GNFA names Public Safety Director

Elbert Slappy Jr. knows Middle Georgia. The new public safety director of the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter has spent time in Twiggs County, Fort Valley, Cordele and now Houston County.

Slappy was sworn in July 1 by Sheriff Cullen Talton at the sheriff’s office in Warner Robins.

He has a varied background, most of it in law enforcement for 24 years with the Georgia State Patrol as assistant post commander in Cordele. He has also worked for Gold Kist Inc. as operations manager, putting his degree in agriculture from Fort Valley State University to work.

For the past 15 years, Slappy has worked closely with the GNFA coordinating traffic and gate positions during the Georgia National Fair.

“I worked with Gold Kist as an operations manager in Sumter, S.C., and from there I ended up in Conyers at a GK store where I worked for three to four years before I joined the state patrol,” Slappy said in his office earlier this week.

So how does someone with a degree in agriculture go into law enforcement?

“Well, at the time I was working in retail, showing people how to use different fertilizers, and it was good, but I decided to go for the change, and I was able to get employed with the state patrol, and I enjoyed it,” he said. “Until a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to come to my new home at the fairgrounds.”

He said his biggest challenge at the moment is “learning how everything around here works, and getting to know the people who work in security here, even though I’ve been working with them the past few years, like Sgt. Terry Hayes and Stephen Shimp (fair authority executive director), learning the operation of everything, how it comes together, and trying to keep everyone safe because they’re coming here for enjoyment.”

Security is just what it means, he said, and Slappy takes it very seriously.

“When people come up here we want them to feel safe and comfortable,” he said. “And that means law enforcement sometimes to help us with security. We have people who patrol, we have radios to keep in contact.”

He said it’s important to have someone with arresting powers in the event that it’s needed, and local agencies like the Perry Police Department and the state patrol who are located across the street from the East Gate..

“For the past 15 years I have coordinated the traffic and gate positions here,” he continued. “Traffic is so important because this facility is so close to the interstate. Once the traffic starts backing up it leads to the interstate, and once you have that it can lead to some problems because you got people traveling 70, 80, 90 miles an hour and you don’t want that to happen. You want to keep the traffic flowing in and not backing up so you won’t have an effect on interstate travel.”

What is it about working at the fair that appeals to him?

“Well, who wouldn’t want to work at the fair?” he replied. “I love this place and that’s due to the fact I’ve worked closely with most folks here for the past 15 years, and it’s been wonderful, and when this opportunity presented itself I was glad I was able to apply and end up with the position. It’s been great and I look forward to greater things.”

Slappy said he definitely sees the fair stepping up security in the future.

“I can see us staying on top of things, taking classes to make sure that whatever comes up we can handle it, we can deal with it the best way we possibly can with the help of the agencies around us,” he said. “I’m sure with the way things are going on right now there are going to be challenges, especially like with the fair where you have 400,000 people coming through. With a crowd that size you are going to have challenges as far as security, but we’re going to keep working to make it safe.”

Security is more of a concern these days, he said, what with people being able to go off and get guns, shooting people for absolutely no reason whatever. It’s a challenge, it’s something you have to be aware of; you can’t take it lightly.”

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