The Ultimate Sacrifice

Friends, this is a serious matter. Most of you are around the area so you probably have heard about this. In case you haven't the Austin Police Department lost one of their own this morning on a routine disturbance call to a Walmart in North Austin. A drunk was making trouble so the employees called the police at about 2 a.m. The police officer approached the suspect and the belligerent drunk started fighting with him. The drunk had a gun, pulled it and shot the officer in the neck. The employees tackled the suspect and held him until the other police arrived. Unfortunately the police officer died at the scene.

Officer Jaime Padron, a veteran officer, leaves behind two daughters, ages 10 and 6. He had probably made hundreds such calls in his career. Most officer-involved shootings are routine like traffic stops. Sometimes the perp gets shot. Sometimes the officer. It takes a special person that goes to work daily with the real possibility that he will not go home. When this happens we, who he swore to serve and protect, have a responsibility to see that those little girls have the support they need that dad will not be around to provide. The 100 Club of Central Texas is set up for just that purpose. They are a 501c(3) organization that uses its funds to support the families of fallen officers in the Central Texas area. Your donation can be directed to a specific family or to their mission. The important thing is the work they do and that they are there to do it.

Things like this can happen anywhere. It is a dangerous world out there folks and these men and women stand between us and that danger. I hope you will join me in supporting this organization.