Sheriff Mike Strong plans to assign resource officers to all five rural schools in Buchanan County if voters approve a use tax. Strong says he’s a believer in the resource officer program, which provides a “first line of defense” against shootings and other violence in schools.

Five years ago Strong assigned Deputy Sarah Hardin to Mid Buchanan, the largest of the rural schools. He says passage of the use tax April 2nd would allow him to add resource officers to the four remaining rural schools: in Rushville, DeKalb, Easton, and at Bessie Ellison.