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Late Monday evening, Feb. 20, 2012, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, the City of Amagon, Amagon Baptist Church, Jackson County as a whole, but more importantly, the Vaughn family, lost "an all-around good man," Sheriff David Lucas explained.
Vaughn, Amagon's Mayor, the pulpit minister at Amagon Baptist Church and Chief Deputy of the Sheriff's Department, suffered a heart attack at his home.
The news came as a shock to Lucas, who admittedly spent more time with one of his mentors than he did with his family.
"In a small department, we are just a big family," Lucas explained, "Charles had a nickname up here, everyone called him 'Pappy' because he was like a daddy to all of us."
The two became partners in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Sheriff's Department in 1996 and have the rest of their time at the department joined at the hip.
"When I became Sheriff, I asked him to become my Chief Deputy. The Sheriff and Chief Deputy have a unique relationship. As far as everyone up here, I can talk to anyone, but Charles was always the one that I went to."
Lucas continued, "He was the one that I always went to to get advice from."
Vaughn's background and life experiences helped him deal with people that he met - maybe for the first time - in some of the worst of times. But, Lucas notes it did not alter his approach to people.
"He touched a lot of lives. He never did differentiate from anyone. Just because you were a prisoner in this jail you were still a human being."
"The night he died, all of us escorted his body to the funeral home. When we got back, we all came up here to the office and I saw something that just proved to me and solidified what kind of man he was."
Lucas explained, "When I looked up at the jail monitors, all the prisoners back in the jail were gathered up - circled up - praying for him. That is a big testament to Charles. That meant a lot to me because it proved how I felt about Charles. He is going to be greatly missed."
The long-time community servant came to work Monday, Feb. 20 as he always did and Lucas notes, nothing seemed amiss.
"We were together all day Monday, it was a holiday and holidays tend to be real slow for us. We started ragging him early, right off the bat, Mickey (Brock) has to go out there because he (Charles) locked himself out of his truck. So we started in on him as soon as he got here."
He continued, "We moved Steve McCullar into C.I.D. to take Ricky's place (Morales, former investigator) and we were in there giving him a hard time. We had a good time and he didn't indicate anything that he might be feeling bad or anything. He was in a good mood, he felt good, he clowned around with us and spent all day with us. Then I went to bed and got a message about 10:15 p.m. and that is when it all went crazy."
Lucas admits that the staff is "numb" because it all hit them so suddenly, but the Sheriff and his department have a singular focus to help them get through these difficult days.
"Our main goal right now is just to make sure that Louise (Vaughn's widow) and the family are taken care of. We just want to make sure that they get everything that they need and we can take care of some of the smaller stuff and they won't have to worry about it and then make sure that we give Charles the sendoff that he deserves."
Things are business as usual, still doing their job, answering calls and protecting the citizens of the county because "Charles wouldn't have wanted it any other way," Lucas explains but the law enforcement community has also stepped up for their hurting brethren.
"I want to thank Lawrence County Sheriff Jody Dodson and Independence County Sheriff Steve Jeffery. Both of those counties have contacted me and they are wanting to send dispatchers, jailers and deputies down here so that all of our people can go to the funeral. The Arkansas State Police have also offered to help. Law enforcement is a brotherhood and we take care of own."
To visit the Sheriff's office, one must walk right past Vaughn's office which currently sits dark. One look inside tells you everything you need to know about him.
"Look at his desk, all those pictures there, they are of his grandbabies. I know he really, really, really loved those grandbabies. He just went on and on about those grandbabies," Lucas joked.
"He will be greatly missed around here. He was always willing to help anybody, it didn't matter who it was.'
Funeral services for Vaughn will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, 2012.
Late Monday evening, Feb. 20, 2012, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, the City of Amagon, Amagon Baptist Church, Jackson County as a whole, but more importantly, the Vaughn family, lost "an all-around good man," Sheriff David Lucas explained.
Vaughn, Amagon's Mayor, the pulpit minister at Amagon Baptist Church and Chief Deputy of the Sheriff's Department, suffered a heart attack at his home.
The news came as a shock to Lucas, who admittedly spent more time with one of his mentors than he did with his family.
"In a small department, we are just a big family," Lucas explained, "Charles had a nickname up here, everyone called him 'Pappy' because he was like a daddy to all of us."
The two became partners in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Sheriff's Department in 1996 and have the rest of their time at the department joined at the hip.
"When I became Sheriff, I asked him to become my Chief Deputy. The Sheriff and Chief Deputy have a unique relationship. As far as everyone up here, I can talk to anyone, but Charles was always the one that I went to."
Lucas continued, "He was the one that I always went to to get advice from."
Vaughn's background and life experiences helped him deal with people that he met - maybe for the first time - in some of the worst of times. But, Lucas notes it did not alter his approach to people.
"He touched a lot of lives. He never did differentiate from anyone. Just because you were a prisoner in this jail you were still a human being."
"The night he died, all of us escorted his body to the funeral home. When we got back, we all came up here to the office and I saw something that just proved to me and solidified what kind of man he was."
Lucas explained, "When I looked up at the jail monitors, all the prisoners back in the jail were gathered up - circled up - praying for him. That is a big testament to Charles. That meant a lot to me because it proved how I felt about Charles. He is going to be greatly missed."
The long-time community servant came to work Monday, Feb. 20 as he always did and Lucas notes, nothing seemed amiss.
"We were together all day Monday, it was a holiday and holidays tend to be real slow for us. We started ragging him early, right off the bat, Mickey (Brock) has to go out there because he (Charles) locked himself out of his truck. So we started in on him as soon as he got here."
He continued, "We moved Steve McCullar into C.I.D. to take Ricky's place (Morales, former investigator) and we were in there giving him a hard time. We had a good time and he didn't indicate anything that he might be feeling bad or anything. He was in a good mood, he felt good, he clowned around with us and spent all day with us. Then I went to bed and got a message about 10:15 p.m. and that is when it all went crazy."
Lucas admits that the staff is "numb" because it all hit them so suddenly, but the Sheriff and his department have a singular focus to help them get through these difficult days.
"Our main goal right now is just to make sure that Louise (Vaughn's widow) and the family are taken care of. We just want to make sure that they get everything that they need and we can take care of some of the smaller stuff and they won't have to worry about it and then make sure that we give Charles the sendoff that he deserves."
Things are business as usual, still doing their job, answering calls and protecting the citizens of the county because "Charles wouldn't have wanted it any other way," Lucas explains but the law enforcement community has also stepped up for their hurting brethren.
"I want to thank Lawrence County Sheriff Jody Dodson and Independence County Sheriff Steve Jeffery. Both of those counties have contacted me and they are wanting to send dispatchers, jailers and deputies down here so that all of our people can go to the funeral. The Arkansas State Police have also offered to help. Law enforcement is a brotherhood and we take care of own."
To visit the Sheriff's office, one must walk right past Vaughn's office which currently sits dark. One look inside tells you everything you need to know about him.
"Look at his desk, all those pictures there, they are of his grandbabies. I know he really, really, really loved those grandbabies. He just went on and on about those grandbabies," Lucas joked.
"He will be greatly missed around here. He was always willing to help anybody, it didn't matter who it was.'
Funeral services for Vaughn will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, 2012.
