Brian Harvin loves Enterprise and Enterprise High School

Brian Harvin can’t help it; he loves Enterprise and Enterprise High School. And he loves his job(s).
“People think I’m crazy, but during football season I’ll go sit in my truck and listen to Enterprise football games on the radio,” said Harvin, who has lived in Dothan the last 10 years. “The only time I go to Rip Hewes Stadium is when Enterprise is playing Dothan or Northview.
“I practically grew up at Enterprise High; my mom (Debbie Bracewell) taught and coached the cheerleaders there, so I was always there.
“Coach (Bill) Bacon gave me an opportunity to be involved with the football team starting in seventh grade, and Coach (Sam) Weeks got me involved with the high school basketball team.“
Harvin, who is also the son of 1969 Enterprise High School graduate Graham Harvin, said his involvement with athletics has never waned. He’s been a youth league baseball coach for several years.
“Coach (Tim) Hulsey (Enterprise-Ozark Community College baseball coach) offered me a two-year college educational opportunity at the college but by then my focus was on the medical field and law enforcement.
“Mrs. Elayne Cole had gotten me involved with the Enterprise Rescue Squad when I was in high school, and I remained a member of the squad. Mr. Tim Whitehead taught me a lot and became an important part of my life when I was younger.
“After high school, I took some legal classes under Comer Carpenter and Judge (Gary) McAliley at the college, so in November 1989, six months after high school graduation, I joined the Enterprise Police Department, and I’ve been in law enforcement ever since.“
Harvin, who’d also belonged to the EPD Explorers as a teenager, quickly advanced in the police department, but in November 1998, he made a career move that took him to the Dothan Police Department.
“I didn’t get into law enforcement for the money,” Harvin explained. “But I had a chance for more money and advancement, so I made the move to Dothan.“
Harvin was a detective long before another decision resulted in a career change.
“In 2005, I became an Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control officer,” he said. “There are seven of us in the Dothan District Office, and we cover Barbour, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston counties.
“We can enforce all Alabama laws; yes, we can stop you for speeding. But primarily we enforce all the alcoholic beverage control laws.“
Laws that pertain to underage drinking and drug use concern Harvin on several fronts.
Harvin said underage drinking is an ongoing problem he and his fellow officers see on an almost daily basis. He said reports of the number of underage drinking arrests at the recent BamaJam weren’t alarming to those involved in law enforcement.
“Underage drinking is part of society now,” he said, adding that in many cases his department works, parents permit their children to drink. “The number of arrests are typical of what we see all the time.
“We always wonder what a 17-year-old, who is walking around in public with a beer in his or her hand, thinks is going to happen when there are law enforcement officers everywhere.“
Overindulging drinking isn’t just a teenage problem.
“In a couple of our counties shot houses are still common,” he said. “People go to them now because that’s what they’ve always done.“
Harvin said ABC officers work with other law enforcement agencies, including assisting Alabama State Troopers man traffic checkpoints.
ABC agents are also deeply embedded in the war on drugs.
“Drugs are a constant in our society,” Harvin explained. “Whenever a drug becomes the ’fad,’ you’ll hear more about it, but none of the (illegal) drugs go away. It’s a never-ending battle.
“Education plays a big role in fighting drugs, but it sometimes seems like the harder we fight drugs the more it feels like we’re treading water. In many ways, we’re losing the war on drugs.“
Harvin believes idle time often leads young people to drugs; becoming involved in extra-curricular activities is an important weapon in the drug war.
“I was involved with sports when I was growing up,” he said. “I was always so busy I didn’t have time to get into trouble.
“At First United Methodist Church, we had all kinds of youth activities, including scavenger hunts on Main Street.
“Research has shown participation in sports, band, ROTC, church activities etc. can reduce the number of young people drinking and using illegal drugs.
“When I was a boy in Enterprise, there were all kinds of people looking after me, some of them I didn’t know about until years later. When my mom was out of town, I’d stay with Greg Thompson, and his mom, Mrs. Jackie, would spank me just like she did Greg if I did something wrong.
“When I’d stay with Greg, many, many days we were up and mowing lawns by 7:30 a.m. We didn’t have time to even think about using drugs.“
Harvin’s interest in the laws he’s paid to enforce goes beyond his paycheck; he’s a parent with children growing up in a world quite different than the one he and his brother, Lee, knew as boys.
Harvin and his wife and high school sweetheart, Juelie, have three sons: Tristan, 11; Braydon, 7; and Reilly 6.
“I want our boys to experience what I got to as a boy,” he explained. “I pretty much did all I could at Enterprise High; I was pretty much raised in Enterprise schools. I want my boys to have that, so as soon as we can sell our house in Dothan, we’re moving home to Enterprise.“
Harvin’s sons play baseball and he wants them to grow up to take their place in society. He wants them to always be involved with something larger than themselves.
“As I got older, I knew I wanted to be involved in the community,” Harvin noted. “I’m in the Coast Guard Reserve, and I’ve been to Kuwait and several places in this country. I helped develop a First Aid course that’s still being taught in the Coast Guard.
“I’m inactive right now, but our unit is based in Gulfport, Miss., on a runway. We can be anywhere in the world in 96 hours. We were sent in right after Hurricane Katrina. Our unit is always ready to go in for relief work.“
Harvin’s job and Coast Guard responsibilities have allowed him to satisfy his career needs and have produced many memories.
One situation from 2007 stands out above all others in Harvin’s 20-year career.
“I found a 4-year old child who’d been kidnapped in Ashford,” Harvin concluded. “I found him on the streets in Dothan about one o’clock in the morning. That was a special moment I’ll never forget.“