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Retiring marshal to focus on ranching, horses
Published November 13, 2009
JONES CREEK — Bubba Rape’s approach to crime-fighting includes discussions over a cup of hot coffee or handing over a person’s newspaper he had picked up while making a house call, friends and colleagues said.
But the longtime Jones Creek Marshal will be turning in his badge Tuesday, ending a 28-year run as the village’s law enforcement leader.
“His retirement is an end of an era,” Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner said.
“If any of the citizens had any kind of a problem, even if it wasn’t a law enforcement problem, Bubba was the one they’d call on.”
Rape, 74, said he decided to leave his post to focus on a pastime of cattle ranching and cutting horses.
“My whole lifetime, since of was 16 years old, I had a job that I had to go to every morning,” Rape said of retirement. “I’ve never gotten up and said, ‘I don’t have a job to go to.’ So I just don’t know, but I think I can handle it.”
Rape began his career in law enforcement more than 40 years ago as a deputy with the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office. He left the sheriff’s office to run a body shop and wrecker service in the 1970s before obtaining the post in Jones Creek.
Even as a wrecker driver, Rape always was ready to lend a hand, said longtime friend Richwood Police Chief Glenn Patton.
“He’s always been one of those kind of guys that you could call on when you needed help,” Patton said.
Many people would not know it, but Rape regularly declines his marshal’s pay to help out the department, Jones Creek Village Councilman John Audas said.
“Bubba’s probably one of the finest men I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, to be honest with you,” Audas said. “He does an awful lot and has done an awful lot for our community that nobody knows about.”
Rape said he turned down his pay for nine years so the city could hire a third full-time police officer, allowing the marshal’s office to have at least one person on patrol 24 hours a day.
“We’re just a small area out here, and we’ve worked up to full-time and we just did not have the money to pay them,” he said. “I’d rather do without my salary than to do without a man.”
Rape is most proud of helping local youths stay out of trouble and protecting the elderly.
“Some of these kids that I’ve worked with, they stayed out of jail,” he said. “And now they’ve gotten older and they’ve got kids. I do take care of the elderly and the kids. I took care of the middle-aged ones, too, but that’s what I’m real happy about.”
Jones Creek Marshal’s Sgt. William Tidwell will take over for Rape upon his retirement, city officials said. Tidwell has been with the marshal’s office for more than two decades.
Rape said Tidwell is a good man for the job.
“He’s a real finesse type of a person, real easygoing and tries to help everybody he can,” Rape said. “He’s a lot better at that than I am.”
Audas said Rape will be missed.
“If there’s a need in the community for somebody who really needs it, he’s there,” Audas said. “He just does not want a lot of people to know about it. He’s not a flag-waver type of individual, but if you want a friend, he’s the type of guy you want.”
Nathaniel Lukefahr covers Jones Creek for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151.
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