Walmart worker honored for returning cash left in cart www.privateofficer.com

Seattle WA April 8 2013 It was in the early afternoon of a mid-October 2012 day that Bismark Mensah was collecting carts outside a Walmart in Federal Way, a part-time job for which he earned $9.05 an hour as a “courtesy associate.”
He was used to finding stuff in carts that customers had somehow forgotten — keys, credit cards, wallets. And he turned them in to customer service. But this particular item stood out. It was a white envelope with a clear window in the middle, bulging with what was inside, a lot of cash. Around $20,000, it turned out. Because of what he did that afternoon, Mensah now is in possession of a plaque that names him the winner of the retail giant’s national 2013 “Integrity in Action Award.”
Mensah is 32 and he remembers the exact date — Feb. 8, 2012 — on which he arrived in the U. S. of A., at JFK International Airport, from Ghana. He has a photo of that occasion: standing in an airport parking lot, wearing a cap and scarf in the Ghanaian national colors of red, gold and green, an optimistic smile on his face. He has dreams; you know, the perennial ones that immigrants through generations, and from countries all over the world, have told and still tell. They don’t mind sounding naive about America being the land of opportunity. For Mensah that meant get a job, go to college, study business administration, eventually return to Ghana to expand the five little shops that his mom, Irene, had started from her work as a seamstress.

But about that $20,000. It belonged to Leona Wisdom and Gary Elton, a couple from Black Diamond. The wife says they were returning home from getting the money at a finance company when they stopped off to shop at the Walmart at South 345th Street and 16th Avenue South. Wisdom says she’s a caregiver who works with people who are disabled, and says the cash was for a down payment on a house the couple was buying on a short sale.

They didn’t get the money as a check, Wisdom says, because they didn’t want to wait days for it to clear. It’s also the case that, for reasons that might not seem logical to many, some people deal in cash. Wisdom had two carts full of merchandise and Mensah helped her take the stuff to the trunk of her car. As she was driving away, Mensah noticed what had fallen out of her purse — that thick envelope. “I run after them. I think somebody heard me and signaled for them to stop,” he remembers. Mensah handed her the envelope. “She was like, ‘Wow!’ Tears are coming out. She took some money and tried to reward me

. I said, ‘No, no. I’m all right,’ ” says Mensah. He figures that every couple of weeks, after deductions, his take-home pay is around $620 to $640. Mensah can manage because he’s staying for free at the Auburn home of Vicki Campbell, who has traveled to Ghana and had come to know Mensah’s mother when she sewed dresses for Campbell. He has an aunt in Portland, cousins in New York. “He’s a hardworking young man,” says Campbell, who has grown children of her own. “I don’t like to work with people who are slackers.” Mensah says keeping the $20,000 never occurred to him. “My conscience wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t even drive home if I did that,” he says.

Wisdom says she called the store twice to make sure management knew about Mensah’s good deed. She also tried to again do something to thank him, but he declined her offer to be taken out to dinner. Wisdom says she also asked Mensah if he was single, which he is, as she has a daughter who is single. “It’s hard to find honest people,” she explains. Mensah demurred at the matchmaking offer, too. Jeremy Smith, who was then the store manager, says customers regularly called the store about Mensah. “Maybe they were trying to load something heavy into their vehicle. He rushed right away to help them.

They were overwhelmed with his kindness and generosity,” says Smith. A month ago, Mensah was moved to a full-time position, and $9.19 an hour, with benefits. Besides working in the parking lot, he now also has responsibilities in the backroom, as an inventory-control specialist. He says he knows that Wal-Mart has at times been viewed negatively. Even his mom in Ghana was concerned about her son working at the chain and phoned him. Mensah says he “cooled her down,” reassured her that he liked the place, people there treat him right, that he was learning a lot and could take what he learned about running a big retail place back to Ghana. He says, “You have to start someplace.”

