LEWISTON — Most of the men on the ice at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday night were too young to have known David Payne, the police officer killed in the line of duty in 1988. Half of them weren’t even police officers.

But it didn’t matter.

“Dave made the sacrifice for all of us,” said Jason Johnson, an officer with the Lewiston Police Department.

As part of the Fourth Annual Battle of the Badges, they gave a couple of hours of their time to remember Payne and to raise money for a permanent memorial in his honor.

The first half of the evening featured a family skate, where small children wobbled around the ice in oversized hockey jerseys and preteens raced from one end of the rink to the other. The second half featured a semi-cutthroat game of hockey between Lewiston police and area firefighters.

“Outside of the rink we’re good friends,” Lewiston firefighter J.P Adams said, “but when you put us on the same ice it’s —”

“We don’t know each other,” finished Lewiston police Sgt. Jim Theiss with a grin.

The competition was made all the more fierce because Lewiston police have won the annual game for the past three years. Lewiston police wanted to defend their record. The firefighters wanted to win a game.

“The cops have the upper hand on this,” Adams admitted. “Talent. They’ve got talent. Good recruiting, I guess.”

Battle of the Badges raises money for a different charity every year through donations and T-shirt sales. This year proceeds go to purchase a memorial to be placed at the site of Payne’s death. Payne was killed on July 23, 1988, when he was shot in the woods off Ferry Road. He was 26 years old.

A couple of years ago, Johnson started a memorial run in Payne’s honor. Although he never knew Payne, he is also spearheading the effort to get a monument at the site.

“I change next to Dave’s locker every day,” he said. “It’s a constant reminder to me that today could be the day that I kiss my girlfriend and my children good night and I don’t come home.”

Before Friday’s game, Johnson had raised $300. He wasn’t sure how much a permanent marker would cost, but he figured “quite a bit.”

Dozens of police officers, area firefighters and families showed up for the event. Among them were Ray and Barb Payne, David Payne’s parents. They drove more than seven hours from their home in New York.

“I can’t say really what it means to us,” Ray Payne said. At 76 and battling lung problems — the result of his time as a police chaplain in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001 — he doesn’t always feel so good. But those physical aches and pains disappeared during the game Friday.

“It’s very much of an honor they remember our son,” Barb Payne said.

Although they rooted for the Lewiston police team, the Paynes said they had friends on both sides.

“They’re family,” Ray Payne said. “They’re both people who do the extreme. Firefighters run toward buildings that are burning when you and I run out. Police officers run toward gunshots when we run away.”

But only one team could win. And that winner would be Lewiston police again, 2-0.

While the night was not successful for the firefighters, it was for the Payne memorial.

Battle of the Badges sold out of its 110 T-shirts even before the first period was over. With those sales and an estimate of donations, officials said the event had raised at least $1,000.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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