Highway memorials to honour officers killed on the job

The brother of a Greater Sudbury police officer killed in the line of duty is pleased a permanent memorial will be erected in his memory.

A highway overpass at the Hwy. 17 and Hwy. 69 interchange near Sudbury's Four Corners, where Sgt. Rick McDonald was hit and killed, July 28, 1999, will be named in his honour.

"This is really nice," said Dan McDonald.

There will be a second memorial to honour Const. Joe MacDonald who was murdered Oct. 7, 1993. A bridge on Junction Creek on the southwest bypass 10 kilometres west of Sudbury, will bear MacDonald's name.
Details about the memorials will be released today at 2 pm at a news conference.

The memorials for the Sudbury officers will be the first of their kind in Ontario.

Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci introduced the Highway Memorials For Fallen Officers Act that recently became law.

Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Monte Kwinter and Greater Sudbury Police Chief Ian Davidson will attend the announcement today.

Dan McDonald said his sister Mariette and her husband Norm will make the long trek from Ottawa for the announcement and his mother Mariette and her husband Marcel will also attend.

Bartolucci deserves a lot of credit for working to hard to have these memorials erected for slain police officers, said McDonald.

"I know how hard he fought for this," he said. "He told us a long time ago he'd get something done so my brother's memory would not be forgotten and he's come through on his word."