HE’S BACK: Bolding returns to high school as security guard

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Former high school principal George Bolding, who retired in June, has taken a new part-time job as a security guard at the school, where he mans the guard shack two days a week. (Will Stewart photo)

Warren County High School students who arrived late on the first day of school two weeks ago were in for quite a surprise when they checked in at school’s guard shack. Facing them was none other than recently retired principal George Bolding.

“You should’ve seen their faces,” he chuckled. “I was the last person they expected to see.”

Bolding said he accepted the job after he was approached late last school year by Todd’s Security owner Jimmy Todd who asked if he would be interested in manning the guard shack two days a week.

“I said ‘shoot, yea.’ It’s an interesting job and I know a little about the high school. It’s familiar territory. Plus, I get to see a lot of my friends,” he said. “This is what I call a piddlin’ job – something I can do so I don’t get real, real bored.”

His primary responsibility is to keep track of all people entering the grounds of the high school and adjacent Hickory Creek Elementary. To enter the grounds between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., everyone must go past the guard shack. When someone does, Bolding stops the vehicle and determines where the driver is heading and for what purpose. If the driver is going to the high school, Bolding records his last name and tag number in a log.

He also searches each license plate for payment of the wheel tax. The names and license plate numbers of those not showing the wheel tax sticker are sent to the sheriff for prosecution. “It’s a lot of money the schools are missing out on,” Bolding explained, noting he has already found and turned in several violators over the past two weeks.

When he was principal, Bolding said he never knew just how many vehicles entered school grounds during school hours. In addition to teachers and other school personnel, he estimates between 125 and 150 vehicles a day go to the high school, while about 50 more make their way to Hickory Creek.

Most of the visitors he stops are very cooperative, he said, but added there are several people who are prohibited from entering school grounds that he has to look for. He also has to turn away ex-students who wish only to visit.

When not at his new job, Bolding said he stays busy mowing and landscaping his yard and grooming his new dog. He also fishes once a week and says he plans on getting in more time on the lake as soon as it cools off a bit. He has also obtained his commercial driver’s license, which has allowed him to make several runs over the summer.