An Interesting Neighbor

When it comes to law enforcement, there’s really not much McClain County Sheriff Landy Offolter hasn’t seen or experienced.

Offolter, who is serving in his second year as sheriff, was McClain County’s Undersheriff for the three years prior to that.

After earning a degree in education from USAO he was hired as a police officer at Purcell. After a year he went to work as a deputy for then McClain County Sheriff Don Smith for almost a year before being accepted into the 37th Oklahoma Highway Patrol Academy.

Offolter said he was visiting with a friend who was a Chickasha Police Officer.

“I went to Chickasha PD at first and then over to Grady County,” Offolter reflected on putting in his applications. “I then went to Purcell and was interviewed by police chief Melvin Lynn. The interview lasted about 30 minutes and he said ‘when can you start’.”

In the meantime Offolter and his wife, Genise, tied the knot in 1978.

The veteran Oklahoma law man served a six-year stint as a Trooper in Grady County before getting promoted to governor security. He worked three years for then Governor George Nigh and three more years for Henry Bellmon.

“We actually had to teach Nigh how to drive when he left office,” Offolter joked. “There were a lot of interesting things in that assignment.”

Offolter retired from the OHP after a 37 year career with the patrol.

As a college student, Offolter started officiating high school football and basketball games to earn money.

“I kinda’ worked my way through college doing that,” he said. “A friend of mine told me they needed help and we would make pretty good money.”

Offolter said the first basketball game he and a fellow rookie refereed together was at Broxton.

“We were both brand new but they kept hiring us back,” Landy said with a chuckle.

The pay for calling both the girls and boys games was $17.50.

“Now it’s $130-$150,” the sheriff said.

He called high school football games for 42 years but only officiated at basketball games for 20 years.

When he started, a high school football game paid $20.

“I only did basketball for 20 years because I couldn’t keep up with the kids,” Offolter said. “If we would have had three officials back then I might have stayed a little longer.

“Back then the girls played six on six and the boys used to come down the court and set up plays and play zone defense.

“Now it’s up and down the court which is probably a lot more entertaining for the fans,” he said.

Offolter said he received a low income grant that paid for his books and tuition the first year at Chickasha.

Having never used his teaching degree, Offolter said 25 of his 37 years on the patrol was spent in weights and measures where troopers measure trucks, check for weights and inspect the trucks.

“They have a big area to cover,” he confirmed.

Offolter said the most challenging part of serving on the patrol was having to break bad news to family members after a fatality accident.

“It’s hard dealing with victims’ families, breaking bad news to them,” he confirmed.

In all his years in law enforcement, Offolter said he has had to draw his gun down on a person before but he never had to pull the trigger.

“I investigated a couple of vehicular manslaughter accidents when there was a drunk driver involved,” he said.

He once was involved in a manhunt out near Elk City when a fellow trooper was shot and killed.

“I had just dropped the governor off at the Mansion when the call came out,” Offolter recalled. “I was in that unmarked car. We caught the guy pretty quickly.”

The Dennis and Lancaster shoot-out in Caddo occurred the year before Offolter went to the OHP Academy when three troopers were killed.

“We initially heard that Don Hewett was one of the troopers that was shot and killed,” he said. “That really got us.”

He and Hewett have stayed close all these years and five years ago when the undersheriff position opened up, Hewett came a calling.

“It was nothing for us to visit,” Offolter said. “I’d come to his office or we’d have coffee. One day after I’d been retired for a couple of years Don called me.

“What are you doing,” came the question from Hewett.

“I told him I was out on the back side of my place working on a tractor,” Offolter said.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes,” Hewett said on the phone.

So Landy went back to their house on their 80 acres east of Dibble and told Genise. He didn’t say why he was coming.

“Maybe he’s coming to arrest me,” Offolter quipped to his wife.

“When he pulled up into the driveway he said, ‘get in’.

“That’s when I thought maybe he was coming to arrest me. He told me the position was open and that he needed me. I told him if he had to know today the answer is no because I’m enjoying retirement.”

Hewett told him to take his time.

So the Offolters talked it over and prayed about it and decided maybe this is a door the Lord wanted them to walk through.

The rest is history and five years are in the rearview mirror.

“I like this job,” he said matter of factly. “It’s totally different from the OHP. Don left it in good shape. And he laid a good foundation with the rest of the courthouse employees. We’re all like one big family.

The Offolters have three children Kris, Lanae and Jason, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The sheriff’s department has 28 deputies counting undersheriff James Goins.

Funding comes from the county sales tax to the tune of about $100,000, almost $2.5 million from the county and additional monies from serving papers and the like.

“The county funds 10 deputies and eight jailers,” Offolter said. “The sales tax is a big part of it. Without that we’d be pretty slim.”

The Offolters spread their utility money around living on their acreage five miles from Dibble and five miles from Washington.

“I get my water from Purcell; my mail in Blanchard with a Dibble home phone and I live in the Washington fire district. I lay claim to everybody,” he laughed.