By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON -- Twelve years ago, Ron Scott took a bit of beating the first time he ran for Coles County sheriff, but that didn’t stop him from trying again.

He said he still thought he could make a difference at the department, and that’s what he thinks he did during his two terms. There was a lot to do when he got in office, he said.

“We had flashlights here that wouldn’t even work,” he said.

Scott won election in 1998, defeating incumbent Sheriff Jim Kimball, and was then unopposed for re-election in 2002. That’s enough, he thinks.

“I figured eight years as sheriff would be enough,” he said. After working at the Mattoon Police Department for 28 years, a self-imposed limit of two terms was what he had in mind all along.

Scott didn’t run for re-election this year, and his last day on the job was Tuesday. His term actually runs until the end of the month, but he planned to finish up his vacation time for the rest of the week. Darrell Cox, the department’s chief deputy who was elected sheriff, takes over on Friday.

“Mostly, I want to thank the citizens for letting me be their sheriff,” Scott said. “I feel like I’ve made a difference.”

Scott said he dealt with the county’s tight financial times by getting state grants for new equipment. Now, the department’s squad cars have “state-of-the-art” computers so patrol deputies can get information “in a matter of seconds,” he said.

He’s also proud of training initiatives he put in place and of working with the county’s other law enforcement agencies to develop a crisis response team.

“That was one of the best things we did,” he said of the response team. “With all the shootings in schools around the nation, I thought we needed some type of team to secure the situations we come across.”

That hasn’t included school violence, but Scott said the team has worked on drug searches and barricade situations.

The department’s work with other agencies is one of Scott’s accomplishments and something that should continue, Mattoon police Chief Larry Metzelaars said. There are numerous situations where joint investigations take place or officers from both departments respond to an incident, he said.

“Both departments have had a good working relationship,” Metzelaars said. “It’s very important, no matter what the size of community you have.”

Metzelaars also said Scott was his supervising sergeant when he started with the police department in 1979. Scott helped train him and they worked together “for many years,” he said.

“Ron was a very diligent, good, professional police officer,” he said. “During our years working together, I learned a lot about law enforcement. It’s been a pleasure and I wish him all the best.”

Scott said he’s grateful to have had two good chief deputies, Cox and the late Bob Butler, and also said Capt. Brian Marvin has been his “good right arm” at the department. He said his only advice to Cox has been to promote someone to chief deputy who’ll be “right there with him” and help him make good decisions.

Scott’s hobbies include hunting, fishing, golf and motorcycles, so he said he’d like to be “semi-retired” after leaving office. Still, he said he might get into insurance sales because he knows people in the business and thinks it sounds interesting.

He admitted to having “mixed feelings” about leaving the line of work he’s been in for so long, but he’s sure he wants to end it while he can “still be able to go and do what I want to do.”

“You hate to leave but, you know it’s time for you to go out and go on with your life,” he said.

Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.

Published on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 12:23 AM CST
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