Political Quotes

“Mr. President, my home county of St. Clair, IL, lost a dedicated public servant this week. Mearl Justus--aptly named ``justice''--passed away Tuesday at the age of 81. He had retired only 1 week earlier after serving eight terms as St. Clair County sheriff. Mearl Justus was a legend. He was funny, he was innovative, and he was a creative thinker who was always looking for new and better ways to run his department. Above all, he was deeply dedicated to the people he served in the county. An editorial in the Belleville News-Democrat described him as ``a 6 feet 2 inch teddy bear with a sailor's vocabulary and a hero's heart. He was gruff. He was endearing. He was a champion, rescuing us from the bad guys for 60 years.'' What an epitaph. He got off to a rocky start in life. He was 19 months old when his dad died, and he was raised by his grandparents. He was a high school dropout in 1953 when the mayor of Cahokia, IL, suggested he join the local police force. That is how the aptly named Mr. Justus began his nearly 60-year-long career in law enforcement. He started as a part-time officer in the Cahokia Police Department. He earned his GED and went on to earn an associate's degree at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville and then earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He advanced quickly up the ranks and served as Cahokia's police chief for 22 years. He ran for sheriff of St. Clair County in 1983 and won--his first run for elective office.…”