Lorge has led department for nearly 20 years
By Bert Lehman
Terry Lorge, chief of police for the city of Clintonville, will retire from the police department on April 8.
Lorge told the Tribune-Gazette that he’s been contemplating retirement for the last couple years.
“I was going to retire last spring but I stuck around. Then I was going to retire in the fall, but I stuck around,” Lorge said.
He said he had targeted the end of last September to retire but changed his mind.
“I didn’t want to step out during the budget process,” he said. “I didn’t think that would be fair to the city, so I decided I was going to pick a time in spring.”
He said he chose to retire in spring because it is close to his birthday.
“I don’t want to retire in the dead of winter,” Lorge said. “I need to be busy. It’s going to be a real change in my life and I want to be able to be busy and do things and be active.”
He added that he wanted to retire while he was still in good health.
When asked how tough of a decision it was for him to retire, Lorge said, “[It’s the] hardest thing I’ve ever done. It really is. I struggled with this for a long time.”
Lorge said he has been in law enforcement for 43 years, with almost 38 of those years spent with the Clintonville Police Department. He has been Clintonville Chief of Police for almost 20 years.
“It’s hard to do,” Lorge said. “I care a lot about the community. I really do. I still enjoy going to work every day but there comes a time when it’s time to step off the bus and let somebody else take care of it.”