Sheriff’s deputy heads plans for K-9 memorial
When Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Fanella’s police partner died in 2004, there wasn’t a memorial available to honor his faithful friend.
Sinbad, Fanella’s police K-9, died after suffering heatstroke during a training exercise following a three-year career.
“There’s no memorial in their honor,” Fanella said of police K-9s.
That will soon change as plans are under way to build the Northern Illinois Police K-9 Memorial at Highland Memorial Park, at Hunt Club Road and Route 120 in Warren Township.
Fanella, who serves as president of the not-for-profit group developing the project, said it will feature a life-size granite statue of a police officer and a dog. There will be 180 tiles on the ground that can each be engraved with a dog’s name, date they started active police duty and the date they died.
When all of the tiles have been engraved, a wall will be built behind the statue to hold even more names, Fanella said.
“These dogs are part of the family and they’re police officers,” he said. Losing Sinbad, he said, “was like losing a kid. That dog was with me 24/7.”
The memorial, Fanella said, will be constructed just inside Highland’s entrance “so everyone who goes into the cemetery will see the memorial.”
It will be for police K-9 officers from all of northern Illinois, north of I-80. So far, 35 of the 180 tiles have been reserved, he said. There will be no cost to the police departments or officers to memorialize the dogs. Those costs will be covered through private donations, he added.
The memorial is expected to cost $54,482, including the statue, tiles and plot. Fanella said Highland is providing the plot, made up of 15 burial spots, at a discount.
“Now we just need to get the funds,” said Traci Sikorski, Fanella’s sister and the secretary/treasurer of the not-for-profit group. She said the memorial must be paid for by June. “We need to do a lot of fundraising.”
Several projects are in the works, including the sale of T-shirts and rubber bracelets, and the design and sale of “challenge coins”, Sikorski said.
Jimano’s Pizzeria locations in Glenview, Gurnee, Mundelein, Waukegan and Kenosha, Wis., will donate a portion of proceeds on March 16 to the Northern Illinois Police K-9 Memorial, Fanella said.
And a Baggo tournament called “Doggy Bags” is slated for April 2. The event will start at noon at the Lake Villa Veterans of Foreign Wars post, 130 E. Grand Ave. The cost is $40 per team if the team pre-registers by March 18. To pre-register, contact Sikorski at northernilpolicek9memorial@yahoo.com.
Teams, consisting of two or more people ages 18 and over, can also register at the door for $50. The event will feature cash prizes, a cash bar, food, T-shirt sale and 50/50 raffle.
“Because it hits so close to home for me, it’s very important,” Sikorski said. “These guys, their dogs — that’s their partner. That’s their family.”
Sikorski said a ceremony will be held at the memorial annually, including Sept. 26 this year.
Donations for the memorial can be made through the group’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/nilpolicek-9memorial or by mail to Northern IL Police K-9 Memorial, P.O. Box 94, Wadsworth, IL 60083. Donations can also be made in person at any Fifth Third Bank location.