Latah County sheriff deputy 'standing, finally'

Latah County Sheriff's Deputy Kenny Hawkes was found unconscious in his front yard Sept. 26, suffering from a stress-induced stroke and a brain bleed that kept him in a hospital in Coeur d'Alene for four days.

For Hawkes, things are still foggy, his wife, Casey Holcomb-Hawkes, told hundreds of people who turned out for a spaghetti feed/silent auction in Hawkes's name Saturday evening at the Latah County Fairgrounds. But he is slowly improving from where he was in September.

At the event, Hawkes held hands with his wife, interacted with community members who came out in support and briefly addressed the crowd on a stage at the front of the room, speaking quietly into a microphone as his supporters cheered him on.

"As you can see, I'm standing, finally," Hawkes said.

Latah County sheriff's deputies Darren Duke and Ethan Ogden, along with a handful of other department employees, began planning the fundraiser, forming committees and soliciting local businesses to donate anything to a silent auction in support of Hawkes shortly after his stroke.

Sheriff Records Manager Deanna Vance was put in charge of food. She said she expected feeding the community to be a huge undertaking until local businesses responded with their donations.

"I'm elated that there's so many people showing up," Vance said, emerging from the event after having dinner. "I'm proud to see so many community members come out for this event.

Duke had known Hawkes for nearly 10 years before his stroke and had worked with him previously in Nez Perce County.

He said he had no previous expectations for how the event would turn out, but seeing the community response an hour in Saturday evening, he was overwhelmed. Just in entrance fees, the community had already raised $5,000 for Hawkes.

"Whenever this started out, we were thinking maybe we'd get like 60 or 70 cops and firefighters to come down and we would raise a few thousand. And then, it just, like, exploded into this really, really big thing," Duke said.

Attendees ate spaghetti donated from Gambino's in Moscow and bid on more than 100 items all donated by local businesses and private citizens - a signed Vandal football, a wine tour, a guided steelhead trip for two on the Clearwater River.

Casey Holcomb-Hawkes said she was amazed and humbled to see the turnout and to have the burden of some of the medical costs lifted.

Though he looks fine on the outside, Hawkes is quite a ways from getting well, his wife said. He has returned to work four-hour shifts every other day, but Holcomb-Hawkes said her husband still comes home exhausted. It is unlikely he will return to full-time work anytime soon.

"It really is one day at a time," Holcomb-Hawkes said.

Taylor Nadauld can be reached at (208) 883-4630, by email to tnadauld@dnews.com and on Twitter @tnadauldarg.