Masons Honor Albany's New Law Enforcement Center
By: Nora Hartfeil
Updated: August 18, 2012
Together with the Shackelford County Sheriff's Office, members of the community and members of the Albany Masonic Lodge, gathered at the brand new Law Enforcement Center to celebrate the success of a project that's been a long time coming.
"The Lodge here in Albany came to me and asked me if they could be a part of the new Law Enforcement Center by placing a cornerstone marker. And I was really excited that a community group wanted to be a part of this project", says Shackelford County Sheriff, Edward Miller.
A sacred tradition among the Masons, a cornerstone was presented at the leveling ceremony, and will find it's new home embedded in the northeast wall of the new LEC.
"We had the opportunity to level the cornerstone and offer a measure of blessing to the people that work here at the Law Enforcement Center, and to mark a day in history for the citizens of Shackelford County", says Bob Skelton, Secretary of the Albany Masonic Lodge.
October 3rd is the scheduled opening of the LEC, and it offers several upgraded features that weren't available in the previous building.
Such as, interrogation rooms, "We will have one-way glass, so we can have a suspect on one side, and a victim on the other side, and can make positive identifications and the suspect and victim never have to come face to face with each other", Sheriff Miller tells us.
With support from surrounding communities, and a blessing from the Masons, the Shackelford County Sheriff's Office will be well equipped to handle many more situations in the future, with a lot of room to do so.
Sheriff Miller also told us they made sure to conserve all of the trees that were on the property, including the Sheriff's favorite, a pecan tree, that sits right outside his office. They even had a special barrier built around it so it would stay healthy.







