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May 20, 2009

COUNTY PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL: Honoring the fallen

By Rich Flowers News Editor

The Henderson County Peace Officers Memorial observance returns to May this year as officers salute former members of their ranks who have passed away. The event will be at 6 p.m. Thursday on the west side of the courthouse lawn.

Henderson County Peace Officers Association Secretary Jannell Dunnington said a new name will be added to the monument this year: Thomas Billy Goodell, who died in April 2008.

“He was a retired charter member of the association,” Dunnington said.

Goodell is the father of two current members of the Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Thomas Goodell and Donna Goodell, who works in the front office.

Dunnington said the event was moved to evenings last year in hopes of spurring higher attendance.

“We had a number of comments from people who had not been able to come in years past who were able to attend last year,” Dunnington said.

Henderson County Judge David Holstein is the guest speaker this year, Dunnington said.

The memorial, dedicated in 1999, displays the names of Henderson County law officers who have died in the line of duty, as well as officers who have died while members of the HCPOA.

Last year two new names were added to the list of those who died on duty. Paul Habelt and Tony Ogburn were shot to death as they responded to a disturbance call near Payne Springs on May 17, 2007. They joined the ranks of Charlie Fields Sr., K.C. Winn, Larry Hopson and Bennie Everett.

Fields was shot to death in 1956 after attempting to serve a warrant to take a suspect to a mental institution. When he arrived at the man’s home, near Athens, Fields was ambushed by the suspect and his brother. Both Fields and the brother died in the ensuing gunfire.

In 1973, Hopson and Winn — working for the Texas Department of Public Safety as troopers — were killed when their vehicle crashed in Navarro County. Hopson and Winn were on their way to the district headquarters in Corsicana.

Four years later, the Athens Police Department lost an officer in the line of duty. Officer Bennie R. Everett was moving a prisoner from his cell when he suffered a fatal kick to the chest.

Those who died while members of the association include two members added last year, George Corn and Dr. Nolan Geddie. The list also includes: W.C. Perryman; Leon Cain; Dale Bryce; W.C. Fladd; Don Bettencourt; Jack Terrell; Bill Bearden; Ralph M. Reaves; Bennie C. Krueger; Tommy Smith; Herman Kite Jr.; Kipper Hartline; Don W. McCord; J.W. Brownlow; Jack Sims; Frank E. LaRue Jr.; Stephen L. Combs; Mack Wallace; Thomas C. Underhill; Janey M. Reed; T.E. Williams; Jim Billings; Don Johnson; L.D. Brookshire; David Harris; and Daner Stanberry.

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