For legendary ‘Big Jim,’ it was his way or the highway

JACK AGNEW Contributing columnist

editor’s note: The following is part of a continuing series in which we ask readers to share a true story with us—any story—as long as it happened to them or a family member. do you have a story to tell? send it news@mechlocal.com.

James “Big Jim” Whitehurst, Jr. was a state trooper in Nottoway County in the late sixties. Later he became a sergeant for the state police, as a helicopter pilot. As one of his buddies put it, “He was 6’4” before he put on his Stetson, and had hands like a bear.”

One night in the little town where I grew up, there was a huge fight that involved about 100 people. It was about as close to a riot as I had ever seen in my life. They even rolled some cars over onto their roofs, and left them there. I drove through it, not knowing that my cousin, boss and a friend were watching with shotguns from the top of a feed store. They were hoping it wasn’t going to spill up into the building, when Whitehurst slid up to the group below, alone in his patrol car. When he got out, he had a pump shotgun in one hand, but was unaware of the potential backup on the roof. He shouted to the people in the parking lot, “All right, that’s enough! Everybody go home, fun’s over! Time to call it a night!” One smart-mouthed kid in the front row said, “Who in the (blank) is going to make us go home?” Jim walked over to him, grabbed the young man by the back of the neck, bent him over double, and ran him across the parking lot into my boss’s truck. It dented the door, and the kid fell back dazed onto the ground. Trooper Whitehurst racked a shell into the shotgun and boomed, “Okay, I asked you people nicely to go home. Now I’m telling you. GO HOME!” They left. 100 to 1. Walked away.

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I asked my boss later if he was going to get his door fixed. He said, “Nope. That’s the prettiest dent I ever saw in my life.”

Jim Whitehurst is dead now, but if anyone knows his children, please tell them this story.

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Another story about taking charge is from back when I sold construction projects. One of my customers was a big, redhaired country boy who worked

Please see AGNEW, Page 7

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