City Council Honors Clovis Police Sergeant, 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Clovis Police Department Sergeant Vince Weibert is presented a street sign with his last name printed on it during a proclamation in his honor at the city council meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. (Photo by Jorge Rodriguez/Clovis Roundup)

Clovis City Council honored Clovis Police Sergeant Vince Weibert with a proclamation on Monday, August 3.

Weibert, a veteran officer with 35 years of service in the Clovis Police Department is soon to retire. After the proclamation Clovis Mayor Drew Bessinger, who is a former Clovis Police Officer himself, said that Weibert had served the community of Clovis in an exemplary manner.

Clovis Police Chief Curt Fleming was also present during the proclamation and talked about Weibert being his field training officer when he first got to the Clovis Police Department. Fleming thanked Weibert and mentioned that it was going to be hard replacing him.

Weibert addressed the councilmembers and thanked them for working with him throughout the years. He also thanked his wife and kids for supporting him all these years and said that he wouldn’t have been successful in his career without the support of his family. 

“I have been very blessed and very fortunate to work for 30 years, 35 total with the city, but 30 years in a career that I love,” Weibert said. “The time is right to go ahead and move on and to do so in the city that I love.”

After the speech, Weibert was presented a plaque and a traditional street sign from the City of Clovis with his last name printed on it.  

Another proclamation was made in commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The proclamation was to make the week of August 3 to 9, the U.S.-Japan peace week in the City of Clovis. 

Judge Dale Ikeda, who is also the Honorary Consul of Japan in Fresno, had the honor of accepting the proclamation from the Clovis City Council. Ikeda said that there was going to be tree plantings throughout Fresno and Clovis from the Hiroshima Green Tree Peace Project to commemorate the anniversary. 

“Weapons we have now are much more powerful than what was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but nevertheless over 100,000 thousand people were killed on Hiroshima in an instant and over 70,000 in Nagasaki,” Ikeda said. “We hope that these trees will be a symbol of peace and reliance and a hope for a better future.” 

Councilmember Ashbeck said that it was important to remember that this wasn’t all that long ago. Ashbeck also mentioned that she wanted to rename the proclamation of peace and hope.

Jorge Rodriguez has a passion for journalism and wants to bring the community information and great stories. After high school Jorge joined the U.S. Army and while in active duty he was deployed twice to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While in college he worked for the Fresno City College Rampage and the Fresno State Collegian newspapers. He graduated from Fresno State in 2019 with a degree in print journalism.