Donations sought as work continues on law memorial
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

The slab is ready and work on the Wharton County Peace Officers Memorial project is continuing on grounds of the Wharton County Sheriff's Office.

"We've had a lot of help from volunteers and business donations to this point," Wharton County Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Agent Darryl Darnell said. He is serving as the law enforcement coordinator for the project.

"With the pad laid, people can now start to really see how it is going to look. Next is going to be installing the flagstones for the sidewalks and patio area and then putting up the cut stone that will be the actual memorial."

When finished, the memorial will be a 20 foot long by six foot tall Texas limestone wall with three columns and three flag poles flying the U.S., Texas and Peace Officer Memorial flags. There will also be a patio area and six-foot wide sidewalks.

"We wanted to make sure that everything was handicap accessible," Darnell said. "This is for the entire community and we wanted to make sure that everyone had access."

During the ground breaking ceremony in November, Wharton 100 Club officer and project committee civic coordinator Billie Jones said the concept for the project was developed following the shooting death of TPWD Game Warden Justin Hurst. She said that while Hurst's death last year was a reminder of the sacrifice every peace officer is prepared to make and there was a memorial on the courthouse grounds for slain Sheriff Hamilton Bass Dickson, there wasn't anything acknowledging those other local peace officers killed in the line of duty.

Dickson was killed in 1894. Others paying the ultimate price as a peace officer in Wharton County include Deputy Jailer Henry Ross McCain, killed in 1908; El Campo City Marshal James Otway Lee, 1914; and Deputy Sheriff Harry Charles McCormick, 1920.

Both the 100 Club and local law enforcement are taking great pride in the fact no tax dollars are going into the memorial. But that means the project needs support from area residents and organizations.

To date most of the work has been done by volunteers with Richard Arnold serving as the consultant and David Pagel as the project manager. The volunteer group has included inmates from the Wharton County Jail who expressed an interest in contributing their efforts. The materials have also been contributed with Guerrero and Alamo Concrete supplying the cement, Lake Lumber supplying the forms, Zarsky Lumber the rebar and Advantage Drilling doing the piers for the memorial wall.

"We've put off pushing for donations to this point because we wanted to have something to show the public," Darnell said. "We didn't want to spend the money on artistic renderings, so until we got the pad down it was hard for some people to visualize what we were doing. Now they can. We're hoping that will inspire people to make donations. "

Darnell said donations to the project are tax deductible and should be made out to the Peace Officer Memorial Project - 100 Club of Wharton County Inc. Donations can be dropped off at the Wharton County Sheriff's Office or mailed to P.O. Box 46, El Campo, Texas, 77437. For more information, contact Darnell at 532-1550.