Sheriff’s Office recognizes distinguished service at annual event

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office recently held its annual Awards Event to recognize members for their meritorious service.

“All of our deputies and civilian employees do an exceptional job for Benton County residents,” stated Sheriff Scott Jackson, “It’s difficult to single out any one individual so we host an annual event to recognize all of our employees and call out a few specific honors.”

This year, Sergeant Toby Bottorff, Corporal Al Schermerhorn, Deputy Daniel Ball, and Marine Deputy Christian Sandoval were recognized with the Life Saving Award for a water rescue that took place on the Willamette River on April 28, 2018. At that time, a male with a history of significant mental illness and known history of resisting arrest, entered the river and started swimming. Recognizing the danger to the individual, the deputies quickly launched the marine boat, rescued the individual, and got him transported to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Distinguished Service Medals were awarded to Deputy Justin Bowers, Deputy Carl Gerig, Deputy Joshua Gordon, and Deputy Nick Miller for their meritorious service to the public.

Dawn Dale, Business Analyst, was awarded the Sheriff’s Office Employee of the Year. Additionally, each division within the Sheriff’s Office honored employees with the Division Employee of the Year award:

• Deputy Kyle Resnik, Corrections;
• Deputy Doug Seirup, Law Enforcement;
• Sergeant Abe Griswold, Parole & Probation; and,
• Katy Kuhnert, Support Services.

Several volunteers were recognized for their exceptional support of the Sheriff’s Office:

• Randal Tugwell, Reserve Deputy of the Year;
• Howard Friedman, Auxiliary Volunteer of the Year; and,
• Gary Walker, Emergency Services/CERT Volunteer of the Year.

The many Search and Rescue volunteers who provide service to the community were recognized in an earlier ceremony this spring.