20 members of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office assisted with Inauguration Security in Washington D.C. Monday, the Office announced.

Grant funding will allow six additional resource officers to monitor two elementary schools each.

Communities across the country, and right here in our area gathered for National Night Out on Tuesday.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office will hold a ceremony today for Operation Christmas Joy. So, the sheriff’s office partnered with churches to raise money to get gifts for around 20 families this year. Feeding Southwest Virginia is partnering with FarmBurguesa, to provide meals for children. The restaurant will provide 250 meals for children today. Today’s food giveaway will add an extra day to the Children’s Feeding Program.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is reporting new coronavirus cases. On Monday, Sheriff Bill Overton announced that late last month, during a daily screening process, an inmate was quarantined and tested for COVID-19 after presenting sinus/allergy-like symptoms. That person did indeed test positive, which prompted more testing throughout the jail. Since then, other offenders, as well as Sheriff’s Office staff have tested positive. Some inmates have been taken to the Western Virginia Regional Jail as it has a greater capacity to house offenders, while providing any necessary medical care and isolation from their healthy population, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – Franklin County can now count itself among the cities and counties across the Commonwealth which have declared themselves as Second Amendment sanctuaries. It was a packed house with hundreds of residents in attendance as the Board of Supervisors discussed the issue. “I hope that our people in Richmond and Washington will understand this kind of opinion coming from this kind of a group," said E. Cline Brubaker, chairman of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors. “It just doesn’t seem like it’s going to sit well with people, like in Franklin County, because we’re rural people. We enjoy our guns for sport,” said Irene May, who lives in Franklin County.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. - One local area is adding a drug take-back box to keep unwanted or unused prescriptions out of the wrong hands. A box in the Westlake Substation in Franklin County cost about $2,000, made possible by fundraising and a partnership with Piedmont Community Services. The box is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Organizers say the goal is to fight substance abuse. "We continue to work here in Franklin County, as every community across this country is doing, to make sure we're doing the very best we can for the citizens to address the substance abuse problems we're having," said Bill Overton, Franklin County sheriff.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. - The Franklin County Sheriff's Office showed more than two dozen kids how to have fun on the lake while also teaching them about law enforcement. The Sheriff's Office is hosting its annual Virginia Rules camp at the Franklin County 4-H Center on Smith Mountain Lake this week. The program is funded by a $5,000 grant from the state Attorney General's Office. Sheriff Bill Overton says the camp is a perfect chance for kids and deputies to learn about the issues each group is facing. "We can't put our head in the sand and think these kids aren't aware," Overton said.