Over three decades of service comes to an end

By Michelle Rasberry, Steve Patton

SEMO News Service

Over three decades of service to the citizens of Southeast Missouri will come to a close Friday as Lieutenant Steve Niederkorn retires from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Niederkorn's entire career has been spent in Troop E and has become a living legend on the highways of the area.

"It seem like everyone has a Steve Niederkorn story," said Donnie Shelton, the son of a trooper. "Some good, some maybe not a person's finest moment, but he has certainly made an impression on many people."

MSHP Captain Larry Plunkett, Jr. met Steve Niederkorn just after he graduated from the Patrol Academy in 1980.

"I was 13 years old and thought I knew just about everything a kid could know about troopers and the Highway Patrol because I had been raised in a patrol family," said the second generation trooper.

"One thing I didn't know is that troopers came in size triple extra large," he laughed.

"In fact, for uniformity, the patrol had a minimum and maximum height restriction for many years that required an applicant to be between 5'9 and 6'3.

"Steve joined the patrol about 10 years later than the rest of the zone and that's all I had ever been exposed to, guys the size of my dad.

"With Steve's 6'6 inch or so frame, he completely changed my perception of how big a new trooper needed to be and quite frankly had me worried I might night not be large enough to do the job when I was fully grown," he said.

Plunkett said the word spread pretty quickly about Niederkorn, and most folks in Dunklin County were asking their friends if they had been stopped by the "Big Trooper" yet.

"He was the subject of several coffee shops in the county and, in fact, it was probably four or five years before most folks even knew Steve's name, he was just the "Big Trooper" in Dunklin County."

Retired MSHP Major Don Shelton said one of his first impressions of Niederkorn was "Man, he is a big ole boy."

After getting to know him, he adjusted that thought a bit to "He is a big ole boy. And, a big ole boy that can eat!"

It has been said by some that Niederkorn "can put some serious hurt on a buffet."

"What's so funny to me is the fact that when I went to college at Cape and met folks from Steve's home town of New Hamburg, they knew the Niedkerkorn family, but didn't recall a "Steve" Niederkorn," Plunkett said.

"Knowing how small the community was, I just couldn't believe they didn't know Steve and started raising my arms and describing my tall trooper friend.

"I hardly had the words out of my mouth before they started smiling and said, 'You mean Tiny! Everybody knows Tiny!' Well, Steve may have been "Tiny" as a young man in his home town, but he'll always be the "Big Trooper" in my home town," Plunkett noted.

Niederkorn started his law enforcement career in 1975 while attending Southeast Missouri State University.

He initially worked as a jailer/dispatcher for the Scott County Sheriff's Department in Benton, later becoming a deputy sheriff.

He served briefly as chief of police in Oran, before joining the Highway Patrol as a weight inspector at the I-57 scales in Charleston.

Niederkorn said returning to Southeast Missouri after graduation from the patrol academy was a proud moment in his life.

"He may not have been from the Bootheel originally, but he made a perfect fit down here, said Major Shelton.

Niederkorn served the citizens of Dunklin County for 14 years, remaining in Kennett to allow his daughter the opportunity to be in the same school throughout her education.

"My wife was a school teacher. She loved her job and where she worked," he said. "I didn't feel like it was fair to ask her to move either."

In 1995, a promotion to sergeant supervising Butler and Ripley counties necessitated a move to Poplar Bluff. "Our daughter was in college and my wife's job changed," he explained. The move was hard according to Niederkorn, but made a bit easier by the friends and relatives they had in the area.

In 2003, Niederkorn was promoted to lieutenant and chose to stay in Poplar Bluff. "I wanted to finish out my career here and have no regrets."

During his career Niederkorn was instrumental in DWI enforcement.

In 1993, he was among the top 25 troopers in the state for his number of drunk-driving arrests.

"I feel that I made a difference in getting a number of drunk drivers off the road and made the roads a little safer for the traveling public and even for the intoxicated driver, who might wind up hurting himself or being fatally injured if they continue down the road," Niederkorn explained.

Over the years, Niederkorn said, he has been approached by a number of people who "told me how much they appreciated me even though I arrested them, wrote them a ticket or whatever.

"They really appreciated the way I treated them, that I was nice to them."

Niederkorn said he tells the troopers he supervises, as he did the new troopers during their recent orientation, to "treat people how you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes.

"That doesn't mean you have to let them go, but at least be nice about it and polite."

"Steve has had a great career and was instrumental in helping me and several others in starting a career with the Patrol," Plunkett said.

Niederkorn said he will most miss "the people," his fellow employees.

"I feel like we have the best law enforcement organization in the country, and what makes it that is the people that make it up, from the youngest trooper to the oldest staff officer and the civilian support that we have," Niederkorn said. "That's what I'll miss, my fellow co-workers."

Describing retirement as a "double-edged sword," Niederkorn said, he is sad to leave the patrol and his position, but "I look forward to a new chapter in my life."

Retirement plans, he said, include doing some traveling with his wife, Terry, as well as playing more golf.

"Being able to spend more time with my family is going to be an important part of retirement," said Niederkorn, whose daughter and husband are the parents of 4-year-old twins. "Over the years, they've had to sacrifice a lot."

Major Shelton said the Niederkorns have been very good friends for many years and he "hopes Steve and Terry enjoy retirement as much as Maggie and I have."

Plunkett echoed Shelton's wishes. "I sincerely appreciate all his encouragement and friendship over the years and wish him the best."