In 1981, after a tumultuous year led to the former Sheriff’s resignation, Gilpin County Commissioners made history when they appointed Rosetta Anderle, a 37-year-old former hairdresser, to take his place. The Central City native would go on to serve in the position, leading the cavalry of the GCSO, for almost a decade.

When Anderle was appointed Sheriff, she was the second woman in Colorado’s history to hold the position in more than 50 years. (The first woman, Goldie Curtis, was appointed to fulfill her husband Gomer’s position after he passed.) As word spread, news of the “lady” Sheriff appointed in Colorado made headlines all the way to San Bernardino, California.

Anderle was a four-year veteran and undersheriff for Sheriff David Benson when he left his position in early October. There were a total of six applicants at the time being considered to replace Benson – Anderle and five men. She was appointed unanimously by all three county commissioners. At Monday’s meeting, Anderle was introduced as the new Sheriff along with the announcement of Benson’s exit.

Commissioner Vic­tor Braecher was asked why the board chose Anderle and he simply described her as being, “competent, capable, and also a nice person.”

The reasons for Benson’s departure are not publicly documented. However, he came up against two recall efforts the year prior. Both, he felt, were unfounded.

In one article written by Jeanna Dolezal, reporter for The Mountain-Ear, she quoted Benson saying, “If I was a crooked sheriff and stole money, committed crimes or wasted the taxpayers’ money, I could understand it. But it’s a personality clash. They just don’t like me.”

Anderle started out as a part-time dispatcher while she was also running her own beauty salon in Black Hawk. Eventually, her passion for law enforcement outgrew her love of cosmetology. This was apparent by how quickly she worked her way up the ranks.

Perhaps it was because Anderle grew up in the area and naturally felt comfortable spearheading a “war against wrongdoers.” Judging from the statements she made to the press, she never showed a hint of doubt as to her belief that she was ready for battle.

When Anderle took office, Gilpin County consisted of almost 2,500 residents spread around 148 square miles of mountain terrain. In an article by Mountain-Ear reporter John Gunn, he quoted Anderle as saying, “I like a job that’s challenging and I like a job that’s not routine.”

She also said, “Some guys take it hard that there’s a woman who can tell them what to do.” With that, she was no stranger to adversity.

As if by some self-fulfilling prophecy, the next decade at the Gilpin County Sheriff’s department would turn out to be anything but “routine” for Anderle.

Going into the position, the department was currently investigating two homicides, a slew of burglaries, and the disappearance of two Central City men. Crime had been on the rise in Gilpin County for several years before she was appointed.

This was also a sign of the times. Crime rates had been increasing all across the United States during the early 1980s, particularly in small town America. The country would not begin to see a decrease for almost a decade.

When explaining what she felt were hot topics for the department she said, “Burglaries have been on the rise. I look for them to get even higher, with the economy being what it is. Break-ins, in fact, are the county’s number one crime problem”

Many times Anderle reflected back on the limited amount of resources available. She often pointed out the overwhelming number of hours deputies spent dealing with domestic violence and “rowdy drunks.” Those hours equated to an unsustainable amount of “available” manpower to handle it. This task alone would come to prove a constant drain on the budget throughout her time as sheriff.

When trying to explain to the community why there continued to be a rise in break-ins, with the majority going unsolved, she said, “With so many summer houses up here and our shortage of manpower it’s hard to go around and shake all the doors.”

Another undeniable uphill battle was something Anderle had inherited when she stepped into the role: the current county jail. By the end of 1982, the terrible conditions were gaining attention in the press, locally and across the state, and resulting in lawsuits from detainees.

Two of those detainees, Steven Lee Bradley and Vincent Gilbert Orr, were being held in connection to the murder of David Hardin Dockery, or “Doc,” as the locals called him. Dockery was gunned down outside his home on the night of October 26, 1982.

Both had been housed at the jail for only a little more than a month when Mountain-Ear reporter John Gunn wrote an exposé article titled “Gilpin County Jail straight out of the history books.”

Gunn began with an interview he had with Scott Jurdem, Bradley’s attorney. Jurdem was appalled by the conditions of the facility. He said, “Have you seen the place they’re keeping him?” He openly stated to other visitors, “It’s a pit in there.”

In the exposé article, after agreeing with the complaint, Anderle was quoted as saying about the jail: “It’s crummy and it’s old.”

She added, ”A lot of out-of-state law enforcement people come up here to see this jail. They like the old ways – think it’s neat. They think jails should go back to this because that’s just what it is, a jail.”

She concluded with, “And we’ve even had prisoners come back to say hello. They say it’s a nice place to visit, but not a place they’d want to stay.”

The jail, when described by those who had experienced it on the “inside,” reported cage-like structures that were erected to keep the men and women separate. The cages were located deep in the basement of the County courthouse, adjacent to the Sheriff’s office where Anderle was the cook, maid, and jailer to the inmates.

Other jail conditions were listed as being fed TV dinners three times a day, a lack of exercise facilities, small size, and poor ventilation. In the end, Anderle blamed a lack of money, or rather Gilpin County’s lack of it, as the root of the problem.

Bradley, along with Orr, were both scheduled to go to trial in February of 1983. By the middle of December the charges were dropped on the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney Jerry Jorgenson. Jorgenson believed there was not enough evidence to successfully try the men in court.

