{"id":19777,"date":"2013-02-25T16:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T21:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19777"},"modified":"2013-02-25T16:05:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-25T21:05:22","slug":"retired-pioneer-honored-as-departments-unsung-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19777","title":{"rendered":"Retired Pioneer Honored As Unsung Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Saturday, the members of the Tampa Police Department hosted their 25th<\/sup> Annual Black History Program. For the first time this year, the Committee took the celebration outside.<\/p>\n

It was held at the Tampa Police Department\u2019s Police Athletic League. The theme was \u201cMeet Me At the Park.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of their 25th<\/sup> Annual Black History Celebration, committee members stepped back into the past to honor one of their own. Retired Sgt. Rufus Lewis,<\/strong> was chosen as the recipient of the Unsung Hero Award. Sgt. Lewis<\/strong> retired as a result of a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Lewis<\/strong> said, \u201cIt was such an honor to have been chosen for the 2013 Unsung Hero recognition from the Tampa Police Department\u2019s Black History Program Committee. First, I thank God for His blessings, grace and mercy in allowing me to go safely through the vigorous struggle of racism in setting a positive example for others to follow.\u00a0 Secondly, I am truly humbled that the committee felt me to be deserving of this recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought of those persons that were my mentors, Ms. Patricia Pierce<\/strong> and Mr. Samuel Brazelton<\/strong> and the many others whose shoulders I stood upon, as depicted in the mural.\u00a0 They were two of a few officers hired by TPD during the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s that made it possible for me and others to continue the fight for equal rights and justice for the minority officers that followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy career in law enforcement, teaching and coaching has enabled me to promote success as I remind youngsters to set goals, make positive choices, and know that success can be theirs, even in the midst of struggles, Lewis <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Pictured<\/strong>:\u00a0A local artist created this photograph of pioneer and current Tampa Police officers. Retired Sgt. Rufus Lewis, who is shown pointing at the image of himself, was honored as the department\u2019s Unsung Hero during their 25th<\/sup> Black History Program.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

In addition to Sgt. Lewis, the painting shows on the left, Officers Romeo Cole, Sr., and James Ransom, Sr. Standing in front of Sgt. Lewis are the late Sam \u201cSkin Brazelton and the late Patricia Pierce Coleman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the right side of the painting first row, are images of Retired Assistant Chief Tina Wright, Retired Chief Bennie Holder, and current Major Diane Hobley Burney. Retired Deputy Chief Curtis Lane, Retired Lt. Clarence Nathan, Retired Major Gerald Honeywell, and current Captain Rocky Ratcliffe are shown on the back row.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor On Saturday, the members of the Tampa Police Department hosted their 25th Annual Black History Program. For the first time this year, the Committee took the celebration outside. It was held at the Tampa Police Department\u2019s Police Athletic League. The theme was \u201cMeet Me At the Park.\u201d As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}