Medicine Bow Marshal goes on call and gets a surprise

"We are going to miss him so much," Mayor Sharon Biamon said on Saturday at the Hanna Recreation Center. "We really will."

Biamon was waiting for Medicine Bow Marshal, Dave Redding, to arrive where there was a surprise going away party being thrown by Roger and April Hawkes with some help from Hanna Marshal, Ted Kranenberg.

The Hanna Recreation Center was picked to surprise Redding. A bit of a ruse, was used to catch him unaware.

By the time Redding arrived in full gear to respond, there were about 50 people waiting to surprise him and wish him well. Medicine Bow town employees all commented on how the man who brought law enforcement to the town, two years plus ago, after 20 years of no Marshals office, agreed with Biamon. He would be missed.

"I won't have anyone to tell all my cop jokes to," Karen Heath, town clerk/treasurer said. "He has a really great sense of humor along with being an excellent law enforcement officer. He is very well loved all over town. People lined up to sign his going away card."

Biamon agreed.

"He has been so great," Biamon said. "He got our department up and running, held us together and he made a lot of friends in the town. Dave made a major impact in a relatively short period of time. I am so thankful for his time he helped us in Medicine Bow."

Cindy Papison, a former town employee, made it to Hanna to wish Redding well.

"He was so fun to work with," Papison said. "He is a great storyteller and he always had me laughing. Dave is also one of the hardest working people and very dedicated to the job. He is a good guy and a good cop. A perfect servant for the community and the country."

About a month ago, Redding gave his notice to the town of Medicine Bow. He said his last day would be coming up before the next regularly scheduled meeting on August 8. 

The surprise had to be timed just right according to those who planned the party.

On Saturday, around 1:30  p.m. after the decorations and food were ready, a call went out to Redding to assist the town of Hanna.

Redding walked into the gym of the recreation center to see people and there was surprise on his face.

He clearly had no idea there would be this many people to wish him well.

Redding acknowledged he was touched.

Kranenberg was pleased to play a part in the surprise. He said Redding had helped him when he first became marshal at Hanna.

"When I was setting up the office in Hanna, he provided me with a lot of guidance and mentoring that I was looking for," Kranenberg said. "He really was very instrumental in setting up the Marshal's office (Hanna)."

Hawkes said Redding has served northern Carbon County for some years.

"When Sheriff Colson hired him for the Sheriff's department in Carbon County, Dave was told he would cover Medicine Bow, Hanna and Elk Mountain," Hawkes said. "While he was at the Sheriff's department, he made himself a reputation of helping the people of Medicine Bow. After a few arrests, the area got better and safer. He was instrumental in quieting down Medicine Bow, especially when the wind farms had so much construction."

Hawkes said he and Redding were good friends along with their wives.

"April and I thought of bringing him to the recreation center, because we wanted to really surprise him," Hawkes said. "Dave was my field training officer and he took me under his wing and told me when I was doing something stupid and helped me  and he told me when I was doing something right. He was the one who brought me to Medicine Bow because I could not turn down the opportunity to work with him. He has been an excellent supervisor and an excellent friend."

Hawkes said Redding not only was good for the town of Medicine Bow but the County in general.

"Dave won't say it, but he was instrumental in getting the Highway Patrol, Carbon County law enforcement and local municipalities law enforcement to work together," Hawkes said. "Before, it was not that we didn't work together, but we didn't associate all that much and we were separate entities. I think he truly was instrumental in having us all associate the way we do now. I am sad he is leaving, but happy he is getting to retire to a great place." 

Ben Opfar, a current candidate for sheriff, said Redding was one of his training officers when Opfar joined the Sheriff's Department.

"There is kind of a funny story when I was over in Medicine Bow with while he was walking through a craft fair they were having," Opfar recounted. "He was introducing me as his former boss because when I became sergeant, I did become his boss even though I had been trained by him. It was a little joke between us, but that is the point, Dave has a great sense of humor."

Redding said he had not expected a surprise party, especially such a large gathering as what he walked into.

"They did it. I was surprised and touched. I did not see this coming at all. Before the call I had just bought a sandwich to eat at home," Redding said. "Coming to Medicine Bow was one of the best moves I ever made in my life short of marrying my wife. I came to Medicine Bow and got complete support from the city council and mayor. They let me put the department together and run it. That is important, because it allowed me to get the job done."

Redding remembers back when he came to start the marshal's department, a challenge he didn't anticipate was the amount of people who would come knocking at the middle of the night.

"There were some that would come pounding on the walls and challenge me to fight," Redding said. "That kind of scared my family, but eventually I got the respect that this stopped. I knew when I took over, Medicine Bow was a place with a lot of crime. I was determined to clean the place up and make it safe. Initially people were wary the first six to eight months and it was rough, but once I had the town's trust, I was able to make the town peaceful, just the way people like it."

Redding also wrote tickets on a consistent basis that slowed traffic down and also ended up helping pay for the department. He estimates since he started the department a little over two years ago, about $350,000 in fines have been given out.

"I wrote a lot of tickets because people had become used to speeding through our town," Redding said. "I had one person hit 117 mph going through the town. They had a big fine I might add."

Redding is originally from the Chicago area. He moved to California when he was 15 and eventually met his wife Judy there. 

"She was literally the girl next door," Redding said. "Once we got married I joined the Army and had missions all in Africa, Alaska, Germany and the United States. I became a police officer in Adams County, Colorado and from there went to California until I retired."

Redding was not really ready to retire, but wanted to try something different. He had always dreamed of being a locomotive engineer. So that is what he became and went to work for Union Pacific and it is how he came to Wyoming. He liked the job, but found himself missing law enforcement. 

The family had moved to Elk Mountain when he joined Union Pacific, and he wanted to stay in the town so he applied to the Carbon County Sheriff's Department. He got hired and worked for the department for seven years before getting hired at Medicine Bow two years ago.

"It was a great move in so many ways," Redding said. "I will miss this town as I move away to be closer to my grandkids, but the good memories I have of this place will always be with me. That counts for a lot and I know Roger will take care of the town and that also counts for a lot."

Biamon said it best about Redding;s legacy to the town.

"He brought law enforcement back to Medicine Bow after 20 years of having little to none," Biamon said. "Dave was really like one of those Wild West sheriffs of days past who cleaned up the town and made it safe again. He did the job and now he gets to ride into the sunset knowing his work will be carried on by those who admire him. It can't be any better than that, I think."