Thank You To All Those Who Serve And Protect.... And To All Of Those Who Died In The Line.... We Will Always Remember And Honor You!!!!!

Law agencies remember their own

By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com



Lila Whatley and her 8-year-old daughter, Lauren, placed a red rose Monday on the memorial for fallen Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics officers.
Whatley's husband, MBN agent Marc Lee Whatley, was killed in a car crash on Aug. 20, 1998.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety held its annual Peace Officers Memorial for members of the two law enforcement agencies who died in the line of duty.
On Monday, 26 Highway Patrol officers and four MBN officers, dating from 1940, were memorialized during the program outside DPS' headquarters in Jackson.
The tribute included the playing of the national anthem, a 21-gun salute and the laying of a wreath by Gov. Haley Barbour and his wife, Marsha.
Each year, Whatley said she brings her children to the memorial service. It's a long trip for Whatley, who now lives in Connecticut.
"It means a lot. ... It's to keep him (her husband) alive in your heart," Whatley said of the program.
Whatley wiped away tears at one point, but she smiled when she described her late husband.
"He was funny and always had a smile," Whatley said.
"He was the type person everyone wanted to be around."
Harrison County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Ladner said governors and administrations may change, but he is happy respect is still shown for fallen officers.
Ladner's father, state Trooper David Bruce Ladner, was shot April 10, 1987, after stopping a vehicle on a routine traffic violation.
Bruce Ladner died two days later in a Long Beach hospital.
Tracy Hansen, the man who killed him, was put to death by lethal injection in 2002.
"It's a great comfort," Brandon Ladner said of the program. "It's great that people don't forget."