These days, Mensah works pushing carts in the parking lot a couple of days a week, the rest in inventory. He’s easy to spot, the guy with the smile. “In the parking lot, people chat, tell you their problems, you see that a person is not happy. I tell them, ‘God is in control. Everything is OK,’ ” says Mensah. Somehow, he says, it helps the sad people to hear from a hopeful person.
Source: Seattle Times

Savannah man arrested after climbing into wolf pen www.privateofficer.com

Savannah GA April 2 2013 A 26-year-old Savannah man who police say climbed into the wolf pen at Oatland Island was charged with trespassing after leading police on a foot chase through the woods.

Savannah-Chatham police were called to the wildlife education center about noon after witnesses reported seeing a man inside the pen that houses the wolves, said Julian Miller, police spokesman.

Patrol officers had to chase down John Floyd, of an East Park Avenue address, with a borrowed utility vehicle after he fled the pen and ran through several other enclosures before running down a trail, Miller said.

Once police apprehended him they discovered a container of sugar cubes, an unidentified brown crystallized powder, an unidentified liquid, a nearly empty bottle of Kahlua, and an almost empty half-gallon carton of soy milk.

Miller said police are continuing to investigate the incident.

Bus driver sentenced in deadly Virginia crash www.privateofficer.com

CAROLINE COUNTY, Va. Jan 24 2013 – The man who was driving the bus that crashed on Interstate 95 in Caroline County killing four people will serve six years in prison.
When handing down the sentence, the judge told former Sky Express Inc. bus driver Kin Yiu Cheung he had wiped from the planet “four good souls.”
Cheung was driving a bus from North Carolina to New York City in May 2011, when he ran off the road.
Last month all charges were dropped against the Sky Express Inc. bus dispatcher accused of forcing Cheung to continue on his route despite complaining of fatigue.

Source:WTVR.com

Former shoplifter buys layaway items for Ohioans www.privateofficer.com

CINCINNATI OH Dec 26 2012 An anonymous onor atoning for shoplifting three decades ago has made Christmas a little merrier for a handful of southwestern Ohio residents.
Workers at a Kmart in Lockland, north of Cincinnati, say that the donor sent $1,000 to the store to pay off items on layaway.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/UYaFHw ) that the donor had been caught shoplifting $270 worth of clothing at a now-closed Kmart in Sharonville 30 years ago and was trying to make up for it.
Kmart workers called people who had items on layaway Friday to tell them the good news, garnering reactions that ranged from crying to praying.
Patricia Ralls of Lockland says the donation helped her pay off about $60 on a coat and pajamas, money that she’ll now use for other Christmas presents.
Source:The Cincinnati Enquirer

Oregon man returns $50,000 found in used safe www.privateofficer.com

BEND, Ore. Dec 24 2012 — A thank-you note to a Central Oregon locksmith was addressed to “the most honest man in Bend” after he returned $50,000 he found in a safe’s secret compartment.
Bryan Donnell retrieved a customer’s 1,000-pound safe last week. He’s used to finding jewels and some cash, but nothing like the stacks of $100 bills wrapped in rubber bands.
The safe’s former owner, 57-year-old Dale Parkinson, tells The Bulletin of Bend, Ore., that he and his wife pulled the money from their life savings in 2007, fearing a potential financial collapse.
They also bought a safe, and snuck $50,000 into a secret compartment.
Then, apparently, they forgot about it.
Parkinson decided to put the money back in the bank this year and sold the safe to Donnell.
Donnell refused a cash reward, but accepted a bottle of Scotch.
source:KGW

Over 100 police vehicles converge on campus for local boy’s wish www.privateofficer.com

