Sheriff Whetsel's hobby exposed

My assignment today focused on the Oklahoma County Adult Detention Center.  That's the fancy name for the Oklahoma County jail.

I called the media contact person at the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office around 3:00 p.m. and asked if the sheriff was available for a quick interview for my story.  I didn't expect it to happen due to the late notice in the afternoon, but I got in!

We arrived at the sheriff's office shortly after 4:00 p.m. and I was escorted back to Sheriff John Whetsel's personal office where we conducted the interview.  I've interviewed Sheriff Whetsel a dozen and one times before, but this was the first time to do it in his office.

As we walked in, my jaw dropped.

I felt as if I was in a kid's toy store and I couldn't have been more amused.

Sheriff Whetsel has a massive collection of miniature cop car models and toys that take up most of the space in his office.  I'm talking about the Hot Wheels type of cars and small models I once purchased as a kid from Wal-Mart and tried to paint as a hobby.   Several of the cars had the OCSO logo and emblem on the sides.  Others had various agencies from across the country.   I quizzed the sheriff about his "toy" collection and he showed us his most recent addition - an older model police vehicle with the Louisiana State Police decal on the side.   He said one of his deputies who recently went to Louisiana to aid with the hurricane disaster brought it back for him.

"Suck up", I joked.

Rusty Surette  rusty.surette@news9.net