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Fallen public safety officers remembered in Friday evening ceremony
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Members of local law enforcement and fire agencies gathered with community members on Friday evening to honor the men and women across the national and locally who lost their lives while protecting the public.
The Lake County Safety Office Memorial Service took place at the Lake County Memorial Park in front of the Historic Courthouse Museum in downtown Lakeport Friday evening.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office chaplains hosted the event once again this year.
Chaplain Terry Cara said the gathering was a way of remembering the special people who protect others.
Troop 39 Scout Master Bill Green offered a welcome, telling law enforcement and firefighters, “You guys are running into danger while everybody is running away from danger.”
He said it takes a special kind of a person to do that, and that despite a lot of negativity toward law enforcement, they are loved and appreciated.
His Boy Scouts handed out patches to firefighters and law enforcement officers, as well as retirees, who attended the event.
Sheriff Brian Martin in turn shook each Boy Scout’s hand and gave them sheriff’s office challenge coins.
Cara said that nationwide in 2016, 145 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty, as did 89 firefighters. Additionally, 63 police K9s died while in service.
“Each life lost is tragic,” Cara said, explaining that each of the officers and firefighters had taken a solemn oath to protect the public.
During the event, candles were lit in memory of those who died. Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth, another sheriff’s chaplain, said they included lighted candles because, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
“We have each known the darkness of grief,” Kimbell-Auth said.
Kimbell-Auth also quoted the words of Jesus Christ, who said there is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends.
Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office, read the names of the 11 public safety officers and five K9s who died in California last year, with a bell rung for each name at the end of the reading.
Cal Fire Division Chief Greg Bertelli read the names of the California firefighters who died last year, with each of them also honored with the ringing of the bell.
The ceremony then moved to the “end of watch” remembrance for the five Lake County public safety officers who died in the line of duty.
Sheriff Martin read the story of Sheriff George Kemp, 56, who was shot in the chest and mortally wounded on Thursday, May 10, 1910, by one of two suspects in a horse theft and burglary case that he was attempting to arrest. He died later that day.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta honored Fireman Michael Mattioda, 19, who died on July 14, 1984, after being badly burned while fighting the Mount Baldy Fire in Clearlake.
Martin also shared the story of Deputy Sheriff William Hoyt, 52, who died on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 1967. Hoyt, who was unarmed, was shot in the Lake County Courthouse by a prisoner who had grabbed another deputy’s gun and began firing on the way into the courtroom. Hoyt staggered to a counter, retrieved a pistol and retired fire, shooting a prisoner. Hoyt died later that same day of his injuries.
Lakeport Fire Chief Doug Hutchison read the story about 20-year-old Matthew Black, a volunteer firefighter with Lakeport Fire who died on June 23, 1999. Black was electrocuted by a live power line while working on a grass fire.
The last story recounted was that of Sgt. Richard Helbush, 34, who Martin said died on Saturday, May 2, 1981. Helbush was shot three times in the back and once in the head when he stopped to help two motorists, Robert Cox and Annika Deasy, in a remote area along Highway 29.
Helbush didn’t know that Cox and Deasy were wanted on suspicion of murdering a Stockton restaurateur. They later were taken into custody after a high speed chase and shootout involving then-Sheriff’s Deputy Don Anderson, now the county’s district attorney.
Cox later took his own life in jail, while Deasy served 27 years in prison before being returned to her home country of Sweden. She was released from custody there on May 2, 2011, the 30th anniversary of Helbush’s shooting, Martin said.
Both Anderson and former Sheriff Ray Benevedes were on hand for the ceremony, with Martin noting their presence as a way of illustrating that the names of those who died in service were not forgotten.
Cara then read the names of three other men who served the county – retired Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Jake Steely and California High Patrol Sgt. Matt Norton – who died over the last year and a half. Their deaths did not occur while on duty.
The ceremony ended with a prayer by Chaplain Rick Barnes, the playing of “Taps” by Bill Vann of the Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team and a final benediction and prayer by Chaplain Mike Suski.
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