Candlelight Service Will Honor Ky. First Responders
April 11--Daviess County's first responders will be honored on April 23 with a candlelight service that will start at 6:30 p.m. on the Daviess County Courthouse lawn.
The idea for the event originated with Randy and Carolyn Kassinger, owners of C. J. Kassinger Properties.
Randy Kassinger said, as a Vietnam veteran, he can relate to emergency responders because of how little appreciation they receive for serving their communities.
"I was watching the news and another policeman got shot in the head again," he said. "And I thought to myself about all of these people who are going around bashing police departments and telling them everything they're doing wrong. But nobody ever thanks them. Just like they didn't thank us -- the Vietnam veterans."
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page -- odmp.org -- 39 police officers were killed in the United States in 2015 by gunfire, with two of them from Kentucky.
On Sept. 13, 2015, Kentucky State Police Trooper Joseph C. Ponder, 31, was shot to death while conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 24. Ponder had been with the KSP for nine months.
Officer Daniel Neil Ellis, 33, of the Richmond Police Department, was shot in the head on Nov. 4 trying to apprehend an armed robbery suspect. Ellis, who had been with the RPD for seven years, died two days later.
The candlelight service will recognize 10 agencies -- Owensboro Police Department, Daviess County Sheriff's Department, KSP, Daviess County constables, Owensboro Fire Department, Daviess County Fire Department, Kentucky Department of Corrections Probation and Parole, Fraternal Order of Police, Daviess County Detention Center and the ambulance service.
Anthony Cobb, the chaplain for the FOP's Owensboro Lodge 16, is helping the Kassingers organize the event.
Cobb said the service will feature the Foust Elementary School choir, a bagpiper, a proclamation by Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, various speakers and the lighting of candles.
"There's so much negativity going around right now and morale is pretty low," Cobb said. "Police officers and first responders put their lives on the line every day. ...When everybody else is running away from the emergency, these guys are running toward it. They leave their family every day not knowing whether or not they're going to come home. ...And they do it for very little pay."
The FOP is also in the process of raising money for a permanent tribute that it's calling the Emergency Service Memorial Project. It will be a statue that will include the names of all Daviess County first responders who have died in the line of duty.
"We're just trying to do anything positive for the police officers and first responders," Cobb said. "...We just want them to know that as a community we appreciate them."
If the candlelight service attracts a large crowd, the Kassingers will consider organizing it as an annual event.
"We haven't gotten that far yet," Carolyn Kassinger said. "But yes, I think it is necessary for us to do this. ...I feel like we should start a movement in our nation to honor our first responders."
Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7299, Twitter: @DonWilkinsMI
Copyright 2016 - Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
