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Childers Memorial Finally Has A Home

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

YBOR CITY - It took nearly a decade, but a memorial bearing the image of slain Tampa police Detective Ricky Childers has been dedicated at a site his family members say is appropriate: the place he received law enforcement training.

The black granite obelisk was dedicated Nov. 7 outside the police academy building at Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City campus.

Childers' mother, Jean Turner of Plant City, expressed relief a suitable site was finally found for the monument funded by donations from residents of Plant City, where Childers was born and attended school.

"Thank God we got it here," she said after the dedication ceremony held in conjunction with the graduation of 23 HCC law enforcement recruits.

"This is better because this is where they future officers graduate," Turner said.

Childers, 46, and his partner, Detective Randy Bell, 44, were fatally shot May 19, 1998, while transporting prisoner Hank Earl Carr, who had killed his girlfriend's 4-year-old son.

Fleeing north after killing the two veteran detectives inside their car, he fatally shot rookie Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James Crooks, 23, before committing suicide at a Hernando County gas station-convenience store.

The memorial to Childers was completed in 1999, but Plant City commissioners denied Turner's request to allow it at McCall Park. Commissioners contended it was inappropriate for a park and planted a tree there in Childers' memory.

Turner delayed putting the monument elsewhere, saying it should be displayed in Plant City, as Plant City residents paid for it.

In July, she sought approval to place the monument on the Plant City campus of HCC, but the effort failed, she said.

A $3,000 check to cover upkeep of the monument was presented to the HCC Foundation by Ricky Childers II of Lake Panasoffkee, a gift from the Childers family and Plant City residents.

Turner expressed gratitude to David Wilson-Wolfe, owner of SweetDreams Memorials, 7131 S County Line Road, Plant City, who created the monument and maintained it during the past decade.

"He would never take a penny, even for installing it in Tampa," Turner said.

She said the assistance of Plant City restaurant owner Jerry Lofstrom was invaluable.

"He started helping me from the very beginning," facilitating fundraising and providing advice, she said.

"I couldn't have done it without him," she said. "I really appreciate him and his family so much."

Turner also had kind words for the people of Plant City, whose donations paid for the memorial.

"Little old Plant City does good. If you're in need of something, they help you," she said.

She recalls that at a fundraiser car wash, "Some people didn't want their car washed, they just gave money."

At the Ybor City ceremony, the slain detective's other son, Corky Harris of Tampa, described the pride he had for his dad, who, during the early days of his law enforcement career of nearly 20 years, was a patrol officer who was in uniform when he picked Corky up at school.

"Yeah, my dad is a cop," he would proudly tell envious classmates.

"My father always was my hero and I'll always love him," Harris told the crowd.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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