Slain officer remembered at ceremony

PALMER — Under a bright sun and yet still somehow buffeted by gusty Valley winds, a couple of dozen family members, friends and city officials met Tuesday to honor James Rowland.

Rowland was 30 years old on May 15, 1999, when he was gunned down in the line of duty near the Palmer Carrs grocery store parking lot. He remains the department’s only officer to have been killed in the line of duty.

Palmer police Officer Philip Krauss pointed out coins placed atop Rowland’s headstone at the Pioneer Cemetery in Palmer. Krauss recalled how he and Rowland had talked about the tradition of mourners putting coins on headstones.

It’s a way of saying, “I’m just thinking about you,” Krauss said.

The department’s chaplain, Tom Hoffman, said he’d had the opportunity to ride with Rowland and they had talked about spiritual matters.

“Jim shared with me that he knew Jesus Christ as his lord and savior,” Hoffman said.

The city’s director of emergency services, Jon Owen, noted at the end of the ceremony that he had very recently awarded two scholarships to Palmer High School students in Rowland’s name.

Owen said he was honored to present the awards to the two graduates, “both of whom are close friends, both of whom would like to be police officers.”

Krauss said he and Cmdr. Tom Remaley are the only two officers remaining in the Palmer police force who worked there when Rowland was killed.

Remaley attended Tuesday’s memorial service. He was a sergeant back in 1999. Rowland had relieved him at shift change the day he was shot.

Frontiersman accounts from the time say the department was going through a staffing crunch. A couple of positions were vacant. Officers often wound up patrolling the city alone. So it wasn’t particularly remarkable that Rowland was the only Palmer police officer on duty that Saturday night.

He was summoned to check on a man spotted slumped over the wheel in a blue pickup parked on the ramp leading from the Palmer-Wasilla Highway down to the Carrs store.

He brought a paramedic to the call. That paramedic — Todd Russell — watched as Rowland roused the driver and went to put handcuffs on him, but wound up in a struggle that ended with gunshots and both men lying on the ground.

Russell radioed for help, which arrived in short order in the form of Alaska State Troopers. One of the troopers mentioned in subsequent news accounts — Ruthan Josten — is now an investigator at the Wasilla Police Department.

Remaley was roused from bed and went back on duty early. It was the start of a very long week.

“It was the worst week of my police career,” Remaley said. “It was devastating enough to actually have one of your people killed, but to see the family impact and the police impact …”

Russell was also at Tuesday’s services wearing the uniform of the Palmer Fire Department, where he’s currently assistant fire chief and runs the department’s training programs.

At the ceremony, Remaley said Rowland managed to return fire in the struggle and fired a round through his killer’s shoulder. His killer —Kim Cook — is currently in prison where, Remaley estimates, he will remain until his death. News reports from the time noted that Cook would have to live into his 80s before parole is even a possibility. Prison records list him as an inmate of Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado.

Cook’s trial dragged on at the Palmer courthouse for two long weeks. In the middle of the proceedings he fired both of his court-appointed lawyers, one of whom, Greg Heath, is now a Superior Court Judge in Palmer.

Remaley said that soon after Rowland’s death a memorial was erected next to that sloping driveway near Carrs. When talk of expanding the Palmer-Wasilla Highway began, it was clear the memorial was in jeopardy so the department built a new one, right outside of Remaley’s office in Palmer, to memorialize all Valley officers killed in the line of duty. It’s a very short list.

Remaley said he’s not certain how well-remembered his former colleague is at the department.

“There aren’t many people actually left working here that were here then,” he said.

So events like Tuesday’s are important, Remaley said, both to keep Rowland’s memory alive and because officers need to be reminded to stay safe, that even run-of-the-mill calls can take a terrifying turn.

“I don’t ever want to go through it again,” he said. “Not because it was so busy and miserable, but because of the loss and you don’t want to see anybody get hurt like that. They all become a part of the family. It shouldn’t happen like that.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.