The answer: 26.
That summation is the number of counties in the United States named “Jefferson” — almost all penned after our third president — following a little project embarked upon by Sheriff Mike Brasfield (the sheriff of Kitsap County’s neighbor of the namesake).
Here’s why Brasfield undertook the challenge: the Jefferson County (WA) Sheriff’s Office would receive calls from random residents — who lived in another of the nation’s Jeffersons.
“They’d be asking questions and we’d have no idea what they were talking about,” Jefferson County Undersheriff Tim Perry told me this morning.
So, if you have a free moment, check out the
web site Brasfield and Co. have created. It is impressive. And,
Perry told me, it serves an important function.
“It allows us to direct people to the proper area,” to report to the right jurisdiction, Perry said.
