Wednesday’s (May 13th) Police Memorial Service at Sunset Memorial Park brought its annual very full crowd, on a mostly sunny and breezy morning. One of the many speakers; Danville’s Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr; who told CIMG afterwards that “law enforcement are the backbone of our society,” and they must be honored as such.
AUDIO: They can do that in two ways, in my opinion. Make sure that we support those that we’ve lost, and their families they’ve left behind; but then also to make sure we support those who are doing right in their memory.
Three law enforcement officers who gave their lives in line of duty are honored each year at this ceremony. August Lind, in 1908; David Farnsworth, in 1976; and Myron Deckard, in 2001.
For Sheriff Pat Hartshorn, this was his last Police Memorial as active sheriff. Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates, who has presented the wreaths side-by-side with Sheriff Hartshorn for many years, reminded CIMG that Hartshorn first decided to combine and annual Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department and Danville Police Department memorials into one service.
AUDIO: You know several years ago, it was actually Sheriff Hartshorn that brought us all together; decided we’re going to do it in conjunction with Police Memorial Week. The torch will be passed, but we’ll always remember how we got together on this in the first place.
Sheriff Hartshorn credited Sunset Memorial Park’s contribution of building their Every Day Heroes Memorial, where this special service is held every year.
AUDIO: Sunset did us a big favor when they put up this monument, because it gave us a place that we could do both of them together. And then we moved it to National Police Week, so that it would always be a reminder that it was time to honor these officers. So I think it’s worked out well for over 20 some years now to have the ceremony together. A lot of agencies across the nation don’t do that. But here, we’ve done that. And I think it works out well.
Danville Police Department Chaplain Vickie McCarty; Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr; and the Reverend Frank McCullough take their turns speaking.
