Danville Area Community College has named veteran Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn a distinguished alumnus.

Hartshorn is the county's longest-serving sheriff, having been re-elected six times. He's been with the sheriff's office 42 years.

Hartshorn graduated from DACC with an associate of science degree in 1971. He will become the college's nominee for the statewide honor from the Illinois Community College Trustees Association.

The sheriff started is law enforcement career with classes at DACC. He transferred to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and graduated, on the dean's list, with a degree in Administration of Justice in 1973. After his father died unexpectedly from a heart attack, Hartshorn returned to Vermilion County to help his mother. It was then that he learned that the sheriff's department planned to hire several new deputies that summer.

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