{"id":22787,"date":"2025-04-08T21:09:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T21:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-sheriffs-office-honors-10-employees-at-annual-awards-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:16:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:16:52","slug":"montezuma-county-sheriffs-office-honors-10-employees-at-annual-awards-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-sheriffs-office-honors-10-employees-at-annual-awards-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office honors 10 employees at annual awards ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The second annual Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office Award Ceremony took place Monday, April 7 at Montezuma-Cortez High School. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The parking lot of the Montezuma-Cortez High School had many more squad cars in it than it usually does on Monday, April 7, as Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office employees and their families filed into the school for its second annual awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

All employees at the Sheriff\u2019s Office, whether they\u2019re certified peace officers, administration staff or otherwise, adhere to codes of ethics and conduct, said Sheriff Steve Nowlin.<\/p>\n

Such codes guide them to \u201clive up to the highest standards of policing\u201d and achieve their \u201cfundamental duties\u201d of \u201csafeguarding lives and property,\u201d along with keeping the peace and protecting the innocent, said Nowlin.<\/p>\n

Those duties, Nowlin went on, are important because of the \u201cposition of public trust they hold,\u201d and it takes everyone in the department to thoroughly and objectively serve the public.<\/p>\n

And with that, Nowlin went on to honor the 10 individuals.<\/p>\n

First, he awarded Administration Division Supervisor Kendall Allen a Letter of Commendation. Allen has been \u201ca valuable asset to citizens, the office and division,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
Heather Mann, the records section manager, received a Letter of Commendation for her \u201chardworking\u201d and \u201corganized\u201d work ethic for the 21 years she\u2019s been records assistant.<\/div>\n
Tayler Hill, the record section assistant, received a Letter of Commendation for her \u201cgreat work attitude\u201d and \u201cthinking outside the box.\u201d The changes Hill has inspired has made things more efficient, said Nowlin.<\/div>\n
Administration Assistant Samantha Shaffer, who\u2019s been in that role for nearly a year-and-a-half, was awarded a Letter of Commendation for quickly learning and having a positive attitude.<\/div>\n
Civil Process Deputy Kenneth Geiger received a Letter of Commendation for being \u201can asset to the civil division\u201d and performing with the highest standards.<\/div>\n

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin recognized those to his left first at the office\u2019s second annual awards ceremony. From left: Kendall Allen, Heather Mann, Tayler Hill and Samantha Shaffer. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Next, Nowlin recognized deputies and sergeants of the department.<\/p>\n

Deputy Kyler Rogers was named Top DUI Arrest Deputy in 2024, having removed seven intoxicated drivers from the roadways.<\/div>\n
Agriculture Deputy Michael Marston Jr. received a Distinguished Service Award for helping calm down an aggressive dog that showed signs of not eating for multiple days. The dog was guarding its owner, who drove to a remote location and hung himself from a tree. Marston\u2019s \u201cskill and patience\u201d allowed him to win over the dog\u2019s trust and get it to eat and drink, which allowed the investigation to continue.<\/div>\n
Deputy Rebecca Lambert received a Life Saving Award for saving an elderly veteran during a welfare check. Lambert found the veteran alive and on the floor, unable to move.<\/div>\n
Sgt. Bryan Hill and Deputy Cayden Worcester were simultaneously presented Meritorious Service Awards. In July, Hill and Worcester responded to a welfare check in Mancos that, unbeknownst to them, involved a man with a gun who had been on authorities\u2019 radar since the day before. After several commands to drop the weapon, Hill and Worcester shot and killed the man in self-defense.<\/div>\n

Everyone in the audience Monday evening stood as Hill and Worcester accepted their Meritorious Service Awards for their \u201cbravery and dedication to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowlin thanked everyone for attending and wrapped up the ceremony, adding that there will be the third annual awards ceremony in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employees across departments were recognized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77853,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22787\/revisions\/77853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22787"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}