Lynchburg VA Dec 22 2012 Sirens echoed across the campus of Liberty University Thursday as more than 100 police vehicles, blue lights ablaze, teemed to campus to bring hope and Christmas cheer to an ailing child.
Nathan Norman, 5, of Rustburg, Va., is suffering from brain and spinal cord cancer. He told his parents (both Liberty alumni) in September that Christmastime made him feel better, so they brought out the Christmas tree and decked the halls. Soon, neighbors joined in and put up their decorations. As the community rallied in support of Nathan, the story garnered national attention. Nathan received Christmas cards from across the country and even lit the tree atop Liberty Mountain in late October.
The news of Nathan’s touching story spread, and when police officers in Burlington, Mass., heard Nathan wanted cards from his heroes — police and firefighters — from all across the country, they decided to take it a step further and hand deliver their cards, letting their blue flashers serve as a special sort of Christmas lights.
As the convoy was organized, more and more departments from all across the Northeast wanted to join in and the event grew too large for them to do it in front of Nathan’s home, so organizers reached out to Liberty, which could provide the space because winter break had already started.
The line of police cruisers stretched three miles and represented several states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. There was even an officer from the Los Angeles Police Department who rode along. Liberty University Police Department managed the traffic for the event.
A hulking Lynchburg Fire engine awaited Nathan in the parking lot behind the LaHaye Ice Center as he arrived on campus with his family to watch the procession. Police car after police car drove by them, blaring the occasional siren and each was met with a heartwarming smile from the child.
After all the cars had passed and parked in the lot, more than 250 police officers, suited up in their dress uniforms, lined up in formation. Nathan, assisted by his siblings, called them to attention and, in unison, the officers saluted him. At his command, the officers danced on one foot before Nathan ordered them at ease.
Robert Norman, Nathan’s father, led the crowd in prayer. The officers then met in the Tilley Student Center for a private meet and greet with the family. There, the officers presented him with Christmas cards and gifts, including police coins and patches.
The Normans are very appreciative of all the support and gifts Nathan has received and see this as an opportunity to share their faith in Jesus with others. The family has utilized monetary donations they have received to deliver care packages to other sick children.

Source: Liberty University News Service

Teacher uses prize money to treat students to New Orleans trip www.privateofficer.com

HARRISON COUNTY, MS Nov 16 2012

Twenty Harrison County students enjoyed dinner at a fancy New Orleans restaurant and a night at the opera Wednesday. They didn’t have to pay a dime for their trip, thanks to a very generous teacher.

Deborah Bishop recently won a lot of money on a well-known television game show. On Wednesday, she made good on a promise to share some of her winnings with her students.

Bishop is always the center of attention in her class at West Harrison High School. Back in September, the Spanish teacher landed in the national spotlight. Out of 200 people, she and two other contestants were selected to compete on the popular game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?

“I won $23,500. Wow, absolutely wonderful!” Bishop exclaimed. “It was absolutely thrilling. I cried of course.”

“We were all really shocked and we’re very proud of her,” said Erin Lavey, a member of the school’s Spanish Honor Society.

Bishop is the advisor of the Spanish Honor Society. On the show, she told the host what she planned to do with her prize money.

“I told Meredith Viera with tears in my eyes that I wanted to bring my Spanish Honor Society to the opera,” said Bishop. “I’d have plenty of money to pay for it, because I didn’t want them to have to worry about it. I wanted to do this for them.”

Bishop spent $3,000 on a trip to New Orleans for 20 members of the Spanish Honor Society.

“Because they’re good kids. They work really hard in my class. They’re honor students and they should have the best of the best,” she said.

Bishop arranged for two limousines to pick up the students and she treated them to dinner at the Court of Two Sisters. Afterwards, they attended a dress rehearsal of the opera: The Barber of Seville. Bishop got the show tickets for free, because she is a member of “Opera in the Classroom for Teachers.”

“Everybody’s been looking forward to it. We’ve been talking about it all week and at our meetings. Nobody’s ever been,” said Zack Moran, Spanish Honor Society President.

“We’re all very honored. It’s so nice of her to do it, because most of us have never been to an opera, and we might not get the chance again,” said Erin Lavey.

Bishop is also using her winnings to inspire her students. She is creating three $500 scholarships for the Spanish Honor Society.

“That’s for the students who are dedicated, who have really worked hard, who have done their philanthropy, and who have been dedicated,” said Bishop.

When asked where the rest of the money is going, Bishop smiled said replied, “Don’t tell my husband, but shoes.”

Bishop is planning to help out several charities as well.

By the way, during their trip to New Orleans Wednesday, the students also dropped by Children’s Hospital to donate a bunch of toys.

Source:WLOX

11-year-old Virginia girl raises $722 for K9 unit memorial www.privateofficer.com

 

RICHMOND VA Oct 24 2012

The Richmond Police Department unveiled a new memorial burial ground for the dogs in the K-9 unit, who put their lives on the line in the name of safety every day for pat on the head and a toy. Officers couldn’t have done this without the help of one little girl.

