Somber ceremony honors county's fallen

A somber crowd gath­ered on Tap­pan Square Fri­day morn­ing to honor the police offi­cers who made the ulti­mate sac­ri­fice dur­ing the Lorain County Police Memo­r­ial service.

Offi­cers from all depart­ments in Lorain County, as well as offi­cers from depart­ments out­side the county, were in atten­dance to rec­og­nize the 15 offi­cers who gave their lives in the line of duty. Also in atten­dance were friends, fam­ily mem­bers, and com­mu­nity members.

“I would like to thank all for com­ing to the ser­vice and tak­ing time out of their day to remem­ber those offi­cers who have sac­ri­ficed their lives,” Ober­lin police chief Tom Miller said. “It’s truly an honor to hold this event in the city of Oberlin.”

The keynote speaker for the event was Rep. Betty Sut­ton, D-Copley Town­ship, who said it was an honor to attend the event.

“The best way to honor those who have been lost is by sup­port­ing those who have been left behind,” she said dur­ing her address to the audi­ence. “The police offi­cers, and all law enforce­ment offi­cers, epit­o­mize what it is to be an Amer­i­can. They are our heroes and our role mod­els. They are a light to shine in the times of darkness.”

The Cleve­land Police Department’s Pipe and Drum Corps per­formed through­out the memo­r­ial ser­vice, includ­ing a sober­ing pre­sen­ta­tion that included a sin­gle bag piper solo that rep­re­sented los­ing an offi­cer. The Ohio State Patrol Band also per­formed dur­ing the ceremony.

A 21-gun salute was given by mem­bers of the Avon Lake Police Depart­ment near the con­clu­sion of the ceremony.

Per­haps the most stir­ring part of the cer­e­mony was when an offi­cer from each depart­ment that has lost an offi­cer in the line of duty car­ried a sin­gle rose to the podium and laid it on top of a folded Amer­i­can flag as a ges­ture of respect.

Included in that group was an Ober­lin offi­cer who car­ried a white rose for Patrol­man Robert Woodall, who died on March 10, 1971.

Woodall was found after his cruiser ran off Hamil­ton Street and struck a tree. A three-year vet­eran of the force, he had been a stu­dent at Ober­lin Col­lege when he joined the depart­ment, and was still pur­su­ing his bachelor’s degree at the time of his death.

Woodall was sur­vived by his wife, Chris­tine. His name was also inscribed on the National Law Enforce­ment Offi­cers Memo­r­ial Wall in Wash­ing­ton D.C.

Also in atten­dance was Kelly Ker­stet­ter, the sis­ter of Elyria police offi­cer James Ker­stet­ter — who was shot and killed on duty in 2010.

“He loved being a cop,” Sut­ton said of Ker­stet­ter. “To some who have never worn the badge, who have never patrolled the streets, who have never put them­selves in dan­ger, they might not under­stand. They don’t under­stand why some­one can love some­thing that cuts such a full life down before it’s time.

“What peo­ple don’t under­stand is the rea­son why James Ker­stat­ter, and every­one of you here, put on the uni­form and do what you do is sim­ple. You do it because of your love of community.”

Posted by Scott Mahoney on May 17 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.