| Longtime sheriff of Barnwell, 49, dies AIKEN - Barnwell County Sheriff Joey Zorn, who insisted on running his department despite the ravages of chemotherapy treatments and pain from a long battle with cancer, died at his Barnwell home Wednesday morning, authorities said. Sheriff Zorn, 49, who was sent home by doctors several weeks ago after they elected not to give him further treatment, was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death, said his chief deputy, Tom Gantt. "He was the sheriff of Barnwell County up until yesterday (Tuesday), giving orders from his bed," Chief Deputy Gantt said. "He worked and he politicked to the end. I'm telling you, he was serious about being the sheriff of Barnwell County." Elected to a fifth term earlier this year without opposition, Sheriff Zorn served 16 years as sheriff, only a year shy of being Barnwell County's longest-serving top law enforcement officer. Sheriff Zorn, who continued to work while plagued with the cancer that attacked his esophagus, stomach and lymph nodes, also volunteered time to counsel others who were battling the disease. "He amazed us and humbled us all," said 2nd Circuit Solicitor Barbara Morgan, who met the sheriff in the late 1980s, when he was a probation officer and she was an assistant prosecutor. "Because, to the end, he'd personally work a funeral or, if he heard someone was sick, he'd want to call or visit. He'd do that before thinking of himself." Sheriff Zorn, an avid hunter and fisherman, was deeply religious and had just finished a three-year term as deacon of Friendship Baptist Church, a rural congregation about six miles east of Barnwell on U.S. Highway 64, said his pastor of 21 years, the Rev. John Nixon. Williston Police Chief Roger Kaney said Sheriff Zorn was an out-front leader. "He wasn't a sit-behind-the-desk kind of guy," said Chief Kaney, who graduated from Barnwell High School a few years behind the sheriff. "When something was going on, he was out and about, trying to help." Sheriff Zorn was a graduate of Barnwell High School, where he was a wrestler and football player. He earned a criminal justice degree at the University of South Carolina, was Barnwell city police officer and a state probation officer before being elected sheriff. Sheriff Zorn's survivors include his wife, Pam; his three sons, Josh and twins Rodney and Russell; and a daughter, Jessica. Visitation will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at Barnwell First Baptist Church. The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the same church, with burial to follow at Friendship Baptist Church. Reach Karen Ethridge at (803) 648-1395, ext. 109, or karen.ethridge@augustachronicle.com.
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