News : Guardians and Warriors Walk Among us Every Day

Most of us can remember what it was like when we were 28. (And the rest of my readers might think that 28 sounds old!) For me, I was probably chasing a little 2 year old around the house. The one that made me, for the first time ever in my journey into motherhood, sit down on the steps and cry from sheer exhaustion. Our little boy wasn't a bad little guy, but he was the one that would NOT sit still, lay down at bedtime and the one that would always be found running through the house laughing about something. He was also the one the knew exactly how to taunt his big brother into beating him up. He is now a year behind in age to another kid that I want to tell you about. Both of these boys, I suppose I should say, young men, found their calling in law enforcement. One is here in Vinton, the other in Chicago. Both married and both fathers. Ours will soon be the daddy of 2 and the other is a father of 3. Fortunately in Vinton, something like the shooting we had back in September, is rare. But like the officers in Chicago, our police officers rushed in to protect and to detain the shooter. Even more fortunately, no one in Vinton was injured. But that's never a guarantee. Last week, while we enjoyed our quiet little town, in Chicago, police rushed into a hospital to chasing a gunman. The gunman shot his former fiancee, a doctor, as well as a pharmacist, and Chicago Police Officer, Samuel Jimenez. After shooting the three people, the gunman was shot in the stomach by police before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Yesterday was the funeral for Officer Jimenez. Samuel Jimenez, Chicago Police Department was born on April 28,1990 and passed away on November 19, 2018. During the funeral Marc Buslik, commander of the Town Hall District, where Jimenez worked for a short time said, “In this era of transformation in policing, Sam understood that we don’t just want warriors, we want guardians. And the cruel irony is that he lost his life being the warrior trying to save other people.” We are fortunate to have warrior guardians right here in our community. Quick to serve, but always aware that in this job, they might not come home. Our community was able to be represented yesterday at this funeral. One of our finest, Blake Henkle, a Benton County Deputy and member of the Honor Guard, attended the funeral of the Chicago Police Officer, along with 3 deputies from Johnson County, 1 from Worth County. All 5 of the Iowa officers attended the funeral in Des Plaines, Illinois on behalf of the Iowa State Sheriff's and Deputy's Association. Thank you again to our dear officers. Thank you for protecting, serving, guarding. Memorial Movie for Officer Jimenez