[September 20, 2011] Emerging Power series: Sullivan County Deputy Carolyn Gudger uncomfortable with hero label Tweet Sep 20, 2011 (Bristol Herald Courier - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. -- Deputy Carolyn Gudger was 44 years old when she took a job with the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office in 1996 after being laid off from Bristol's Raytheon plant. "I was looking for something a little different," Gudger said, adding that she also thought about being a nurse or a flight attendant. "With law enforcement, you have a wide variety of assignments and so I chose this." Gudger, now 59, was working on her most recent assignment as the school resource officer for Sullivan Central High School in August 2010, when she went through a moment that changed her life. That's when Thomas Richard Cowan, a 62-year-old Kingsport resident with a history of problems with law enforcement, walked into the school's front door and pointed a gun at its principal. Springing into action, Gudger moved Cowan into an empty hallway and distracted him for 13 minutes as the school's principal, its students and faculty escaped to safety without any serious injuries. The standoff ended when two other deputies joined Gudger in the hallway and shot and killed the gunman when he refused to drop his weapon and surrender. But while she managed to keep her cool during the standoff, the school resource officer said she still has problems with its aftermath -- namely the amount of praise and attention she has gotten for her bravery. "All of this makes me so nervous," Gudger said, adding that she's always been more comfortable as a cheerleader rather than someone who is cheered. Thirteen minutes Cowan had two guns and 13 bullets when he walked through Central's front door a few minutes after school started on the morning of Aug. 30, 2010. Surveillance video of the incident, which the Sheriff's Office released earlier this spring in an attempt to get money to hire more school resource officers, shows him pulling a weapon and pointing it at the principal. It then shows Gudger drawing her weapon and moving directly between the two -- giving the principal, Melanie Riden, enough time to escape. "I think about it every day," the deputy said of the incident. "It seems like the more I try not to think about it the more it keeps coming up." Though she is generally pleased with the outcome -- namely that everybody escaped to safety and the only person shot was the gunman -- Gudger said she wishes one thing had happened differently. "I always wish he had [surrendered and] given up the gun," Gudger said. In January, a grand jury cleared Gudger and the two officers who backed her up -- Lt. Steve Williams and Deputy Sam Matney -- of any wrongdoing. Describing the incident as a textbook example of how to deal with a gunman, Sheriff Wayne Anderson now uses the video of Gudger and Cowan to train his officers and those from other agencies. The cheerleader Since the incident, Gudger's been labeled a hero by many and has been a special guest at a number of events, including Blountville's Christmas parade, school board meetings and football games. She also served as grand marshal for a race at Bristol Motor Speedway. She's been presented with awards from the National School Resource Officer's Association, the National Police Museum and took eighth place in a contest sponsored by "America's Most Wanted." "You never know what to expect," Gudger said, adding that during one of these presentations she was recognized along with a school resource officer who was shot and one who was stabbed. "It's like a merry-go-round and I just can't get off," she said. Gudger's also received praise from Central's students and their parents. One student had Gudger's name engraved in her class ring, while another made her some chocolate-covered bacon. But none of this praise sits comfortably with Gudger, who doesn't like the spotlight and says she was just doing her job. "At times, I've wanted to say 'leave me alone, go away,'" Gudger said, adding that sometimes the extra attention makes her nervous and has caused her to snap. "But I can't do that, I can't be nasty." But at the same time, Gudger admits she's now getting more used to the extra attention. She's no longer writing thank-you notes to those who thank her -- something one of Gudger's fellow officers pointed out to her one day -- and she's gotten more comfortable when people recognize her wherever she goes. "When this is over, I'm going to miss it," she said. "They've spoiled me rotten and when all of this stops I'm going to be lonely, I guess." Gudger lives in Bristol, Tenn., and has a son and two grandchildren. ___ (c)2011 the Bristol Herald Courier (Bristol, Va.) Visit the Bristol Herald Courier (Bristol, Va.) at www2.tricities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]