By March of 1983, a lawsuit by Bradley and Orr for $300,000 was brought against Anderle and the county commissioners for damages incurred while being incarcerated.

A second suit was filed later that year with the U.S. District Court in Denver, alleging both poor conditions and poor treatment. John Henry Clark was being held and charged with burglary, auto theft, and several other serious offenses.

Clark claimed the same mistreatment as Bradley and Orr. His suit added other details, such as the jail being a “fire hazard.” He complained of overcrowding, poor heating, no religious privileges, and no laundry or “access to everyday cleaning supplies.” His suit was seeking $1,000,000 in damages.

He also cited the food. The TV dinners fed to inmates three times a day would come up a lot over the years, with most critics describing the meals as “unhealthy and carcinogenic.”

With plaintiffs’ limited resources and continued run-ins with law enforcement, both civil suits were eventually dropped.

Bradley would never be charged again for the murder of Dockery but did remain on the witness list. Several years later, charges would eventually come back around to Orr.

Even through adversity Anderle managed to remain a popular figure in the community and with the commissioners. There was a noticeable increase in community involvement during her time with the department. More people were volunteering their own time and resources to help curb the growing rate of crime and to support the department.

Anderle stated, “Five years ago people didn’t want to get involved, but now they’re more inclined to report crimes and help us.” She concluded with “Especially up here. They love their little community.”

Through the remaining years of her first term, like every Sheriff in Gilpin County both past and present, animal control was a challenging and dangerous task. Reports of maulings, livestock being killed, and dog packs running through neighborhoods was almost a monthly if not sometimes weekly occurrence.

Eventually Anderle was able to work out a contract with Jefferson County for use of their kennels and resources from the humane society, something that took an enormous weight off the budget and pleased the commissioners.

She ran again in 1985, against Republican Howard Douthett and Democrat Eric Klemp, another former undersheriff. Anderle won her bid to stay in office with 885 votes. Klemp ended with 423, and Douthett got 60.

It was documented in the paper: “Sheriff Rosetta Anderle was applauded by the courthouse audience of 30 people when she went up to the judge’s bench to take the oath of office.”

Her introduction included a statement by Commissioner Winston Wolvington, saying she has “done more than a sufficient job and has been recognized by Gilpin County and the state of Colorado.” He went on to praise her cooperation with the court in her previous term as sheriff of Gilpin County.

During her remaining time serving as Gilpin County Sheriff, Anderle investigated more murders, many more burglaries, and endlessly battled budget deficits.

In 1986, when trying to explain a depleted food budget only eight months into the year, Anderle reminded people why inmates were served TV dinners in the first place. ”We have no real kitchen at the jail. Prisoners are fed TV dinners three times a day. The jail staff heats the TV dinners in a microwave, quite a feat in itself. It’s hard just to get them all heated up and served at the same time when we have eight or nine prisoners and one microwave.”

And, whatever happened to Vincent Orr, the man accused of murdering David Hardin Dockery? Sometime during 1987, new evidence surfaced and he was extradited from California and then again charged with the killing of Dockery. That information was included in an article titled, “These murder trials are killing the DA’s budget,” written by reporter Kate Readio.

Orr was still sitting in jail awaiting a retrial. The primary focus of the article was over how much of the $22,000 district attorney’s budget would be allocated to gathering more evidence against Orr to better secure a conviction.

That is the last bit of printed information regarding Orr or the case of Dockery. We were able to confirm with GCSO that Orr was eventually released again due to a lack of evidence. The murder of David Hardin Dockery remains unsolved.

Anderle was a lead arson investigator in the Gilpin Hotel Fire in 1989 and worked along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. She was also said to have gone in head first to help retrieve the body of a 28-year-old woman murdered by her boyfriend, then dumped down a mineshaft in Rollinsville.

She continued to have an overwhelming amount of support from the community, even when she resigned her post on December 9, 1991.

It was reported at that week’s meeting, ”Sheriff Rosetta L. Anderle submitted her resignation to the board, and the letter was read aloud, causing even humorously tough Commissioner Leslie Williams to get teary eyed.”

Anderle went on to cite stress-related health problems as the main reason for her departure, as well as “a need for change in the Sheriff’s Department leadership.”

That change in leadership Anderle had hoped for did happen.

The Gilpin County Justice Center opened in September of 1995, with a jail and a working kitchen. With that came more programs, better accommodations, more staff and … no more TV dinners.

Many of the sheriffs that have followed Anderle now put additional efforts on raising funds from grants and outside resources. This is in addition to tax dollars, and allows the department to operate with more resources. With that, Gilpin County has seen a continuous decrease in crime over the years along with a growth in population.

Rosetta “Weezy” Anderle will turn 80 this year and is said to still be kicking around somewhere up here in the Rockies.

Sergeant Joel Anderle of the GCSO, said of his time working under his aunt, Rosetta, “ I really liked working with her. Everyone had a lot of admiration and respect for her.”

Three years after Anderle left office, a civil suit was brought against her and several others at the Sheriff’s department. Sergeant Joel Anderle said, “Well, she really just wants to leave that all behind her.”

But that’s another story.

You can read more about this story at https://www.coloradohistoric newspapers.org/. Search “The Mountain-Ear” newspaper between the years of 1981 to 1997. To listen to our podcast for the audio version of this story by searching The Mountain-Ear podcast across all major players.