How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. – Five Lake County men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty as public safety officers will be remembered at a ceremony this week.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Chaplains will host the Safety Officer Memorial Ceremony at 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, at Lakeport's Museum Park.
The chaplains invite the public to attend the ceremony and honor the fallen – as well as those men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep the community safe.
The men who will be commemorated at the ceremony include: from law enforcement, Sheriff George Kemp, Deputy William Hoyt and Sgt. Richard Helbush; and firefighters Michael Mattioda and Matthew Black.
Kemp, age 56, died on the night of May 5, 1910. He was attempting to take two suspects wanted for horse theft and burglary into custody near Lakeport when one of the suspects shot Kemp in the chest with a stolen rifle. Kemp died a short time later.
Hoyt, age 52, died Oct. 11, 1967. He was shot in the Lake County Courthouse by a prisoner who – while being led into the courtroom – grabbed another deputy's gun and began firing. A wounded Hoyt staggered to the counter, retrieved a gun kept below it and returned fire. He died later of his injuries.
Helbush, 34, was shot and killed on May 2, 1981, after stopping to help Robert Cox and Annika Deasy – who he didn't know were wanted for a Stockton murder – on the roadside. Cox and Deasy took Helbush's patrol car and later were apprehended after a high speed chase and gunfight on Cobb with deputies and a California Highway Patrol officer.
Mattioda, age 19, died on July 14, 1984, of injuries he suffered in a fire the previous day. According to press reports from the time, Mattioda, who worked for the Lakeshore Fire Protection District in Clearlake, was working on the Mount Baldy fire, which had begun as a structure fire before spreading into the wildland. He was burned over 70 to 90 percent of his body and died the following day of his injuries at a Chico hospital.
Black, age 20, who began working as a volunteer with the Lakeport Fire Department in 1998, died June 23, 1999. Black had responded to the scene of a grass fire that had reportedly been sparked by fallen power lines. While working at the scene to move fire hose into place, Black fell onto a live wire and was electrocuted, with his fellow firefighters unable to revive him.
Also at the Friday ceremony, the names of California law enforcement officers who died in 2014 will be read.
This week's local ceremony coincides with National Police Week, May 10 through 16.
Also on May 15, the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund will mark National Peace Officers' Memorial Day and have a wreath-laying ceremony.
The organization reported that the names of 273 officers killed in the line of duty are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D,C., where the names of Helbush, Hoyt and Kemp are displayed on the memorial's west wall.
Those 273 officers to be added this week include 117 officers who were killed during 2014, plus 156 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.
The 34th annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend will be held October 3 and 4.
The U. S. Fire Administration Web site reported that 87 firemen died while serving the public in 2014. However, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has not yet announced the number of men and women to be memorialized during the October event. Last year's event honored 104 firefighter who died in the line of duty in 2013.
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County's fallen safety officers to be remembered at May 15 ceremony
- Elizabeth Larson
