T.J. Barrett dies early Wednesday

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

The source of the wisecracks and practical jokes has been silenced, but the laughter, smiles and memories will linger forever.

Timothy John “T.J.” Barrett, the former police chief for 18 years at Lake Waccamaw and current town board member, died early Wednesday at his home on Oak Street there.

The 55-year-old man from Oswego, N.Y., adopted Lake Waccamaw as his home, and the residents there adopted him as one of their own.

T.J. was a one of a kind person who most people never forgot, particularly if they were on the wrong side of the law. However, many others have a memory of dancing and singing while he frolicked on the piano as part of a band, or by himself.

Barrett ran and lost a tough race for sheriff in 1998. He lost to incumbent sheriff Jimmy Ferguson by 329 votes. It was a three-man race and T.J. missed a runoff opportunity by only 116 votes.

Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at a location to be announced. Visitation is Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m. at McKenzie Mortuary.

“He was a tough man on the outside, but he’d give you the shirt off his back,” Town Clerk Linda Noble said Wednesday. “He loved his police work. Somebody said earlier today he had ‘street smarts.’

The bicycle case

“He solved almost all his cases. I know one that really bothered him was the man who robbed the bank. The guy left on a bicycle, and T.J. just couldn’t figure out who it was,” Noble added.

“I remember him playing piano for one of the police officer’s wedding. He looked like a little boy playing that piano in the church,” she commented.

“I’ve lost a very good friend,” Janie Faulk, another town employee, said. “Linda and I knew him for 23 years. I just smile when I talk about T.J.”

Faulk recalled T.J. didn’t like the loose cotton like that found in medicine bottles. “He couldn’t stand it. We filled his police car full of it.

“We knew payback was coming and it would be something mean, but we didn’t care, because it was T.J.,” Faulk added.

And, T.J. didn’t forget. One Valentine’s Day Janie and Linda came to work and found faded funeral wreaths on their desks. “The dead flowers sure did stink. We knew who did it,” Linda said with a laugh.

The “meanest” thing T.J. did to Noble was in 1998 when her birthday coincided with Lake Waccamaw’s Christmas parade. “He put signs all over his police car announcing that I was 50 years old and led the parade all over town. He was right, it was my 50th birthday.”

Friend and mentor

Current Police Chief Scott Hyatt was very close to T.J. “He was a fantastic friend and my mentor. I surely looked up to him,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt was hired by T.J. as a Lake Waccamaw policeman in 1999, and became chief when Barrett retired. “He didn’t tell me what to do with people or at a crime scene. He showed me. He led by example.”

Hyatt recalls “he always said, ‘Watch your back!’ I can still hear him telling me that. He was always compassionate, even to the bad guys.”

The chief said T.J. would stop a person for driving a little too fast, or for “rolling through” a stop sign. “He’d call me to the back of the car after he’d gotten the license. ‘This guy gets a warning because he works. You see those dirty hands, that grease on his work uniform, and the belt of tools in the back seat? Cut him some slack.”

Hyatt was the butt of some of T.J.’s jokes. “He pulled a couple of good ones on me, but I can’t tell you about ‘em,” Hyatt laughed.

He recalled how T.J. loved to quietly drive up slowly behind the many joggers and walkers around the lake. “He’d hit the siren. He just loved to see ‘em jump,” Hyatt declared with a chuckle.

“He always tried to look out for everyone. We’ll all surely miss him,” Hyatt stated.

Sheriff Chris Batten said Barrett’s death is “a great loss to the law enforcement community and to the people of Lake Waccamaw.”

The sheriff pointed out, “T.J. was a man who worked hard and was very thorough with his cases. You could depend on him at any time of the day or night. I was proud to have him as an auxiliary member of my department.”

Ronnie Fisher of Whiteville, a fellow band member of the group who performed at private parties, weddings and other functions for several years, also remembers T.J. with a big laugh.

Stopped for speeding

“I’ll never forget the day I met him. I was on my way to Wilmington to play in a band, and T.J. stopped me for speeding. I told him I was speeding because I was on the way to Wilmington, that my mother was sick and in the hospital there,” Fisher related.

“I got home about 3 o’clock in the morning, and I heard a knock on the door. It was T.J. He had called my house and talked to my mother, so he knew I was lying to him. He wanted to let me know he knew,” Fisher said.

Fisher, who plays a guitar, played often with the late Harold Rains of Bolton, the former sheriff. It was Rains who suggested to Fisher that T.J. be contacted about playing piano for them as they entertained.

T.J. agreed and a solid friendship began. The group played for nearly 15 years.

Barrett was a son of Joseph and Marian Helen Burke Barrett. He was born on May 6, 1951 in Oswego, N.Y., a small city northwest of Syracuse located on the shores of Lake Ontario. T.J. often remarked about how cold it was there in winter.

T.J. began his law enforcement career with the Oswego police in 1973 and served until 1979 when he received medical leave due to a damaged knee. He was self-employed for five years until a “taste” of southern hospitality beckoned.

Police advertisement

His in-laws were living in Fayetteville in 1984 and saw an advertisement for a police officer to work at Lake Waccamaw. Wanting their daughter closer to home, the in-laws sent T.J. the ad.

Barrett knew winter in this area of North Carolina was a brief period, compared to the six to seven months of cold and snow of his hometown

He applied and Chief of Police Mike Prostinak hired him. Mike left the post the next year and T.J. became chief and became a law-enforcement legend before he retired in November 2003.

T.J. began to use video surveillance equipment to catch thieves at the lake, plus he would install equipment for various merchants in this county who were having theft problems.

Barrett quickly became adept with the hidden cameras, and he retired early so he could devote all his time to his business.

Piano lessons

He learned quickly just about anything he tried. He told friends that his parents didn’t believe him when he told them he wanted to take piano lessons, so he’d sit at the door and listen to his sisters’ piano teacher give them instructions.

Then, he’d go to the piano and practice what he’d heard. When his parents discovered he was serious about the lessons, they delivered – and he paid dividends for years with what he learned.

T.J. knew he needed to go to New York City in September 2001. He took leave and time off as police chief and stayed near the site of the 9-11 disaster for weeks. “He volunteered to do just about anything they wanted done,” Hyatt recalled.

When Barrett returned to Lake Waccamaw the memory of what he’d seen wouldn’t go away. He went to area churches to inform people of what they could do to help.

“He was just that kind of person. I was surprised when he went to the churches, but I was proud of him for doing it,” Linda Noble said.

Prostinak said Wednesday, “He was very impressive during that (1984) interview when he applied for the police job.”

Asked what he’d remember most about T.J., the former chief said, “He made me look good, particularly about the decision to hire him. He had a very sharp mind, and was a good person. We’ll all miss him.”