Avery Post " The Good News"
For those of you that dont receive the Avery Post this is a column I write for them each week , called the "Good News" this is Part I of two part series that will be up later this week.
It’s not uncommon to hear of law enforcement agencies providing spiritual counseling for inmates while they are incarcerated.
Avery County Law Enforcement Agencies are doing something that only a few LEO’s in the state does and that’s provide a Law Enforcement Chaplains Service for all the police officers in Avery County.
It all began as Rev. Dennis Quackenboss of Mountainside Lutheran Church in Linville attended the local Lutheran monthly conference in Catawba County, NC. One of the programs discussed at the conference was the local chaplain’s service that the town of nearby Conover has incorporated for their police officers.
Later in the monthly nationwide Lutheran newsletter, a one-week training seminar was being conducted in St. Louis for anyone that wanted to learn more about the chaplain’s service.
Rev. Quackenboss attended this week of training and also received FEMA certification.
Conover PD Captain Steve Brewer contacted Newland PD Chief Jason Brown about the chaplains service after he found out Rev. Quackenboss had attended the training. Chief Brown was not acquainted with Rev. Quackenboss at this time and assumed this was some type of sales pitch that sometimes occur when police depts. are trying to raise money. Chief Brown asked Captain Brewer to lunch in Newland to find out more about the program and to find out if it was only a sales pitch.
Captain Brewer agreed to meet Chief Brown for lunch and brought the chaplain from the Conover PD, to this meeting. Chief Brown became aware of what a great asset this would be to Avery County LEO, and that Avery County already had a chaplain trained and ready to begin this service with Rev. Dennis Quackenboss.
Chief Brown would later get all of the Law Enforcement Agencies in Avery County together for a meeting and Rev. Quackenboss began contacting local pastors.
Next week the Avery Post will have Part II of this story as we find out more about what the Law Enforcement Chaplains Service does for the police officers and more about organizing the service.
