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L>oes a policeman ever become afraid while on the job? “Oh sure,” Jonathan Watson said. “Mainly you fear the man who just doesn’t have his senses and has a gun.” Though Watson is all too familiar with funeral services for fellow officers who have been killed in the line of duty, he said, “you may be surprised to know that the greatest number of policemen killed in the line of duty are in the South, in the states with the weakest gun control laws.”
In addition to taking a big cut in salary when he left the New York city police force, Watson forfeited other benefits. New York city policement can retire after 20 years, Virginia State Troopers after 30. Watson had been a policeman in New York for more thansixyears, none of that transfers toward his 30 years with the Virginia State Police.
But he doesn’t regret his decision. “New York was no place to bring up the kids,” Jonathan Watson said. He and Dianne have a daughter Dawn, 8, and a son, Jonathan Jr., 6.
“After I knew I wanted to leave the city, I wrote to state police departments. Finally I narrowed it down to New York State or Virginia. I was accepted by both, but the mail from Richmond was faster than the mail from Albany.”□
HOMECOMING
Thornton’s Gap Regular Baptist Church will have their annual homecoming on Sunday, May 25. The guest speakers for the morning services will be Allen Estep of Broadway and James Hasse of Peola Mills. Following lunch the guest speaker will be Nelson Pettit of New Market. Everyone is welcome.□
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