Police motorcycle unit gets $1,000 donation
To help the Columbia County Sheriff's Office honor their fallen comrades, the Thomas L. King Funeral Home and the Alderswood Group donated $1,000 to the sheriff's office motorcycle unit.
Richmond County sheriff's deputies Thomas L. King Jr. (front, from left), Mark Chestang and Bill Wright pose in front of the staff of Thomas L. King Funeral Home Brent L. Pittman (back, from left), John Michael Ivey, Thomas L. King Sr. and Nancy B. King Foster as Foster presents a $1,000 check to Richmond County Sheriff's Lt. Jimmy Wylds.
Photo by Donnie Fetter
The brief presentation took place at the funeral home, 124 Davis Rd., last Friday Morning with the check being presented by Nancy B. King Foster to Lt. Jimmy Wylds of the sheriff's office.
"We're raising money to send some of our guys to the (National) Law Enforcement Memorial (in Washington, D.C.) in May to participate in a parade and to ring the bell to honor police officers who died in the line of duty this past year," said Wylds. "We're not using any of the taxpayer's money to do this, but it cost around $6,000 to $7,000 to make this trip. That's why donations from good people like the Kings means so much."
Wylds said that the sheriff's department is hoping to send four deputies from the motorcycle unit to participate in the 15th Annual Candlelight Vigil at the memorial, which holds the names of hundreds of officers who died in the line of duty. The deputies will transport their motorcycles to Washington, D.C., on trailers and then ride them in a parade honoring the late peace officers.
More than 25,000 people attended last year's candlelight vigil, which is held every year during National Police Week in May. The names of 480 officers were officially added to the memorial last year, including the 72 officers who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.