Good cops and public works makes life better in a small town

Good cops, bad cops. Around here we only know those descriptions from watching television. As far as our local situation goes we only have good cops. The scenes we view on TV are very remote from what we experience locally.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I really like living in an area of the country where we have policemen like Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird and Corbin’s Police Chief Rusty Hedrick and their police forces. We are more like Andy Griffith’s town of Mayberry than we are Minneapolis.

When I was growing up in Corbin we did have what we referred to as “good cops” and “bad cops.” But that was a far different description than what it means today.

The bad cops in our area then were a few who would beat a drunk or anybody who gave him a hard time with their night sticks. Some of you oldtimers remember who they were.

We had plenty of outstanding cops, though. You couldn’t find better people than Lacy Martin, Phil Henderlight or John Smith and many others who wore the uniform.

As a young person John Smith lived in our neighborhood. He was tall and slender and we called him “long John.” He would delight the neighborhood children when he would turn on the siren for us to hear which was attached to the bulky Hudson Hornet police car.

Although the population of Corbin then was about the same as it is today, Corbin had only about seven policemen. Their main job back then was to investigate a burglary now and then, hunt down a bootlegger, chase teenagers who turned over garbage cans or haul off to jail an Otis who was drunk, like in the Andy Griffith Show. They faced dangers at times, but not near as much as policemen face today.

What has changed are people. There are more bad people today than back then. For one thing, there are more people in the surrounding area, so more policemen are needed.

In the late 50s, when I was a student at UK, I had a professor that harped on the world becoming overpopulated and the problems it would present. I didn’t see it coming, being from a family of 13 children, but I see now.

And what I see with that growth is a more difficult time to be a cop. So now, more than ever, we can appreciate the work being done by our local policemen. You are one of the many bonuses we share for living in a comunity such as ours. Thank you for your service!

• In each of our towns there are people who serve us that we appreciate. For me, I want to thank the Corbin Public Works Department.
Those guys are fantastic. Each time I have called on them for a particular service they have responded promptly.

For example, when renovating our daughter’s house we would have waste that needed to be removed. This happened on several occasions and each time we called for their service they responded within a short time. The same has happened with work being done at my sister’s house. In that situation they provided a dumpster moments after our request.

The police force and public works are two good reasons why you benefit by living in the city limits. Again, thank you for your service!