One night we took down a couple of burglars from a store.  Just down the street was a car from out of the area, it was stolen and the prisoners were the likely suspects, although they denied knowing anything about it.

The car was stolen from a city that was between The Dalles and where these guys lived, so even with their denial we were confident it was them.  To be sure we were impounding the vehicle and then having it processed the next day.

A tow company was contacted to tow the vehicle.

Tow companies were called on a rotation basis.  We had a couple of companies inside the city and those would be called in the order they were on the sheet.  This way they were treated fairly.

We had issues with both companies, not major, but enough that we always had to watch closely.  They were supposed to clean up all debris – glass, metal, etc., - from accident scenes but would try to get out without doing it.  We also had some issues of things stolen out of the vehicles, so we did our inventory searches before the tow company got there.

The companies were family owned and while the fathers were easy to work with, sometimes the sons were not.

In this particular case it was the son that showed up to tow the vehicle.  As it happened the son was also one of our reserves, he was an okay reserve but tended to think he knew more than the regulars, at times.

John told him that this was a stolen vehicle.  We were going to have it processed the next morning.  He was not to open the door and check the emergency brake, but it in neutral or anything else he would normally do in preparation for towing; John explained he had already done that.

I was walking back to my car when I heard John yell, “Damn it, I told you not to get into the car!”

The driver was stopped in his tracks – as was I.  That was the first and last time I ever heard John utter an expletive.

Now, that may not sound so bad, especially when we hear far worse words being bandied about every day, but for a Christian of John’s magnitude, that was a major flaw.

The driver tried to tell John about the company’s liability but was shut down immediately.  He was told that if he didn’t do exactly as John told him he was going to arrest him for tampering with evidence; the driver meekly did as he was told.

Fingerprints of both suspects were found inside the car and they were charged with stealing it.

I had the next couple of days off.

When I went in to work I was questioned by several officers about the ‘language’ John had used and asked if I had heard it.  Evidently our tow truck driver had said something to someone; I just told them to talk with John.

In a short time our Reserve Unit was down one reserve.

And John became more human to officers on the department – by the way, no one ever brought it up to him that I am aware of, his witness remained in tack.  

Chapter Four

Tow Truck Companies

While the City officers only had two companies to choose from, the County deputies had one more – Jones Towing, and they were by far the best. 

Because they were in the county we couldn’t use them.  They were just across the street from property that was in the city, they weren’t in the city.

The City’s policy was to use companies that had businesses inside the city so that we were using city tax payer money to support city businesses.

We were city officers and therefore were expected to remain in the city to do our patrolling.  In an emergency we could assist the deputies within the immediate area – a mile or two, but no further.

For years when one of our officers became permanent we went over the Sheriff’s Office and got sworn in as a deputy, the theory being that we could then enforce laws outside the city in Wasco County. 

When I became Sheriff I stopped the practice.  Under Oregon law a police officer retains his authority as a police officer anywhere in the state, therefore the city officers already had the authority to enforce the law outside the city.

I believe it was the second winter I was working when the lone deputy requested assistance to close a road.  It had started snowing that night and was coming down fast – the snow became ice as it hit the roads and the road the deputy needed assistance on was just a tad outside the city.

I was dispatched to give him a hand.  The road was west 10^th street, the problem was not so much the road as the bridge over Chenoweth Creek.  It was a long approach and it was also slanted and it was a steep slant – the bridge was a sheet of ice.

Cars were coming down the road, driving too slowly (although no one could blame them) and were sliding down to the shoulder. 

There were several cars involved and the road became very narrow, just enough to get to the other side and stop traffic for the deputy.

He had me stop traffic on the city side of the street.

He had called the County Judge and requested a sanding truck but was told that since there wasn’t any problem at 6:00 pm the night before no sanding trucks would be available until the crews came on duty at 7:00 am.

The city sanding trucks were not allowed to go there so we had to close the road.  There were plenty of arterials and bridges within the city that needed their work and they just couldn’t go out there.

You couldn’t walk on the pavement, it was covered in ice, even the rest of the road that was either side of the bridge.  The center of the road had some sand on it.  We could cross the street by running along the shoulder for a couple of yards, gaining enough momentum to get the center of the road and then a few feet in the center to get to the other side.

