Veteran law officer Kenneth McKee has died. McKee had served as a state trooper and as Washington County sheriff. He was 78.
McKee's friend and one-time boss, former Circuit Judge Mahlon Gibson, says McKee complained of headaches about a week ago and was diagnosed with cancer. McKee died yesterday at a hospital.
As a trooper, McKee was on the personal protection staff for governors Orval Faubus and Winthrop Rockefeller, and was present at Little Rock Central High School's integration in 1957.
As a special assistant to Rockefeller, McKee oversaw the end of widespread illegal gambling in Hot Springs and negotiated halts to violent civil rights disputes.
McKee spent a decade as Washington County sheriff, a time that ended when he lost an election in 2001.
The best-known image of McKee is as a young state trooper in east Arkansas in 1955, sitting at a cafe table with a then-unknown musician named Elvis Presley. McKee is in full uniform except for his state-issue revolver, which Presley used in posing for the camera.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)