Fort Smith dedicates museum cornerstone
Many reflect on marshals’ sacrifices
Pam Hotsinpiller stood on the bank of the Arkansas River at the future site of the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith on Saturday and told a crowd how excited her son was when he first learned about the museum.
Her son Derek was a U.S. marshal, and on that day in September 2010, he was already planning his visit to the site. He was killed less than six months later while serving a warrant in West Virgina, not far from where the Hotsinpiller family lives.
The 24-year-old will never get to make that trip to the museum, but his name and story will be memorialized in the museum’s Hall of Honor with those of the more than 250 marshals killed in the line of duty. More than 130 of those marshals died in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
More than 500 people attended the dedication of the Hall of Honor cornerstone Saturday. The 9-by-6-foot stone will be used in the construction of the museum, which is to begin in September.
Nearly $14 million of the $50 million needed for the project has been raised, Jessica Hayes, museum vice president of operations, said Saturday.
U.S. Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton said that her deputies face great danger while pursuing some of the worst criminals in the country.
“There is not a worse moment than when you get that call that there was a shooting that involved your personnel,” Hylton said. “When you have lost one of your own, the feeling is unbearable. It is because of their sacrifice that this country is more secure.”
“We in the Marshals Service, no matter where we are from, think of our history in the West,” Hylton said. “Most of us would trade our car for a horse and a pair of boots to bring someone before Judge [Issac] Parker.”
Parker presided over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith from 1875-96. His court tried fugitives arrested by marshals working out of Fort Smith, then known as the “gateway to the Wild West.”
“For me, Fort Smith is like sacred ground,” Hylton said. “Imagine the courage it took to ride out into the darkness; imagine the lawlessness that existed back then. Every arrest was full of danger.”
Hylton said the crimes have changed since the era of Judge Parker, but the violence has not. She said marshals find and arrest 120,000 violent fugitives every year.
“Think of what this museum will mean to the descendants of marshals,” Hylton said. “We are grateful. We are honored.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese said the U.S. Marshals Service is an important part of history and a linchpin of today’s law enforcement. Meese served as attorney general from 198588.
“It is critical that people learn about the Marshals Service,” Meese said. “This museum will preserve the historical record, and it will inspire men and women to know more or perhaps to be engaged themselves.”
Pam Hotsinpiller said Derek knew he was going to become a U.S. marshal after going to a job fair during his freshman year of college.
“He came in with this flier and said, ‘This is what I want to do with the rest of my life,’” Hotsinpiller said. She said he went to school during summers and worked hard to finish training for the marshals program by the time he was 22.
Derek was shot while serving a warrant in February 2011. He left behind his fiancee, mother and a brother, Dustin, who joined the Marshals Service after his brother’s death.
Dustin Hotsinpiller said he is humbled and honored by the planned museum.
“When you work in law enforcement, you are always going to run into people not happy with you,” Dustin said. “This is a place where people can come and learn about what we do.”
The 20,000-square-foot museum will have three galleries, Hayes said. She said it will highlight both what U.S. marshals do today and events in the service’s history.
The Hall of Honor will be a reflective place where people can learn the stories of those who have died while serving the country, Hayes said.