This column serves as a spotlight, highlighting the everyday people who work and live in Callaway County. The Fulton Sun takes a moment with someone who is not usually featured in the news but is just as instrumental in making our community the strong and beautiful place we all know and love.
Bill Ladwig is a lieutenant with the Fulton Police Department, having served there for 21 years. Ladwig was born in Warrensburg and graduated from Eureka High School in 1983.
He received an associate's degree in criminal justice from Columbia College and graduated from the Missouri Sheriff's Association Academy in 1998. Before joining the Fulton Police Department, Ladwig was a reserve deputy with the Callaway County Sheriff's Office and a reserve officer with the Jefferson City Police Department.
Ladwig and his wife, Tammy, live in Centralia. He has a stepson, Jarad Douglass, and a stepdaughter, Lynzie Heimer.
Q: What was your first job?
I think everybody's first job was at McDonald's, back in the day. I did everything (there).
Q: Who inspires you most?
I would say it would be my father and grandfather. They had a tireless work ethic and just instilled those values of always doing the right thing.
Q: What have you done in your life that has been the most fulfilling?
This job (as a police officer). I think everybody needs to give back in some way and serve their country or their community. We need to put something back into the world and try to make it better - whether it's helping someone in need or being an elected official.
Q: What is something you are proud of that you have been recognized for?
It was being nominated for the G.W. Law Officer of the Year Award (presented annually by the Fulton Rotary Club) and winning it in 2010. It was a complete surprise - I just go to work every day and do my job to the best of my ability. I don't expect accolades or awards.
Knowing someone else noticed and nominated me for the work I do, that we do (as a department), to be the chosen one was a pretty spectacular feeling.
Q: If you can do any job in the world, what would it be?
I always thought it would be tremendous to be an airline pilot, if I had the choice of a different career. I love planes. I've flown on them as a passenger, but planes intrigue me.
Q: What is a job you wouldn't want to do?
I've always joked that I could never be a school teacher. The reason being - even more than being a police officer - is that it has to be one of the toughest jobs to do, even though the rewards can be immense, knowing what these children deal with as far as new-world pressures that we put on them and some have less-than-ideal home lives.
It's tough caring for these children, especially over the last year, and them not having a safe, structured environment to go to.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Callaway County?
It's the sense of community and the sense of pride that residents here display. It's the amount of support they give all the first responders, whether it's the police department, the sheriff's department, the fire department or the ambulance district.
No matter how bad the news is in other places in the world, they support our mission. That means more than the citizens will ever realize.