A Life of Service/George Moses Celebrates His 90th Birthday

                   A Life of Service                

            Sheriff George Moses Celebrates his 90^th Birthday

                

                                                                                                     Retired Macon County Sheriff George Moses 

and his wife Margaret have fond memories 

of Macon County; the home where they were 

born, attended school, and raised their family.  

Many of the people they cherish, have passed away, but it was



the citizens of Macon County that helped George Moses make



a huge career change in 1970. Looking back, George recalled,



“Macon County is a special place. I wanted to make a



 difference, and give back to the county that’s given so



much to me.”



        George Moses didn’t consider a law enforcement career



until he was forty-years old.  In 1969, he was working as a



mechanic at Beldin and his wife Margaret was a supervisor at



Van Raalte.  They had good jobs and a fifteen-year-old son and



were living quiet lives, but their situation changed drastically



when George committed to protecting and serving Macon



County.



         Several of George’s co-workers suggested that he run



for sheriff in the next election. He and Margaret began



discussing the possibility of his becoming the next sheriff



of Macon County and the sacrifices the job would require.  



After much thought and prayer, George told his wife, “I’m going



to do it!” “Margaret recalled, “I supported him because I knew



I had to do that. There was no way, with the demands of the



job, that he could serve without my support.”



       George Moses served two terms as sheriff, being elected



first in 1970 and later in 1982. The job was a family effort,



because Margaret often helped at the old jail with meal



preparations and their young son Wally shared his dad with so



many others requiring time from Sheriff Moses.

                                                                                     

       During the election of 1970, George defeated two-term



Republican sheriff, Bryce Rowland, in a close race. George



campaigned somewhat by radio but mostly by talking to people



about their hopes for Macon County.  He campaigned mostly



on combating illegal drugs such as hashish which had just



begun entering the county.



       George Moses took the oath of office for sheriff on



December 8^th, 1970. The sheriff’s office and the county that it



served were both in transition. Dixie Hall was prominent during



the Civil War and for many years, served as the justice center



in Macon County. Dixie Hall and the old jail would soon be



replaced when the current justice center was completed in



1972.



           George Moses’s chief deputy, who was living at the



old jail resigned. The Moses family, like Bryce and Alba



Rowland who preceded them, moved into the facility. “The



living arrangements at the jail were very uncomfortable, and



prisoners don’t make good house guests. We were thankful



that we were only there for six months,” George and Margaret



recalled.

                                                                                                                  

        The jail had living quarters and a kitchen. Margaret



 cooked for the prisoners and watched over the jail while



the deputies were on patrol. Often, the Franklin P.D. helped out



  while the county deputies were on an important call.



        Late one afternoon, Margaret heard a loud noise. One of



the prisoners were attempting to join the list of escapees that



the jail couldn’t hold over the years. Margaret remembered,



“The inmate had broken a sharp metal piece off the bedframe



and was digging through the wall toward daylight.”  If the



prisoner had successfully dug through the jail wall they would



have been free, because modern security, such as cameras or a



fenced prison “yard” were unheard of.



        In the 1970’s there were very few regulations at jail



facilities like there are today. The old jail had no air-



conditioning and had seven cells. The older jail held



more inmates than the new justice center did when  



it was built in 1972. At the older jail, each cell held as many



bunks as the space would allow, and multiple inmates used



each cell. The old jail’s capacity increased on the weekends,



when a few drunks came through the doors.



       The county that George served in the early 1970’s was very



different than Macon County is today.  There were a few



summer homes, but the Florida migration was much smaller.



Macon County consisted of families that had lived here for



several generations.  Family names such as the Henrys, Rays,



Fouts, Higdons, Brysons, and Rabys were very familiar and



longtime friends about whom George and Margaret cared



deeply.



       Macon County consisted of hard-working country folk



with good sense, and much of the time deputies could reason



with them.  George recalled, “Many of people the Sheriff’s



department dealt with, we knew well and often we made a



friend during a call to a home.” Of course, often the calls were



much more serious and didn’t have a happy ending.



       In law enforcement, spouses rarely get the deserved credit



for what they must endure and the support they give behind-



the-scenes. Margaret Moses remembered that, “When I was



was aware of a serious incident taking place, I often waited by



the phone at 2:00 A.M. or 5:00 A.M.” She would walk the floor,



waiting for Sheriff Moses to call her and let her know he was



okay. When the incident was completed she was relieved!

      

           In the early 70’s prior to the 911 addressing system,

                                                                                                                  

dispatch was handled in a private residence. A call would be



answered and the question was asked, “Who do you live



near?” The directions would often be something like “A short



piece above Tom Henry’s or Garmon Raby’s!” Radios often

                                                                                                                  

didn’t operate in remote parts of the county and there was



rarely backup, if it was needed.



       The predominant crimes in the early 1970’s were a rash of



larcenies at the homes of out-of-state summer residences. With



the limited resources of the Sheriff’s Department, officers



mostly concentrated on larceny and the new drug problem in

                                                                                                                  

the county. 



       The Sheriff’s Department had very few resources in



1970. Today, the budget for the Sheriff’s Department is six



million dollars, but in 1970 it was 250,000 dollars.  Most of the



special law enforcement units that we know of today, such as



SRO’s, Canine units and DARE officers didn’t exist in that era.

