[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 13 (Monday, January 31, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S355-S356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING SUZANNE WAUGHTEL-HOPPER

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the heroic 
life of Suzanne Waughtel-Hopper, a deputy sheriff of Clark County, OH, 
and a beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend who was killed 
in the line of duty on the morning of January 1, 2011.
  On that fateful day, Deputy Hopper, who went 6 years without ever 
missing a work day, volunteered to work overtime where she was 
scheduled to start her shift at 3 a.m. But by 2:34 a.m. she had already 
started her patrol, and by 2:58 a.m. she had already made an arrest by 
taking a drunk driver off the street. Throughout the morning, she 
fielded calls of theft and criminal activity, and by 11:30 a.m. she 
answered her last call, a report of a dispute at a local campground. 
While taking forensic evidence photographs, she was shot and killed and 
German Township officer Jeremy Blum was injured. As Deputy Hopper did 
each day of her career, she answered her call to duty, the call to 
uphold the sacred oath she took to protect her community.
  In the days since her tragic loss, family and friends have recounted 
her commitment to the core values of the Clark County Sheriff's 
Office--integrity, duty, courage, and honor. During the celebration of 
her life on January 7, 2011, at First Christian Church in Springfield, 
OH, thousands of people from Clark County and across the State and the 
Nation remembered her acts of courage on the job, her kindness and 
empathy to the community, and her love and affection for her family. 
Flag waving mourners gave thanks and prayers to a public servant who 
kept their streets and neighborhoods safe for the last 12 years.
  School children will remember her as a role model and DARE 
instructor. Special Olympians will remember her encouragement and 
support, while several charities will remember her generosity and 
selflessness. Families who she helped in the line of duty will remember 
the clothing and food she provided them while she was off duty.

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From Young's Dairy to Diane's in North Hampton to the streets of Clark 
County, her friends from old remember a young girl who grew up into the 
police officer she always wanted to be. And her fellow heroes in the 
Clark County Sheriff's office will remember her camaraderie and 
friendship, forged through her many different assignments and numerous 
divisions where she served with distinction and honor.
  I express my deepest sympathies to Deputy Sheriff Hopper's parents 
Charles and Bonnie Bauer; her husband Matthew Hopper; her daughter and 
son Emily Bauer and Charlie Waughtel; her stepchildren Cole and 
Madeleine Hopper; her sisters and brothers-in-law Annette and Robert 
Bauer-English, and Marie and Eric Lundgren; her parents-in-law Victoria 
Hopper and Joseph Kleehammer; and numerous other loved ones.
  A grateful State will forever remember Deputy Sheriff Suzanne 
Waughtel-Hopper, a trusted and true public servant.

                          ____________________