By Billy Davis

If Sheriff Hugh “Shot” Bright obtains the helicopter he has pursued since June, it would be a useful but costly asset for Panola County, a helicopter aviator said this week.

“It’s in good shape. It’s a good aircraft,” Commander Trey Manning, with the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department, said of the OH-6 currently in service with DeSoto County.

But Manning also said spare parts can be hard to locate for the 1967 aircraft, and as much as $50,000 should be budgeted a year for fuel, maintenance and upkeep.

When the engine is eventually overhauled after 300 more hours of flying time, that cost could be as must as $125,000, he said.

Other law enforcement agencies are interested in the helicopter, but DeSoto Sheriff Bill Rasco is waiting for a $150,000 payment from Bright.

“We’ve had other offers, but Sheriff Rasco is a man of his word,” Manning said of his boss, DeSoto County’s first-term sheriff.

“We have had a bid higher than $150,000 for this aircraft, but we said we told Panola County that’s what we wanted for it,” Rasco said this week.

According to Manning, the helicopter up for sale has about 320 hours left on its single jet engine.

“That’s still a lot of hours,” Manning said. “That engine can last for several years depending on how much they fly.”

The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department owns two working helicopters and uses two more for spare parts.  

Manning said the two extra helicopters cut down on the search for spare parts, which he said are “out there” but are often difficult to find.

Bright said this week he is pursuing the helicopter to utilize about $400,000 in drug-seized funds, taken during drug-interdiction traffic stops on Interstate 55.

“Please let people know that the drug-seized money can’t go toward salaries or fuel. It can be used only for equipment,” Bright said.

According to Rasco’s recollection, Bright contacted DeSoto County after word reached him that the department planned to sell one of its two working helicopters.

In various county meetings with supervisors, Bright has described the helicopter as a valuable tool for conducting search and rescue operations, drug interdiction, and searching for suspects. He told supervisors in August that the helicopter would be used only for “emergencies.”

Bright has also justified the purchase on the assertion that DeSoto County plans to start charging Panola County $500 an hour for use of the aircraft. He repeated that report at the board meeting Monday.

According to Rasco, however, DeSoto County has never announced it would charge for use of the helicopter.

“No, I have not,” Rasco said when asked by a reporter about demanding a $500-per-hour payment.

The DeSoto sheriff guessed that Bright might have misunderstood when he was advised that the per-hour cost of operating the helicopter, including the cost of fuel, maintenance and upkeep, and a pilot’s salary, totals $500 an hour.

Rasco said DeSoto County has asked some law enforcement agencies to help “absorb” the cost of operating the helicopter, mostly due to fuel costs, but Panola County already provides fuel at the county airport.

“Panola, Marshall, Tate and Tunica County all have been asked, ‘If we come down there and help you, would you help us with the fuel?’ There’s never been a figure of $500,” he said.

Told of Rasco’s recollection of not demanding $500 an hour, Bright said he was told that letters were “sent out” by DeSoto County advising about the $500 payment.

“I don’t know that, but I was told by Trey (Manning) they were charging,” Bright added.  

Bright has kept the helicopter in his department budget throughout strained budget meetings over the summer.  

Bright originally planned to budget $30,000 a year to pay for the aircraft, then use drug-seized funds to apply toward that payment. But under pressure from supervisors, who were already under pressure to control spending, the sheriff removed the helicopter as a line item.

At the next county budget meeting, former county administrator David Chandler told supervisors that Bright had pledged to use the $400,000 to purchase the helicopter and sidearms for deputies.

At the Monday meeting, Bright asked to borrow $150,000 from the county’s general fund because the drug-seized funds are “tied up in federal court.”

The board of supervisors unanimously agreed to that request, kicking off a formal bidding process for purchase of a used helicopter.

The board was advised by board attorney Bill McKenzie, then administrator Kelley Magee, that financing for the helicopter might be difficult to find.

Reached after the Monday supervisors meeting, board president Gary Thompson said he has no problem with Bright borrowing the money because the sheriff plans to pay back the funds.

“My feeling is that, if he can acquire it, then go for it,” Thompson said.

If Panola County can arrange to purchase the helicopter, the Law Enforcement Support Organization (LESO), a federal agency based in Virginia, must approve the deal, said Manning.