He considers it his duty to be one of the musicians asked to play at a December 11 benefit for John Taylor, the Roanoke Rapids police officer who was shot last Wednesday on a traffic stop.
“I’m honored to contribute,” Johnson said today. “I didn’t know him personally, but there’s a brotherhood there. I feel the pain for him and his family.”
George Brooks, one of the owners of Java Junction, where the benefit concert will begin at 4 p.m., also knows about the brotherhood. His son, Stephen, works for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
“That’s one of the main ideas behind it,” Brooks said today. “Terry Joyner (another owner of the restaurant on Roanoke Avenue) believes in the police department, that and mainly because of my son Stephen. When you hear some of the stuff he puts up with in Raleigh, it’s scary.”
Brooks has also formed closed friendships with law enforcement in the area. “They never get credit for putting their life on the line like that. What happened to Officer Taylor shows how that could happen.”
Thus far, Timmy Wall, Mike Telliga, the band Shattered, Johnson, Bobby Turner and Chip Hale have signed up to play and Brooks expects two more bands or musicians to sign up.
Officers from Wake County and Rocky Mount are expected to attend. “I think we’ll have a real big response,” Brooks said.
Half of the $5 admission charge will go to Taylor, said Brooks, and donations to the officer and his family will also be welcomed.
For more information contact Brooks at 252-676-3816.
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