One year later, memories still burn

Tokens of remembrance are on display in the Hartzell family home.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With a backdrop of glowing candles, Patrolman Michael T. Hartzell's name will be read aloud in Washington, D.C., at a ceremony honoring peace officers who died in the line of duty.
The May 13 candlelight vigil will be at the National Law Enforcement Officers memorial in a park on Judiciary Square. At each pathway entrance sits a massive bronze lion guarding its cubs. The statues symbolize the protective role of law enforcement.
Bordering the lush acreage are two blue-gray marble "pathways of remembrance" walls. Engraved on the walls are the names of nearly 17,000 officers who died in the line of duty since 1792.
Hartzell's name, newly engraved, is on panel 28-E, line 23.
The candlelight vigil is just one of the events planned in Washington for National Police Week, May 9 to 15. May 15 is National Peace Officers Memorial Day, with a ceremony on the Capitol steps. Last year, 143 officers died in the line of duty.
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the day Hartzell, 26, was ambushed in his cruiser downtown. His killer, Martin Koliser, is on death row.
Family will attend
Hartzell's parents, Howard and Mary Kay, 25-year-old brother Kevin, other family members and Stephanie Harchar, the woman he planned to marry, will travel to Washington for the candlelight vigil. His best friend, Patrolman Chad Zubal, will serve as escort.
"I recently got Michael's badge number 1085 tattooed on my right forearm," Zubal said. "It makes me feel like he's there with me. It feels good."
Zubal said he helped the family make travel arrangements.
"It's hard to say what we'll get out of it," Hartzell said, glancing at his wife in the den of their Austintown home. "I have mixed feelings."
The father said he'll get over the loss of his son in his own way, his own time. Sharing his grief with others isn't his way of coping.
His wife smiled and gently shook her head. She wants to be around others who have experienced the same heartbreak.
"You grieve, then you get mad," she said. "I think it will help me."
Remembrances
Over the past year, the Hartzells have filled the living room of their two-story home with remembrances of their son. They find comfort in the keepsakes.
The focal point of the room is a wooden chest, atop which lay Hartzell's badges and hats from the Youngstown Police Department and Cardinal Joint Fire District. He loved being a police officer and volunteer firefighter.
Howard laughed as he recalled times his son would trip down the stairs in his rush to respond to a fire. The rush also was noticed by Austintown police who pursued his speeding car.
Nestled among the mementos on the chest's lid is a vintage wooden billy club and whistle that belonged to YPD officer Pete Grady, Mary Kay's father, long deceased.
At the funeral home last year, the billy club was placed in Hartzell's coffin.
Inside the chest can be found newspaper clippings of Hartzell's death and hand-painted signs of condolence and love that were placed at the corner of Vindicator Square and West Federal Street, where the shooting took place. Recalling the impromptu corner memorial brought smiles to the faces of the dead officer's parents.
Propped against the chest is a 10-inch slab of black granite with replicas of Hartzell's YPD and CJFD badges etched into the gleaming surface. His gravestone is an enlarged version of the granite artistry.
A 2003 Fitch High School yearbook also leans against the chest. The book contains a page dedicated to Hartzell, a 1995 Fitch graduate.
"The students asked if they could do it -- I said 'of course,'" said Mary Kay, who works as secretary-treasurer at the high school. "Wasn't that nice?"
Shadowbox curio
She pointed to a shadowbox curio sent by the family of Sonny Litch, a Mahoning County Deputy Sheriff killed in 1981. The display holds miniature replicas of police and firefighter vehicles and hangs on the wall above the memory chest.
An American flag that draped over Hartzell's coffin rests in a triangular wood and glass box.
One of the gifts on display, an afghan draped across a chair, was made from crochet squares created by others across the country who lost loved ones. Mary Kay said each square has a little card attached that gives the origin, such as New Jersey and California.
Next to the afghan is a collection of small bears dressed as police officers.
Howard held up a piece of slate used as a canvas by an artist in East Liverpool. It shows a police and fire badge and blue rose, the symbol of a fallen officer.
"Things just showed up at the door," he said, holding the slate painting. "Other things were left for us downtown at the police station."
An intarsia portrait of Michael was one of the gifts delivered to YPD -- by a man who didn't know the fallen officer. The term intarsia refers to a mosaic of fitted wood.
Crafted by Carl Byer of Warren, the intricate artwork -- made of cedar, walnut, basswood and oak-- depicts Hartzell in his police uniform and hat. The treasured portrait hangs in the Hartzells' den.
"He took Mike's picture off the Internet and left it for us a week before Christmas," Mary Kay said of the portrait. "His wife told me it took him two months to make."
Memorial services
Before the Washington ceremony, the Hartzells plan to attend two police memorial services closer to home.
Next week, on May 6, Hartzell will be remembered at the Ohio Fallen Officers' Memorial in London, Ohio. Two circular walls hold the names of fallen officers, with an eternal flame at the center.
On May 11, the local police officer memorial service will be at St. Maron Church on South Meridian Road. The ceremony includes Mahoning County Sheriff's Department Lodge 141 and Youngstown State University Lodge 200.
To this day, Hartzell's death affects YPD, said Chief Robert E. Bush Jr.
"It reminds us all that death can be so sudden and violent, even though we deal with it every day," Bush said. "It heightened everyone's awareness to the dangerous profession we're in."
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;meade@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;