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 Mildred Starling`s voice broke as she read her husband's name - C. L. Starling, killed Feb. 22, 1975, Attalla Police Department.
He is on the list of law enforcement officers whose names are etched on a memorial to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. The Etowah County Law Enforcement Memorial was unveiled at Noccalula Falls in a moving ceremony Saturday. Dozens of sirens wailed as a motorcade of law enforcement officers ferried the fallen officers' family members to the falls from a private ceremony at the Etowah County Sheriff's Office. The family members were presented in the private ceremony with a Medal of Honor for each officer whose name is listed on the granite memorial.
Donna McCurley, whose husband, Chris, is listed on the monument, heads up the committee which organized the dedication and activities Saturday. McCurley said her husband is the only officer whose family ever was presented with a medal of honor. That prompted the law enforcement memorial organization to honor the families of the other officers whose names are on the monument.
For Mildred Starling, the presentation of the medal came as a surprise. Her husband was killed in Attalla during a routine traffic stop after the man he stopped shot him. "This has been special," she said. Her three children, including one who came to the memorial service from Kentucky, also attended. At the falls, McCurley presented distinguished service awards to Rainbow City Police Sgt. Gary Entrekin and Ron Ogletree, who retired from the Alabama State Troopers. Both Entrekin and Ogletree were injured when fellow officers were shot and killed - Entrekin when Chris McCurley was gunned down during a drug raid in Rainbow City on Oct. 10, 1997 and Ogletree when his partner, trooper Ormond Watkins, was shot by a man the two were arresting for drunk driving.
Etowah County Sheriff James Hayes said the memorial is not intended to open up old wounds, but it can’t be helped. "This is a time for healing, a place to come in the future, honoring these men who will live on in our hearts," he said. The head of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, Col. James Alexander, also spoke.
As night fell, McCurley, Mildred Starling and Ann Watkins lit the candles held by a representative from each department represented at the service. The officers made their way through a crowd and spread the flame from wick to wick. With only a trickle of water over the falls, officers with the honor guards of the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 2 fired a 21-gun salute as Taps was played and then echoed on each side of the monument. As bagpipes (played by Officer Wayne Hammonds of GPD) were played at a distance, Gadsden officer Mac McNally's prayer concluded the service. "I pray another name is never put on the list, but there are no guarantees," he said.
Names on the monument include:
* Chris McCurley , commander of the Etowah County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force, a division of the Etowah County Sheriff's Department. He was fatally shot on Oct. 10, 1997, when officers went to a Rainbow City house to search for drugs.
* Charles Cook, an Etowah County deputy who died on Aug. 1, 1942, when he was struck by a car after stepping out of his patrol car to investigate a person lying on the side of the road.
* John O. Johnson , an Etowah County deputy, was shot during a moonshine raid on Nov. 20, 1931.
* Ormand Watkins, State Trooper, who died on April 11, 1971, while arresting a man suspected of driving while intoxicated.
* Arvil O. Hudson, a trooper from the Gadsden area, who died in a wreck on U.S. 78 near Jasper on May 18, 1952, when his patrol car wrecked and overturned.
* C.L. Starling , who died on Feb. 22, 1975, after stopping a car on U.S. 11 for a speeding violation.
* Henry Ingram , an Attalla officer who died on Nov. 2, 1924, after he was shot by a prisoner he had taken into custody for drunk and disorderly conduct.
* Grover C. "Ned" Pearce , who died on April 12, 1955, after his patrol car was struck in an intersection. He had arrested a man for drunk and disorderly conduct and was taking him to jail when the man grabbed him from behind and pulled his head backward. As the patrol car went through the intersection, it was struck by another vehicle.
* D.J. Kinney, who is remembered as Gadsden's first officer killed in the line of duty. He died on Nov. 12, 1888, after being shot when he and another officer went to a house to search for a man.
* Charles Gordon Cox, who died on Nov. 17, 1942, after he was shot by a man who apparently was robbing someone in another car.
* Richard Perkins , who died on June 4, 1958, after he wrecked his patrol car on Tabor Road while pursuing a car.
* Jimmy Ray McKiven , who died on Sept. 16, 1983. He was driving the motorcycle he used for traffic patrol while heading to an off-duty security job at Gadsden Mall.
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