The venerable Elmer Cunnagin — who has been county attorney for more than three decades — is hanging up his hat.

“It kept coming to me, the Biblical passage, ‘Be still and know,’” he shared. “I thought it might be a good time to do that. I just felt like I’d been there long enough and someone else needed to come in and be there a while.”

While Cunnagin’s decision is final, he admits coming to it has not been easy.

“It’s kind of scary,” he admitted.

But, he added, he is not retiring from the law — he will continue to run his private practice on Main Street with brother Willis and son Michael.

Cunnagin, 66, made his first foray in the political arena in 1974, just seven years after graduating from University of Kentucky law school. His dad, Elmer Cunnagin Sr., had been county attorney in Jackson County for 14 years and Cunnagin decided to follow suit in Laurel.

He quickly realized he liked the job.

“I really like working with people,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest part of it. And, sometimes, I’ve been able to look back and see that what I’ve done has accomplished something.”

Cunnagin recalled one incident involving a troubled young girl, with whom he spent time counseling throughout her court process.

“She ended up finishing school and went on to a vocational school and did really good,” he said. “A few years later, her mother came up to me and told me she really appreciated me. That was one of the times I had some positive feedback that stayed with me.”

In addition to feeling heartened by those he met, the county attorney position also allowed him to spend a lifetime admiring the law.

“It’s what holds our society together,” he said. “We, as people, would tend to abuse situations if we didn’t have the law. If we have the law, we have to have a system to ensure that everyone equally complies with it. And that makes it interesting, I think. It puts everyone on the same level.”

As do elections, which Cunnagin handily won without fail throughout the years. Campaigning for him didn’t have as much to do with the actual race, he said, but instead with the work that came before it.

“I think most people know you the four years before and the four years after,” he said. “So, you run your race by how you treat people and how you conduct your business before the election. That has more of an impact than what you spend or do in elections.”

Cunnagin said he’ll spent his newfound free time with his grandchildren, his private practice and with wife Judy. And he’ll keep an open mind about future opportunities.

“I might decide to get involved in something else sometime,” he said. “Even politics.”

Staff writer Tara Kaprowy can be reached by e-mail at tkaprowy@sentinel-echo.com.