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TO REQUEST THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NAME THE INTERCHANGE LOCATED AT EXIT 33 ALONG INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 95 IN JASPER COUNTY THE "SHERIFF BENJAMIN 'BEN' RILEY INTERCHANGE" AND ERECT APPROPRIATE MARKERS OR SIGNS AT THIS INTERCHANGE THAT CONTAIN THE WORDS "SHERIFF BENJAMIN 'BEN' RILEY INTERCHANGE".
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jasper County Sheriff Benjamin "Ben" Riley on August 29, 2007, during the legislative interim; and
Whereas, born on October 1, 1945, in the Jonesville Community of Colleton County, Ben Riley was the son of the late Leola Green Butler and the late Ned Riley; and
Whereas, he was raised in the loving home of his grandparents, Tena R. Green and the late Robert Green, in the Tullifinny Community of what is now known as Point South, and graduated from Jasper High School in Ridgeland in 1964; and
Whereas, on December 21, 1968, he married his beloved Laura Ann Bascom, and they lived in Brooklyn, New York, until they returned to South Carolina in 1972, where they would raise their four daughters; and
Whereas, baptized at a young age at St. Paul Baptist Church in Coosawhatchie, he returned to serve as a member of the usher board, as an ordained deacon beginning in 1978, and eventually as chairman of the board of deacons; and
Whereas, beginning thirty-five years of dedicated public service in 1972 with the South Carolina Highway Department in Jasper County, Ben Riley started his successful career in law enforcement with the Ridgeland Police Department in 1980, and in 1985 he joined the Jasper County Sheriff's Department; and
Whereas, elected sheriff of Jasper County in 1996, he succeeded in law enforcement due in large part to his continued education in that field, including graduation from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, in 2002, among many others; and
Whereas, Sheriff Riley further served his community as chairman of the Home Mission Union for the Point South area, as a member of Shiloh Lodge number ninety-two, Dedicated Black Men of Jasper County, and the Ridgeland Rotary Club, serving as its president from 2002 to 2003, and his community honored his service with numerous awards; and
Whereas, it is fitting and proper to pay a lasting tribute to this son of South Carolina by naming an interchange along Interstate Highway 95 in his honor. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:
That the members of the General Assembly request that the Department of Transportation name the interchange located at Exit 33 along Interstate Highway 95 in Jasper County the "Sheriff Benjamin 'Ben' Riley Interchange" and erect appropriate markers or signs at this interchange that contain the words "Sheriff Benjamin 'Ben' Riley Interchange".
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Department of Transportation.
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