HURRICANE, Washington County — The lives of 14 Utah Highway Patrol troopers killed in the line of duty were memorialized with metal crosses erected on a sloping hillside along Interstate 15 here Monday.
The 14-foot-tall crosses, placed on private property owned by DATS Trucking in Hurricane, face northbound traffic from St. George. The names of each trooper, along with his badge number and the year he was killed, also greet oncoming traffic just north of Exit 16.
"I can't tell you how much this means to the memories of these 14 men and their families," said UHP Capt. Ron Ostler, who attended the early morning project with about a dozen other troopers and members of the Ipson family, which owns DATS Trucking.
The white crosses will also bear the official Utah Highway Patrol emblem or insignia. But a Utah attorney said that addition could change the status of the memorials.
"Any officer killed in the line of duty deserves our respect and honor. The concern I have is using the UHP logo," said Brian Barnard, a Salt Lake City attorney representing American Atheists Inc. "That is a trademark registered with the state. Once that's used, then they're no longer protected by free speech. That potentially gets to be a little dicey."
American Atheists has a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court, arguing that the placement of crosses on public land violates the principle of separation of church and state. Motions for summary judgment in the case are due at the end of the month, Barnard said.
UHP Sgt. Jeff Nigbur disagreed with Barnard and said the beehive emblem that symbolizes the Utah Highway Patrol also represents the troopers.
"We are part of that brand," Nigbur said. "That's what we stand for. These troopers that lost their lives loved being troopers, they loved serving the public, and they loved law enforcement.
"The whole purpose of these crosses is to remind us of what law enforcement does for us and our communities every day across our nation," he added.
Don Ipson, owner of DATS Trucking and an honorary colonel with the UHP, dreamed up the idea of erecting the 14 crosses on his property nearly a year ago.
"We had the perfect location to do this, and we felt it was a neat opportunity to honor our fallen troopers," said Ipson, whose son, Dale, and grandson, Austin, helped with the project.
Both Don and Dale Ipson said they have fond memories of several of the troopers whose names appear on the crosses.
"I even thought I wanted to be a highway patrol trooper until trooper Lynn Pierson was killed," said Dale Ipson. "I was about 11 years old at the time, and it really hit me hard."
Pierson was shot and killed in 1978 during a traffic stop. Don Ipson said he also also knew UHP trooper Armond A. "Monty" Luke, who died in 1959.
E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com