Almost 40 years after Saxonburg Police Chief Gregory Adams was killed in the line of duty, a street was dedicated in his name.
“Chief Gregory B. Adams Way” is now what the section of Butler Road, between West Main and West Water streets, is known as following a ceremony in the borough on Friday.
It was on that very section of Butler Street that Chief Adams gave his life in service in 1980. He was shot during a routine traffic stop by Donald Webb, who then went on the run for decades. Webb’s remains were just discovered last year in the yard of his ex-wife’s home in Massachusetts, putting an end to the longest running cold case involving a police chief in the country.
Several spoke at Friday’s ceremony, which fell during National Police Week, including Adams’ son, Ben Adams.
“Everybody will see this sign and it will inspire them to ask about who Greg Adams was…and people will be able to tell them. He was about serving others. Doing everything he could for the betterment of his community,” Adams said.