Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / April 2, 1987, edition 1 / Page 8
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Pace »-A—THE BRUNSWICK BEACON, Tlianday, April t, 1887 under the Retiring Trooper Logged Nearly 40 Years On Patrol BY SUSAN USHER After 39 years with the N.C. Highway Patrol, Trooper wmiam H. Morgan turned in his uniform, badge and gun on Feb. 28. “I didn’t like doing it one bit,” he recalled, sharing almost 40 years of memories over coffee at the dining room table of his year-old home in Brierwood Elstates. It was a time for memories. Last Thursday, friends and fellow officers from across the state joined together for a day of golf and a retirement dinner in Morgan’s honor. He was ofse of the best; a state trooper. Road duty and its accompanying stress had been his life for almost 38 years. However, a year and a half of m^ilicii! leave has made the transition to retirement a bit easier. He had suRered a heart attack, followed later by cardiac arrest; medication is now part of his dnily routine. These days Morgan plays a weekly round of friendly golf, watches “too much” TV, works in the yard and plans to restore a Corvair Spider. It’s a car he has a par ticular liking for, though it was taken out of production in 1968 after consumer activists charged its rear motor was unsafe. “At one time I had four Corvairs. From those four, I kept two running,” he said. Shrugging, he added, “I thought it was as safe as any car on the road, but I might have been wrong.” The Corvair isn’t the only car in his past The Bailey (Nash County) started his career in law enforcement sharing a 1947 Chevrolet two-door black sedan, a far cry from today's gray-and-black fleet. He joined the patrol almost by happenstance, but stuck with it by choice. It was just after World War II. Morgan was 21 years old, with two years of business courses at Campbell Col lege under Ids belt and In need of a job when a license ex aminer friend suggested he apply. “At the time they were trying to double the number of men they had on the road,” he recalled. “They wanted to bring it up to 500.” Leaviiig never seriously cross ed his mind. “After you stay on the highway patrol tor two or three years, you’re hooked,” he said. “You don’t know what else you’d do if you got out. It’s in your blood. “It’s just like playing a ball game. The adrenalin gets rolling when something batons that’s bad and you have to get involved. And it’s not just once a week, but just about every day... You stop a car you don’t know and feel something is not just right” Morgan trained for six weeks with a class of 115 of ficers at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill. Then it was a rough camp of three old U.S. Army buildings and two barracks. His first assignment was in isolated Pamlico County. “I’d never heard of it,” he said, smiling at the thought But over the next several years, that changed. By the time he left the small, rural county, “I couldn’t teU you their names,” he said, “but I think I could tell you where just about all of them would pork their cars at night” All wasn’t dull. It was in Pamlico where Morgan par ticipated in his one and only liquor siiii raid. Tile county’s entire law enforcement contingency worked it as a team: the sheriff, two highway patrolmen and a game warden. “As each man came into the cleartng, my job was to get their attention,” recalled Morgan. “I told them if they moved I would kill them, and to make no noise and stay where they are.” They followed his orders and the four officers captured three men. A career with the patrol meant moving aroimd quite a bit, in Morgan’s case as far west as Gaston County “and as far east as you can go.” Thirteen of those years were spent uninterrupted in Richmond County, where the children, Wayne and Cyn thia, finished school. The bulk of the remainder were spent in three sta tions here in Brunswick County, home for his wife Lois Sellers Morgan, a native of Supply who teaches at Shallotte Middle School. The two had met in the dining hall of Campbell College, where they both worked, an J now are grandparents of two. With the times, both the speeds and the equipment used to detect and apprehend speeders have chang'd. Used to, Morgan had to rely on his speedomKer. He would pull into a side road and wait until a cav that was “really moving” came along. Then he would pull out and pace it for threeKjuarters to a quarter of a mile. “I liked to get a good check on them.” These days, the equipment is fancier, but heavy traf fic and high speeds add to the stress. He said, “You've got to work the traffic; that’s the main thing.” But if a driver whizzes by at 100 mph, he added, an of ficer has no option but pursuit. With today’s higher speeds, he wonders at times if it wouldn't be more pru dent to drop a high-speed chase through traffic. But, he said, “that’s not the way we work.” As an example, he tells of chasing a driver who was darting crazily in and out of trafiic at high speed when Morgan picked up his tail at Shallotte and radioed ahead for help. Officers met the driver when he pulled in to the county complex near Bolivia. “He was on his way to the OUR FAMILY BUSINESS can make a house TOUR 1 WE DC IT ALL •Set Up •Electrical Work •Air Conditioning •Water & Sewer Hook Ups •Financing Available •Turn Key Jobs New homes set up and ready for occupancy! FULLY STOCKED wMi a COMPLETE LINE OF HOMES '' INC\JI I lAJI I •Liberty •Zimmer & Zimmer Under New Ownership: Ricky and Linda Parker are sstobliship.G g business thot cares about its custoiners not only today but also tomorrow. East Caasf Heisaing & Sales HWY. 130, HOLDEN BEACH ROAD, 4Mi MILES FROM SHALLOTTE PHONE-842-4003 • MON.-SAT. 9-5, SUN. 1-5 AND F&R DEVELOPMENT, ENG. COMPLETE SEPTIC TANK SERVICE PERMITS & lNSTALLAT!ON«FILL DIRT LOT CLEARING»DRAINAGE»ROAD BUILDING eiW7 TMI MUWWICK UACOH^ LONGTIME STATE TROOPER William H. Morgan of Shallotte spent much of the past 39 years on the road. Last Thursday, fellow officers and friends gathered In health department,” said Morgan, shaking his head. No two drivers were ever alike, either. "Some start talking before you get to them; some have nothing to say,” said Morgan. "Of course, none of them want the ticket “But,” he added, “whensomeone tried to talk me out of a ticket, the more determined I was to give it. Usually my mind was made up—to issue a ticket or a warn ing-before I stopped a vehicle unless it was very unusual circumstances.’’ While over 39 years he lost two or three patrol cars in chases, Morgan never had a gun pulled on him. But he had one close call. SIAfr PHOIO .T lUlAN USHI. his honor for a golf toumamcni and reoremeni dinner at Sunset Beach. It was his habit to keep a loaded automatic in the glove compartment as back-up just in case someone wrestled away his gun. One day he stopped a drunk driver and sat him in the patrol car. Morgan had stepped away to check the other auto when he heard the “click’’ of the glove compartment door and hurried back, gun drawn. The dnmk was casually examining the workings of the handgun. “I put my gun tahis head and told him to stay like he was,” said Morgan, and then he took away the “spare” gun. And, with a sigh of relief that seemed to echo over the years, he added, ‘Tve never carried one since.” Need Nlortgage Mo.iey? If you are buying property or thinking of refinancing, call us for first consideration on all kinds of real estate loans. (919) 642-8143 First hweslors SAVINGS A LOAN,MC. SALES & REPAIRS I on oil mokes and models of I vacuums and sewing] machines. yAGUyil CENTER 422 S. AAadison Whifeville, N.C. 28472 Stains fc OLV9I/IPI NL STAIN ■ Protects the beciuty of wood by strengthening wood fibers ■ Linseed oil base. ■ Wide choice of colors. ■ Use Semi-Transparent to enhance wood grain and texture. ■ Use Solid Color to hide grain and enhance texture. YOU CAN FIND OLYMPIC PRODUCTS AT HULDEN BEACH SUPPLY CU, HOLDEN BEACH ROAD/842-5440 Wfe have the inside on otOside protection.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 2, 1987, edition 1
8
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