Sun, Jul 05 2009
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Published February 16, 2008 03:22 pm - Talking to Kenneth Tucker is kind of like listening to your grandpa and his friends sitting around telling stories. Kenneth Tucker’s family lived 7 years at jail By Terri Brunck The Cullman Times Talking to Kenneth Tucker is kind of like listening to your grandpa and his friends sitting around telling stories.
“In college, you always had those professors that had everyone in the class introduce themselves,” Tucker said. “I would always say, ‘My name is Kenneth Tucker. I’ve been in jail seven years, spent three months at reform school and been on probation ever since.’ You would hear people whispering in the hall afterwards, ‘What did that guy do?’” Tucker’s father served as the chief of police in Cullman for seven years, and the family lived at the jail. Then his father became one of the original 13 members of the state parole board. So Tucker’s intro wasn’t quite as bad as it sounded, but it sure did make for a good story. And stories are something Tucker has plenty of. He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a parole officer. He served 41 years and retired as District Supervisor of the Alabama Pardon and Parole Board. “I majored in that at the University,” Tucker said of the University of Alabama. “And I decided to follow my daddy.” Tucker started in the organization so early, he has a single digit badge number. In fact, Tucker’s badge number was seven. The first three badges belonged to state parole board members. Numbers four through six belonged to officers in Montgomery. “I was number seven,” Tucker said. “I was the first field number.” Tucker remembers his time as a probation officer more as a way to help people get their lives back in order. He talked of one young man who was convicted of a sex offense in another state with different consent laws. “This young man was 18 years old, and his girlfriend was 17 – would have been 18 the next day,” he said. “But her parents found out and pressed charges. Alabama had different ages for consent. It wouldn’t have even been a crime here.” The man came home and was assigned to Tucker. Tucker let him attend school at Florence State Teacher’s College, now the University of North Alabama. He became president of the student body and graduated with honors. “There are just no exceptions,” Tucker said. “That’s the law for you.” The helping aspect of the job didn’t apply to just the probation officers. It extended to members of the community as well. Tucker recalls one man with “only half sense” who applied for probation. The man had a foot infection. Tucker carried him to the doctor and then the apothecary. “They helped us out,” he said. “The doc figured out what was wrong and what the boy needed. Nancy, the apothecary, said she would sell me the medicine for what it cost her and then she would pay half if I would pay half.” Part of the instructions for the medicine was that the boy’s feet needed to be clean before applying it. 
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