Before Saturday, the cemetery for RPD canines wasn’t much. It was only patchy grass and a few gravestones. Now, officers have a memorial garden to visit.

 At 11-years-old, many little girls are focusing on Justin Bieber, fashion and homework. But at that age, Samantha Strange made a plan for the rest of her life.

“I’ve always known I wanted to do something with dogs whether it was be a trainer, be a vet and I just thought it was a great way to help the community,” she said.

Armed with a shovel, some new plants and the $722 she raised going door-to-door asking for donations, Samantha put her plan into motion.

“I just thought that since it was an open piece of land and the dogs were buried there and they’ve spent their whole lives working for us, I just thought that they needed more respect and more honor,” she explained.

The 11-year-old decided last year, she wants to be a K-9 officer when she grows up. In a twist of fate, her mom met the RPD unit and Sam started to visit on a regular basis. She helps train the dogs and raise money to support them.

“A lot of 11-year old boys or girls, whomever, may be interested in something but for them to go out there and seize what she has seized and take the opportunity to do what she has done, that’s where you know she’s very passionate about what she’s done,” Officer Robin Robinson said.

Sam sees herself as lucky and grateful for the opportunity to work with the unit, she doesn’t necessarily get just how thankful they are she came along.

“It shows us how much people really do care and it does give us a place to come back here and say ‘wow, you know, this is for the partners,’” Robinson added.

Source- WWBT

Las Vegas cabbie returns $221,000 found in cab www.privateofficer.com

Las Vegas NV Oct 10 2012 A $2,000 tip is huge for any Las Vegas cab driver, but then Adam Woldemarim, a 42-year-old Ethiopian cabbie, did someone a huge favor: He turned in a lost laptop case stuffed with $221,000, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

Woldemarim, who came to the U.S. seven years ago through a government visa lottery, found the cash-stuffed case in the back of his van Sept. 2.

After checking with an Ethiopian pal who had driven the vehicle earlier in the day, Woldemarim decided to take the cash to his cab company’s security office.

An hour later, Woldemarim got a call to return to the office, where he got a hug from a grinning 30-year-old who said he won the money at Wynn Las Vegas and had left the case in the cab after going to the airport.

He then gave Woldemarim $2,000.

While friends grumbled that a 10% tip ($20,000) would have been more appropriate, Woldemarim, who works 12 hours a day to take home $350 a week, isn’t complaining, the newspaper reports.

Alex “Baharu” Alebachew, 50, a friend of Woldemarim, says a lot of people think foreign cabbies abuse tourists or just cause problems or don’t belong in the country.

“They never see the good side to us, the honest side,” Alebachew tells Journal-Review reporter Tom Ragan. “If you can just print that, it would be nice.”

Centenarian befriended by Prince George’s officers laid to rest www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Prince George County MD Sept 23 2012 The Prince George’s County police officers carried a polished wooden casket Friday through the cemetery at St. John’s Episcopal Church in FortWashington. As friends and neighbors shared memories about the 102-year-old woman inside, one detective wiped tears from her eyes.

Police had come for a final goodbye to Nancy Poore Tufts, a feisty centenarian officers met last year while they were investigating a rash of burglaries and looking for places where crooks might store their loot. The chance encounter sparked a lasting friendship, and when Tufts died in herFort Washington home Sunday, she had police, firefighters and neighbors at her side.

“I’m just thankful we were able to be a part of her life,” said Detective Tammy Irons, who was among seven Prince George’s County police officers asked to be pallbearers at Tufts’s funeral. “I wish we would have met her sooner.”

Irons first encountered Tufts last summer as she poked around the 102-year-old’s red brick mansion on the Potomac River — a home she assumed was abandoned. Surrounded by knee-high grass and its outside blanketed in green ivy, police thought it might have been a criminal stash house. Making her way past tables and shelves full of dusty books, hand bells and Victorian figurines, Irons heard what she would come to know as Tufts’s iconic call.

“Yoo-hoo!” Tufts chirped from her seat beneath a window.

