On January 13, 2018 friends, family and community members gathered to show appreciation to Jim Lutters for his years of service to Ness County Law Enforcement.

The plans for this celebration began in early November when prior Sheriff’s Office employees learned Jim Lutters retired from the road and bridge department with no show of appreciation for his 38 years. Then in November 2018 Lutters was compelled to resign from the sheriff’s office after 39 years of faithful selfless service.

One thing for certain about Lutters that everyone can vouch for is if there was ever a problem along the K4 territory in Ness County, Jim could always help.

As fellow officers if we had a question about who has been where, who is mad at who or what family quarrels have been going on lately Jim could usually fill us in.

Along with having the knowledge, he also brought about a calming aura in times of crisis or intense situations; of at least half of the situations brought about in Jim’s area he was the calming force of the officers on scene.

When asked about his background, Jim said he started with Ness County Road and Bridge in October 1978. In February 1979, Jim started full time with the City of Ransom as the chief of police and the only city officer.

Jim said his early patrol cars included a 1968 Chevy with the red bubble top, a 1976 Highway Patrol Car and a 1980 Plymouth, which he drove until he left the Ransom City Department in 1995.

In 1980 Jim started working for the Ness County Sheriff’s Office part time. It’s an understatement to say Jim was a very busy guy in our community — ‘78 starting at road and bridge, ‘79 starting at the City of Ransom Police Department and in ‘80 starting with the sheriff’s office.

Some of the past sheriff’s Jim worked for were Chester Barrows and Gary O’Brien and one of his earlier patrol cars was also a Plymouth maybe a black and white.

As the years fly by and fade away, it can be difficult for we younger officers to retain the many stories and memories that Jim has told, some several times but they never got old.

There are always stories that everyone knows about, but then there are those horrific situations that we in law enforcement can’t talk about and are forced to live with in silence. Jim has been there more times than anyone would dream of.

In one story Jim has told us, he talks of holding a small child and comforting them after the death of a family member. No matter how young or old you are, that is a memory that no one can shake.

When asked what [one of] Jim’s most memorable moments in law enforcement was, he spoke of a burglary at the Ransom city Tavern. Jim said it was about Christmas time in 1984 or 1985 when a burglary motion alarm went off in the Tavern, and he went to investigate assuming it would be another false alarm.

Jim said he arrived at the bar to find a car parked in the alley, and as he got closer, the door to the tavern came open and the person went back inside. After a short amount of time, the suspect came out of the Tavern surrendering to Jim saying that he wasn’t going to cause him any problems.

“That night we learned the suspect had also burglarized the Ransom Gas Station and the Brownell COOP. When the undersheriff got there, he admitted to another 12 burglaries that got clear down to Meade County or farther,” Jim said.

Jim believed that suspect ended up in prison and later got out, only to start making counterfeit money.

When asked to give one of the best and worst things about working as a deputy for the county, he said one of the best things is “the people you work with, sometimes there’s some bad in the bunch, but the majority of them are good and there are a lot of good people in the community you get to see.”

One of the negative aspects of being a deputy in a small community Jim said was “the accidents. You never know when you pull up who you are going to be helping. It could be a stranger from out of town, someone you talked to in the store a couple of hours ago or a family member. The most extremely difficult thing to deal with is drunk driving and death notifications from fatality accidents.”

Any deputy who works in a small community has the extreme misfortune of having to contact loved ones or close friends at one point or another whether it be in times of need or when conducting enforcement actions against them, none of which are easy.

Jim never faltered and never let emotion stand in the way of his ability to help those around him, he didn’t care what amount of time it took out of his personal life if it was for the benefit of someone or something else.

Jim said “It was great, this get together. I really appreciated seeing all the different people come to this.”

This gathering hosted nearly 50 people including prior coworkers, friends and family. We don’t feel there is any right way to thank someone in two hours for giving a community half of their life, but this get together was a great show of appreciation by everyone.

Jim was presented a Canvas print of his patrol vehicle and patches in front of a Ness County Sunset, a shadow box of patches with a picture of him and signatures from his coworkers as well as a plaque recognizing his 39 years of service to law enforcement.

The hosts and former co-workers would like to thank everyone who attended and all others for their continued support.