FROM THE SHERIFF | May 2018

Thank you for all the support during our most difficult days

May has been a rough month for our Highlands County Sheriff’s Office family. For the first time in more than 20 years, we lost a deputy in the line of duty when Deputy William Gentry was shot on May 6 and passed away a day later.

The loss of Deputy Gentry was a jarring and tragic chapter in the nearly 100-year history of our agency. Deputy Gentry was the third person we lost in the line of duty, but it was the first time one of our deputies had been taken from us by the actions of a criminal. It was a jarring reminder of what everyone in law enforcement knows deep down inside but tries not to think about -- that each call can be your last.

As dark as the days between Deputy Gentry’s death and his funeral were for all of us, there was a bright and shining light that helped us make it through. That light came from you, our local community, and from people all over the country.

Whether it was leaving flowers at the memorial set up outside our office in Sebring, making a donation to help the Gentry family, coming out to line the roads or simply just letting us know you were thinking of us, the support we received was welcomed.
I can’t count the number of people who reached out to us, and continue to do so.

In addition to messages from here at home, we received hundreds of messages of support from all over the country and from people of all ages. Some of the most touching support came from our youngest residents. Several schools held fundraisers to help the Gentry family, and many of those were ideas that came from the students, not parents or teachers. If these children are any indication, our future is in good hands.

Students also sent in dozens and dozens of cards and letters. Many of them were for the Gentry family specifically, but many more were just addressed to our deputies. We hung a lot of them up in the deputies’ room and had enough left over to put a card in each deputies’ mailbox. It just so happens that Deputy Gentry’s funeral took place during National Police Week, so those cards and letters served a double purpose.

I want to thank all of you who reached out to us this month. I also want to thank all the law enforcement officers -- some from as far away as California and Boston -- and elected officials who came to help us honor Deputy Gentry at his memorial service. I particularly want to thank Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott for going above and beyond in their assistance. To say their help was invaluable doesn’t do it enough justice.

For those of you who still want to help, you can make donations to the Gentry family through the sheriff’s office or you can also donate in his name to www.rescueranch.com, the charity the family has chosen in recognition of Deputy Gentry’s love of his pets.
Another way you can honor Deputy Gentry’s memory is to register to be an organ donor. Even in death, Deputy Gentry was a hero and saved six lives through his organ donation. As many as 70 others will benefit from his tissues.

Our deputies will continue to wear the black mourning band over their badges until June 7, as tradition is to wear them for a month after the end of watch for a fallen member of your agency. But even when we take them off, we will never forget Deputy Gentry, just as we will never forget the outpouring of love and support we got from all of you.

I speak for all of us here at the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office when I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. You will never know how much it meant to us.

Much of Florida’s Gulf coast is under a tropical storm warning as Subtropical Storm Alberto makes its closest approach today.

Subtropical storm Alberto brings holiday weekend washout.