MEMORIES OF THE GOOD OL' DAYS

When Ivan McLain was Cape Girardeau County's sheriff, law enforcement seemed simpler.

"I remember when this man stole a box of dynamite," said McLain, who was sheriff between 1966 and 1977. "We tied him to a tree and when we came back a few hours later, he remembered where that box was."

McLain invited former law enforcement colleagues to the county park on Saturday to share food and tell tales about fighting crime in another era.

McLain, 70, said he sees most of his old law enforcement friends at Wal-Mart, where he works greeting customers. But they don't see each other.

"Some of these guys haven't seen each other in 20 years," McLain said.

David Sander left his job as a sheriff's deputy in 1975 for an Army career. Although he has visited Cape Girardeau since then, most of his time is now spent as a fraud investigator for an insurance company in Kentucky. On Saturday, 54-year-old Sander and 58-year-old Jim Greene of Cape Girardeau recalled their lives as deputies.

"It was freer then," Greene said. "And you didn't see this drug problem."

Sander agreed.

"Back then when we caught someone with marijuana it was a big bust," he said.

Before Sander joined the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, he was a police officer in Sikeston, Mo. When he spoke to McLain about a job, the sheriff told him if he could find him that day, he'd hire him.

"It took me about 40 minutes," Sander said. "He was in Scott City that day and I know the town like the back of my hand."

Benefits were limited to a $25 a month clothing allowance when Greene became a deputy in 1969, he said. Deputies had to provide their own cars and were paid mileage.

"Mostly then all we did was civil stuff, like serving summons," he said.

McLain's jail was built to hold 16 men and two women, but his average number of prisoners was close to 40.

"I had them double up," he said. "Some of them were sleeping in the basement."

When McLain transferred inmates from his jail to state prisons, he would often fly since he was a licensed pilot. Former deputy Bunny Sebastian recalled escorting Brian Abbott, convicted of murdering a former Southeast Missouri State University professor in 1981. Abbott threatened Sebastain he was going to jump out of the small plane.

"I told him as long as we were handcuffed together, he wouldn't be going anywhere," Sebastian said.