THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040235
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Random Rambles
SOURCE: Tony Stein
LENGTH: 78 lines
It took awhile for Bill Johnson and the Virginia State Police to get together, but when they did, it was a long-term match. After 33 years behind a badge, Johnson has just retired as the captain in command of State Police Division Five.
That's the one with headquarters on Military Highway. It's a biggie, covering the Hampton Roads cities and 13 counties. All the way from Williamsburg to Waverly and the Eastern Shore.
A Danville native, Johnson put on his first uniform when he joined the Coast Guard at 18. But a year aboard the cutter Duane convinced him that his heart - and his stomach - yearned for shore duty.
And the idea hit him like a light bulb over the head in an old comic strip. Only this wasn't a light bulb. It was a pilot light.
``Everywhere the Coast Guard had as many as two people,'' he says, ``they had a cook.'' Bingo. He went to cook school and spent the last three years of his enlistment in the kitchen at a life boat station in Portsmouth, N.H.
After the Coast Guard, he worked at a textile mill and then a tobacco warehouse in Danville. Verdict: ``Tedious and boring.'' That's when he thought about the uncle who was a state trooper and told a lot of fascinating stories. The year was 1963 and Johnson's career path turned out to be Virginia's highways and byways.
He's covered a lot of territory in his duty posts. Anywhere from the mountains of western Virginia to the hills of central Virginia to the flatlands and seashore of Tidewater.
``Took awhile to get used to driving on those crooked mountain roads,'' he says. ``You've got to be patient.''
Nowhere are the roads any more mountainous or spiral than in Highland County, but there was at least one major solace. There is a yearly Maple Syrup Festival in the county and eating well becomes a civic duty.
``Troopers were assigned to work traffic and people would keep offering fried trout and pancakes and sausage,'' Johnson says with a grin. ``Well, you have got to maintain good public relations so we sacrificed and ate the trout and pancakes and sausage.''
Another favorite food memory happened when he was a sergeant. It was about 20 years ago, when things on the force were more free and easy than they are today. Johnson got a call that he was needed at the scene of a train wreck. He hustled to the scene and found absolutely nothing that required his attention.
Except. . .
The railroad had sent a work car with a kitchen and was serving steak to its people. The trooper on the scene was invited and he invited Johnson.
Smart move. Johnson quoted an old State Police saying: ``A good trooper never gets cold, wet or hungry. A brilliant trooper sees that his sergeant never does either.''
Johnson took command of Division Three in 1989. Ask him his impression of local drivers and he'll tell a tale familiar to any veteran of Tidewater highways. ``When the weather is bad, especially when there's ice or snow, people need to slow down. They need to increase their following distance. Some do, but enough don't so that they create a massive problem.''
Speeding is another traffic problem that yanks Johnson's professional chain. ``There's no regard for the posted limits,'' he says.
He thinks unmarked cars have definite enforcement value, but he also says that the best safety device is a police car in your rear-view mirror. He's right. Admit it. You have never moved faster than when you spot a trooper's car and ease your foot off the gas pedal.
Johnson's retirement began on a Friday. The following Monday he started his new job as a driver improvement specialist for AAA. He'll be teaching courses like the ones that might give you a break on your insurance bill. Here are some simple words of Johnson's behind-the-wheel wisdom:
``Be a patient driver. Signal your turns before you make them. Be aware of the traffic around you. Don't follow too close.''
The day I talked with Johnson was the day he turned in his equipment and he'd been to a farewell lunch with some of his office staff. ``This is family,'' he said. ``It's kind of like leaving home.''
Looking back at 33 years as a trooper, he says that the biggest change in the job has been the improved technology. Computers and video cameras ride along with troopers now. But so do teddy bears.
``The bears are used to console children involved in bad situations,'' Johnson said. ``The technology may change, but the way troopers feel when they see a child that's frightened or hurt never does.'' by CNB