Local woman organizes book donation in sheriff sergeant’s memory

SYCAMORE – If the pen is, in fact, mightier than the sword, DeKalb County Sheriff’s officers are armed to the teeth.

Pat Overton, the wife of former DeKalb County Sheriff's Sgt. Harold Overton, who died last year, started in her husband's memory DeKalb County Cares, a nonprofit that partners with the sheriff's office. The organization recently supplied each patrol car with a duffel bag flush with books and drawstring bags to give children at the scene of potentially traumatizing calls. Each duffel bag contains 15 books ranging in difficulty from early childhood to high school-level reading.

Harold Overton, a champion for children’s safety, would be beaming to learn local kids were provided comfort in his memory, his wife said.

“A book is a wonderful thing, and to give any kind of comfort to any child is just a good scenario,” Pat Overton said. “And I want all children to look at a man in a uniform and have a very positive [reaction]. My kids did. They grew up with police officers. These guys work early in the morning to late at night, long hours and they care about our kids, and they see them on a regular basis.”

DeKalb County Cares is based on the hope that children throughout the county can form positive relationships with the deputies who serve them. Although the department has tried similar programs in the past using stuffed animals rather than books, the new system could be a doorway to fostering conversation between the deputies and local kids, Chief Deputy Andy Sullivan said.

“You hope that it can change their mindset and think, ‘OK, things might be bad right now but in the future, things are going to be better,’ “ Sullivan said. “And we’d like to have the opportunity to read a story to the child, or their parents can read a story to the child, which would make the contact that they have with the sheriff’s office a memorable one and a positive one.”

Despite Harold Overton’s sometimes intimidating demeanor, he seemed to possess a natural ability to diffuse tense situations, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said.

“He would love this program,” he said. “He would be so excited about it, and it’s a great way to remember what he did at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, because he is part of a lot of the foundation here.”

Harold Overton began working with the sheriff’s office Sept. 1, 1966, and was the first officer in the department’s history to work there more than 20 years. Exactly 49 years later, on Sept. 1, 2015, Harold Overton died of heart failure.

“His father was a dispatcher here years ago and tried for a long time to get him to become a deputy,” Pat Overton said. “[Harold] started out at $325 a month, but we had a wonderful time. It was all family. We all worked together. We knew each other’s wives and husbands. It was a wonderful experience for my family, so all I’m doing is expanding it.”

On Saturday mornings, the rough-and-tumble sergeant could be seen cozying up with his two kids – each of them glued to an episode of “Rapid T. Rabbit,” while a police scanner hummed white noise in the background.

As an adult, you weren’t likely to catch much sympathy from Harold Overton. But as a young kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, he might have let you off with a fatherly wink and stern warning, Pat Overton said.

“He was an advocate for children. If a child got hurt I think it affected him more than anything else,” Pat Overton said. “He always believed that a kid was good – always needed a second chance. Always.”

DeKalb County Cares accepts donations of gently used books. Anyone interested in contributing financially or otherwise should email dekalbcountycares@gmail.com to make arrangements.