June 19, 2025 The Beacon • 27
Women of the Moose help deputies, and recognize them for a job well done.
By Josie Sellers Beacon Editor
In one month the Women of the Moose were able to raise enough money to purchase 25 dash cameras for cruisers at the Coshocton County Sheriff’ s Office.
“ People were so supportive,” said Esther Sharier.“ We raised more than enough money, so we were able to also purchase three for the West Lafayette Police Department. Now all of Coshocton County’ s officers are covered.”
The idea to raise money for the dashcams came from an experience Sharon Kaufman had.
“ I served on the grand jury and listened to Tyler Mann from the sheriff’ s office give a testimony,” she said.“ They no longer have dashcams in all their cruisers since they now have body cameras. The dashcams are very useful, though, and deputies were purchasing them with their own money.”
Kaufman found out 25 cruisers needed cameras, and the Women of the Moose sprang into action with various fundraisers.
“ The deputies picked what they wanted, and the cameras will cover the front and back of the cruisers,” Kaufman said.“ The cameras have an SD card in them that can be taken out and downloaded on a computer.”
The cameras selected were $ 150 each, but Kaufman was able to get them for $ 120 each on sale and save $ 1,000 on the project.
“ So many people would just ask us how much we needed for a camera and donate the money,” Kaufman said.“ It warmed my heart that so many people got involved.”
The Women of the Moose received its charter in 1932 but was inactive for about 10 years.
“ We just got the group back up and running this year,” Kaufman said.
The group supports Moose Heart, which supports children, and Moose Heaven for retirees. They also get involved in community projects like the dashcams.
“ Everything we do is 100 % for charities,” Kaufman said.
Because they have money left over after buying the dashcams, the group plans to investigate purchasing bulletproof vests for the Coshocton County Sheriff’ s Office K-9s.
Coshocton County Sheriff Chris Walters was very humbled by the Women of the Moose’ s donation.
“ We greatly appreciate this,” he said.“ We’ ve had some pursuits lately where we really could have used them. They are another tool for us to use, especially in those situations.”
Walters said with this donation all their cruisers will now have cameras.
“ We have some handy deputies, so we will be able to pull the cruisers into the sally port and get these installed quickly,” he said.
Mann is glad they will now have both dashcams and body cameras.
“ It helps us be even more transparent with the public and the courts,” he said.“ Sometimes it’ s hard to remember who backs us, but donations like this remind us that the community supports us.”
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So many people would just ask us how much we needed for a camera and donate the money. It warmed my heart that so many people got involved.”
Sharon Kaufman
Josie Sellers
Tammy Gore from the Women of the Moose went over their thank-you card with Coshocton County Sheriff Chris Walters.
Josie Sellers
The Women of the Moose presented the sheriff’ s office with a thank-you card for their service and let them know who made big contributions to the dash camera project.
Josie Sellers In one month the Women of the Moose were able to raise enough money to purchase 25 dash cameras for cruisers at the Coshocton County Sheriff’ s Office.