GREENVILLE – The Annual Back the Blue Memorial Ceremony honored Our Fallen Officers from 2024 at the Darke County Fairgrounds Coliseum, Saturday, May 17, 2025.
The Back the Blue committee includes Greg Zechar, Fred Shuff, Mike and Jackie Dickmann, Brooke Nibert, and Kathy and Rick Beam.
“We feel very strongly about honoring the brave men and women in law enforcement who lost their lives protecting their communities and country,” said Greg Zechar.
Ceremony performers included John Berry, singer song/songwriter, and Dave Bray, a USN/USMC Veteran musician.
“We have many sponsors back this year that make this event possible again,” Zechar noted. “We had some bigger performers this year, we had great speakers. We had an officer who had been shot multiple times speaking, his wife spoke following him, and we had Officer DelRio’s family from Dayton.”
The night’s special guest speakers were Nic and Haley Cederberg from Oregon City, OR. Nic graduated from the Police Academy in 2010 and served as an Oregon State Trooper for 10 years before being forced to retire in 2020 following his incident. In 2015, Nix married academy classmate Hayley, who is currently pursuing her law enforcement career with the Portland, Oregon, Police Department.
Major Sponsors: Zechar-Bailey Funeral Homes, MM Defense, Spirit Emergency Medical Service, Arby’s, Shaun Hayes of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Professional Realty, and Buffalo Wild Wings.
“I want to thank every one of our sponsors,” Zechar stated. “We can’t do this without the sponsors, the volunteers, and we can’t do the Back the Blue event without the community.”
“Back the Blue” is a term that generally refers to expressing support for law enforcement officers, often through symbols like the thin blue line flag or by displaying support for police and their families. It can also involve actively supporting law enforcement agencies through fundraising or community events.
