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Ceremony honors fallen Hamilton County law enforcement officers

By: Jacqueline Koch
(Contact)

Included in this article

Allen Pratt

Stephanie Sneed moves one step closer to closure each year she attends the memorial ceremony honoring Hamilton County law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.

“It helps a lot to know people come out and support the families,” said Ms. Sneed, whose father, Lyle Sneed, a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy, died in 1989 from injuries suffered in a traffic accident while on his way to a fire in which people were trapped, according to Chattanooga Times Free Press archives.

Thirty-five officers were honored during a ceremony in the main foyer of the Hamilton County Courthouse on Thursday morning. Current law enforcement personnel placed roses in a vase in front of a picture of the law enforcement memorial, one for each officer killed in the line of duty, while Chattanooga police Assistant Chief Mike Williams read their names.

He choked up while reading the name of Officer Julie Jacks, a Chattanooga officer shot with her own gun in May 2002 during a confrontation with a man who escaped from a hospital during a mental evaluation.

The last officer added to the list was Red Bank Police Officer Gerald Warf Jr., who died in June 2003 after a traffic accident.

In his opening statement, Hamilton County Sheriff Allen Branum dedicated the ceremony not only to those officers who died but to their families.

“The safety of our community and the freedom that we enjoy come at a price, a price paid by our heroic and dedicated law enforcement officers,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick read the Gettysburg Address and asked that those in attendance go beyond merely remembering the fallen.

“We need to do more,” he said. “Each of us here today needs to live lives in respect for what they sacrificed for each of us.”

Students at the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences played music for the ceremony, and sheriff’s Deputy Ed Merrit played the bagpipes.

FALLEN OFFICERS

Below are the Hamilton County law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Most served with the Chattanooga Police Department, the county sheriff’s office or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The affiliation of some is not known.

* April 28, 1879 — James B. Wiggins, CPD, patrol officer

* Sept. 14, 1882 — William T. Cate, HCSO, sheriff

* Sept. 14, 1882 — John Conway, HCSO, chief deputy

* Dec. 19, 1890 — David C. Mussgrove, CPD, patrol officer

* Sept. 14, 1906 — Hugh C. May, CPD, patrol officer

* Sept. 1, 1912 — Clarence Livingston, CPD, patrol officer

* June 22, 1921 — James W. Duggan, CPD, patrol officer

* May 13, 1923 — John A. Snyder, HCSO, patrol officer

* Dec. 22, 1923 — William B. Gober, HCSO

* June 12, 1929 — James A. Houser, HCSO

* Nov. 4, 1931 — J.H. Cornett, CPD, patrol officer

* Nov. 8, 1931 — Jessie G. Shirley, motorcycle patrol officer

* July 16, 1932 — Walter J. Mashburn, CPD, patrol officer

* Aug. 12, 1933 — J.B. Jones, HCSO, deputy

* May 13, 1938 — Frank Berry, ATF

* Dec. 26, 1939 — Clyde Shipley, CPD, detective

* Aug. 1, 1940 — Samuel Leper, ATF

* Oct. 27, 1942 — A.E. Carr, CPD, patrol officer

* Sept. 27, 1952 — Ulysses Jacksn, CPD, patrol officer

* Oct. 4, 1953 — Harry Shipley, CPD, patrol officer

* March 2, 1955 — Jerry J. Hensley, HCSO, patrol officer

* June 3, 1961 — Charles E. Garfield, HCSO, motorcycle patrol officer

* April 7, 1971 — Morris B. Glenn, CPD, captain/patrol

* July 17, 1975 — Elspeth K. Knox, CPD, school patrol officer

* Aug. 14, 1977 — Clarence Hamler, CPD, patrol officer

* June 12, 1978 — Nelson I. Hess, CPD, K-9 officer

* June 12, 1978 — David L. Friederichson, CPD, patrol officer

* Jan. 18, 1979 — Harry Wilcox, CPD, park officer

* Dec. 6, 1989 — Lyle Sneed, HCSO, patrolman

* Jan. 10, 1991 — Fannie C. Davis, CPD, school patrol officer

* Sept. 17, 1988 — Gary Dockery, Walden PD, patrol

* Oct. 5, 2000 — Richard Alexander, CPD, patrol officer

* Sept. 6, 2001 — Donald K. Bond, HCSO, deputy/patrol

* May 6, 2002 — Julie Jacks, CPD, patrol officer

* June 28, 2003 — Gerald W. Warf Jr., Red Bank, patrol officer

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