The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Snellville sign honors fallen officers
Councilman takes note of deadly trend in front yard notice.
The 4-by-8-foot sign sits in Bobby Howard’s front yard, American flags and a pair of blue lights perched atop its posts.
All too often lately, the bulbs have burned bright.
“When these lights are on... it means that another member of the law enforcement community has lost their life in the line of duty,” the sign reads, in part. “This light will stay on for 48 hours as a reminder to all that no matter where you are in this country, the people that are committed ‘to protect and serve’ are doing the job they were called to do.”
Howard, a Snellville city councilman, said he has many friends in law enforcement and that he felt called to find some way to thank them and their brothers and sisters in blue. He put his sign up shortly after the July day when five law enforcement officers were killed in Dallas, Texas, and, ever since, has faithfully turned the lights on following the death of every fallen American officer.
“It was just too much and too often,” Howard said.
Those honored recently have included Georgia law enforcement officers:
On Nov. 6, two Peach County sheriff’s deputies were ambushed in Byron. Sgt. Patrick Sondron was pronounced dead at the county hospital and Deputy Daryl Smallwood died two days later.
On. Nov. 18, U.S. Marshal Patrick Carothers was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend a fugitive in Long County. Carothers lived in Flowery Branch and was deeply involved at Gwinnett County’s Greater Atlanta Christian School.
On Dec. 7, Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jody Smith were shot while responding to a domestic call and died in the following days.
“Nine times out of 10, if you have a problem, regardless of your stance about police or law enforcement or anything else, the first thing you do is call 911,” Howard said. “And they come. They don’t question whether you support them or not.”
At the end of the movie “Keanu,” the end credits state, “American Humane Association monitored some of the animal action. No animals were harmed in those scenes.” Does this mean animals might have been harmed in the animal action that wasn’t monitored by the AHA? —Connie Corpening, Woodstock
“Keanu” received a modified end-credit because the American Humane Association’s animal safety representatives weren’t able to monitor all of the animal action in the film.
“In this case, it was not the production’s lack of willingness or cooperation; we work to cover completely as many sets as possible for the thousands of film and TV commercials produced each year, but occasionally we do not have a certified animal safety representative available to cover every scene every day,” Mark Stubis, American Humane’s chief communications officer, told Q&A on the News in an email.
He added: “The production team and trainers at ‘Keanu’ were very cooperative, and they treated the kittens with the utmost respect, and the scenes we did monitor were the more animal intensive scenes in the film.”
The American Humane’s Film and Television Unit monitors the treatment of animals in the industry. The “No Animals Were Harmed” program celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2015.
American Humane rates movies according to what its representatives report and oversees “animal action on-set for films, television, commercials and more,” it states on its website (humanehollywood.org).
“Keanu” received the “Monitored: Acceptable” rating. Other ratings include “Monitored: Outstanding,” “Monitored: Unacceptable,” “Not Monitored: Production Complaint” and “Not Monitored.”
“Jackie,” “The Magnificent Seven” and “Ben Hur” are among the recent movies rated “Outstanding.”
Ratings and reviews are at humanehollywood.org.