Richmond County Sheriff’s Office’s funeral escort fee likely a remnant of old Augusta politics | The Augusta Chronicle

No one quite remembers exactly how or when it all began, but everyone agrees it has been the standard practice for years.

Funeral homes in Richmond Coun­ty have been paying for police escorts in funeral processions for at least 40 years and probably much longer.

Tommy Poteet, whose family had a funeral home on Greene Street for decades, said he thinks the tradition dates back to the 1950s.

He recalls the fee at that time was usually no more than $5 and was paid as a tip to the officers who provided the service.

“When we had a city motorcycle for an escort, we would just give them cash,” said Poteet, who now owns and operates Thomas Poteet & Son funeral home on Davis Road with his sons Stephen and Buzz.

Poteet said he wasn’t sure when the tips became fees collected by the sheriff for the benevolent fund.

via Richmond County Sheriff’s Office’s funeral escort fee likely a remnant of old Augusta politics | The Augusta Chronicle.