BEHIND THE TAPE
By Cpl. Richard Dascall
Sgt. Bruce Saunders
12/4/1965 – 09/09/2018
I know I normally tell funny stories from our travels and offer tips to
avoid victimization in this article, but I’m going to focus on a different
subject this month. Those of you from around Tybee undoubtedly knew
Sgt. Bruce Saunders, and likely at this point have heard of his passing. Sgt.
Saunders retired from us about a year and a half ago. Before that he had
given thirty years to working in law enforcement. He was the person who
interviewed me when I started in this job almost 9 years ago and was the
same guy who trained me when I began to work as a police officer.
The funny thing about cops is that we’re all legends in our own minds.
We all think that what we’ve done is a first in this career when in reality, it’s
been done a hundred times before by a hundred different people. In this
area, there are very few police legends. Bruce may have been one of them.
There are very few police in this part of the state that don’t know who he
is. I remember years ago one of our officers went to a class about training
new police officers. When the instructor asked who trained the people in
the room, about all of them said Bruce Saunders. This was a guy who not
only loved his job but loved sharing what he knew about the job with other
people. He’d talk for hours about his days working in Garden City or how,
when he started working at Tybee, he got so tired of people mistaking him
for Bob Bryson when he was on patrol that he started flipping people off
when they called him the wrong name.
Bruce was as good a person as you would ever meet. He’d bend over
backwards to help you out and treated everyone he met with respect. After
seven years of working with him, I can say that I became a better police
officer from having known him. He was a good friend and will certainly be
missed.
18 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2018
By SMC
Blood Pressure,
Cholesterol (and Viagra)
This is for all of you Baby Boomers or middle aged folks (men in
particular).
I recently went to the doctor for my yearly physical. You know, blood
work, urine sample, prostate exam, etc. The doctor checked me from
head to toe and determined that my blood pressure was too high. So he
put me on blood pressure medication. He said come back in two weeks
for the results of blood work and urine.
So back I go. After looking at the results of my tests, he determined that
my cholesterol was too high. So he put me on cholesterol medication.
He also gave me a prescription for allergies and heartburn.
It was at this point that I got up the courage to ask him about giving
me some … um … sexual enhancing drug (you know, Viagra or Cialis).
He said we needed to check my testosterone levels first. Come back in
two weeks for the results.
Ok, so back I go. Doctor looks at the results and tells me that although
my levels have dropped, that it’s not enough to warrant medication.
What???
I just don’t get it. If your blood pressure is too high, they want it to be at
the level of a 21 year old and put you on medication. If your cholesterol
is too high, they want it to be at the level of a 21 year old and put you
on medication. But if your testosterone level is low, they say its fine for
a man of my age. I call foul!
So now I have the health of a 21 year old in every way – except the one
thing a 21 year old and a man of my age thinks is the most important.
What’s the point in living?