Sherburne County's Big Bruce Anderson moves on

He was the hard-working farm kid who became Elk River High School's senior class president. He never played organized sports before the ninth grade, but he was selected captain of three varsity teams, making all conference in each. Served on the student council, too.

Through it all, even after earning a scholarship to the University of Minnesota and playing linebacker for the Gophers football team, Bruce Anderson always made time to dream.

"Kids think that coming from a small community, you can't be successful," said Anderson, who grew in Livonia Township, near Zimmerman, where his family raised hogs and cash crops. "Don't believe it. When you have a strong work ethic, a vision and you just believe in yourself, there's no telling what you can accomplish."

At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Anderson is hard to ignore. He rose through the ranks to become Sherburne County sheriff in 1994, a position he held until the end of January, when he retired with nearly two years remaining on his current term.

When it comes to thoughts of reelection, this Bruce was not born to run -- although some folks think Anderson, who has not been challenged since that first election, could hold office indefinitely.

"Bruce is like a rock star," the Anoka County sheriff with nearly the identical name, Bruce Andersohn, said before Anderson's last election. "In Sherburne County, nobody is bigger than Bruce."

Only 53, Anderson says he's not sure what he'll be doing next. Rest assured, he's leaving little to chance. When you're the eighth of nine kids, you're grateful for what you have while always having a distinct sense as to where you stand in the pecking order.

"He treats everyone with kindness," Joel Brott, the new Sherburne County sheriff, said of his former boss.

Anderson was an innovator. In 1998 he and federal officials agreed to a deal that added on to the Sherburne County jail. The jail opened two years later, and before long the county was earning millions of dollars by housing federal prisoners.

But along with new technology that Anderson helped introduce -- he helped convert his department's radio system to digital -- he always stressed the old-fashioned values that he learned at home, where he cared for the hogs and farmed cash crops.

"If you want to set goals, and I still tell kids this all the time, there are five important principles," he said.

"Having a vision is No. 1. Knowing what you want to accomplish. That, and believing in yourself. Never let people tell you can't do things.

"Then comes the work ethic. Nothing is handed to you.

"Have common sense. Keep it simple.

"I've always been a firm believer in strength of character. Don't ask others to do what you wouldn't do yourself.

"And have a sense of humor. I think you need that."

After 33 years in law enforcement, the laughs don't always come easily. Ask Anderson about his proudest accomplishment as sheriff, and a smile is noticeably missing from his face as he answers.

In 1992, two years before Anderson's election to office, Linda Jensen's body was found in her family's Big Lake Township home. Jensen, 39, had been sexually assaulted, then stabbed to death. Her killer remained at large.

Anderson, who was the lead investigator when Jensen was murdered, promised her husband, Charlie Jensen, that there would always be someone working on this case until it was settled.

Eight years after Linda Jensen was slain, Kent Jones, a neighbor, was arrested. Convicted in 2001 and then again in 2006, after the Supreme Court overturned the first conviction and ordered a retrial, Jones is serving a life sentence.

Anderson met with President George W. Bush in St. Cloud in 2004. "To sit down and talk with him and listening to the Secret Service was fun."

But it is the arrest in the Jensen case "that will stay with me forever."

"I always put this office first," Anderson explained. "When I was playing outside linebacker at the university, I firmly believe that if I wanted to dedicate myself to become a professional athlete, I would have made it. But public service is what I really wanted to do."

In his final weeks, Anderson said he was stunned -- and humbled -- by well-wishers who told him, "Hey, thanks, you were on call and came to my house." Or, "You did this for my child." Or, "Thanks for speaking at my school."

"It's touching, but it's never been about me. It's about the office."

His wife, Kathy, recently retired as executive secretary to the Elk River police chief. Without his staff of 290 -- and 600 inmates -- he'll be in good company, he promises.

"I truly don't know what I'll do. But like I tell the kids who don't think that anyone from a small town can amount to much: Have a vision. Believe in yourself."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419