‘Policing Greene’

Tom Lewis sat down with his late father Carlton Lewis, a former policeman in rural Greene County, nearly three decades ago and recorded conversations with him about his job and old cases.

Now, those tapes of Carlton Lewis talking about what it was like being a law enforcement officer in Greene County during the “sunset” of the Jim Crow Era have been turned into a book and a podcast.

The book, “Policing Greene: A Policeman at the Sunset of the Jim Crow South,” was published in 2018.

“There was a weekend when Dad was coming up to see me in Cartersville, and I told him I wanted to go to my old office and spend the afternoon listening to him talk about his job,” Lewis told the Lake Oconee News. “I wanted to hear about all of the interesting events in his life involved with being a police officer, so we recorded it. Sadly, he passed away 10 weeks later after we recorded it.”

According to Lewis, he originally recorded those conversations just so his family could enjoy them.

“I kept it on a shelf in an envelope, inside a folder. I told myself I would get to it one day, but I didn’t really have the heart to listen to it,” Lewis said. “Years later, my granddaughter was asking me about it.

She had heard about Dad, who would have been her great-grandfather. Well, it then occurred to me that I needed to listen to them someday, and so we did.. This was nearly 30 years later.”

Lewis decided to have the tapes transcribed so his family could enjoy them. He then reached out to his friend Dr. Harold A. McAlister, a former professor at Georgia State University, to help him.

After listening to the tapes, McAlister called Lewis back the next day and told him, “This stuff is rich.”

“He told me that we needed to do a book,” Lewis added. “So, I thought to myself, well, this is interesting. That’s when we decided to do a self-published book. He actually came up with the title.”

The 159-page book explores the experiences of Carlton Lewis as a police officer in Greene County.

In 1964, at the age of 48, Mr. Lewis decided to become a law enforcement officer after a venture in retail sales. His new career spanned 22 years as he worked with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office before taking on the job of Chief of Police in the small Greene County town of Union Point.

“Dad was involved in a number of cases. Back in the ‘60s, they busted a lot of [moonshine] stills. They would bust those with revenue agents,” Lewis said. “It was just one howling experience after another for him. It was all of the time, so that is how the idea for all of this came about.”

In December of 2022, the podcast, with the same name as the book, was released across streaming platforms. It is sponsored by a non-profit organization called Team BlueLine, which assists families of fallen and injured policemen. Team BlueLine reached out to Lewis about the book.

“Last year, we started taping it,” Lewis said. “When we started recording, Harold and I made several trips to Greene County to interview people. They all talked about Dad and the job he did.”

The podcast features a more in-depth look at Carlton Lewis’ life as the Chief of Police in Union Point.

McAlister and Lewis interviewed friends and acquaintances that had interactions with the late officer.

“It just showed on one hand how tough no nonsense a police officer he was,” Lewis said. “On another hand, how he would walk every day and that kids would follow him around. He would give them candy and spend time with them and talk to them. Dad just had that kind of following. Of course, a couple of times, people tried to kill him. That’s a lot of what we explored on the podcast.”

“It was a great experience getting to meet the people down there in Greene County,” McAlister added. “It was amazing to see the people that Mr. (Carlton) Lewis from that long ago. He made an impact in the community, and it was reflected by those who remembered him from his time as an officer.”

The podcast, which was produced by Andrew Nelson and co-produced by Mars Rinaldi, also highlights how Carlton Lewis made an arrest in the Reuben Flynt murder in Union Point during the 70s.

According to the Herald Journal, Flynt, a popular bank executive, was beaten and shot to death on Dec. 15, 1975. Flynt was killed at his home while taking a lunch break. He was a father of two.

Carlton Lewis helped assist in the arrests of Charlie Young, 28, and Derwin Young, 18, who were cousins. Both were charged with bank robbery and the murder of Flynt, who died at the age of 47.

According to reports, shortly after the murder, Derwin Young carried Flynt’s billfold to Farmers Bank in Union Point and told bank officials that Flynt was being held hostage for a $60,000 ransom.

The podcast and book also explore how Carlton Lewis fought for equal justice during the Jim Crow era.

“It’s just story after story,” Lewis said. “We started taping and retaping. Finally, we put it out there.”

Lewis acknowledged the reason he wanted all of his dad’s stories to be published was that he wanted to show the positive side of police work, adding that in today’s society, it doesn’t happen much.

“I was tired of police officers not getting credit for what they do,” Lewis said. “Right now, we’re in a state where police officers are getting beat up and they’re accused of things, they’re getting bashed. People have lost respect for them. I wanted to show two things.

"First, is that in the South, we’ve made a lot of good decisions, especially in Greene County. Second, there are some bad police officers that have not handled their situations correctly. However, there are a lot of police officers that have done a great job. They have put their lives on the line every day. I saw it with my dad.”

“Policing Greene: A Policeman at the Sunset of the Jim Crow South” can be purchased online at Amazon.com. It can also be found at the Genuine Georgia bookstore in downtown Greensboro. The podcast can be streamed on services such as Spotify, BoomPlay, Audible, Apple Podcasts and TuneIn.