Documentary recognizes USU agents killed on duty
The premiere of a documentary honoring three LDS church members who died in the line of duty with the FBI, two of whom were USU students, aired in the Taggart Student Center auditorium Friday night.
“I brought the premiere to Utah State because two of the agents graduated from Utah State,” said Rob Sibley, a director and producer with BYU Broadcasting.
Sam Cowley and Douglas M. Price served with the FBI until both died of gunshot wounds in the line of duty, according to the documentary. The third man, J. Robert Porter, also died of gunshot wounds while attempting to stop a man entering an FBI office in 1979.
Sam Cowley was J. Edgar Hoover’s most trusted agent when he died as a result of wounds suffered in a gun-battle with George “Baby Face” Nelson, a notorious criminal during the gangster era in the U.S.
Douglas M. Price was shot and killed in San Antonio, Texas, in April 1968, Sibley said.
Sibley expects the documentary to be available on BYU television sometime after January 2011, he told the crowd after the viewing.
Roughly 40 people came to see the documentary, some who own antique cars that were used as part of the film. Other people attending were relatives or friends of the fallen.
Also, many of the scenes Sibley said, were filmed in Logan because the city has preserved many of its buildings, Sibley said. Cowley served the FBI in the 1930s, so Logan was a good place for filming.
Doyle Cardon, a Utah resident and 1935 USU graduate, lived through the Cowley era, and said he enjoyed the movie.
Tyson Hadfield, a former USU studentworking with Sibley, said the agents in the movie are a “great example of dedication of faith, family and country.”
Hadfield called the movie “moving.”
Two FBI agents attended the premiere. James S. McTighe, special agent in charge, Salt Lake City division, and Kenneth R. Porter, assistant special agent in charge and son of J. Robert Porter, spoke to the crowd after the showing.
“I am honored to be here,” McTighe said. “These men sacrificed their lives, but the families also make sacrifices too, especially if a family member dies on duty.”
Porter said the movie focuses on the agents’ lives, the good lives they led, and their families.
Porter said that people don’t become FBI agents to become rich. “I consider it more of a calling than a job,” he said.
“I never had an epiphany, but I am glad I did,” Porter said about choosing to work for the FBI.
Porter did not necessarily become an agent because his father was an agent, he said. When Porter was looking for work, one of his dad’s old partners called about working for the bureau.
Porter took a support position initially, but the longer he worked in the support position, the more he became convinced a job in the bureau was for him, he said.
The movie is part of the LDS Lives series shown on BYU television, Sibley said. LDS Lives tells the stories of people living the Latter-day Saint faith.
These may be people that others haven’t heard of, Sibley said. People in the series are fascinating in some way, or they may be common, ordinary people that lived through extraordinary circumstances.
The stories told in the movie “inspire me to be a better person,” Sibley said. “It’s a teaching moment. We get to see the lives of these people and try to emulate them in some way.”
Sibley said all the new shows on BYU television start in the new year. He has asked BYU television to air this one first.
BYU television is available on numerous cable systems, Sibley said. BYU-TV is channel 10 on Aggie TV.
BYU-TV is also available on satellite systems, Dish TV and Direct TV systems, Sibley said.
Two audience members specifically expressed their enjoyment of the movie to Sibley and the crowd after the showing, and Sibley got a healthy round of applause from all audience members.
McTighe said, “People don’t always get the proper view of law enforcement. We are here to honor agents of the FBI tonight.”
The movie was funded by the Brigham Young University Division of Continuing Education.
– keith.burbank@aggiemail.usu.edu