Submitted Photo Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon announced the hiring of two new deputies, Conner Waldron and Alexander Burge. From left are Elbon, Circuit Judge David Wilmoth, Waldron, Burge, West Virginia State Police Sgt. Daniel Burge and Randolph County Chief Deputy Brad Sharp.

ELKINS — Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon announced the hiring of two new deputies who have been sworn in at the Randolph County Courthouse.

After graduating from the police academy, Alexander Burge and Conner Waldron will bring the number of deputies in Randolph County to 18. Burge will leave for the academy soon, while Waldron’s departure will happen after an issue with his vision is corrected.

“Burge will head out this week, while Waldron will be going out in the next academy class,” Elbon told The Inter-Mountain. “Waldron has to wear some contacts for a while and get comfortable with them before he can go. It’s not that he can’t see, they just have a standard that if he was to get his glasses knocked off in a fight, he has to be able to have uncorrected vision good enough that he could protect himself.”

Elbon said he is extremely pleased with the two new deputies and feels they will do an excellent job with the Sheriff’s Office.

“I think we have a couple good guys lined up to be our next deputies,” he said. “Waldron lived over in Pendleton County and was a fireman volunteer and helped with EMS. He’s a real volunteer-oriented kind of a guy and he initially took the test to join us last year, but he hadn’t received his high school diploma yet, so he couldn’t come on. But he was persistent and stayed with it, tested again and was picked this time.”

Burge’s father, meanwhile, is a member of the Elkins detachment of the West Virginia State Police.

“Alexander comes from a law enforcement family. His dad, Daniel, is a State Trooper sergeant, who has been there for years and years,” said Elbon. “Alexander is going to carry on the legacy of his family and we are very excited to get him. We are tickled to get both of them on and get them started.”

Elbon said adding two new deputies will help the Sheriff Office’s workload, and wouldn’t have been possible without support from the Randolph County Commission.

“The Randolph County Commission has been really good to me when it comes to giving me what I need,” Elbon said. “They have been very proactive in funding and knowing the needs we have. Adding these two deputies puts us where we can start adding extra guys on rotations to have more coverage. Call volume is crazy right now.”

Elbon said he has applied for a grant that would enable him to hire at least three more deputies for the county.

“If we would get the grant, it would be fantastic,” said Elbon. “That would put us up to 21 full-time deputies and we could make that work very well. That would allow us to cover all of our shifts, and when someone was off sick or on vacation, it wouldn’t hurt so bad. You have to have so many people to be able to cover 24-hour shifts.”