Firefighters, Officers to Be Saluted at Elks Event

THOUSAND OAKS —  The six men who will gather for a barbecue dinner tonight have seen their share of disasters.

The two firefighters have seen raging flood waters and raging wildfires. The two California Highway Patrol officers have seen daring driving maneuvers gone wrong. The two sheriff’s deputies have seen the worst in human behavior; the tragedies they see are a more personal crisis, the kind that can end in an arrest.

Sometimes they are thanked for their work, but usually they aren’t. They didn’t select their careers because of the generous amount of affirmation and public feedback they would receive.

But tonight these six men who serve the Conejo Valley area will receive a giant, grateful hug, not to mention nifty plaques.

Tonight is the Thousand Oaks Elks’ 20th annual Law Enforcement and Firefighters Appreciation Night. Lodge member Scott F. Dool has coordinated the event all 20 years.

“We want people to respect them and honor them,” said Dool, who worked with peace officers and firefighters when he was a Ventura County prosecutor. “Usually, if you or I have contact with a police officer, it’s over a parking ticket. If we have to talk to a firefighter, it’s usually about a bill for not abating our weeds.”

The Elks concentrate on selecting heroes from the Conejo Valley, which includes Thousand Oaks and the Las Virgenes area of Los Angeles County. In the letters to local police and fire supervisors, they ask for deserving candidates who, if possible, haven’t received similar honors.

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For the men nominated by their bosses, modesty is a common reaction.

“I felt [the honor] was unnecessary,” said Capt. Steve Noblett of the Ventura County Fire Department. “I was doing the same job as everybody else in the Fire Department.”

Actually, Noblett’s job this year has been slightly different than his peers’. Besides heading a fire station in Camarillo, he also played a major role in designing the county’s new, red fire engines.

Capt. Mike Turek of the Los Angeles County Fire Department doesn’t know why he was nominated, but he is honored just the same. And he is happy he will be standing next to CHP and police officers.

“The public is pretty good to firemen. The cops, they hardly ever get a thanks,” said Turek, an Oxnard resident who works out of the Agoura station on Cornell Road.

CHP Officer Dan Lopez knows that feeling. Stationed out of the Woodland Hills office, the Westlake Village resident regularly patrols the Ventura Freeway to the county line.

How many tickets a CHP officer writes is dependent on how hard he or she wants to work, Lopez said. “I work really hard, so I make a lot of stops. . . . As far as enforcement stops, I don’t get thanked very much.”

Nine-year CHP veteran Dave Cockrill will also be recognized for his work as a public affairs officer in Ventura County.

Cockrill, 31, took the position in December 1995 and almost immediately had to deal with the aftermath of a devastating tanker truck explosion that killed the driver and closed the Ventura Freeway for more than three hours.

“That was a tough way to start the job,” Cockrill said.

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Over the last year, Cockrill has handled the rash of fatal traffic accidents on California 118 and California 126.

“It’s hard seeing the young victims,” he said.

Cockrill also speaks at local schools and in front of area civic organizations, promoting traffic safety.

Other honorees include Senior Deputy Richard Godfrey of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stuver, an Oak Park resident who works at the Lost Hills station.

The dinner starts at 7 tonight at the lodge, at the corner of Conejo School Road and Los Feliz Drive. Cost is $10, and tickets are available at the door.