Police officers soon began checking on Tufts regularly — in part to make sure she was okay, in part because they were fascinated by her stories. Born in London to American parents, Tufts’s family moved to Maryland in the 1930s, cutting a space for a house out of land that was mostly woods.

Tufts eventually earned several degrees, including a bachelor’s and master’s from SyracuseUniversity, and worked as a music teacher. In an interview in the summer of 2011, Tufts said she was sometimes known as the “panda lady” because she let National Zoo officials harvest bamboo from her property to feed the pandas. She also started a local hand bell group.

“She meant a lot to us,” said Detective Jennifer Ivy, who was also close with Tufts. “It was her personality, her wit, and just the knowledge that we would gain from her. . . . Every time you would walk through the door, you would learn something new.”

A quick-witted woman who kept up with current events, Tufts lived mostly independently in her home and used a walker to get around. She had no children, and her husband died decades ago. Police said they worried about her safety, but they stopped by as friends, not caretakers.

“What kept us going there was who she was,” said Sgt. Matt Barba.

Tufts’s funeral was a formal affair, attended by several dozen neighbors, police officers and firefighters — whom family members thanked for looking out for Tufts in recent years. Retired Air Force Col. James E. Poore Jr., Tufts’s nephew, remembered his aunt as a “fiercely independent woman” who “lived life on her own terms.” Poore, 84, said that when he was 5 years old and asked Tufts about an injury she had sustained in a horseback-riding accident, she unabashedly lifted her skirt to show him the scar.

“I would say to St. Peter: Be Alert. Nancy Poore Tufts is on the way,” Poore said.

In July 2011, Prince George’s police officers undertook a massive landscaping project at Tufts’s historic property — a National Wildlife Federation “Backyard Wildlife Habitat” and county historic site — re-planting some of the garden that Tufts had promised to maintain for her mother some 40 years ago. At the time, Tufts gave them a hand-written list of the animals there and a warning not to disturb any of them. She also objected when she thought some bushes were trimmed too heavily.

Detectives said Tufts told them repeatedly, as recently as a few weeks ago, that she wanted to die in her home. Although they were saddened by her death, they said it was exactly as Tufts would have liked.

“I was happy that she was able to pass the way she wanted to, in her home,” Ivy said. “It’s just sad that she’s gone and we won’t be able to enjoy her anymore.”

Source:Washington Post

Community rallies behind Gulfport officer with cancer www.privateofficer.com

 

 

GULFPORT, MS Sept 21 2012

A Gulfport police officer diagnosed with stage four colon cancer has a community rallying behind him. As Sgt. Davy Kirkland fights for his life, his friends and coworkers don’t want him to worry about his family’s finances, so they’re stepping in to help.

Kirkland’s wife, Audrey, remembers the day their world turned upside down.

“August 2nd, he started having right lower side pain. I figured it was appendicitis. The next morning he went in and had surgery and they found that he had colon cancer,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what to think. I was in shock.”

That day, the doctors removed 18 inches of Kirkland’s colon, nine lymph nodes, and two tumors. He is about to start six months of chemotherapy.

“Davy has survived earthquakes in Kosovo, Hurricane Katrina, house fires, tornadoes. So, he’s going to survive this. He’s a fighter. He has a great personality and attitude and that hasn’t even changed,” Audrey Kirkland said.

“You can second guess things that have happened and what not. I mean, how many times in my life have I said ‘I wish’ something? You know, I wish that had happened to me instead of them?” Davy Kirkland asked.

“The thing that you have to remember about Davy is that if you ever have a problem or you ever need anything, Davy was the first one to help,” said Commander Chris Loposser, who has worked with Kirkland for nearly eight years.

“His first assignment, he acted as an undercover officer producing 150 street level narcotics cases right out the gate. So from the get go, Davy’s been a huge asset for us.”

Kirkland has five children: four girls and one boy. His friends want Kirkland to know his family is being cared for during this difficult time.

“We’re trying to get to where Davy doesn’t have so much to worry about. He can focus on getting better,” said Loposser.

