Columbia County hasn't always needed 339 people to staff its sheriff's office.

"When I first started, there were just five or six of us on road patrol," said Walker Marshall, who joined the department as a deputy in 1974 and retired last month.

In those years, crime was sparse, but so were people.

"There wasn't too much going on," he said. "Cows and horses got out on the highway; maybe a domestic here and there."

Mr. Marshall's first boss was Sheriff Edward Tankersley, who held the office 19 years. The headquarters and jail in those years fell short of today's sprawling complex linked to a network of substations across the county's most populated areas.

"We had a little old jail down there by the Appling courthouse," he said. "The sheriff used to live under the jail, and the jail was on top of the sheriff."

That way, Sheriff Tankersley could keep an eye on the prisoners - when they had one.

There were some crimes back then, and some gambling and moonshine raids, but they were infrequent.

"There just weren't many people," he said. "It was hard to even find a place to go eat."

Although the county has swelled with new residents, and the sheriff's office is trying to keep pace, some aspects of being a Columbia County deputy never change, Mr. Marshall said.

"It ain't the badge, it wasn't the gun or the uniform or the car," he said. "It's something that's in your heart: being able to help people who need someone to help them."

Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.