Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Community fundraisers in Box Elder County aim to send Tremonton-Garland police officers to National Police Week.
- Darren Jex is creating laser-etched coasters as part of the effort to support the trip expenses.
- Police officers want to be in Washington, D.C, when two fallen comrades are memorialized.
TREMONTON — Darren Jex is producing laser-etched drink coasters that feature his version of the department's official memorial badge, created in tribute to fallen officers Lee Sorensen and Eric Estrada.
"(It's) a very small thing that I hope that I can do to help my hometown," Jex said. "Everybody's trying to pitch in to help and support, and I wanted to figure out a way to do it."
Proceeds from the coasters, made from black slate, will help send officers and their families to National Police Week in May, when Sorensen and Estrada's names will be added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial.
For Jex, the effort is personal. His brother, detective Brent Jex of the Tremonton-Garland Police Department, said the trip will be an important part of the healing process for the department and the families involved.
"Every penny helps. It's really important for the closure there," Brent Jex said.
The department hopes to send all officers and their spouses to the event in Washington.
"We figure we need to raise between now and May, about $100,000," Brent Jex said. "There's something about being there when their names are added to the memorial, and to sit on the Capitol grounds and go through that service with officers and families from across the country."
He and Chief Dustin Cordova are the only members of the department who have been through this before.
"I'd like to say it gets easier, but it doesn't," Brent Jex added.
Community support, they say, makes a difficult journey possible.
"They put their lives on the line every day that they go out," Darren Jex said, noting how much it means to have local backing as the department prepares to honor Sorenson and Estrada in the nation's capital. Darren planned to go into law enforcement himself until a back injury got in the way.
"I have always had an affinity for law enforcement," he said. "Brent has been a huge example to me: being on the force and just the experiences that he went through."
Darren Jex's company, Coldwater Productions, is selling the coasters in sets of six and eight, or as singles. Gunslinger Forge is also selling challenge coins in honor of Sorensen and Estrada for the same cause.
Alternatively, donations can be sent to the Golden Spike, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #43, care of Brent Dex at 125 S. 100 West, Tremonton, UT, 84337.
