Pugh honored as oldest living sheriff in the state

Dent Pugh isn't one to talk overly much, but the 93-year-old Alleghany man is a piece of living North Carolina history. Pugh recently was recognized by the N.C. Sheriff's Association as the oldest living former sheriff in the state.

Pugh's nephew, Danny Pugh, did the research with the association to make sure Pugh was the oldest living sheriff.

"Fifty years ago today, Dent Pugh was the sheriff of Alleghany County," Pugh, who currently is a jailer at the Alleghany County Sheriff's Department, stated recently when talking with other department staff. That discussion led to the research into whether or not Dent Pugh was the oldest living sheriff in the state.

Sheriff David Edwards sent his congratulations along with a current department hat to Pugh and helped get the ball rolling on a celebration that is planned in his honor on Sunday, Sept. 14, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alleghany Senior Citizens Center. The reception is being sponsored by the Alleghany Rotary Club.

Sheriff Edwards noted, "We're really proud to have the oldest sheriff in the state, as well as a fine citizen, in Dent Pugh. I hope everyone comes out to congratulate him on the 14th."

Dent Pugh was Alleghany's Sheriff for one term in the 1950s, from 1954 until 1958. He noted that it was a tradition at that time that the sheriff only served one term.

"It was an old rule; there wasn't no law against it," he said.

There may have been good reason for the tradition, since the sheriff had to furnish his own vehicle, his own uniform and gun, as well as being on call 24 hours a day. The uniform for a sheriff at the time was a suit and tie, Pugh noted. He was paid $2,400 per year for a salary. At that time, the county's sheriff was the only paid countywide law enforcement. When the Highway Patrol was busy, the acting sheriff was then called in to investigate accidents as well.

Deputies were volunteers who helped out when the need arose.

Pugh noted that he didn't want a second term, "I'd had about enough of it." Following Pugh's term, he didn't seek re-election and Floyd Roupe became sheriff.

Sheriff Pugh typically was aided by Town Police Chief Dallas Parlier, who had filled in as sheriff after the last sheriff, Porter C. Collins, was shot and killed in the line of duty just before Pugh took office. The only other law enforcement on the roads at that time was one Highway Patrol officer, who at the time was Freeman Bell, Pugh recalled.

Pugh said his main deputies were Straley Johnson of Sparta and Roe Dickens in Ennice. The Sheriff's Office was in the Dent Pugh holds a portrait of himself from the 1950s, when he was sheriff.