First in a series of features about candidates who have advertised on The Logan Journal
As a retired law enforcement officer and a war veteran who was a military policeman, Steve Hadden is offering even further service to the people of his home county by running for sheriff of Logan County in the May 20 Democratic primary.
From the time that he became a Logan County deputy sheriff under the late Dannie Blick in 1995 until he became a Russellville police officer in 1997 until he retired as Adairville Police Chief a few years ago, Steve Hadden has been dedicated to justice for and protection of the people of Logan County.
He also helped protect America by becoming a U.S. Marine shortly after his graduation from Olmstead High School in 1980. He served as a Military Police Officer during the Cold War and conflicts in Beirut and Honduras.
While serving on the RPD, Hadden joined the National Guard in 2001, not long before the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon. The day 9-1-1 brought many changes to world peace. Shortly after that he was activated and deployed for service in Iraqi Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He has served in foreign fields on six different occasions.
Steve Hadden has attended the Academy of Police Supervision and has been trained by and in the following:
*by the USPCA as a K-9 handler
*by Metro Nashville Police in K-9 attack and obedience
*by Metro Nashville Police in Drug and Narcotic Detection
*in police procedures, public safety, interviewing and interrogation
*in advanced Undercover Narcotics
*in Radar techniques
*as a Field Officer—First Wave
*in Community Oriented Policing—Kentucky Style
*in DUI field sobriety
*in Terrorism Response tactics
*in Hand-to-Hand Combat, both Military and Police
*in responding to firearms in schools
*in Defensive Driving
*in providing Self Defense Training for women and children
He also won numerous awards and recognition for his support of the 101st Airborne Division during a helicopter crash in South Logan.
A Master Mason and a Kentucky Colonel, Steve Hadden grew up on a farm, the son of Pete and Hazel Hadden. His sister Theresa is married to Roy Glenn Anderson.
Hadden has three sons who are students at Olmstead Middle school—Lucas, 14, Hunter, 12, and Casey, 11—along with a grown son, Steven, who works at Ventra Plastics. He also has a step-daughter, Jacqueline Lewis. He is an active member of New Union Baptist Church where Dannie Blick’s brother, Donnie, is the pastor. He also is a motorcycle enthusiast and calls the time he spends on his Harley “a great stress reliever.”
Steve Hadden says he decided to run for sheriff because the county “needs a change. We’ve got to get back to being proactive instead of reactive.” He also believes the sheriff’s office “needs to be more personal. I want deputies to be understanding as well as professional.”
“Good people make mistakes, and they have to pay for them, but we can be professional while not being overly aggressive,” he says. “I have always been for the underdog.”
He worries about the future of our young people: “I was brought up on a farm, working in tobacco, hay, cows and pigs. I thought your hands were supposed to be dirty from work. I was pretty green when I got out of high school. Now our young people see so much and are under a great deal of pressure to fit in, to be accepted.
“There are people who are coming in to Logan County wanting to take over. We’re in a never-ending battle when it comes to drugs. We have to be alert and vigilant.”
Steve Hadden hopes to lead the way in combatting those negative forces as sheriff of Logan County.
Paid for by Steve Hadden