Thread: Border sheriff with national reputation will retire

Border sheriff with national reputation will retire

By Jason Buch | January 2, 2013 | Updated: January 2, 2013 8:55pm

• 

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr. looks around his office Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Gonzalez will retire at the end of the year after nearly 19 years in office. One of his accomplishments was helping found the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition, an advocacy organization that gave rise to the Southwestern Border Sheriffs Coalition. The two organizations bring attention to border security issues, organize for law enforcement officials to testify before state legislatures and Congress and administer grants to border agencies.
Photo: Jerry Lara, Staff / © 2012 San Antonio Express-News

Sigifredo Gonzalez, the sheriff of sparsely populated Zapata County who became a national figure in the border security debate, has hung up his gold star.

Gonzalez, 56, did not seek re-election last year. He first ran for sheriff in 1992, losing in a runoff election to incumbent Romeo Ramirez. Two years later, Ramirez was arrested on corruption charges and Gonzalez, then the chief investigator for the county attorney, was appointed to replace him.

"I thought I was going to be a one-term sheriff," he said. "Here it is 18½ years later, and I'm leaving on my own terms."

Gonzalez said he retired because of money. The sheriff's job pays about $50,000 a year, he said, and he's been working security for an oilfield company to make ends meet. He intends to pursue a full-time job, and consider another political office.

He'll also be able to devote more time to his family, Gonzalez said. "Many times we were getting ready to go somewhere on a family trip, and we had to get out of the car because I had to go to work."

His replacement is Alonso Lopez, a captain with the sheriff's department. The department has a staff of about 100.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Border-sheriff-with-national-reputation-will-4162805.php

County sheriffs are the official law enforcement of any county and sacrifice much more than federal agents, and are extremely underpaid.

Good for this sheriff right in the middle of the incoming Mexican dope stream to retire clean and have never been caught in a scandal.