Nine corrections and four law enforcement officers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Lyon County over the last 130 years were remembered during a recent memorial dedication ceremony.
The Lyon County Line of Duty Memorial Dedication Ceremony was held Friday in the Lyon County Judicial Building and was attended by 56th Chief Circuit Judge Jamus Redd, 56th District Judicial Circuit Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins, Deputy Warden Garyth Thompson representing corrections, Lyon County Sheriff Brent White, and others.
First District Court of Appeals Judge C. Shea Nickell gave the address and expressed their appreciation and support to the families, friends and colleagues of the loved ones he said were left behind to bear a heavy burden and high cost of their absence.
He also said it was a tribute to the dedication and character of Sheriff Brent White, and all those who worked beside them, in collecting the names and biographies and erecting the memorial to the legacies of sacrificial service represented by these thirteen fallen officers. He pointed out that as Sheriff White said at the ceremony on Friday, “while we acknowledge the tragic circumstances of their deaths arising in the line of duty, our purpose is to celebrate and emulate the inspiring and faithful manner in which they each lived their everyday lives…lives lived in dutiful and compassionate service of others.”
Of the thirteen Lyon County heroes, twelve died from acts of violence while one died due to a tragic accident. Judge Nickell said Prison Guard Julius R. Cummins was killed in a tragic vehicular accident in 1949 while transporting nine prisoners back to the Kentucky State Penitentiary after a day of laboring at the prison farm.
The earliest fallen officer in Lyon County, according to Judge Nickell, was Marshal John Cox, who was killed in 1892 while attempting to arrest a man for disturbing a religious gathering on Christmas Eve. The most recent tragedy, Judge Nickell said occurred just seven years ago, in 2015, when young Kentucky State Police Trooper Cameron Ponder was shot and killed following a dangerous vehicle pursuit — and occurred even while he was extending the hand of kindness.
Of the thirteen fallen officers, Judge Nickell noted twelve were men while one was a woman…Corrections Officer Patricia Ross, who, in 1994, was beaten to death in a dining facility by an inmate at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. He said she had served for only three years at the time of her tragic death. Three of the thirteen — Prison Guards Hodge Cunningham, V.B. Mattingly, and William Gilbert, the judge said, died together, in 1923, when they were shot and killed by inmates attempting to take over the dining room of the prison.
The other fallen officers remembered included: Corrections Officer Charles Frederick Cash killed by an inmate with a hammer in May of 1986; Lieutenant Owen Davenport who was stabbed in the back by an inmate with a home-made knife in July of 1956; Warden L.R. Gumm who was shot and killed by an inmate who had smuggled a gun into the prison in December of 1945; ABC Investigator Brandon Heath Thacker was shot and killed in April of 1998 as he was driving from an undercover assignment with three other investigators on the Western Kentucky Parkway near Eddyville; Kuttawa Police Chief William Givens Burden was shot and killed in April of 1950 as he was was attempting to serve a warrant; and, Kentucky State Penitentiary Guard William Moneymaker was killed in April of 1931 when he was beaten to death by an inmate with a hatchet at the prison.
Judge Nickel also noted in his closing remarks, that one of the honorees, Prison Guard Hodge Cunningham, was the uncle of his predecessor, retired Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham who resides in Kuttawa.
Sheriff White thanked Judge Redd, Ovey-Wiggins, Deputy Warden Thompson, Judge Nickell and Court of Appeals Judge Chris McNeill for participating in the special event Friday, along with the family members of the fallen officers, and several others.
To view all the memorial plaques with biographies, click on the following link: 214532-Acrylic-plaques-7×10-MOCKUPS-1
