The Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office has received three new S.R.O. vehicles, one for each of the three schools in our school system. The vehicles’ wrapping has been designed to honor the county’s rich Native American heritage. The county got its name from the Sequatchie Valley, which was named by the Cherokee tribes occupying this valley at the time.
With the assistance of funds from an S.R.O. grant, the sheriff’s office could purchase the new vehicles for the school S.R.O’s and have those vehicles available just in time for the start of the new school year. The vehicles, wrapped in a theme to honor our Native American heritage, have received compliments from many people in
Photo from Left to Right: Chief Steven Billingsley, Bob “Big Bear” Opitz, Mwekene “Dog”, Sheriff Bill Phillips, Gilbert “Chief Running Bear,” and Detective Jacob “Turtle” Allen
and around our county. The purchase of these vehicles also helps substantially with the agency’s aging vehicle fleet.
“We identified one of our biggest needs for our S.R.O. program as vehicles due to our aging fleet,” stated Sheriff Bill Phillips, “We then saw this as the perfect opportunity to honor the heritage and ancestry of our county and the theme for the wrapping of the cars was designed. I have to give credit to Chief Billingsley for the design idea. This also fits perfectly with the naming of our school system, which is designed to honor our Native American heritage. I then contacted Gilbert “Chief Running Bear” Hall, a Sequatchie County resident and recognized Cherokee Chief, and presented this idea to him. He loved the idea and stated he was honored to have this happen and to have been asked to participate in the unveiling. He liked the idea so much that he brought along his fellow native American and Sequatchie County resident, Bob “Big Bear” Opitz, and his dog, “Mwekane”. Big Bear also expressed his appreciation for the honor and recognition of his ancestry”.
