South Whitehall Police Officer Keith Heffelfinger Retires

South Whitehall Commissioners and Police Chief Tom Toth gave a warm send-off Wednesday night to Officer Keith A. Heffelfinger, who retired from the police force after 27 years.

Heffelfinger, 58, had joined the department in August 1985. He served as a patrol officer until being assigned to Youth Services in 1990.

He received certification as a D.A.R.E officer in 1997, providing instruction to the Parkland School District and private school students. (One of those students, 11-year-old Cheyanne Solt, won a Civilian Service award earlier this year when she called 9-1-1 as an intoxicated man stumbled into her home. for teaching Solt through D.A.R.E. how to handle herself in an emergency.)

Heffelfinger had begun his career in law enforcement as a patrol officer for Coopersburg, serving there from 1979 to 1985.