PORT ANGELES — Retiring Sheriff Joe Hawe choked back tears Tuesday while Clallam County commissioners and Sheriff’s Department employees honored him for 13 years of service.
“It’s probably the first time I am a little short on words. This is the day I have been dreading,” Hawe told the commissioners, his voice wavering after Chairman Steve Tharinger read a proclamation recognizing the sheriff’s law enforcement and community service.
Hawe was flanked by two members of the Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard in full regalia.
Hawe formed the Honor Guard of Sheriff’s Department volunteers who represent the county at funerals for fallen officers and other somber occasions.
The proclamation praised Hawe for working as sheriff “longer than any elected sheriff in the county’s history.”
Hawe soon leaves the county with his wife, Ginny, to live in Lacey. He will work with an Olympia-based state sheriffs and police chiefs organization.
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The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.