On the national scene, law enforcement has taken its lumps this year. Closer to home, the four Rotary clubs took advantage of National Police Week to honor four local officers who went above the call of duty.
The Rotaries plan to do this annually, said Scott Mathis, a member of the Durango High Noon Rotary Club.
Each of the four local Rotaries took one law-enforcement branch. On Thursday, High Noon Rotary held the final of four ceremonies. The Mark H. Dold Memorial Trooper of the Year Award went to Colorado State Trooper Stephanie L. Guilfoil.
Dold, a former state trooper and Rotarian, died Oct. 14, 2007, when he collided with a deer and was thrown from his motorcycle north of Ridgway. His wife, Ann Dold, attended Thursday’s meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel.
“Thank you, Ann, for passing this on to me,” Guilfoil said on accepting the desktop glass plaque. Guilfoil said she started with the Southwest Colorado patrol a few months after Dold died and heard many good things about him. “Accepting his award is such an honor.”
“I can’t think of a more noble cause for Stephanie,” patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll told the approximately 70 Rotary members and guests assembled.
Also honored over the last week:
Durango Police Department Detective Sgt. Deck Shaline, by Durango Evening Rotary.
Durango Rotary said Sgt. Shaline, who started with the Durango police in 1986, “has exemplified the term ‘service before self’ while working long hours, on difficult shifts in every kind of weather conditions, then being subject to call-back the moment he arrives back home.”
Bayfield Marshal’s Office and former State Patrol officer Gini England, by Pine River Rotary Club.
England, a 26-year state patrol veteran, retired from the patrol in 2008 and then served as Southwest Colorado Community College’s regional law-enforcement academy program director.
La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith, by Durango Daybreak Rotary.
Smith defeated former Sheriff Duke Schirard in the 2014 election.
“Sean has shown his commitment to the community via his work as a human-services case manager, the sheriff’s youth-advisory council, the Children and Families Master Plan and now as the La Plata County sheriff,” Mary Oswald, Durango Daybreak president, said in an email.
johnp@ durangoherald.com
