Early this month, we had the first annual Logan County Area Law Enforcement Banquet and held it at the First Baptist Church of Booneville Family Life Center.  We created this banquet as a means to get together with the law enforcement officers throughout our county, to hand out annual awards, and for fellowship between the officers and families.  Officers from the Logan County Sheriff's Office, Booneville, Paris, and Magazine Police Departments, and the Arkansas State Police were present.  State Senator Gary Stubblefield was our keynote speaker.  Our food was provided by Pizza Italia and paid for by First Western Bank (a big thanks!!), the City of Booneville provided cutlery and drinks, First Baptist Church of Booneville donated the building space, the Logan County Deputy Sheriffs' Association paid for the desserts, and Sgt. Jay Crosby purchased the decorations. 

I, Sheriff Jason Massey, handed out the following awards for the Sheriff's Office employees:

Deputy of the Year:  Deputy Charlie Edmonson.  He is assigned as the Civil Process Deputy in our Patrol Division and he is always helping out the Patrol Deputies by taking calls, working accidents, and patrolling the Scranton School Zone in the mornings and afternoons while also tirelessly serving papers and tracking people down.  He is our Firearms Instructor and Range Master and he designs and oversees our combat shooting courses in addition to our yearly firearms qualifications.  He takes care of our firearms, handles our firearms and ammunition inventory, and helps surrounding agencies when they need help with their firearms.

Detention Officer of the Year: Sergeant Cleveland Stewart.  He works as a Detention Sergeant and has the longest tenure of our sergeants.  He volunteers to train new detention officers and is active in coordination and policy in trying to keep all shifts doing the things the same way.  He also works on our computers and network while balancing his duties as a Detention Sergeant.

Employee of the Year: Clerk Angela Moore.  She works the front window at the Sheriff's Office in Paris and treats everyone with respect.  She takes fines, fees, and other payments and must balance the books and she does a great job at this.  She is also staying on top of things and is very reliable and organized.

Citizen of the Year Award: Chris Ihle.  He is a volunteer firemen and volunteers with the Office of Management in radio work and in search operations.  Even though he has a family and work, he dedicates a large portion of his time to public safety needs of Logan County.  He has assisted our agency in many ways on searches and calls for service, he has programmed our radios, and works well with all levels of our agency.

We thank everyone who helped prepare and organize this event.  Next year, we will have the event in Paris.