by Brendan Meyer, Casper Star-Tribune
Stephen Haskell has been sheriff of Sublette County since Jan. 5. The county covers eight communities, including Pinedale, which True West magazine recently named one of its 2015 top 10 true Western towns.
The same month the list was published, Haskell decided the Western look no longer belonged on his officers.
[EasyDNNGallery|1028|Width|350|Height|350|position|left|resizecrop|False|lightbox|False|title|False|description|False|redirection|False|LinkText||]“I had my patrol deputies wearing one uniform, (and) I had detention wearing another uniform. It looked like the Skittles platoon,” said Haskell, 53, who’s worked in law enforcement for three years. “We had a rainbow of colors. Who the heck is who?”
So he decided on new uniforms: black trousers, a tan shirt, black boots and a black ball cap. And you won’t see Gene Bryson wearing any of it.
Bryson, 70, was the deputy who wore the brown cowboy hat, brown cowboy boots, summertime leather vest or wintertime wool vest.
He retired on Friday after 28 years with the Sublette County Sherriff’s Department, 40 years total in law enforcement, the only guy on the force still wearing a cowboy hat.
“That’s kind of the reason why I retired,” Bryson said. “I am not going to change. I’ve been here for 40-odd years in the Sheriff’s Office, and I’m not going to go out and buy combat boots and throw my vest and hat away and say, 'This is the new me.'
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Source: Casper Star-Tribune
