Regional News
Email
Print
Stokes sheriff will retire next year
'You need time off,' Joyce says after 40-year career
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 21, 2009
Mike Joyce, the sheriff of Stokes County since 1990, will not seek re-election next year, he said yesterday.
"At the end of the term, I'll have 40 years in law enforcement," he said. "The time comes for all things to end."
Joyce said he made his announcement now to give people who might run a chance to make their decision.
Joyce said he hasn't decided what he will do when his job ends.
"I have no plans at this point, but I'll stay active with something," he said.
Leon Inman, the chairman of the Stokes County Commission, said that Joyce is so popular that he likely could have won re-election for as long as he chose to run.
"I've slept good at night knowing he's in charge," Inman said. "He's a fair, honest, good man with high marks for integrity."
The filing period for the sheriff's position runs from Feb. 8–26. Mike Marshall, a captain in the sheriff's office, has said that he will run.
"I hate to see Sheriff Joyce retire, but I guess we all knew it was coming," Marshall said.
Joyce joined the Stokes County Sheriff's Office in 1970. He was fired in 1974 when the sheriff-elect, Tony Blalock, took office. Joyce then went to work as the chief of the Walnut Cove Police Department.
Twice -- in 1978 and 1986 -- he ran unsuccessfully for sheriff . He finally succeeded in 1990, defeating Blalock -- the sheriff who had fired him in 1974 -- with 53 percent of the vote.
In 2001, Joyce made a notable protest of a county hiring freeze and the layoffs of four full-time and one part-time county employee by refusing to give up his car -- a 1991 Crown Victoria that at the time was the oldest car in the county's fleet.
The red car, called "Ruby," had more than 300,000 miles on it.
"It just didn't seem right to drive a new car and turn around and tell people they have to be laid off," Joyce said.
The hiring freeze was implemented when the state withheld money to the counties during a budget crisis. The state ultimately released the money, and no one was laid off, Joyce said.
Joyce said he didn't know whether his protest had any effect on the outcome. He said that Ruby was eventually sold at a county auction, and has changed hands a few times. He last saw it being driven somewhere near Rural Hall he said.
Since Ruby, Joyce has had only one other official car -- a Crown Victoria in a similar shade of red that he called Ruby II, which has more than 130,000 miles on it, he said.
Joyce said that at this point, he has no plans to seek any other office.
"I've been through seven elections, and sometimes you need time off," he said.
What he will miss most about serving as the sheriff is spending time with the public.
"I'll miss the people I work with, and I'll miss seeing people in the county as much as I do now," he said.
727-7327
Email
Print
