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Potential candidate's daughter arrested

• A potential candidate for sheriff talks about his daughter's arrest on drug charges.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — Jennifer Hanington, 25, was arrested at her home in Albany on Shannon Drive Tuesday night, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Kim Baker confirmed Wednesday.

While Baker wouldn’t release any information, citing the ongoing status of the case, Dougherty County Jail records show that Hanington was charged with purchase/ possession/control, possession of a firearm or knife during a crime or attempted crime and sale or possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

Hanington was released on bond, a jailer said.

She is the daughter of Dougherty Sheriff’s Office Capt. Tim Hanington, who is contemplating a run for Dougherty Sheriff in 2008. The officer said Wednesday he was more concerned as a father with her arrest than any impact on a run at sheriff that her arrest may cause him.

“It’s just one of those things,” Tim Hanington said. “She’s a 25-year-old young woman. As your children get older they make their own decisions. This is not one we would want her to make.

“We’ll be there to help and support her, but she’s going to have to face the problems she’s created.”

Hanington said he was devastated when he got the call Tuesday night by one of the officials at the scene.

“Its’ not a phone call any parent wants to hear,” he said. “It shows that there’s no house that is immune from having these problems and it’s something that plagues our society.

While Hanington still hasn’t announced formally that he’s going to run for sheriff, he said he’s toying with the idea. His concern for his daughter overrides his bid for sheriff, he said.

“It’s not about me. It’s not about my ambitions and my desires,” he said. “It’s to facilitate her needs, we’re going to give her love and comfort right now to help her out with this situation.

“I’m hoping this is a wake up call, and this is something that she’ll put behind her and go on to have a family herself.”

Tim Hanington said the realization of how close drugs can hit home will spur him on to target drug abuse in the county more.

“It’s definitely going to cause an increase in my focus on our problem that we have on our streets today,” he said. “It’s a problem we need to focus our attention on to eradicate.”

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