one of his top priorities is rebuilding department morale. “We are a small town. We are a small office. We are a family here, and so we have to, I think, the number one goal is to get back to work, and get back to serving, and time heals all, as they say, and then we’re a close-knit group, so we’ll lean on each other, rely on each other.” Stines resigned Monday – a day before he appeared in court for a probable cause hearing. A letter from his attorney says it was a retirement and not related to requests that he step down. ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post New Letcher County sheriff says rebuilding staff morale is a top priority appeared first on The Lexington Times.