Fallen Officers Blood Drive set in Seymour

June 20, 2009 - 1:14 AM

The public will have an opportunity to honor fallen law enforcement officers by donating blood during the third annual Indiana Fallen Officers Blood Drive.

Jackson County's blood drive will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Seymour Police Department, 309 N. Chestnut St.

Organizer is Detective C.J. Foster, who confirmed that the Seymour blood drive is open to the public.

On July 10, 2001, Sgt. Dan R. Starnes of the Morgan County Sheriff's Department died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained during a line of duty gun battle with a burglary suspect four weeks earlier. To keep his memory alive, his widow, Janice, organized the Sgt. Dan R. Starnes Memorial Blood Drive in Morgan County later that year. She has organized a blood drive each year since in Dan's memory. In 2007 she decided to take the blood drive statewide and renamed it the Indiana Fallen Officers Blood Drive. This month the 2009 drive begins with donation sites in nearly every county statewide.