FOP RECEIVES FUNDS FOR COUNTY POLICE MEMORIAL

A recent $1,500 donation by the MidAmerica Hotels Corporation allowed commissioned work to begin on a police memorial, remembering regional officers who have died in the line of duty.

The memorial is scheduled to be dedicated during a ceremony May 15 -- Law Enforcement Day -- at Cape County Park North. It will be located adjacent to the war memorial, near the flag pole.

The plaque on the memorial will read, "Dedicated to the memory of these brave officers of law enforcement, who dedicated their lives to the protection and service of their fellow citizens, and died in the line of duty."

It will bear the names of:

-- Cape Girardeau police officer Donald H. Crittendon, who died March 21, 1961;

-- Cape Girardeau police officer Herbert L. Goss, who died march 10, 1961;

-- Cape Girardeau police officer Albert DeMortiers, who died Oct. 27, 1917;

-- Cape Girardeau police officer Willis Mortin, who died Feb. 27, 1921;

-- Cape Girardeau police officer Nathaniel Hutson, who died Oct. 7, 1922;

-- Lutesville police officer Clive S. McGee, who died Oct. 6, 1971;

-- San Diego, Calif., police officer Timothy J. Ruopp, originally from Cape Girardeau, who died Sept. 19, 1984;

-- Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper James Froemsdorf, of Perryville, who died March 2, 1985; and

-- Florida State Highway Patrol Trooper Lindell J. Gibbon, originally from Chaffee, who died March 25, 1985.

Cape Girardeau police officer William Bohnert, chairman of the police memorial project, said the plaque will be removable, in the event additional names need to be inscribed.

The police memorial is being designed and will be dedicated by members of the Cape Girardeau Regional Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 33.

"(The memorial) is something which is long overdue in this area," said Bohnert. "Each year after its dedication, we will hold a memorial service in recognition of those officers killed in the line of duty."

The FOP is still accepting donations for the police memorial project, in care of the Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 2011, Cape Girardeau, 63702. For more information call Bohnert at 335-6621, or the FOP at 243-3357.