Local first responder memorial planned
Police escort the hearse carrying the body of Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum in November to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
The flag from the casket of Officer Scott Bashioum is folded at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
For years, building a memorial to recognize local police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty has been an idea talked about at meetings by members of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 22.
But talk is all it has been, with no real effort to bring it to reality. But after Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum was shot and killed in an ambush while answering a domestic call last November, members are determined to make it happen.
A committee, including immediate past president David Richards along with Don Zofchak and John Wybranowski, has been formed to begin work on a memorial that would not only recognize police, but firefighters and other first responders who also have died in the line of duty.
Bashioum and fellow Canonsburg Officer James Saieva were both shot with a high-powered rifle by Michael Cwiklinski as they approached the Woodcrest Drive home of Cwiklinski’s estranged wife in the early morning hours of Nov. 10. The 52-year-old Bashioum died a short time later at Canonsburg Hospital. Saieva, who was injured, was taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He returned to duty earlier this year. Cwiklinski, 47, and his 28-year-old wife, Dalia Sabae, who was three months pregnant, were later found dead on the second floor of the home.
“We have talked on and off about a memorial, but it came up again after Scott died,” Richards said. “It is unfortunate that it comes up when someone dies. But this time, we are following through with it. It is long overdue”
Michael Phillips, current president of FOP Lodge 22, agreed.
“It is a shame that it takes a death to bring this idea back to life,” Phillips said. “The national police memorial in Washington, D.C., is nice, but we need to have something local, because traveling there is too hard for some people.”
Richards said FOP Lodge 22 has reached out to include state police FOP Lodge 47 and Washington police FOP Lodge 95, inviting them to also be included. They also have talked with lodges in the Mon Valley, as well as the Washington County Firemen’s Association. The Western Pennsylvania Police Benevolent Association also may be involved with the memorial.
Phillips said standards will be set and will have to be met before an individual’s name can go on the memorial. Richards said some research will need to be done to make sure anyone who might have been killed in the line of duty generations ago also are included on the memorial.
“You figure, Washington’s police department dates back to about 1876, while the state police was formed in 1905,” Richards added.
There is no timetable for construction of the memorial, Phillips said.
“I’d like to have it done within the next six months, but I think more realistically we should have it done in time for Police Memorial Week next year,” Phillips said, adding that memorial week is the second week of May each year.
No decision has been made for a location for the memorial. Richards said a person offered property off Pike Street in the Canonsburg area, and the site of the 911 memorial at Washington Mall in South Strabane Township also is a possibility. Richards said the memorial will be designed after a location is chosen.
“We are going to look into getting funding to help us out,” Richards added. “I think we could have a beautiful memorial.”
“Unfortunately, lately we have seen more and more police officers killed in the line of duty,” he said. “I think it is important to have a beautiful place where family members can come and remember their loved one. We need to have a fitting tribute.”
The first fundraiser for the memorial is a spaghetti dinner that will be hosted and sponsored by members of SNPJ Lodge 138 from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at their hall at 269 Latimer Ave., in the village of Strabane, North Strabane Township. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger.
Richards said this is not the first time SNPJ has hosted a dinner to benefit police. A few years ago, members held a spaghetti dinner to raise money to help purchase a K-9 for the North Strabane police department.