Another great story from our award ceremony last week, only these awards weren’t for deputies:
John Henn and Shelby Wahl have overcome great adversity to join with the Sheriff’s Office in educating the community about the dangers of deadly drugs and the path out of addiction.
John and Shelby didn’t know each other, but the Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Drug Squad members met both of them at the darkest points in their lives. Both were struggling with addiction and involved in the crimes that go with feeding an addiction. The detectives explained the route out of their circumstances, and both John and Shelby took them up on their offer.
Both worked hard to overcome their addictions in the past year and are celebrating their sobriety. They also have worked hard to resolve the legal issues that resulted from those addictions. When Drug Squad detectives asked John and Shelby if they would be willing to help educate the community about the deadly influx of fentanyl, both of them agreed. Both had abused the drug.
John has spoken at two of the Sheriff’s Office’s Community Drug Education Summits since last December, and Shelby has spoken at one and gave a lengthy interview on KMBC 9. They were very vulnerable and shared their stories of how they started using drugs, what they experienced, and how they worked to get clean. They did this to help parents and others in Clay County know what to look for to help prevent fentanyl abuse and save lives.
Sheriff Akin honored them both with Certificates of Appreciation. And yesterday, Shelby and Stacy Menhusen of Hillcrest Hope brought lunch for deputies! They’re shown here with the Drug Task Force detectives, Jeremy Fahrmeier and Gary Blackwell, who helped Shelby turn toward sobriety.
Original source can be found here.
