The Bible says in the Book of Matthew, “Blessed are the peace makers”, and the death of Bell County Deputy Sheriff Sean Pursifull causes me to remember that the community of law enforcement members are considered blessed according to God’s Word because of their profession and calling as instruments of peace and order.
I am humbled in service and been blessed to have had the privilege of serving as a Chaplain for several law enforcement agencies and emergency services departments and organizations through my life and ministry. I began as Chaplain of the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department beginning service in 1979. I assisted and served Sheriff Charles “Monk” Green on many accidents, dispatched calls and rode alongside Ted Mayes and Big John Davenport many a night. When I returned to Bell County I began serving as Chaplain for Jailer Jimmy Hoskins in the Bell County Detention Center and did so for six years. I also served our present Sheriff Bruce Bennett and the Bell County Sheriff’s Department as Chaplain which I was too honored to be a part of for a time.
In Fort Worth, Texas, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, I participated in special outreach events with Bill Glass Prison Ministries, trainings sessions about crisis management and seminars about the call to law enforcement and emergency services chaplaincy but there is nothing that really prepares you for the type of call Bell County received on Thursday, January 11, 2008. Bell County Sheriff Department Chaplain Bill Jenkins and Pineville Police Department Chaplain David Peters did professional jobs with dignity and displayed great respect for a fallen peace maker that in service God’s word calls blessed.
The death of Deputy Sean Pursifull on that Thursday night was a sacrifice that he had mentally and emotionally dealt with having been a police officer and deputy for several years. His training in the Kentucky Justice Department Academy dealt with the call to service and he was aware of the price many had paid in service to their communities and Sean believed his talents and energy would best serve Bell County through this career choice and he was right. Departing life is not something that is settled because we dwell upon it for one day, but rather it is something that we prepare for our entire lives, little by little, day after day. Understanding our own individual level of comfort and adjusting our lives to the demands of duty is what brings honor to our lives, by the way we live and depart life as a witness.
My last memory of working alongside Sean was at an accident at Brock Hollow, in which a car over turned and a young child was strapped in their car seat and with the car now resting turned upside down in the middle of the road, we worked to free the child and bring peace to that moment of panic and fear at the scene.
The passing of Sean Pursifull in the line of duty, at the age of 31, adds his name and service to a list of others who have also paid the ultimate sacrifice for our safety in performance of their duties as law enforcement officers who have proudly served our communities. Here in Bell County we should take time to remember all those deputies and police officers and we should strive to never forget to mark and dedicate the call of their service to duty as law enforcement officers and remembering emergency service personnel who gave their all for us.
Let us remember the Bell County Sheriff Department:
Joseph Manning, age 37, Deputy, Line of Duty, Sunday, July 14, 1901;
Richard W Slusher, age 30, Deputy, Line of Duty, Thursday, April 11, 1902;
George Thomas Fisher, age 58, Chief Deputy, Line of Duty, Tuesday, December 17, 1940;
Laith Warren, age 46, Deputy, Line of Duty, Thursday, September 18, 1952;
Horace Hall, Jr, age 44, Deputy Major, Line of Duty, Thursday August 14, 1980;
Sean Pursifull, age 31, Deputy, Line of Duty, Thursday, January 10, 2008;
K-9 Unit “King”, Line of Duty, with Handler Sean Pursifull, Thursday January 10, 2008;
Let us remember the Pineville Police Department:
George Coovert, age 36, Assistant Chief, Line of Duty, Tuesday September 9, 1890;
Robert Woolum, age 38, Chief, Line of Duty, Monday, October 18, 1926;
Henry Jackson , Night Chief, Line of Duty, Monday, October 11, 1937;
Our County should have great thanks for these listed who gave their lives. Robert Woolum had just began his service and served only 38 days as Chief of the Pineville Police Department before his death. The details of the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty for these men happened while serving warrants, attempting to make arrest, accidental gunshot, shootings outside bars in the City of Pineville, one officer was returning from testifying in Frankfort at trial, an automobile accident and some of these resulted in man hunts, one that ended in the State of Virginia. While honoring these men and the sacrifices their families also made we can give thanks that the Middlesboro Police Department has never lost an officer in the Line of Duty. It would be our prayer that this Department would never experience such a loss as the Bell County Sheriff Department and the Pineville Police Department have.
It maybe that only family members of fallen officers and those closely related remember such experiences, but that should not be our case here in Bell County. I have prior to this moment in time support the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation through gifts and purchase of the special license plate honoring our fallen, but we should go farther than this personal gesture. As a county we should have a memorial that remembers the sacrifice of all those before this time, and the endeavor should be something for all of Bell County, which I will remind us includes all our cities, the City of Pineville and the City of Middlesboro.
God’s Word is clear, “Blessed are the Peace Makers” of which we still have driving the streets of our cities and county roads. “Blessed are the Peace Makers” of which we still have directing traffic, working accidents, writing reports, serving papers, answer calls, assisting motorist broken down along our county road ways. “Blessed are the Peace Makers” of which work behind the scenes, undercover, covert, and without any recognition or notice. “Blessed are the Peace Makers”, of which begin a career in Law Enforcement and never experience such heartache and woe. “Blessed are the Peace Makers”, because God’s word says, “for they shall be called the children of God”, Matthew 5:9.
The work continues and the wiliness to be an ultimate sacrifice should remind all of us to thank those families who paid such a cost for our liberty and protection and to follow the Bible in her instructions to “give honor and respect to whom it is due”. Remembering the heroes and servants of days past is very important, and honoring those among us today even more important.
Until then
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