Golf tournament to benefit families of fallen highway patrol troopers

A golf tournament to benefit families of fallen Missouri State Highway Patrol members is scheduled for today at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Proceeds from the 2014 Charity Golf Tournament will benefit the not-for-profit organization the MASTERS, which stands for Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society.

Registration is at 10:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at noon. Remarks are set for 11:30 a.m.

Artisan Construction of Cape Girardeau is hosting the event, and 17 teams have signed up.

"For this to be the first year that Artisan has done this, that's incredible," said Clark Parrott, spokesman for highway patrol Troop E. He added it was organized in a very short time.

Parrott said this will mark the first benefit in the Troop E area, but there are others held throughout Missouri. Troop E is headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and covers Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne counties, the highway patrol website said.

" ... When they have had to step in, the MASTERS has done an incredible job with helping the families get through," both in the immediate aftermath of a trooper's death and in later years by helping with college tuition, Parrott said.

The MASTERS was formed in 1979 to establish a fund for a trooper's immediate surviving family and children if he or she is killed in the line of duty. It helps with funeral expenses, loan and mortgage payments, immediate bills and scholarships for the officer's dependent children.

The organization grew from 261 members in January 1979 to about 1,400 members from across Missouri and neighboring states, according to information from Artisan. More than $1.16 million has been contributed in support of troopers' families. Of that, $266,000 has gone for college scholarships for 25 children; $422,000 has been for rent or mortgage payments; and $481,000 for funeral expenses, current bills and debts other than mortgages.

This semester, the MASTERS will provide a scholarship to one student, and eight more children will be eligible for scholarships in upcoming years, the information said.

Assistance also is provided for immediate family members to attend the memorial ceremony in Washington, D.C., when the deceased's name is placed on the national law enforcement memorial each May.

The most recent line-of-duty deaths include:

• On Christmas Day 2009, Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was struck by a vehicle while working an accident in St. Louis County.
• Sgt. Joe Schuengel died when the helicopter he was piloting crashed in St. Louis County on Oct. 15, 2010.
• Trooper Fred Guthrie was swept away by floodwaters Aug. 1, 2011, in the St. Joseph area while patrolling.

Pertinent address:

250 Country Club Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.