Members of the Carson City Special Operations Response Team run the final leg of a 400-mile journey from Las Vegas carrying a baton which holds the names of Nevada peace officers who died in the line of duty. Law enforcement from across the state will participate in the Nevada Peace Officers Memorial ceremony today on the Capitol grounds at ????.
MINDEN -- Ronnie Halsey and his mom, Franki, ran north on Highway 395, past Buckeye Street, past Fiona's, past Coldwell Banker and the Carson Valley Inn, stopping at the Carson Valley Motor Lodge to pass on a baton to honor this year's fallen Nevada police officers.
Ronnie, 9, the youngest of three children of Franki and James Halsey, ran for his dad, who is deployed in Iraq, in the Nevada Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Run Tuesday.
His mom and dad have run together for the past two years, but Halsey, a Navy chief warrant officer, has been gone since December. Halsey sent his son his dog tags. Ronnie never takes them off.
"I wanted my dad to be proud of me," Ronnie said after the nearly mile run. He said he enjoyed the attention along Highway 395, and that it was fun.
Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. James Halsey is a supervisor in the patrol division and has been with the department for nearly nine years.
Franki said she expects her husband, who has been a reservist in the Navy for 20 years, to return in September.
"It'll be a long haul," she said. "People like my husband serve in the armed forces for Americans to have the freedoms they do. I miss him a lot and the kids miss him terribly. He's very honorable."
About 11:20 a.m., Ronnie and Frankie received the baton from Douglas Lt. Steve Orr, who led the Douglas Special Operations Response Team a mile and a half from Starbucks to the Rites of Passage building.
The run continued at 7 a.m. at the Lyon and Douglas County line. Deputies ran west on Route 208 through Wellington and Topaz Ranch Estates and then began running north, ahead of schedule, on Highway 395. Runners continued into Carson City.
The run began May 7 in Las Vegas and concludes today with a 1 p.m. ceremony at the Nevada State Law Enforcement Memorial in front of the capitol.
Five names will be added to the memorial including the name of 55-year-old Reno police officer Mike Scofield, who died Sept. 26, 2002, in a police motorcycle accident.
"The memorial in Carson City is dedicated to those officers who died in the line of duty," Elges said. "What some people don't understand is this is a family. We are close to each other because we share so much pain and joy during our workweeks and we must rely on each other for our safety."
What: Law Enforcement Memorial
When: 1 p.m. today
Where: Peace Officer's Memorial, Capitol Complex
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