[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 3031-3032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING THE SERVICE OF CHRISTIAN L. CURTICE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 27, 2015

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career and 
celebrate the retirement of Fresno County Sheriff Deputy, Christian L. 
Curtice. Deputy Curtice served an honorable thirty-three years with the 
Fresno County Sheriff's Office, and his service is to be commended.
  Christian Curtice was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1959, and 
subsequently moved with his family to California. He graduated from the 
Pacific Grove High School in 1978. A few years after high school, 
Christian had moved to the Central Valley and was sworn in as a deputy 
sheriff with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office in 1982. The first few 
years Deputy Curtice served with the Fresno County Sheriff's office, he 
also pursued a college education. In 1986 he graduated from California 
State University, Fresno with a Bachelor's of Science degree in 
Criminology. Three years later he became a detective with the Sheriff's 
Crimes Against Persons Unit and became a member of the California 
Homicide Investigators Association. In 1992 he was promoted to Deputy 
IV, and was assigned as Field Training Officer in the Patrol Division 
in 2001.

[[Page 3032]]

  During his years of service, Deputy Curtice has received many awards 
and commendations, including being the first deputy at the Fresno 
County Sheriff's Office to receive the California Highway Patrol's 
``10851 Award'' for vehicle theft recovery in 1989. In 1992, he was the 
recipient of the American Legion's ``Outstanding Law Officer of the 
Year'' award for the Central Valley area, and in 1993 he was the 
recipient of the American Legion's ``Outstanding Law Officer of the 
Year'' for the State of California.
  Apart from his awards, Deputy Curtice has been recognized in many 
instances in which he was integral to solving cases and saving lives 
through his use of ingenuity and bravery, often putting his own life at 
risk. Deputy Curtice was one of the principal investigators on the 
Ewell triple murder in the Sunnyside area of Fresno County. The case 
received major national news coverage and eventually led to the arrest 
and conviction of Dana Ewell and Joel Radovcich. Following their 
conviction, Deputy Curtice and his partner, Detective Souza, wrote the 
book ``Catch Me If You Can,'' which chronicled the investigation.
  Outside of his position as Deputy and Detective, Deputy Curtice has 
been a firm believer in giving back to his community. In 2008, he 
worked with the Central California Blood Center to launch the Holiday 
Heroes Blood Drive, which is now held every year during the week before 
Christmas, and continues to become increasingly more successful. He 
also made it a personal priority to revamp the Fresno County Sheriff's 
ailing website by hiring a dedicated IT specialist. Working with the IT 
specialist, Deputy Curtice helped launch a redesigned, user friendly 
website. Additionally, by creating new Facebook and Twitter pages for 
the agency, Deputy Curtice played an integral role in ensuring the 
Sheriff's Office is able stay in contact with the community they serve.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great respect that I ask my colleagues to 
join me in recognizing the distinguished career of Fresno County 
Sheriff Deputy Christian L. Curtice, and to wish him the best of luck 
in his retirement.

                          ____________________