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The was banquet was held for the second year in a row at the Fayetteville First Baptist Church and was attended by hundreds of officers and law enforcement support staff from every county in the Griffin Judicial Circuit. While we know we can never thank law enforcement enough for all they do for us, we hope the event showed our officers, deputies, and their support staff how much we really appreciate them! Thanks to all our sponsors and volunteers who helped make the event such a huge success!
News articles about the banquet
Honoring the badge and those who wear it by Cindy Morley, Fayette Daily News
Law enforcement officials honored at banquet by Sheila A. Marshall, Griffin Daily News
Banquet honors law officers by Ben Nelms, The Peachtree Citizen
Marshall snags ‘Top Cop’ award by Lee Coleman, Thomaston Times
Award Winners and Nominees
Click here for a complete list.
Sponsors
United Bank - Kiwanis Club of Fayette County - Cookies To You - First Fayetteville Baptist Church - Publix
Shane's Rib Shack - Robert W. Groninger Foundation - Our Father's House Florist and Gifts, Inc. - GT Tactical & Uniforms David Simmons & Associates - MSI Termite and Pest Control - Chronic Chevrolet - Greater Fayette Republican Women's Club
Civitan Club of Fayette - West Central Georgia Bank - Bank of Upson - Webb, Lindsey, & Wade - Target - The Pike Agency State Bank of Georgia -
Hickory Ridge Golf Course - Bundle of Beads - Angela Bean - Ann Jackson
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Pictures from the banquet - 05/08/08
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Scott welcomes everyone in attendance and thanks them all for coming to honor the badge and all who wear it.
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Well over 400 guests packed the Fayetteville First Baptist Church, an enormous venue, to the rafters! |
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A multimedia slide show featuring pictures that departments sent of their officers in action in was shown along with a fantastic dinner that was catered by Shane's Rib Shack.
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After dinner, DA's Office Investigator and co-founder of Vertical Ministries, Shane Harris, delivered a stirring invocation to kick things off.
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Next, an extra large color guard presented the colors. The special color guard consisted of Lt. John Jenkins, Lt. Jason Epps, Sgt. Gary Meier, and Cpl. Brad Owens of the Peachtree City Police Department; Det. Bob Bautista of the Fayetteville Police Department, Ptl. Shaun Carr, Ptl. James McFarlan, and Ptl. Trey Williams of the Griffin Police Department.
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After a moment of silence for fallen and wounded officers, John Shires of the Peachtree City Fire Department played a moving rendition of Amazing Grace on the bagpipes in full Scottish kit.
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Ms. Debbie Groninger is the widow of Robert Groninger who was tragically murdered in 2005. Since then, the Groninger family has been a very close friend and ally to law enforcement and The Robert Groninger Foundation has contributed to many police charities. At the banquet Ms. Groninger announced that a scholarship had been established in her late husband's memory that would be awarded to a high school student who wanted to enter the field of law enforcement.
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Detective Aaron Fenimore of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office and ADA Lura Landis.
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One of our lovely legal secretaries, Robyn Cobb, with her husband Joe Cobb.
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Another one of the office's fantastic legal secretaries and file finder extraordinaire, Gloria, with her husband Ray, who is a retired JAG and works for court services in Fayette County.
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Scott's son David (left), a recent UGA grad and intern in the governor's office, with his insidious and not-quite-as-good-looking doppelganger; ADA and your webmaster, Greg Stein (right). Check out my rockin' tie!
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Sheriff of Harris County and President of the Georgia Sheriff's Association, Mike Jolley paid tribute to the sheriffs in attendance. He especially singled out the legendary Sheriff Randall Johnson of Fayette County. Sheriff Johnson has been the head of the FCSO since 1977. Since then, his department has grown from 15 employees to over 200 and has developed extremely successful innovations such as a K-9 unit, a drug task force, and an ariel unit. Sheriff Johnson will be retiring next next year after 43 years of distinguished public service, which is very unfortunate for the fish near Columbus, Georgia where the Sheriff will be retiring to.
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Chief of Covington Police Department and the 1st Vice President of the Georgia Chief's Association, Stacey Cotton, recognizes the numerous police chiefs in attendance.
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Scott awards Captain Mike Pruitt, head of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office's Drug Task Force, the DA's award for overcoming adversity. Captain Pruitt's task force has seized millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs in Fayette County since its creation. Captain Pruitt was recently diagnosed with cancer, but fortunately he has been battling his illness just as fiercely as he has battled drug dealers for years. His doctors are amazed by how well he has been doing since he has started treatment!
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A fifth grade essay writing contest was held for the second year in all four counties of the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Hundreds of students from almost every elementary school in the circuit wrote essays about how they appreciate the jobs that their local police and sheriff's deputies do to keep us all safe. It was extremely difficult to narrow down the huge pool of contestants to just a few finalists. Here's Scott with all of the contest finalists. They all did fantastic jobs and congrats to the winner, Anne Rentz from Peeples Elementary School!
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Scott with Anne, the essay contest winner. Congrats again Anne!
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Thomaston’s Alexis Marie Romano, the first winner of the Robert Groninger Memorial Scholarship with Ms. Debbie Groninger. Alexis has amassed an outstanding 97.9 high school grade point average and is bound for University of Georgia to major in Criminal Justice.
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Lieutenant Alvin Marshall of the Thomaston Police Department, 2008 Officer of the Year, with Thomaston Police Chief Dan Greathouse. On November, 26, 2007, Lt. Marshall and other officers responded to a call in reference to a man with a rifle. When officers arrived, the man was standing on the front porch and was pointing the rifle at the officers. Marshall positioned himself where he could not be seen by the offender. At just the right time, Marshall rushed the offender and was able to snatch the rifle from his hands. Congrats on your extremely well-deserved award Lt. Marshall!!
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The colors are retired at the end of the banquet.
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Scott and Law Enforcement Liaison Teresa Harper with some of the officers who made up the extra large honor guard that opened and closed the ceremonies. This group was composed of officers from many different law enforcement agencies in the Griffin Judicial Circuit. They trained for hours to prepare a much larger than normal honor formation for the banquet and did an outstanding job!
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*NOTE: Click on the image to see a larger version
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