Hometown Heroes Making A Difference In Our Community

Not all super heroes are faster than a speeding bullet, or able to scale skyscrapers using a super spider web. They don’t all exhibit extra sensory strengths. They don’t all cruise in a sleek, sophisticated bat mobile and they sure don’t have to worry about spontaneously turning green with enlarged muscles at the first sight of trouble.

Everyday heroes are ordinary people. Your neighbor, co-worker, friend. They are dedicated, dependable, determined. They are regular folks who devote their lifetime to making a difference in the lives of others. They don’t do it for recognition. Or reward. They do it because it is who they are, what they were taught and what they feel is right.

This year, the theme for the Town and Country Festival is “Hometown Heroes.”

One hometown hero in Sidney is Denny Palmer, the Richland County Undersheriff.

If you ask him his definition of a hero, he’ll likely point you in the direction of anyone but himself. At the top of his list of people he admires is Brad Baisch, who Palmer proudly boasts is a five-time election winner for the job of Richland County Sheriff. He might suggest Mike Berg, a long time Taekwondo instructor.

Perhaps modesty is a quality of everyday heroes.

Yet, at the top of his list of true heroes is the man who inspired him most; Orville Sharbono, who at the time was the Fairview Chief of Police in 1990 when he was shot in the line of duty. “He was the first guy who ever arrested me when I was a kid in high school and he did a really nice job of it,” Palmer said. He attributes Sharbono’s exemplary character as part of what inspired his own passion to pursue law enforcement and attend the Police Academy in Bozeman, Mont.

At the time of Sharbono’s death, Palmer had worked in law enforcement with him for nine years and remembers the impact he left on nearly everyone he came into contact with.

Throughout Palmer’s 31 years as a police officer he has tried to make a similar difference in the lives of those he has come into contact with. “My goal every day is to try to deliver the same level of service that was delivered to me when I was a kid. In this job you run across people in all different situations. Sometimes you arrest people and sometimes you don’t. But you always try to help people by getting them the assets they need, no matter what it takes,” he said.

For 17 years Palmer has served as the Richland County Undersheriff. Sidney, and the surrounding area have been his home his entire life. Growing up, he attended Fairview High School and Doran Elementary School in the small community of Andes, Mont.

Palmer is also active in the Sidney Tendo Taekwondo as a third degree black belt. He stresses that he enjoys assisting with the local youth and participating as a student, but isn’t big on competing.

He is also a member of the Richland County Law Enforcement Association and the on Butte Cemetery Association.

In 2005 he received the Law Enforcement Gold Medal Award from the Veterans of Foreign War. “Life isn’t about rewards. The people you come into contact with that you are able to make a difference with are the reward. That’s the atta boy. It’s the thank you you receive from someone you busted years ago that thanks you for changing their life. That’s the reward,” he said.

Palmer attributes his father, the former Eugene “Gene” Palmer with instilling in him the characteristics of honesty, integrity and perseverance. “He always said that if you start something you should finish it, and finish it to the best of your ability. He always said honesty is the best policy and always take ownership of your mistakes,” he reminisced.

Together with his wife of 30 years, Jackie, he has one grown daughter, RaeLeigh.