Sheriff's Office home renamed for founder Mickey O'Brien

The building of the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office that houses the jail, dispatch and law enforcement offices was built in 1994.

But if it hadn’t been for Sheriff Micky O’Brien, it wouldn’t have happened.

O'Brien, who died in July, served as the county Sheriff from March 5, 1986 and retired Dec. 31, 1998.

O'Brien had to press the flesh and do some politickin’ to find the money and then have the county commissioners sign off on the project.

Micky is remembered as a gentleman who respected his officers and in turn was admired by the county.

Sheriff Mike Toth had not been sworn in for more than 30 days when word came that Micky had died, and he immediately went into action to honor a man who had been a pillar in the county.

“He was a man’s man whose word was solid. I never worked for Micky but when I was in the process of being hired, everyone had to have a sit-down face to face conversation with him to get his blessing," Toth said. "That’s when I met him and throughout the years got to know him better and gained tremendous respect for the man.

"Several of us here today may not have made law enforcement a career if it wasn’t for Micky,” he said at the dedication of the building that O’Brien built and now bears his name.

Anita Parkin worked for O’Brien, and he convinced her to take the next step in becoming sheriff when he retired. O’Brien was ahead of his time because women in law enforcement were rare back then, but he recognized talent and it made no difference if it was in a man or woman.

“I was Mickey’s undersheriff and we worked together with Shaun Donovan who was the county attorney then along with the commissioners to pass the jail bond," Parkin said. "A very fair person to everyone. He helped me professionally but also personally and was a wonderful friend. We had a standing Friday night pinochle game with our spouses for many, many years,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Parkin also shared that Mickey’s widow was very sorry that she was unable to attend the dedication.

Mike Johnson spent his entire law enforcement career in Mineral County and much of it had to do with O’Brien.

“Micky was a mentor and a leader to me and later in life, a heck of a good fisherman. We had a wonderful time in the boat and good memories of working together,” he said with a smile.

The group that gathered for the dedication seemed to know each other or had heard of one another which made it an almost family affair. Everyone had been touched by O’Brien in more than one way.

Prior to the dedication, Sheriff Toth gave a briefing to the county commissioners updating them that the new police vehicles should be here in January.

This will be the first time in the history of Mineral County that every law enforcement officer will each have a brand-new police vehicle. With the exception of one new police cruiser several years ago, all have been used from the Montanan Highway Patrol and had already seen their better days.