Instead of the Bright Leaf Drive-In Theater as originally planned, the 3 p.m. program will be conducted in the sanctuary of Mount Airy’s First Baptist Church at 714 N. Main St., city officials announced Thursday night.
The drive-in parking lot had been chosen because it is near both the spot where Detective Clinton Monroe Boggs was gunned down and two bridges on U.S. 52 that cross N.C. 89 which are being named in his memory. The 38-year-old officer was killed after stopping a stolen car.
However, an inspection of the theater site Thursday by organizers prompted the switch to the church, based on the effects of several straight days of heavy rain.
“It is so soggy and wet they really don’t think it will dry out by Saturday afternoon,” Mayor Jack Loftis said.
Though the event will be hosted by the city, it will include the N.C. Board of Transportation member who represents Surry County. He will read an official state resolution naming the two bridges after Boggs.
In addition to the dedication ceremony, the memorial service will include a roll call of all eight officers who have been killed in Surry and Yadkin counties in the line of duty. They include Boggs and another city policeman, H.D. Kennedy, who died in a car accident in the 1940s.
Saturday’s service will kick off the 2009 observance of “National Police Week” in Surry and Yadkin counties.
Organizers say that signs bearing Boggs’ name will be visible at the bridges after the ceremony.
Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.
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