Orville Drexler, former sheriff, dies at age 74
By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
Former Blaine County Sheriff Orville Drexler died last
week at his home in Hailey. He was 74.
Drexler, as Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling put it, was
the sheriff during "the transitional period when the old Blaine
County was moving into the new Blaine County."
For many of the valley’s new residents, this may not
mean much, but in "the old Blaine County" there was no such
thing as 911 for emergency calls or a countywide dispatch center to relay
information and instructions. Those innovations were ushered in by Drexler.
Femling said that early in Drexler’s tenure, a red light
was hung outside the Alpine Bar (now Whiskey Jacques’) as a way to alert
Ketchum police there was a problem. If people needed the police, they
would call the bar, and the bar would turn on the light. Police would
drive by the bar periodically to check for messages.
Chief deputy sheriff Gene Ramsey also served as Drexler’s
chief deputy. He remembered Drexler as having his own style.
"He liked having his daily reports done," said
Ramsey, "and he checked them for spelling."
Ketchum police chief Cal Nevland worked for Drexler for a
year and also remembered Drexler’s stress on spelling.
"It got to be a contest among we deputies,"
Nevland said, "to see who could slip a misspelling by him."
But he always caught them, made a red correction, and sent
the report back to the deputy so the misspelling wouldn’t happen again.
Nevland also remembers that Drexler enforced a dress code
that required a tie.
"We had to wear ties in the `70s when no one wore
ties," he said. "In fact, you could tell when a federal agent
was in the county because he had a tie on."
Ramsey remembered Drexler for his "low-key
manner" and called him a "deliberately thoughtful law
enforcement officer."
Besides the innovations of a countywide dispatch system
and 911 system, Drexler introduced a records and reports filing system
that became a model for state law enforcement agencies, Nevland said.
Femling said Drexler was responsible for moving the
sheriff’s department and jail from the old county courthouse in 1974 to
a new building on the corner of Walnut Street and First Avenue in Hailey.
This is still the department’s home.
An obituary is on page A23 of the printed version of
the Idaho Mountain Express.