You can keep up with Davy Kirkland’s fight and offer your support through Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/prayingfordavy

To make a contribution to the fundraising effort, visit: http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=7844&url=teamdavydominatingcoloncancer

“We have been overwhelmed at the love and support that has been shown,” said Audrey Kirkland.

And it’s that support, the Kirklands say, that will help him win this battle against cancer.

Source:WLOX

VA police chiefs warn of dangers of toy guns www.privateofficer.com

 

Fairfax VA July 6 2012 Toy guns, especially those made to resemble their more dangerous counterparts, can cause just as much fear and danger as the real thing.

But terrorizing their neighborhood and being confronted by a police officer is often the last thing a child thinks about when he’s running about with what he considers a toy.

Fairfax High School freshman Jordan Tomagko, 14, plays with his replica M-14 with his neighborhood buddies, and thanks to the City of Fairfax Police Department and its School Resource Officers, Tomagko is familiar with the fear a toy gun can cause and takes appropriate precautions.

“It’s a serious thing, a dangerous thing,” he said. “It can scare people.”

Police chiefs, school officials and Fairfax families came together Friday morning in Fairfax City to warn about the dangers of replica guns.

“Replicas are manufactured plastic or synthetic projectiles. Some can fire pellets by compressed air and can inflict serious injury and damage to property,” said Fairfax City Police Chief Rick Rappoport. “But the greatest danger is when others perceive replicas as weapons and as threats.”

Northern Virginia chiefs and sheriffs, including Herndon’s Police Chief Maggie DeBoard, placed about a dozen real and replica weapons on a table to show how difficult it can be to distinguish between the toy and the real thing. Though some replicas feature a tell-tale orange cap at the end of the barrel, that’s not always the case.

Because the real and fake weapons appear so similar, criminals have used replicas in their crimes. Replicas allow criminals to escape the additional prison time tacked onto crimes when committed with the use of firearm. Arlington County Police Chief Doug Scott and Fairfax County Police Chief Dave Rohrer said robbers in particular will modify replica weapons to remove the bright orange tell-tale tips or paint them black. They then threaten store owners with the fake guns, achieving the same fear they’d get if using a real weapon.

Children who carry replica weapons can cause the same kind of fear. And Replica guns, known in Virginia code as pneumatic guns, don’t carry the same restrictions as real firearms.

Leesburg Police Chief Joe Price referenced a January Texas incident in which a middle school student armed with a BB gun that resembled a Glock semiautomatic handgun. The student was fatally shot by police when he refused to put down the weapon.

“Officers are trained to look at movements, not objects,” Price said. He added that a trained officer’s reaction time is so fast that there’s little chance to notice the replica.

And any hesitation can mean the end of a police officer’s life.

In 2011, for the first time in 15 years, more officers were killed by firearms than in traffic accidents, Rappoport said. Since these replicas look like real guns, officers are trained to treat them as such.

Tomagko and his friends use caution when playing with replicas, he said. They stay in the backyard, wear safety goggles to protect their eyes and aim low, to lessen the likelihood of firing a pellet at a vehicle or home, or into someone’s face.

Lanier Middle School Principal Scott Poole emphasized the need for schools and police departments to work together in educating children about the dangers of replica weapons.

SRO Mike Murphy said he teaches children to use their replicas while under supervision at safe, designated environments like shooting ranges and paintball play areas. He stressed that if approached by a police officer, they should follow all directions and put their replicas down.

The Town of Herndon is currently working to pass a new ordinance regulating pneumatic guns within the town limits so the town’s ordinance matches legislation regarding pneumatic guns that was passed in 2011.

SC gym owner gives customer kidney www.privateofficer.com

 

IRMO, SC  May 15 2012 – As co-owner of Anytime Fitness in Irmo, Radley West makes it her job to help clients look and feel better. But this week, she’s taking that idea to a whole new level.

Radley is giving a kidney to one of her customers.

“I have two,” Radley said. “It’s not vital. I have a spare. Just giving one of my spare parts.”

The man lucky enough to have met Radley West is 33-year-old Ryan Brooke. West and her husband and business partner Andrew got to know Brooke late last year. They knew he was on dialysis and could see he was struggling.

