Longtime county lawman retiring
By Kathryn F. Pickard News Reporter
 | | Buster Hough |
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Buster Hough has retired from the Grove Hill Police Department after nearly 30 years as a law enforcement officer.
He began
as a Clarke County deputy sheriff Nov. 19, 1979 under Sheriff Ray Sheffield. Prior to that he was a game warden for Scotch.
Hough will be honored with a reception at the Grove Hill Town Hall today (Thursday) from 2 until 4 p.m.
"I've been around it (law enforcement) all my life. My step-daddy retired as a deputy out of south Florida. When I was in high school I had a buddy who was a state trooper and I rode with him every weekend of my junior and senior year that I wasn't playing football," Hough said.
He graduated from Tuscaloosa Police Academy. As a deputy sheriff he worked his way up to lieutenant and investigator. As a Grove Hill Police Officer he was an investigator and patrolman. He went to work for the police department in January 2000.
Although he investigated a lot of cases over the years only a few really stand out to him.
"The worst thing to me was when the Wiggins children were killed on the bridge at Whatley. I
 | | Clarke County Sheriff's Department in the 1970s. Standing from left: Sheriff Ray Sheffield, Buster Hough, Winston Pruitt, Larry Gene Sheffield and Bobby Kelley. Seated, James Kidd an Chief Deputy Jack Day. |
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"Another one that stands out is when Douglas Morgan, James Kidd, Ray Sheffield and I caught 20 or 25 pounds of marijuana coming into the county out of Florida."
He said he and the other officers generally worked well together. "Everybody tried to get along, tried to work together, tried to solve cases and have good law enforcement for Clarke County."
Hough has seen several changes over the years. He says now there is a lot more paperwork than there used to be.
"Everybody wants to sue everybody now. It's too much paperwork. Communications and computers have improved and helped tremendously and they're going to continue to get better.
"The laws have changed and not for law enforcement, but for the criminals. Our prisons are full. There's less respect for law enforcement than there used to be. People don't respect law enforcement, they don't respect each other."
Hough said the worst job he had as a law enforcement officer was the deaths and having to take someone word that their child had been killed. "I've done that several times," he said.
He said the favorite part of his job was meeting people. "Seeing people I know and visiting with people. I've had a lot of good memories and made a lot of friends."
When asked what he planned to do with his time now that he has retired he responded, "Exactly what my wife says do unless it interferes with my fishing."
Hough and his wife Barbara live in Grove Hill. They have one daughter, Wendy.
| Posted By Gary Joe Frith (5/29/2008 12:32 AM EDT): | |
As a teenager we (teens) wanted to avoid Buster because that's one man who did his job honestly, It seemed he was out to ruin our mischievous fun, but as an adult now it's obviously he was trying to save our lives. You could tell he really liked us even though he'd hold a straight serious face as he'd try to put a scare in us. His famous scare probally to me was, " I'm watching you".
The way I view Buster, is that man is strickly business. I respect a man that takes his job seriously, I don't care what job a person hires on to do, he should do it as good as if he owns the company.
Clarke County has had it's share of great law officers. I believe in giving compliments where credit is due. Here's some names off top of my head of over qualified officers. If your name isn't here then maybe I don't know you or maybe with a lack of rest my thinking is cloudy. Ray Sheffield, Jack Day, Bobby Moore, Virgel Chapman, Leo Frazier, Royce Kelly, Buster Hough, and, Donnie Arnold.
I could also name some others if you like, that were smarta**es that didn't earn respect from a lot of us. The people I named above knew how to talk to us and I'll always repect them. A smart mouth don't help the situation at all. I'm sure it's hard for the good officers to keep from coming unglued at times with the smarta** teens they arrest. My conscious still bothers me to this day from one night I was drunk and handcuffed in the backseat of Donnie Arnolds patrol car and I started making racist remarks over and over. That's not my heart though, it was just a typical immature way of pressing the right buttons to piss someone off. We all know what buttons to press to piss off others. You know you're maturing when you quit pressing the buttons.
Buster, I hope you're blessed with many more years to enjoy your retirement.
Gary Frith |
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