Sheriff J.B. Smith Finishing Out More Than Three Decades Of Service
His
very name has been synonymous with Smith County law enforcement for
three decades. During those 30-plus years J.B. Smith has stood against
his enemies, become beloved by most of the county's registered voters
and even been admired by the prisoners in his jail.
But how did an Arkansas sharecropper's son, who
joined the Navy to flee his dysfunctional family and abusive
stepfather, end up in Tyler as the longest-serving sheriff of a county
named for Texas Revolutionary Gen. James Smith?
Sheriff Smith, who took office in 1976, sat in his office on Spring Street
recently and discussed earning his GED, attending college, his law
enforcement career, which began in California, and his tenure in office.
"I
got here by mistake. I was driving through in 1969 and fell in love
with the area and applied with the Tyler Police Department and that's
what started it all," he said.