It was slick!!

One of the owners of the stranded vehicles was somehow able to get a phone call into a towing company to tow them out.  This was early 1970’s so the owner must have hiked back up to her house – no cell phones back then.

A short time after I arrived at the scene the tow truck arrived.  It was one of the city tow companies; and that tow truck was brand new, bright shiny with all kinds of whistles and bells.

It was one of the sons driving, he was quite confident he could get his client out.  He set up his unit, hooked up to the car and started pulling – pulling himself down off the shoulder towards the car, the car didn’t budge.

Fortunately if an emergency vehicle had to get past him there was just enough room to do so – but he was now part of the traffic problem.

While I was having cars turn and go back to town a guy came up and said he needed to go up the road and get the cook for one of the Nursing homes.  They had 50 or more residents that needed to be fed.

Now, I probably would handle this differently now, but at the time I told him no – the staff would just have to prepare breakfast.  I didn’t realize, at the time, how carefully food had to be prepared, many residents are on special diets and it is pretty difficult for someone who doesn’t cook for a living to figure it out quickly.

So, I told him no, the road was closed.  I told him it was just too slick, we couldn’t have another accident with the potential of blocking the road completely.

He told me he was from Alaska, had snow tires on and knew how to drive in this.  I finally relented, but I told him if he lost control I was going to cite him for careless driving.  He looked at me and asked “Really?”  I said, ‘YES.’

I radioed the deputy to let him know the man was coming.  He got through without any differences and then came back through with the cook – he did thank me for letting him go through, I felt a bit guilty.

So, there we sat, it was somewhere around 0500 or so, and it looked like we would have to wait until after 0700 for the sanding crew to come so we could get those cars out.

Then, Pappy Jones showed up.  He had a 1940’s something tow truck with a boom off the back; it was the truck used in the wrecking yard to move vehicles around – come to think of it I am not even sure it was licensed, but didn’t care at the time anyway.

He told me one of the owners of one of the stranded vehicles had called him, I radioed the deputy and he said it would be fine for Pappy to come up.

Now to be perfectly honest I looked at that battered old rig with that one single boom and no support for it and thought how does he think he can get HIS customer out when the other truck not only couldn’t but became part of the problem.

He snaked his way through the mess to the other side.  Set up on the upper shoulder of the road and pulled his customer out without a problem.  I just shook my head, shoulda known better, experience can trump youth any day.

The driver of the wrecker with all the whistles and bells sheepishly walked up to Pappy and asked, “Pappy, can you help me get unstuck?”

Pappy just smiled and said he would – and did.  He explained to the young man how he should have set up so he would be okay in the future.

The deputy asked Pappy to help get the others out and he did so without difficulty.

Evidently someone had decided to start the county sanding trucks out early because as Pappy was clearing the last car out, up came a truck and sanded the area.

I went on back to the city, went to the office and had a good cup of strong hot coffee!

We were extremely happy when Jones Towing was annexed into the city, even though they had to be on a rotation, we knew that we could, under certain circumstances, use them out of that rotation.

The other firms were okay, but Jones was the best.

A while later Pappy was working on a car with his torch when he got too close to the gas tank, it exploded and he was burned, later dying.  It was a loss to the community, he was a good man and helped people even when they couldn’t afford his services.

His son was working with him and took over the business, giving the same great service his father had before him.

Copyright November 4, 2017 Art Labrousse

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Romans 13:1  KJV  “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.“  

This can be a difficult verse for Americans.  We have a constitution that gives us the authority to challenge the higher powers in our country.

And, as with many other countries, we ask how can this verse be obeyed if your country is being run by dictators and tyrants?  The using of Hitler and Stalin and other rulers that have killed people without mercy is always brought up in that question.

Sometimes God allows us to reap what we sow, or He gives us the government we have cried out for even if it is to our detriment; as He did when He set up kings to rule His people.

However, we also know that men make laws that are in direct rebellion against the commandment of God, and we do have an answer for that.

Acts 5:27-29  KJV  “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

²⁸ Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

²⁹ Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Later, Art (-: