Profiles and Interviews: Allen S. “Dick” Paugh Sr.

Re-elected as county commissioner in 1966, Allen S. “Dick” Paugh Sr. served alongside John “Ross” Sines and Hubert Friend.

Paugh remained steadfast in opposing Sines’ and Friend’s refusal to recognize AFSCME Local 1834.  Paugh and his fellow commissioners often clashed on spending, with Paugh mostly supporting wage increases to teachers, roads workers and other public workers. From the start of their stint in office, Sines accused Paugh of political opportunism and said he would not support him if he chose to run for another term.

While they contended over the budget and their employer roles, the three commissioners were often aligned in opposing greater regulation of local businesses. For example, they challenged government environmental regulations that would have increased costs for mining interests.

The commissioners, all farmers and Republicans, also shared many culturally conservative perspectives. They unanimously signed a letter to the state board of education opposing the teaching of sex education in the public schools. Paugh opposed Sunday liquor sales on religious grounds, despite its support from influential local business leaders.

But unlike Ross Sines, who risked the long strike rather than recognizing AFSCME Local 1834, Paugh was a was a pragmatic politician. He was most always open to positioning the low-wage county to receive state and federal aid to initiate programs to improve the lives of county citizens, including those who were unemployed or receiving public assistance.

“No one worked harder than my father,” said Carroll Paugh. Growing up in a farmhouse, built in 1914, with 16 brothers and sisters, “He never learned to play.”

Carroll Paugh remembers meeting one of his father’s constituents who wanted to buy the property adjacent to a house in Swanton that needed to be torn down. The constituent said he was getting no help from any elected leaders in the county. Exasperated, he talked to Dick Paugh. The house, said Carroll Paugh, was “torn down and [the property] cleaned up in three days.”

Dick Paugh, said his son, poured his work ethic into his farm, his church and community. He was an active member of the Paradise United Methodist Church (formerly United Brethren) where he served as treasurer for 30 years.

Carroll Paugh, 83, who was in his 55th year as a county school bus driver, couldn’t confirm a story that had spread around the county that his father had personally mortgaged property to help establish Garrett Community College. The college has no record of such an investment. But Carroll Paugh said he wouldn’t be surprised if his dad had made such a commitment. “My Dad only had an eighth-grade education, but he really supported building the college,” said Paugh.

“Dick Paugh was a humble, soft-spoken man,” said Lowell Bender who worked closely with Paugh on the board of Community Action and as an administrator of Garrett County Community College.

A road at Garrett College is now named for Allen S. Paugh Sr.