THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240322
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 55 lines
At 74, Roscoe Strickland figured time was running out to fulfill his dream of riding one more time as a mounted patrol officer. He had ridden for years as a mounted deputy in Florida.
So Strickland recently asked Portsmouth Police Chief Dennis Mook and other city officials if he could take one last ride. And they agreed.
On Wednesday, he got his wish - six hours on horseback patrolling Portsmouth streets with city police.
``This is the nicest birthday present I could get,'' Strickland said. ``I'm really getting too old to do this and I think it's nice of them to let me.''
It started back when Roscoe Strickland met a couple of Portsmouth police officers on horseback and they started talking.
Strickland said he used to be a mounted auxiliary deputy with the Manatee County Sheriff's Department in Bradenton, Fla. The officers invited him back to the stables and offered to let him ride.
In May, Strickland put on his western-style uniform to ride in a city parade, the first time he had worn the uniform in 30 years.
``It brought out the cowboy in me,'' Strickland said, a twinkle in his blue eyes.
On Dec. 20, Strickland turns 75, so he considers Wednesday's ride with police an early birthday gift.
Strickland had volunteered at a recent Portsmouth DARE program, so the ride Wednesday and a plaque awarded to him by Mook were a tribute to his long service in law enforcement.
Strickland has ridden horses since age 4. ``I'm what you'd call an original cowboy,'' he said. ``I've rounded up cattle and driven cattle.''
During his time in Florida, Strickland participated in stakeouts, hunted cattle rustlers and alligator poachers and patrolled swamps and beaches, he said.
Complete with Stetson hat, spurs on cowboy boots and a .357 Magnum strapped to his side, Strickland spent six hours Wednesday astride Ecco patrolling the streets of Portsmouth with other mounted patrol officers.
Ecco, a chestnut brown quarter horse, carried a .45-caliber rifle as a saddle gun, a lasso and a western-style saddle. The 20-year-old horse has been with the department eight years but was struck by a drunken driver about five years ago and forced to retire for a year. The horse is now on loan to the department from a city police officer.
Strickland said he will remember Wednesday for a long time.
``After this ride, I think I'll put everything back in mothballs and storage,'' he said. ``My saddle is older than the riders around here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Roscoe Strickland, at right, is followed by Police Officer G.A.
Phipps as a pedestrian watches at Dinwiddie and High streets.
Roscoe Strickland will soon be 75. The ride was an early birthday
gift. by CNB