By Walter Neary, Lakewood City Councilman, posted to his Neary-Sighted blog
The Lakewood Police Department has settled on a design for the permanent memorial to the fallen four, and construction has begun. It has room if there are more names to come. I sure hope there are not more names to come; we’ve had more than our share.
You should be able to click on the picture to see a larger version. The memorial is pretty self-explanatory, but if you can’t read the bit at the left, it’s a quote from Mayor Doug Richardson at the memorial service:
“There is no higher calling than to do one’s duty, and they served well.”
The project will be completed with the generous donation of time, money, and supplies by ART Rasmussen Architecture, Porter Brothers Construction, and Quiring Monuments. Both the architect and builder were involved in building the police station, and it was kind they stepped forward to donate to create this very, very sad addition.
The monument will be unveiled Nov. 29, the anniversary. Details to come.
I don’t know about you; I sure don’t know if I feel ready to revisit those memories. I will be by then. And I know you will too. We owe it to the four, their families, the other officers and the rest of the family of Lakewood.
Dave Burgoyne says
My nephew serves as a deputy sheriff in Michigan — and was recently in town to transfer a fugitive for trial. He and his partner wanted to visit two shrines: Mt. Rainier and Forza’s in Parkland. We met them at Forza’s and they took pictures, bought shirts and told us how the murders affected officers all over the country. They felt that the Lakewood four were their brothers and sister. And two tough, worldly Michigan cops struggled to hold back their emotions. It was very personal. What does this mean? All of us need memorials like this. We need places to grieve, to remember, and to acknowledge the unimaginable. Jeff and Steve certainly did.