“Sooner or later you’re not going to have a way to stick, so you can do dialysis and eventually the person will die if their kidneys don’t work,” Andrew said.

“I guess my thought process was, if I have to go through a little discomfort in the procedure and recovery in order to improve his quality of life in the long term, that is what’s important,” Radley said.

Both of the Wests began exploring the concept of living organ donation. It turned out only Radley would be a match for Brooke.

“I’ve always said through this whole process and pretty much my entire life that you can’t go through life with what-if’s. I mean you just do what you do. And this entire process I put in God’s hands,” Radley said. “From the beginning to every step I took.

Brooke is already in Augusta preparing for the surgery. Radley will travel there Tuesday with the operation scheduled for Wednesday.

Friends and other customers have offered to help run the fitness franchise while the Wests are gone. And the rest is all a matter of faith.

“Again, it’s all in God’s hands,” Andrew said. If she is to pass away under the knife and Ryan is still able to have a kidney, great.”

“At’s just putting yourself out there and helping somebody else out with something that you don’t really need,” Radley said. “I don’t need that extra kidney.”

Source: WIS

SC deputy sheriff K-9 team brings smiles and cheer www.privateofficer.com

 

COLUMBIA, SC MRCH 30 2012 - When it comes to making the best of a bad situation, it’s tough to find a better team than Sgt. Lewis Marshall and his K-9 partner Lucky.

Only Lucky isn’t what you think of when you think of a deputy dog.

He’s a standard poodle.

“I said, ‘Tell you what, there’ll be no pink bows in his head, and his toenails won’t have to be painted. He’ll have to go like he is,’” Marshall said.

That’s good enough for the kids he sees on a weekly basis at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital. Some are at the hospital for a few hours and others are there for weeks.

“When you first meet someone with him, his size does intimidate,” said Marshall.

But therapy training and tricks go a long way for a very large dog.

“By the time we leave, they’ve forgotten all about the pain,” Marshall said.

Marshall has combined a career in law enforcement with a lifelong passion for dogs. When you throw in his sense of humor, it’s easy to see why the staff also look forward to his visits.

But as much fun as he has, the job, inherently, can be rough.

“You go see these people, they become personal friends, and then some of them don’t make it,” Marshall said. “The kids, that tears me up when I get there and so-and-so’s gone.”

Moments of grief are easily outweighed by tender moments when the pain pauses.

“When he comes in, it’s out of this world to watch them,” Marshall said. “It really is.”

Source:WIS

Oklahoma City police sargeant writes song for injured officer www.privateofficer.com

 

Oklahoma Ok Dec 1 2011 Oklahoma City police Sgt. Ryan Schweitzer said people often see him singing when they pull up alongside his patrol car on any given day.

Schweitzer’s love of singing and a desire to help fellow police officer Chad Peery recently led him to write and record a song in Peery’s honor.

The Yukon resident said the song “Selfless” was written with Peery in mind and focuses on Peery’s selfless actions one February night.

Peery, 34, suffered a broken neck when he was beaten Feb. 15 after trying to force three customers to leave Dan O’Brien’s Public House in Oklahoma City. He was off-duty, unarmed and visiting the bar with his father. Bartenders asked for his help getting some men to leave after they got into arguments with bar regulars.

Schweitzer, 31, said he wanted to pay tribute to Peery and help him in some way.

With that idea in mind, Schweitzer recorded his song and “Selfless” CD singles will be available for purchase soon at metro 7-Eleven stores.

He said proceeds from the CD sales will benefit Peery.

“When it first happened, I learned that we were of a similar age and we both have four kids,” Schweitzer said. “I was a hospital guard one night when he was hospitalized. From that night on, I knew I had to do something to help.”

Schweitzer said he talked with his wife, Rebekah, and came up with several other fundraising ideas but the song won out. He said he has always loved to sing and sang in high school choral groups. Smiling, Schweitzer said he sings “on the back pew” at Covenant Community Church where he attends worship services, but had never written a song before. Schweitzer said he worried that he wasn’t good enough to record the song but he squelched those feelings and moved forward with the project.

“I think God can use normal people or broken people,” he said.

