Hewett one in a million

I hope people in McClain County know how fortunate they have been for the past 22 years.

These past 22 years, our county has been blessed with what has to be one of the top sheriff’s in the United States.

I’ve been in this business for 44 years and have known numerous sheriffs.

Don Hewett is the pick of the litter.

That’s not to say his successor Landy Offolter won’t be a dandy. 

I think he will and wish him well.

But the pleasure has all been ours at the newspaper working with Don for the past 22 years.

He has been forthright with us through the good times and the tough times and the winner is you, the reader, and all of us citizens of McClain County.

Don had the same demeanor when one of his detectives solved a  big case or if one of his jailers accidentally allowed an inmate to get away.

And he never hid anything whether it was going to add to his career or if it might hurt it.

He is one in a million.

A 1967 graduate of Washington High School, Hewett was a standout athlete excelling in baseball, which he went on to play in college.

Hewett had a brilliant 20-year career as a Trooper in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol eventually leading Troop A.

He taught and coached four years at Washington and then embarked on his second stint in law enforcement in 1998.

And it’s not just me who thinks Don Hewett is an outstanding sheriff.

In 2018 Hewett became just the 27th sheriff in the history of Oklahoma Sheriffs to be inducted into the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Hall of Fame.

He has served as President of the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Association and is blessed with an awesome family.

An extremely modest man, Hewett would never tell you this but I think he is proud of his law enforcement career.

I know I’m proud of him.

I have bragged on him to anyone who will listen all over the state.

Never heard anyone dispute it, either.

I’m proud to have called him my sheriff for the past couple of decades and am proud to be his friend.

Good luck in retirement and good luck to new sheriff Offolter in the years to come.