By Mary Drier (Contact / Staff Bio)
November 29, 2008 - 10:57 a.m. EST

CARO — As of today (Saturday) Tom Kern is no longer the sheriff of Tuscola County, and he isn’t yet a commissioner of District #3.

Because of an Internal Revenue Service ruling, he had to resign as sheriff Friday, and by law he can’t start serving as a commissioner until after the first of the year.

Kern knows his new role will be challenging.

“Money is tight and lots of decisions will have to be made on that,” said Kern, noting one of the things he wants to look into when he gets on the board is the matter of legal fees.

“I personally think the county spends too much on getting legal opinions before making decisions. It seems that common sense would take care of most of it.”

It’s his feeling the local prosecutor’s office could answer a lot of the board’s questions, and there would be no additional cost.

“Another thing we need a vision for the future. Our jail is badly overcrowded, our courthouse is aging and out of space, and we have (county) departments in offices all over town,” said Kern. “We need better organization, and if we had that it would be a help to better utilize our resources.”

During his time in law enforcement, there have been a lot of changes.

“We used to have some horrific accidents... a lot of them, and there used to be a lot more homicides,” said Kern. “Things have calmed down a lot over the last 15 years or so.”

He credits the decrease in fatal vehicle accidents to lowering the speed limit from 65 to 55 mph, required seat belt use and the development of airbags.

“It seemed like there used to be a fatal accident every weekend back then,” said Kern, noting at times there were 28-38 fatals in a year. “They’re down to single digits now.”

Kern recounts a time when there were nine homicides in a year, and 10 drownings in the area.

While Kern has never had to use his gun, he remembers clearly the times he has looked down the barrel of one. One of those times was when he was answering a domestic violence call, and discovered the guy’s brother, who was wanted by the military for being away without leave.

“I was able to talk him down,” said Kern. “I knew it was a dangerous situation but I didn’t know exactly how dangerous until I got the gun away from him and found it was loaded with the safety off.

“Back then, big bar fights happened most every weekend.”

There are also fewer high-speed chases now.

“They know they can’t outrun the radio,” Kern said.

Kern says he has no regrets about the choices he made over the years.

“I’ve had a good career, a great staff, good friends and wife,” he said.