BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Tracy Templeton will never forget the date her father died; it was 14 years ago, the day before Thanksgiving.
Templeton’s father, Deputy Steve Mullins, is one of nine Sullivan County law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. The Sheriff’s Office honored these men with a special memorial unveiled Friday.
“These men died protecting me and protecting you,” Templeton said during the ceremony.
On Nov. 22, 1995, Mullins set up a roadblock on Hickory Tree Road to stop three juveniles who were being chased by the Bristol Tennessee Police Department. The juveniles tried to run through the roadblock by ramming into Mullins’ patrol car. The deputy, who was standing in front of his car when it was hit, was thrown 25 feet into another vehicle.
Every time Templeton drives past that spot on Hickory Tree Road, she said, she pulls her car over, gets out and looks around. It’s one of the ways she keeps her father’s memory alive, along with hanging on to his uniform, handcuffs and badge.
“It’s never easy,” said Sheriff Wayne Anderson, who became emotional as he read a proclamation honoring the county’s fallen officers and their families.
Anderson said his office has spent the past two years getting the memorial together and raising the $10,000 needed to build it from local businesses and residents.
The memorial sits on a landscaped area in front of the office’s headquarters on the Blountville Bypass. The granite memorial features an eternal flame and bears the names of all nine fallen officers, including Special Deputy Lee Eldreth, whose name is misspelled on the memorial as “Eldridge.”
Eldreth was killed Dec. 25, 1907, after he chased down and cornered a man who robbed his store in Shady Valley, Tenn. On Friday, Eldreth’s grandson, Dowd Rutherford, recalled how the death affected his mother’s life.
“It put her through a rough life, but she survived it,” Rutherford said of his mother, Elizabeth Rutherford, who was less than 2 years old when Eldreth died.
Like Templeton, Rutherford still has a number of souvenirs chronicling his grandfather’s life and death, including a vest Eldreth was wearing when he was shot in the stomach with a single shotgun blast.
Rutherford said his mother would be proud of the memorial. He also said he doesn’t mind the fact that his grandfather’s name is misspelled because most of the people in the community called his grandfather “Lee Eldridge” anyway.
“It would be our prayer that no more names be added to this monument,” said the Rev. Clay Austin, the pastor at Blountville Baptist Church, who gave the ceremony’s opening prayer.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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