      

          The entire staff of the Sheriff’s Department consisted of



Sheriff George Moses, deputies Claude Curtis, Dewalt Hyde,



and Carl Zachery. The officers provided their own uniforms



and weapons. There was rarely backup on a call, and it was a



real challenge to patrol the remote communities of Macon



County. 



       The job of a rural sheriff was much different than that in



urban areas. In those days, the sheriff made $8000 a year, had



no secretary, and no computers. Police reports were kept in



manila folder. Most of the time, Sheriff Moses was just out



patrolling the county with the other three deputies who helped



keep Macon County safe.



        Considering the limited resources available to the



Sheriff’s department in the early 1970’s, George and his



three deputies did an amazing job protecting Macon County.



“We worked hard and just did the best we could with the



few resources that we had at the time,” George remembered.



       Those teenagers who remember Sheriff George Moses

                                                                                                                  

recall that when he’d speak to them on Main Street, he’d ask,



“Whose boy are you anyway?” He often knew their father



and the rest of the family too. A call to Dad normally



straightened out any rowdy behavior.



       The county police cars of the day were Fords and Dodges.

                                                                                                         

One young boy, who saw Sheriff George’s patrol car on Main



Street, looked up at him and said, “My big brother told me that



your car would burn rubber and scoot real fast!” “Not as fast as



that antenna right there,” George told him.



        The patrol cars had very little equipment other than

                                                                                                                  

a billy stick, a weapon, a radio, mace, and briefcase with



paperwork. Sheriff Moses didn’t carry a weapon most of the



time, but kept it under the seat of his car.



      In those days, radar guns and speeders were the domain of



the Highway Patrol. In the early 70’s the pin system became



available allowing law enforcement to call dispatch and check a



tag. “In the days before the pin system, if I stopped a vehicle, I



didn’t know if the car was stolen or if the driver was a suspect



because you couldn’t run the tag,” George remembered.

        

        Much of the information that the Sheriff’s Department



received came from a someone in the community, who had



seen or heard something. In 1973, a tip led to surveillance of



Middle Creek, an area located near the Georgia state line,



where an illegal liquor still was operating. The men who were



working the liquor still came riding by in their own trucks, near



where the deputies were standing. The ATF handled the



investigation and estimated that the still was a “whopping”



one-hundred gallons. It was one of the biggest ever “busted” in



Macon County. 



        The men were making rot-gut whiskey, distilled through



radiators and sold to victims in Atlanta or Greenville, who had



no knowledge of how it was produced. The bounty was later



poured into the storm drains on Main Street, and the



confiscated equipment was auctioned on the courthouse steps.

        

       One of the many characters that George and the Sheriff’s

                                                                                                                  

Department tolerated, were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mast.



They arrived in Macon County from Texas in the early 1980’s,



driving two dark-colored Cadillacs. The couple camped in



Swain County at Deep Creek Campground but spent much time



around Franklin, posing as evangelists and seeking donations.



       The pair was impossible to miss because their Cadillacs



had colorful Bible scriptures painted all over them with sayings



like “God’s Chariot of Salvation” or “Car Approved by The



Almighty God!”

         

       The Cadillac’s would cruise into a service station on



Highlands Road or Georgia Road, and George recalled,



“The driver of the Cadillac often asked the station attendant,



“Do you want to give a tank of gas to God?”



       Later, a call came from law enforcement in Texas, seeking

                                                                                                         

information about the two characters. It turned out that their



two “Cadillacs by God” were stolen, and Mr. and Mrs. Mast



were extradited back to the Lonestar State. Charles Mast left



Macon County with one last blast of wisdom, saying “God



told him to steal two black Cadillacs!”



        Thinking of the court cases and the characters that



George Moses encountered in his law enforcement career



brought back memories of those he helped, and the ones that



he couldn’t help. George couldn’t give many people a break



because their crime was to serious.  Some of the youngsters he



was able to help, and those individuals have found success.



      Recently, George spoke to one of those adults in town



that had gone astray as a teenager but today has found



success. George recalled that, “it was rewarding to see a



success story, and someone that had turned their life around!”



      George Moses left the sheriff’s office in 1986 after being



defeated by Homer Holbrooks in the election. Many citizens



thanked Sheriff Moses for being treated with respect and



dignity. Superior Court Judge Friday had a long career, knowing



many Sheriffs in the local region. He commented that, “Sheriff



Moses was a good man who served Macon County well.” Judge



Friday told Margaret Moses that, “He had never met or worked



with a sheriff who worked harder, cared more, or was more



conscientious about his job than Sheriff George Moses.”



       Law enforcement is quite different today from what it was



in 1970, but in one profound way it hasn’t changed at all. Today



in 2019, it still requires men and women of strong character



who sacrifice their lives for a job that is often “thankless” but



very rewarding. Thankfully, a few good men and women still



care, work hard, and are willing to give their life for others, as



George Moses exemplified during his law enforcement career.



(Matthew Baker is the author of “My Mountain Heroes: Stories of Inspiration and Courage from Macon County’s Greatest Generation.” The book can be purchased at Book’s Unlimited or the Macon County Historical Museum. For more information about the book call 828-347-6164)