Outgoing Sheriff ‘Carp’ Stirs Emotions During His Farewell Roundup

He didn’t actually mount a horse and ride off into the sunset, but during an emotional last day on the job, retiring Sheriff Larry Carpenter threw a country-and-western theme barbecue, gave a farewell speech laced with down-home aphorisms and whimsically recalled his youth in the farming community of Fillmore.

Only hours before his tenure ended, more than 1,000 peace officers, business owners, celebrities, attorneys and volunteers, most clad in creased blue Wranglers and neon-colored cowboy shirts, mingled Friday night among hay bales and propped up leather saddles to swap thoughts about the man called “Carp.”

“He’s big. I always like my sheriffs big,” said actor Larry Hagman of Carpenter’s stature and reign.

Newly elected Sheriff Bob Brooks lauded Carpenter, 51, for traditional values and no-nonsense leadership during the last six years.

“He came on at a tough budget time and dove right in. It was war, and he was there,” Brooks said.

Dozens of certificates of recognition and appreciation covered a table sitting under one of four giant video screens showing rodeo footage. One thanked Carpenter’s wife, Jeannie, for standing by her man.

“There are a lot of things we are planning to do,” Jeannie said. Carpenter has said he would like to attend rodeos throughout the country, as well as go on safari in Africa.

Undersheriff and master-of-ceremonies Richard Bryce said Carpenter, his hunting buddy, would be missed.

“I wouldn’t have volunteered for this for all the money in the world, but he’s my friend,” Bryce said of having to stand before the massive crowd and introduce entertainment that included cowboy poetry, blooper videos of Carpenter and salutes from his former deputies.

Earlier in the day in an address that mixed dry wit, nostalgia and harsh criticism of the media, Carpenter honored graduates of the sheriff’s training academy and turned the job over to Brooks.

Carpenter began by sprinkling recollections from his days as a police officer in Fillmore, his hometown.

In the 1960s, Carpenter said, he made $500 a month, carrying a wood nightstick and pistol far less powerful than today’s weapons.

Back then, he said, police work was much more simple.

“We had little concern about civil liability,” Carpenter told an audience of 900 at Port Hueneme Navy Base’s Needham Theater, “or concern about catching an infectious disease while rendering first aid.”

The outgoing sheriff then lambasted the media, which he accused of being obsessed with police wrongdoing. He said newspapers and television stations obsessively reprint and replay negative information about police, eroding confidence in law enforcement.

“You must avoid the appearance of impropriety,” Carpenter told the new deputies and officers. “The public feeds on sound bites and headlines.”

At another point, Carpenter mingled humor and tragedy to justify the $50,000 annual salaries made by sheriff’s deputies.

“Dennis Rodman, the icon of all that is good in America, makes $4,000 a minute,” Carpenter quipped.

By contrast, Peter Aguirre, a deputy who was fatally shot responding to a domestic disturbance call two years ago, made $1.66 during five minutes on the scene, Carpenter said.

Carpenter, sheriff for six years, ended by urging compassion.

“From the Western posse to the neighborhood patrols, law enforcement has formed partnerships with the community,” Carpenter said. “Enforce the spirit of the law. Don’t hammer somebody just because you can.”

A few hours later, the mood was considerably lighter, as about 1,100 well-wishers turned out for “Carpenter’s Last Roundup” at Seaside Park.

For $35 a plate, the revelers--many dressed in western apparel--dined on barbecue and danced to a country band.

Chi is a Times staff writer. Wolcott is a correspondent.