By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A longtime dream has come true for a student at Mid-Buchanan High School.
Blake Templeton has dreamed about being a police officer since he was four years old, and now that dream is a reality as he was sworn in as an honorary deputy by Sheriff Bill Puett
Rebecca Templeton, Blake's mother, says this is a wonderful opportunity for her son
"Something he would not have had any other way and the way they did everything for him, it's a memory he'll have the rest of his life," Templeton tells reporters. "It's a beautiful gift."
Templeton, a 16-year-old student at Mid-Buchanan High School diagnosed with cerebral palsy was sworn in as an honorary deputy prior to Mid-Buchanan's homecoming game.
School Resource Dennis Yager is the man who began this process. Yager says that at least four to five times a day Templeton would ask him what it takes to be a police officer
"And my answer every time was, ok you have to be kind, you have to listen to your teachers, you've got to help out, if you see danger you've got to tell mom, you've got to tell dad, you've got to tell your teachers, you can come to me," Yager says. "And it was the same thing over and over every day."
The interactions made Yager reach out to Templeton's mother, who told him Blake would ask her the same questions and that he had been saving up for several years to go to the police academy, making it a no brainer for Yager to reach out to Puett
"With Blake, he is on cloud nine, he's been running, I don't really see him that much as a runner but tonight he was," Yager happily says.
Puett says after hearing about Templeton from Yager, it was exciting to meet Blake. Puett says he told Deputy Templeton that following his swearing in, he was going right to work on patrol.
"And his immediate response was yes he was ready to go to work and you saw how quick he climbed into that truck when I told him deputy it's time to go to work," Puett says. "So that's pretty exciting that he gets to do this tonight, we're just really happy that we could do that and I'm thankful to Dennis for bringing it to me."
Templeton will also help Yager patrol the school and check doors at least once a week.
