Thursday, March 13, 2008

After 25 years, Sheriff Dunnaway announces retirement

by Clarke Davis

Roy Dunnaway, Jefferson County’s sheriff for the past 25 years, will resign and leave office March 31.

“I’ve always thought I would know when the time was right to give it up and I feel that time is here,” he said.

The Perry native was put in office by the Republican precinct committeemen and women in 1983 following the resignation of the late Sheriff Carl “Ike” Eisenhower with one year and four months remaining in his term.

Dunnaway will give that chore to the Republican leaders again, leaving nine months before his term expires.

His health and age are factors in his decision and he would like to see his undersheriff, Jeff Herrig, be given the opportunity to run the department and give the public confidence that he would be a good replacement.

Dunnaway was diagnosed with prostate cancer a year ago last October. He underwent an operation and tests reveal he is cancer free.

“I think the experience aged me,” Dunnaway, who was 66 Monday, said.

The sheriff always liked his job, often out cruising around at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning just to see what was going on.

“I was always ready to jump and go. Now I don’t feel like going out . . . 11 o’clock is late for me now,” he said.

He is also more bothered by the job now. He requires the office to call him when there’s a fatality in the county or something else major.

“I hate to hear that phone ring. I don’t want to answer it,” he said. “Too often I know the person or the parents and I can’t help but think about their pain.”

Dunnaway was elected by the public six times and only faced competition twice for the first couple of terms.

His first experience at law enforcement was looking for bank robbers in Perry as a youth. Eishenhower was the city marshal and he knew Roy could be a trouble maker. Assuming he was up to some kind of mischief, the marshal would enlist his help.

“He’d tell me about some rumors going around about a possible break-in at the bank and asked if I’d ride with him as a look out,” Dunnaway once told this reporter.

With Dunnaway in the patrol car, Eisenhower knew the ringleader was off the street and his work load greatly reduced. Dunnaway, in turn, thought he was a big shot and providing a public service.

His public service didn’t end there. He would become the Perry city marshal in time, become a lake patrol deputy for Eishenhower, and eventually replace him as sheriff. He also spent 17 years working for the railroad previous to becoming sheriff.

Dunnaway heads a department that has grown to include 42 employees, with 23 deputized officers, 14 jail employees and the rest are support staff.

The sheriff has a philosophy of law enforcement that he believes has been adopted by the staff that bodes well when it comes to serving and protecting the public.

“I don’t like cowboys,” he said, referring to officers often described as “hot dogs” or “badge heavy.”

“I point to my own chest and tell ’em I wasn’t born with this badge. The people of Jefferson County put it on me. . . You’re not born with it, you have to earn it,” he said.

There’s a few bad people — very few — they deal with, he said.

“Then we have to be stearn and not back off from trouble,” he said. “But the vast majority of citizens we deal with are good people.”

The sheriff holds to the axiom in law enforcement that he would prefer 10 guilty people go without punishment than to have one innocent person go to jail.

Dunnaway talked about having a loyal staff and officers who have stuck it out with him when they could have gone elsewhere for more money or prestige.

A number like Herrig were with him from the beginning, many now retired, and he noted several who have tenure beyond 15 years.

There have been 12 homicides during his watch, all solved. Not solved are a lot of burglary cases, a major problem in Jefferson County.

“That’s the No. 1 offense that affects the majority of the people in this county and we do take them seriously,” he said.

These cases consume a lot of manpower and the cold cases are referred to often in an attempt to piece something together, he said.

“I know how tough it is to break these cases and I get excited when we catch one,” he said.

Dunnaway likes to mow the lawn because one can actually see what has been accomplished, unlike some days in law enforcement. However, looking back 25 years to when the offices were in the old county jail in downtown Oskaloosa, he can see how far the county has come. The public voted for a new law enforcement center and jail to be built in the early 1990s.

The sheriff and his wife, Norma, raised a son and daughter and now have three grandchildren. Norma is an administrative assistant to Judge Nancy Parrish in Topeka.

Law enforcement created a lot of interruptions in their lives over the years, the sheriff said, but he never heard his wife complain.

“I called home at 2 o’clock one morning and told her we had to cancel a planned vacation with friends that day,” he said. It was not uncommon.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have a job that I loved. Not many can say that,” Dunnaway said. “It’s very emotional for me . . . it has not been an easy decision.”

A retirement party for the sheriff will be held starting at 6 p.m. April 5 at thePerry American Legion Hall.

“Bring your Roy stories,” states the flier.