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Former, current lawmen recollect Miracle Valley
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| Book signing: Captain Bert Goodman, retired, shares a laugh with Nancy Dever during Saturday's book signing in St. David. Goodman was involved with the Miracle Valley incident as was Dever's husband, Larry Dever, the present Cochise County Sheriff. (Mark Levy/photo.) |
Derek Jordan/Wick Communications
More than a quarter-century after a deadly shootout between militant members of a church and sheriff's deputies resulted in the deaths of four people, many of the officers present that day gathered on Saturday to celebrate the publication of a book telling their side of the story.
The book signing for "Shootout at Miracle Valley," a book detailing the incident based on the accounts of Cochise County Sheriff's Office deputies, featured many of the former deputies and law enforcement officers who contributed to the book.
"I thought it was an extremely important story," said William Daniel, author of the book.
The shootout, he said, is a significant piece of the history of Cochise County.
"In its way, it's going to be talked about for a hundred years from now, after we're all gone," Daniel said.
On Oct. 23, 1982, in the small town of Miracle Valley, located on the north side of Highway 92, west of the San Pedro River, members of the Christ Miracle Healing Center and Church faced off against Cochise County Sheriff's Office deputies after years of rising tension.
Rod Rothrock, chief deputy of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, was there with others at the St. David Community Center signing copies of the book he contributed to.
"I was really happy to hear about it," said Rothrock, who was a sheriff's deputy at the time of the incident. "It's like the side of the story that's never been told."
The shootout resulted in the deaths of four people, including one sheriff's deputy.
The incident brought national media attention, not least of all because of the involvement of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Despite the intense coverage, deputies never had the opportunity to speak out about their experiences of the event. The best chance they had fell away when two court cases, one a criminal case and the other a civil suit, were settled out of court.
"The deputies were anxious to go to court" and tell their story, Daniel said.
Cochise County officials had decided the county could not afford a prolonged legal battle, and opted to settle, he said.
The decision was not what the deputies were looking for.
"It was really disheartening," Rothrock said. "I think there was kind of an attitude from the media at the time of, 'Well, they settled the civil suit out of court, so they must be guilty.' "
The publication of the book offers some satisfaction to be able to respond to allegations made all those years ago.
"When you have Jesse Jackson coming to town and announce to the world that you're a racist and a murderer, and you have no opportunity to be able to respond to that, it's nice to finally have something else to show what really happened," Rothrock said.
Nancy Dever, wife of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, said she and other wives of deputies involved in the incident banded together in an effort to clear their husbands of any suspicions in the days following the shootout.
"We sat in front of a grocery store for a couple weeks and gathered signatures," Dever said.
The signatures represented the support of the people of the county for their deputies.
"We got thousands of signatures and we took them to the governor's office, 11 of us wives in a van," Dever said.
The governor of Arizona at the time, Bruce Babbitt, would not meet with them, she said, instead sending out an aid.
"We were very, very angry wives because we had worked hard, and wanted people to know this," she said. "We felt very slighted."
The book is the result of a promise made by Larry Dempster to his friend the late Jimmy Judd, who was sheriff at the time of the incident, to write a book telling the other side of the story.
"He wanted these deputies to tell theirs (story)," said Virgil Judd, Jimmy's son. "That's what he kept saying, 'I want everyone to know what really happened.' "
For Rothrock, the events of that day were so intense, that only brief, single moments are clear.
"It's kind of hard to describe what was going through your mind," he said. "To this day, it's a jumble of snapshots for me."
After hours of signing copies of the book for dozens of local readers, the men involved in the shootout can know their side of the story, as well as the wishes of their former boss, are finally seeing the light of day.
"It's really well done," Dever said. "Those that were involved with it are pleased."
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
More than a quarter-century after a deadly shootout between militant members of a church and sheriff's deputies resulted in the deaths of four people, many of the officers present that day gathered on Saturday to celebrate the publication of a book telling their side of the story.
The book signing for "Shootout at Miracle Valley," a book detailing the incident based on the accounts of Cochise County Sheriff's Office deputies, featured many of the former deputies and law enforcement officers who contributed to the book.
"I thought it was an extremely important story," said William Daniel, author of the book.
The shootout, he said, is a significant piece of the history of Cochise County.
"In its way, it's going to be talked about for a hundred years from now, after we're all gone," Daniel said.
On Oct. 23, 1982, in the small town of Miracle Valley, located on the north side of Highway 92, west of the San Pedro River, members of the Christ Miracle Healing Center and Church faced off against Cochise County Sheriff's Office deputies after years of rising tension.
Rod Rothrock, chief deputy of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, was there with others at the St. David Community Center signing copies of the book he contributed to.
"I was really happy to hear about it," said Rothrock, who was a sheriff's deputy at the time of the incident. "It's like the side of the story that's never been told."
The shootout resulted in the deaths of four people, including one sheriff's deputy.
The incident brought national media attention, not least of all because of the involvement of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Despite the intense coverage, deputies never had the opportunity to speak out about their experiences of the event. The best chance they had fell away when two court cases, one a criminal case and the other a civil suit, were settled out of court.
"The deputies were anxious to go to court" and tell their story, Daniel said.
Cochise County officials had decided the county could not afford a prolonged legal battle, and opted to settle, he said.
The decision was not what the deputies were looking for.
"It was really disheartening," Rothrock said. "I think there was kind of an attitude from the media at the time of, 'Well, they settled the civil suit out of court, so they must be guilty.' "
The publication of the book offers some satisfaction to be able to respond to allegations made all those years ago.
"When you have Jesse Jackson coming to town and announce to the world that you're a racist and a murderer, and you have no opportunity to be able to respond to that, it's nice to finally have something else to show what really happened," Rothrock said.
Nancy Dever, wife of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, said she and other wives of deputies involved in the incident banded together in an effort to clear their husbands of any suspicions in the days following the shootout.
"We sat in front of a grocery store for a couple weeks and gathered signatures," Dever said.
The signatures represented the support of the people of the county for their deputies.
"We got thousands of signatures and we took them to the governor's office, 11 of us wives in a van," Dever said.
The governor of Arizona at the time, Bruce Babbitt, would not meet with them, she said, instead sending out an aid.
"We were very, very angry wives because we had worked hard, and wanted people to know this," she said. "We felt very slighted."
The book is the result of a promise made by Larry Dempster to his friend the late Jimmy Judd, who was sheriff at the time of the incident, to write a book telling the other side of the story.
"He wanted these deputies to tell theirs (story)," said Virgil Judd, Jimmy's son. "That's what he kept saying, 'I want everyone to know what really happened.' "
For Rothrock, the events of that day were so intense, that only brief, single moments are clear.
"It's kind of hard to describe what was going through your mind," he said. "To this day, it's a jumble of snapshots for me."
After hours of signing copies of the book for dozens of local readers, the men involved in the shootout can know their side of the story, as well as the wishes of their former boss, are finally seeing the light of day.
"It's really well done," Dever said. "Those that were involved with it are pleased."
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
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