Flags at the Georgia State Capitol and throughout Houston County will be lowered to half-staff on Wednesday to honor the life and legacy of Cullen Talton, America\u2019s longest-serving sheriff. Talton, who held the position for nearly 52 years, passed away peacefully at his home on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f Why It Matters:<\/strong> Sheriff Talton was a fixture in Houston County, serving the community for over five decades. His leadership and dedication have left a lasting mark on the area, and his death marks the end of an era for local law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udc6e\u200d\u2642\ufe0f What\u2019s Happening:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order on Monday to lower flags in Talton\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Talton\u2019s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at Southside Baptist Church, with a private family burial to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udcdc Between the Lines:<\/strong> Talton\u2019s long career began in 1972, and his commitment to the county remained steadfast until his final days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 He entered hospice care last week after a sharp decline in health, which culminated in his peaceful passing at 92.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udd04 Catch Up Quick:<\/strong> Houston County Chief Deputy Billy Rape has stepped in as interim sheriff and will serve until the next sheriff takes office next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flags in Georgia will be lowered to half-staff on Wednesday to honor Cullen Talton, the longest-serving sheriff in America who passed away at 92. Talton served Houston County for nearly 52 years, leaving a significant legacy. His funeral is set for Wednesday, with Chief Deputy Billy Rape stepping in as interim sheriff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[8484,16315,9300],"class_list":["post-208339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-georgia-people","tag-brian-kemp","tag-cullen-talton","tag-funeral","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}