Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs

10. Colleagues

Chapter 10 COLLEAGUES Stories in this chapter relate to sheriffs’ colleagues, both employees (such as deputies and secretaries) and associates (such as magistrates and attorneys). Along with tributes to fallen officers are a number of lighthearted tales, including those describing a constable who always sneaked up on teenagers parked at the local lovers’ lane, a one-hundredyear -old honorary deputy sheriff, and the mysterious case of a terrible odor in the office. Misappropriation of Funds As sheriff, I’ve been fortunate to knock on wood. Way back in time, I caught one of my girl workers who went to work here. We kind of didn’t check her out, and she had bought one of the Louis Vuitton purses; had been unemployed about two years. We thought, “Something ain’t right here” when we come up with about $200 short and didn’t know where it went. Jerry “Peanuts” Gaines, Warren County, July 20, 2009 Magistrates and Constables My magistrates are good, so I want to say something good about them. My daddy was a constable and he was also a deputy sheriff. They try to not let constables do a lot in Warren County, because they’re not trained. So they work ballgames and things like that, and that’s about the extent of their jobs. Jerry “Peanuts” Gaines, Warren County, July 20, 2009 270 Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs Constable Cracks Down on Kissing This story is about a constable, but I never was captured by him! We had a constable in Johnson County back during my teenage days, and even prior to me becoming a teenager, who was known to go where young people would find a place to park. That was back in the early 1960s. He would always try to sneak up on them and try to arrest them for maybe getting out and having a kiss or two. I don’t know how to phrase that! But he was notorious in the area for doing that. William D. Witten, Johnson County, August 7, 2009 Death of a Deputy One of my two deputies that were killed died accidentally in the line of duty, May 8, 1993. He ended his shift and was on his way home, driving south on U.S. 23. A fellow that had driven three to five miles north on U.S. 23 was seen by the deputy coming up toward him in the wrong lane of traffic. The deputy, whose name was Poster Keene, activated his push lights but couldn’t get out of the way of the forthcoming car. The fellow that hit the deputy was driving drunk, and the test showed that he was three times the legal limit. The crash killed the man instantly, as well as my deputy. Deputy Keene made a humanitarian run for us one time. A few years before he passed away I received a call in the late evening. The caller, who was a friend of mine, told me that he had a friend that was on the kidney transplant list in a hospital in Cincinnati. They had planned to fly him to Cincinnati, but the weather was so bad that the plane couldn’t get in, nor get out. They had just a few hours to get him there, so they asked me if I could get him there quickly. I called Deputy Keene and asked him to take the trip for me, and he was glad to do so. Snow covered the highway, but he got him there within an hour before he was to go through operation. The fellow is living today and getting along fine. Charles E. “Fuzzy” Keesee, Pike County, August 7, 2009 Laughter at Work I’ve got a deputy whose name is Scott Daniels, and he is a very good deputy. I also have two other deputies, Randy Abernathy and Mark Colleagues 271 Cromwell. I’ve got one secretary, Sarah Huckleby, who is in the office and she keeps us all straight. She’s a very good secretary, and she’s kept me out of jail a lot! [Laughter] Of course, Scott gets out here and gets into some of the funniest things that happen. For example, he had stopped this car one night, then called to tell us where he was at. Of course, we always call and tell where we are at in the county when we call...