Tuesday, June 14, 2011, many citizens of Italy came to the City of Italy council chambers to say good bye to Police Chief, C. V. Johns. There was cake, cookies, punch and tears.

Police Chief Johns has put in thirty three years as a police officer and almost four of those years were in Italy, Texas as our Chief of Police. The word is, he is going to be missed by our community and his officers.

Many of the citizens were thanking Police Chief Johns for all he has done for our city. Jimmy Hyles said, “I want to thank the Chief for his hard work and dedication. I don’t know if his troops know what a good guy he is but I have seen him downtown working on holidays so his officers could be home with their families. That is a trait you don’t see in a lot of folks. I think this speaks very highly of him and again I appreciate the time we had with him.”

“Chief I want to thank you for helping me so much at school. I really appreciate it. You don’t know how much you helped,” said Carolyn Maevers.

When I asked Mayor Jackson his thoughts on the chief retiring he said, “We hate to see him go. He has been great for our city. He fit in perfectly. He will always be Chief to me and we are going to miss him. He came in and did a great job. He is leaving us with a good police department. He got the job done. The people of Italy loved him as well as his officers. He is a great Chief.”

City Administrator, Terri Murdock said, “I am truly going to miss him. He has been a wonderful Chief and a really good friend. He is more than just our Chief, he is our friend. It is very sad to see him leave but I am sure he is ready. We are sad for him and glad for him at the same time.”

City Council member Dennis Perkins had this to say, “I would like to say that Chief Johns will truly be missed and he has done the job we hired him for and that was to turn around the police department and bring credibility back to the police department. He has certainly done that. We are going to miss him very much.”

When asked asked what he thought about Italy, Chief C. V. Johns tearfully replied, “The time I have served in Italy I would not trade for anything. The citizens of Italy have been great. I could not ask for a better place. I am going to miss them.”

Chief John’s wife Vicky Johns said, “I have mixed emotions about him retiring. I know how much he has enjoyed working here and spending the time with the citizens of Italy. It was a hard decision, not easy to make at all. But there comes a time when it is just time to stop and he has reached that time.”

The first thing Chief Johns is going to do upon his retirement is go on a vacation with his family to New Mexico. He and his wife are taking all the kids and grandkids. After that he said, “I am going to spend time with my kids and grand kids. I never got a chance to do that before.”

Thanks for your service Chief C. V. Johns, you will be missed.