At the memorial service for Winston-Salem police Sgt. Mickey Hutchens in October, his wife, Beth, was given two electric candles with blue lights.
The national Concerns of Police Survivors organization gave the candles to her family as a symbol of peace and a sign of support for current law-enforcement officers and for those, like Hutchens, who have died in the line of duty.
Beth Hutchens, who lives in Yadkinville, said that the lights have been on ever since she got them, and she is hoping that more people will express their support for officers by adding a blue light to their holiday decorations this year.
She said that a blue light is a small way to do something good in the wake of her husband's death. Mickey Hutchens was fatally wounded while responding to a call about a domestic disturbance at Bojangles' restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway.
"The negative part has been horrible. This is so positive," Beth Hutchens said. "What an easy way to show support for people out there every day putting their lives on the line."
Joyce Plouff also supports the blue-light effort. Her husband, Howard -- like Hutchens, a sergeant in the Winston-Salem Police Department -- was fatally wounded while answering a call about a disturbance at a nightclub in 2007.
Last year, Joyce Plouff asked the town of Lewisville if she and her daughters, Brandy and Holly, could decorate one of the trees in Shallowford Square with blue lights.
She said that the town agreed, after some prodding. This year, the town approached her, asking if the tree could be decorated again, and this time the town offered to do the work of stringing the lights.
"We feel very blessed that Lewisville, and the community at large, has been very supportive of us," she said.
The tree is in a part of the park close to the town's veterans' memorial. Joyce Plouff said that was a good spot for it.
"Just as our armed forces are working to protect our country, so is our law enforcement working to protect our communities," she said.
The local effort is based on Project Blue Light, a national program that was started in Philadelphia 20 years ago by a woman whose son-in-law died in the line of duty and whose daughter later died in a car crash.
This is the first time that the project has been encouraged on a wide scale here, said Bridget Boyles, the president of Behind the Blue Line. The group of about 50 people -- mostly spouses -- does volunteer work in support of the Winston-Salem Police Department.
Boyles said that the group is urging the community to put out a blue candle or tie a blue ribbon around car antennas as a show of support for the officers.
"We definitely get excited to see all the blue lights in the windows," said Boyles, whose husband, Tom Boyles, is in the department's training division.
Beth Hutchens said she is thankful for the work of the Behind the Blue Line volunteers.
Her husband spent five days in the hospital before he died, and she said that the volunteers did a wonderful job of providing food to the hundreds of visitors who came by.
The group also pitched in and bought her a dress to wear to her husband's memorial service, she said.
She's also grateful to those who have started putting out the blue lights. She said she was particularly moved by a block on Vienna Forest Drive in Lewisville, where there is a blue light in almost every home. "It made me cry to see all the lights in the windows," she said.
pgarber@wsjournal.com
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