Statue of Sen. Stephen White

Steve Harvey’s article on the statue of former U.S. Sen. Stephen White (Metro, Jan. 28) brought back fond memories of the late 1940s--1949 to be exact. That’s when I entered the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

At that time with the exception of substations, the Honor Ranch and Biscailuz Center in the City Terrace district, the department was located in the Hall of Justice at Temple and Broadway (southeast corner).

The statue was located across Temple at the northeast corner.

In the Transportation Bureau we would send the new guy to serve a subpoena on “Mr. Stephen White.” The unsuspecting deputy was handed a faked subpoena made out to “Stephen White” and was told, “You’ll find him standing over on the other corner. You can’t miss him. He’s there every day. He just stands around there on the corner. He (White) has a beard and wears kind of a long suit coat. He’s a nice guy, but a little peculiar.”

Some of the new deputies would stand around on the corner right in front of the statue for an hour or two waiting to serve “Mr. White.” If the sergeant needed them for an assignment, he would send someone over to get them and they were told to try again later.

I remember seeing our victims standing in front of the statue in all kinds of weather.

I do hope they find a good location for Sen. Stephen White’s statue. It brought us many moments of good-natured fun.

EMMETT VOGAN

San Dimas