Clarksdale assistant police chief Robbie Linley has been out of work due to health issue in recent months.
Linley’s friend, Patrick Wood, organized a Robbie Linley pistol competition at his home last Saturday and thousands of dollars were raised to help him. The calibers permitted were 38, 9, 40 and 45.
“I used to do fundraisers by cooking Boston butts and stuff like that,” Wood said. “That tornado that came through a couple Christmases ago, it took my cooking rigs in my trailer, my big grill and all that. I have not rebuilt it, but I do all of this training on my gun range, so I figured since it’s the assistant chief of police, I figured what better way then try a shooting competition and see if we can get a bunch of people to come out and have a good family fun game and let them compete?”
Wood said the donations are still coming.
“I haven’t got a grand total yet because I still have people that are planning on donating,” he said. “It’s going to be several thousand dollars.”
Wood had only positive things to say about Linley both on and off the clock.
“Growing up in Clarksdale, everyone was friends,” Wood said. “I’ve known Robbie and his sister for a long time. The other thing is, Robbie, he’s the assistant chief of police and he’s always gone above and beyond his job description and everything else to help people out. When we had the flood a couple years ago, he was right out in the middle of it getting wet with everybody else. He’s not the type to sit up in the office and say, ‘Well, we should have done or we could have done.’ He gets out there.
“I’m the commander with the Coahoma County Search and Rescue. On several of our searches and stuff like that, he’s been right out there with us. He’s offered his assistance any way that he could. Robbie is one of those guys that has always been there for everybody else whether people knew it or not. He never looked for the recognition. He just wanted to help.”
There were 16 shooters and several individuals came and set up tents.
“We had a nice turnout,” Wood said. “I really expected more of a turnout out of our law enforcement community than what we had, but at the same time, we did still have a good turnout.”
Linley’s church, Clarksdale Baptist Church, donated food and cooked hot dogs and hamburgers.
“They had jumped right on board,” Wood said. “They had no problem. There was quite a few of them. They had a nice little setup. We had a lot of community people that donated prizes, that stepped up and donated some of the guns that we gave away as first-place prizes. We even had people from around Oxford that donated prizes and things like that. Robbie has a lot friends pretty wide.
“Robbie has always been there for everybody. It does not matter who it was. He was always willing to help. On the clock, off the clock, it did not matter. He’s always done stuff in the background that a lot of people just did not realize that he would do.”
Wood is also organizing a Boston butt benefit for Linley. Tickets are $35 and can be picked up at Clarksdale Baptist Church through Aug. 17. The Boston butts can be picked up Sept. 1.
