"TN's Fallen Officer Memorial Falls Into Despair"

WKRN.Com
January 8, 2007

Prior to the death of Tennessee State Trooper Calvin Jenks Saturday night, the last highway patrolman to be killed in the line of duty was Todd Larkins when he was hit by a truck in Dickson County in the summer of 2005.

On Monday, Knox County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Hinchey and his wife Trina thought it was worth the three hour drive to pay their respects at the memorial to fallen law enforcement officers at Legislative Plaza after they heard a THP Trooper Jenks had been shot to death.

What they saw was a memorial it was uncared and had fallen into disrepair. They were angered, to say the least.

"These brothers and sisters gave everything; everything. Their families gave everything and we can't keep it looking nice for them? It's pitiful; absolutely pitiful,” said Hinchey.

Vandals have torn bronze emblems dedicated to sheriff’s officers, police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol from the memorial. Now, all you can see are the outlines.

In 2000, when the memorial was dedicated, it looked like great. Target 2 has now found that the memorial has been ignored and left in the state of disrepair for more than a year.

No one was more offended than Hinchey. "It breaks your heart. You come down here with a heavy heart anyway,” he said.

Hinchey said, "I’d hate to think it's been like this for a year or more, and the state or the city doesn't have enough gumption about themselves to fix it. I mean, how much do they really care? How much honor are you showing by leaving it in such a situation?”

Hinchey is angry that today of all days, when Tennessee is mourning the shooting death of Trooper Jenks, that the memorial looks so pathetic.

State Senator Mark Norris, who represents Trooper Jenks’ home county of Tipton, said, “I’m not sure many people knew this occurred.” He said that the vandalism simply escaped the attention of state officials and it took something like this shooting to bring it to light.

I’m going to bring this to the attention of the Building Commission, the Monuments Commission. We'll get this fixed,” Norris.