Park Built to Memorialize Fallen Officer Now Tearing Apart Widow
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LOCUST, N.C. – Almost eight years after CMPD Officer Jeff Shelton was murdered while on duty, his widow says city leaders are turning their backs on her. Jennifer Shelton says she’s no longer included in decision-making about the million-dollar Locust park built and dedicated in his honor. “They promised they would put it in writing, that I would have a way to always be involved, but that’s just never happened,” says Shelton.
WCCB Charlotte asked the mayor, city council and city administrator Tim Fesperman several questions, including whether it was true the city promised to put their agreement in writing and if so, why that document was never executed.
Fesperman didn’t answer any of our questions, but did send a statement saying in part, “We welcome (Jennifer’s) input and insight regarding the future of the Officer Jeff Shelton Memorial Park.”
Shelton says, “One email I sent him (Fesperman) took over a month for a response. So they’re not communicating with me, they’re not letting me know things that have happened at the park or things that are going on. I find all that out secondhand.”
Shelton says the park is also not being maintained. She says she had to remind the city to make sure an American flag was flying over Jeff’s memorial. She points to a playground area blocked off with orange cones where a toy car has yet to be replaced. She says the city refuses to replace one broken basketball goal backboard with one that will match the other. And she says memorial brick pavers removed for underground maintenance were re-installed in a wavy, uneven manner. Those issues are easy to spot. Why the city doesn’t want her involvement is much harder to figure out. She says, “I absolutely have no idea. I wish I did. Maybe it would make it easier for me.”
Shelton says she hopes one day her future involvement in the park will be welcomed and appreciated. Officer Shelton was murdered alongside Officer Sean Clark. Clark’s park is in Huntersville and was dedicated in 2013.
