Emmett Arnett, who served as Hall County’s sheriff from 1987 to early 1995, died Monday at age 72.
Arnett was appointed sheriff June 1, 1987, to complete the term of Chuck Fairbanks. Arnett then was elected in 1990 for another term. Prior to that, he served as chief deputy sheriff for eight years.
He began his law enforcement career in 1961 with the Grand Island Police Department, and he was assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division in 1971, where he also spent eight years.
Arnett was chief deputy June 3, 1980, when a series of seven tornadoes devastated parts of Grand Island. He was instrumental in citywide communications following the deadly storm, which also extensively damaged Arnett’s home.
“Emmett manned his station in the Emergency Operations Center and coordinated the sheriff’s department part of the disaster response,” Howard Maxon, former Grand Island-Hall County civil defense director said in a 1995 interview. “When the sheriff’s base station radio system failed, Emmett ran up and down the steps out to his patrol car in order to coordinate with the sheriff’s deputies out in the storm.”
Arnett died at Golden Living Center-Lakeview in Grand Island.
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