2023 Respect For Law and Law Enforcement Candlelight Memorial
On May 17th, we were gathered together for the Respect For Law and Law Enforcement Candlelight Memorial. The evening is sponsored by the Optimist Club of Jasper with the support of the Fraternal Order of Police. It serves as an opportunity to display love and support for current and former officers and their significant others with a dinner.
Special respect for those fallen in the line of duty with a candlelight vigil service at the conclusion and Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year and Outstanding Citizen awards are also presented at this time. Additionally a presentation is made recounting the story of a personal connection to an officer lost in the line of duty.
We would like to thank Audra Schue, Chairperson (for past 15 years). Fraternal Order of Police (Deputy Clint Gogel chair of this event for them), Gene Kuntz (MC for the event for Many years), Kent Reyling (chair of Awards Selection), all of the many Optimist members who attended.
"To inspire a respect for law" is one of the 5 purposes of Optimism.
In July 1965, a Discussion between Past Optimist International President Carl Bowen and former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover resulted in the birth of the Respect for Law community activity. This is the fourth most popular Optimist activity with more than 1,500 clubs participating in local activities each year. The Optimist Club of Jasper has been conducting the dinner for over 40 year.
To see more images from this moving event, please visit this link:
