East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

Two will do a little fishing (stress on small fish) and then go to work for a transportation company; one just wants to go to work; and the fourth retiree said he may grow his hair long and ride his motorcycle west.

The four men, with more than 110 years of experience combined, are retiring from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. and shared a few stories of their days in law enforcement.

Ronnie Morris, John Perdue, Randal McGee and Randy Loftin all told the Tyler Paper the time has come for them to retire from the DPS.

When asked what they would they would do in their retirement, Loftin, Morris and McGee said they are going to work as safety officers for a transportation company and Perdue, the bachelor of the bunch, said he might take some college courses, because he has heard there might be some pretty women at the local colleges.

“What are you going to do? Take some cosmetology classes?” McGee quipped during a TylerPaper interview with the quartet.

Loftin continued the ribbing adding, “You’re old enough to be most of (the college students’) grandfather.”

After laughing at Perdue he turned and said he might just let his hair grow and take off on his motorcycle.

The four men, gathered at DPS headquarters in Tyler, said they have spent many years on the road and have come to know most of the local truck drivers.

“Heck, some of them ask about our families and we ask about theirs because we know theirs as well,” Morris said.

The men shared some of the most memorable experiences on the job and several had to do with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

McGee said when a citizen reported a piece of shuttle landed in the road, he spent an entire night guarding what turned out to be a mud flap off of a truck.

“I stood out there all night and it turned out to be a dang mud flap,” he said.

The men laughed and then Perdue said he was posted on Lake Palestine after someone saw a part of the shuttle land in the lake.

“I sat out there for a few days in a lawn chair with my M4 rifle in my lap watching a buoy in the water. People were bringing me all this stuff they thought was from the shuttle and I was putting it in my trunk. Then here come the feds in these bio suits and asked if I touched any of the stuff,” he said laughing. “I told them, ‘just briefly.”’

Morris said one of his most memorable memories was when he was just starting out and the radar was so big it hung on the patrol unit’s rear door window.

“I was out in the middle of nowhere and had just let this truck go when I walked back and realized I had accidentally locked the door when I got out. I didn’t have a spare key and the truck was already gone. I thought what I need is a coat hanger and wouldn’t you know at the rear of my car in the middle of nowhere was a coat hanger on the ground,” he said.

The men posed for some pictures, said they had enjoyed their years on the job and said they are looking forward to the future.

“You know when it’s time to go and it’s time for us to go,” Loftin said.

These four officers, with more than 110 years of combined experience, are retiring from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division. From left are Ronnie Morris, 35 years service; John Perdue, 28; Randal McGee, 25; and Randy Loftin, 26 years service.
(Staff Photo By Kenneth Dean)