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Off to fulfill his inner sailor

Community Officer Dale Russell says he will miss Keystone terribly but at 50 it's time to be near boats and water.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published March 3, 2006

KEYSTONE - Saltwater-laden winds, sun and sea have been summoning Deputy Dale Russell since the tender age of 10.

Now, at 50, with half of his life spent wearing a badge and carrying a gun for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, he's heeding the call.

The Keystone community resource officer is leaving the force for a job with the Boston Whaler boating company in Edgewater, on the east coast of Florida.

"Boating's been a passion of mine, a true love," Russell said. "So this will really be exciting."

Still, giving in to his love of boating means leaving others behind: the Keystone community and the Sheriff's Office.

Russell, a big, burly, friendly teddy bear type, got choked up while announcing his retirement at the Keystone Civic Association meeting last week.

"I feel like a fool up here," he said, wiping away tears.

"It's really sad to be leaving," Russell would later say, "almost to the point I didn't want to take this job.

"I love this area. I love the community. I don't want to leave. It's just that the job requires it."

And the community loves him right back, said Mindee Cobb, Keystone Civic Association president.

"Everybody is just going to miss him terribly," she said.

"Not only did he attend all of our Keystone Civic Association meetings - he was there at every single one - but he has just been such a friend and a resource, even helping us last August with the bike rodeo we had," Cobb said.

"He pretty much walked us through the entire process so that would be a success."

"We don't want him to go," Cobb said, "but at the same time it's: "Wow! What an opportunity to do something he just loves to do so much.'

"It's bittersweet."

Russell is leaving with an established career behind him, sheriff's Capt. Rod Reder said.

"It's very difficult to navigate these waters for more than 25 years," Reder said. "Not everybody makes it 25 years-plus. More don't make it than do."

While Russell has spent 25 years with the Sheriff's Office, the three years he served with the University of South Florida's Police Department also count toward his pension.

In addition to his USF service, in the 1980s Russell was a school resource officer for Armwood High School, where Reder was his supervisor.

Russell said law enforcement is a young person's profession, "kind of like pro football. After 25 years we're allowed to retire, so I thought it was time."

His first day in Boston Whaler's customer service division is March 13.

Russell will spend his last day with the Sheriff's Office grilling hot dogs and hamburgers at the District 3 office's Spring Fling community festival, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Free to the public, Spring Fling will feature a rock climbing wall, dunk tank, free food and sheriff's deputies showing police gear and service animals at the District 3 office, 7202 Gunn Highway.

Russell is glad that Spring Fling will give him a chance to say goodbye to the community he'll miss so much.

But, in a way, Edgewater will be like coming to Keystone all over again, he said.

Even as Keystone fights to stave off urban sprawl, it has grown in the past 25 years, Russell said. "So, in a way, where I'm moving to is kind of like this used to be."

Edgewater, 30 minutes from Daytona Beach, is much closer to the ocean than Keystone is, giving Russell and his family more opportunity to put his 18- and 15-foot boats to good use.

Russell said he misses the days of his youth, when he and his father, a 27-year Navy veteran, would boat together.

"Back then, we lived right on the water," Russell said. "It was just a matter of walking out the back door and getting on a boat."

Russell and his son David, a senior at Sickles High School, boat together. Russell actually "kind of bought the 15-footer for (his) son to have."

While Russell hopes his son follows in his footsteps with boating, he does not know who'll be filling his shoes at the Sheriff's Office. But Keystone won't be without a community resource officer for long.

The Sheriff's Office plans to fill the position by April, said Cpl. Joel Masci, supervisor for District 3's community resource officer program.

"Whoever it is," Russell said humbly, "I'm sure they'll do as good a job, if not better."

- Amber Mobley can be reached at 813 269-5311 or amobley@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 2, 2006, 13:56:08]