State Corrections Local 105 set up a tent to support offi cers who attended the ceremony at Bayside.
muster at Bayside began at 6 a.m. Local 105 was already set up with
its tent and bus to provide the coffee, refreshments and a hub of re-
membrance.
The pomp and circumstance setting the tone for the event was
nothing short of breathtaking. Officers formed ranks beneath a pro-
digious American flag hanging from Cedarville and Millville Fire De-
partment ladder trucks. Ron Tomlin and his older brother Rob, also
an officer at Bayside, lowered the flag to half-staff and stood guard
underneath.
The ceremony started at 7:55 a.m., the exact time Fred was
stabbed by an inmate who attacked because he was told he could
not bunk where he wanted to. After a rendition of “Taps,” the NJ De-
partment of Corrections (DOC) Pipes and Drums belted out “Amaz-
ing Grace.” And the echoing of striking the bell of memoriam when
each name of the 25 corrections officers lost in the line of duty was
called might still be heard reverberating across the massive Bayside
grounds.
“Each year since that tragic event, we gather on this date to com-
memorate a hero,” DOC Acting Commissioner Marcus Hicks an-
nounced at the ceremony. “Officer Baker’s presence continues to
live on through each Correctional Police Officer.”
A proclamation in 2012 established July 30 as State Corrections
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