COP pay tribute to longtime servants

Published by admin on Wed, 01/01/2025 - 7:00pm

Weiser’s Citizens on Patrol hosted its 18th annual Community Christmas Dinner on Wednesday, Dec. 25, at the Weiser Activity Center for Seniors. Don Smith is pictured picking up a couple of take out meals. Serving are volunteers, COP member Keith Harlan, and Rhonda Hirata. The 2024 dinner was served in honor of four individuals who have played a vital role in the program, Chip Drerup, Chris Hagans, Charlotte Hirata and Richard Bionaz. Photo by Sarah Imada

Family members of the COP members honored at the 2024 Community Christmas Dinner helped serve the meal on Christmas day. Pictured, from left, Kay Drerup, Mari Bionaz, Harvey Hirata, and Michelle Hagans. Photo by Sarah Imada
By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
Anyone who’s lived very long in a small town is sure to have learned that a big part of the local entertainment factor is found in the involvement and work of putting community events together.
 A particular case in point is last week’s Citizens on Patrol (COP) 18th annual Community Christmas dinner. 
 During the 14 months leading up to the 2024 meal the COP and community as a whole had felt the loss of four members, Charles “Chip” Drerup, Chris Hagans, Charlotte Hirata, and Richard Bionaz, each of whom had given much to the community through the program since its 2006 inception. It was appropriate to find that this season’s dinner was produced as a tribute to them.
 Alongside former Weiser Police Chief Greg Moon, Drerup started the COP program in 2006. A 1968 Weiser High School graduate, Drerup’s career background in the U.S. Marines and U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division, as well as a deep compassion for other people, were perfect primers for his taking a lead in the COP organization.
 The annual Christmas dinner was begun in 2007, and was also instigated by Drerup. His wife, Kay said they had helped out at Weiser’s Thanksgiving Dinner for a couple of years, but he was also concerned for people who didn’t have anywhere to spend Christmas day.
 “He loved kids and he loved the elderly and that was always in his heart, so that’s how that got going,” Kay said. “Chip had moved to Weiser when he was 10, and Weiser was his home. He had always had a place in his heart for Weiser.”
 Kay, who also graduated from WHS the same year as Chip, said that even after moving to Fruitland, the couple continued to come over and work on the community dinner every year. She had come for both of them in 2023, when Chip was too ill, and again in 2024, in his honor.
 Former Weiser Police officer Chris Hagans had taken the police department’s liaison role with the COP not long after the program started. Hagans’ wife, Michelle fondly recalls his filling that leadership role for several of his 29 years with the department.
 “He went to the COP meetings, and associated with the members during the annual Fiddle Contest, because they play a part of it, too,” she said. “There was quite a large group of volunteers back then.”
 Michelle said Chris enjoyed helping with the annual Christmas dinners.
 “I can’t even tell you how many years he did it,” she said. “I felt like I needed to do some service for the community this year, so I said I’d help out. Then, when I got there, they said, ‘Oh, this is in honor of these four people.’
 “Chris and Chip were very good friends, and Chip had helped him with his campaign when he ran for sheriff,” she added. “We knew all of them, and we all should take our time and make an effort to make life and our community a more pleasant place.”
 Little Weiser dynamo, Charlotte Hirata passed away shortly before her 92nd birthday this past fall, but she continues to be missed in all of the local arenas where she played a part.
 Hirata had become a member of the COP shortly after it began, partnering up regularly with longtime friend, Lila Harper. The two had continued to help with the community dinner through 2023, Harper on the potato gig, and Hirata specializing in dicing onions.
 Hirata’s son, Harvey, said he had helped out with the dinner since his return to Weiser just a few years ago.
 “Mom didn’t mind cutting and dicing onions, because they didn’t affect her like they do so many other people,” Harvey said. “She did that and helped serve the meals.”
 Spending the holiday down the valley with her daughter, Harper told the Signal American she and Hirata had looked at each other a year ago and agreed they didn’t think they would be able to do it another year.
 Harper recalled the beginnings of the COP program.
 “We had good training from the chief of police, and we patrolled together,” she said. “We felt like we wanted to do a good thing for our city, and we went to state conventions together.”
 When doing evening patrols, Harper said they would check locks on business doors and at the schools, usually from around 7 p.m. to 11 or midnight.
 “We patrolled in the afternoons during the Fiddle Contest, around the parks, and we always helped with the dinner,” she added. “I really hated not doing it, because I enjoyed it. I really miss her!”
 Richard Bionaz and his wife, Mari, joined the COP group sometime after Moon retired.
 The couple had moved to Weiser in the early 2000s, and found their groove in the small community.
 “Richard got involved first, and then I got involved,” Mari said. “We patrolled together because it was the two of us. Whatever we did, we both did it.”
 She said Richard really enjoyed going out with one of the police officers on the ride-along program.
 “He and Officer Stratton became quite good friends,” she said.
 Because their immediate family members live farther distances away, their get-togethers haven’t usually been long enough to introduce them to many of the couple’s local involvements, or to share patrols or the annual Christmas dinner with them.
 ”We’ve enjoyed it and felt like it was something that helped the community,” Mari said. 
 “We stayed with it until Richard got to a point that it was too hard for him to get in and out of the COP cars we were using.” 
 

Category:

Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

Upcoming Events

more

Connect with Us