Schweitzer said he visited Peery and made sure the project was OK with the injured officer.

“I wanted his blessing on it,” he said.

Schweitzer said Peery told him that people have said he is an inspiration to them but the overwhelming community support that he has received has provided inspiration to him.

Schweitzer said one of the people inspired by Peery was Schweitzer’s daughter Emma who is 7. Schweitzer said she came to him one day carrying her piggy bank with $84 inside. He said the little girl told him she wanted to offer it to Peery as soon as she had saved $100.

Schweitzer said he initially wanted to discourage her but realized that her donation of embodied the kind of selflessness that Peery had shown.

“I realized that it was the very thing that I was singing about. It’s something I should foster in my kid.”

Little Emma is featured on the cover of the “Selfless” CD presenting her piggy bank to a uniformed police officer, presumably her dad.

Schweitzer debuted “Selfless” during a special worship service on Sept. 11 at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8601 S Pennsylvania.

He said some of his fellow police officers have teased him a little, but all have been supportive of the project.

“For the most part, the officers think it’s a neat thing, what I’m doing.”

Source:newsok.com

Collier County deputy starts produce patrol www.privateofficer.com

 

Naples Fla Nov 17 2011 When Deputy Craig Demange isn’t transporting criminals to jail, he is delivering organic produce to customers.

Demange, a 35-year-old Collier County deputy, founded his organic produce company, Organics of Naples, in 2010.

“I’m a middle-class person, too,” Demange said.

“It makes me feel good to be able to save families some money.”

He began serving 20 customers in his first year of service with the intentions of providing customers an inexpensive option to buy healthy produce.

Since the company’s inception, Organics of Naples has gained 400 customers.

Demange has Groupon, a free website which provides daily deals with substantial savings on products, to thank for his clientele boost. He says the online service brought him approximately 200 customers in June, 100 of which have become regulars.

Organics of Naples offers three options on its website for customers to choose from. They recommend the value box for a customer’s first purchase.

For $34.99 the value box contains 13 to 15 items and is best suited for a two to four person family.

Customers can also order the small box for $24.99. The small box contains 10 or 11 items and is best suited for one or two people.

For $44.99, customers can order the extra-value box, which contains 13 to 15 items. This box contains more of each item than the value box contains. This option is best suited for a family of four to six people.

Each box will contain a mix of fruits and vegetables, which Demange says he selects on a weekly basis. He bases his choices off of what he feels adds the best diversity and value to the box.

“Every box will contain one or two expensive items each week,” Demange said.

Demange allows customers to substitute unwanted items for an item of their choice for a $1-per-item fee. He says if customers want to avoid the fee, they can choose to substitute an unwanted item for surplus items.

The advantages of his service are noticeable.

Demange said his produce costs 30 percent less than supermarket prices. If this wasn’t enough to entice customers to try his product, Demange offers free delivery for all customers in Naples.

Demange said there is a $1 delivery fee for Marco Island, Bonita Springs and Estero residents. Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral resident will be charged a $2 delivery fee.

Organics of Naples currently delivers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Demange said he hopes to start delivering on Thursdays in the near future.

There is a $20 sign-up fee for new customers. Demange says he will waive this fee for college students.

Even though this service requires a membership, customers are not required to order produce each week. Customers are able to order boxes weekly, bi-weekly or periodically.

Why should consumers eat organic?

Demange doesn’t want to consume non-organic produce due to the pesticides which are sprayed on them.

“Chemicals which are sprayed on foods can’t be good for you,” says Demange.

“If you’re concerned about residues,” said Dr. Tim Durham, a university colloquium professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, “I would encourage you to wash (your produce) multiple times.”

Durham has a doctorial degree in plant medicine, which covers plant nutrition and food safety. He spends his time off during the summer working at his family’s farm in Long Island.

Foods have to follow strict guidelines to be labeled organic, said Durham. He says there are specific pesticides and fertilizers, which must be approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The resources used in these organic pesticides and fertilizers usually have to originate from plants or something sourced in nature, said Durham.

There are three classes of organic foods: 100 percent organic, 95 percent organic, and 70 percent organic, said Durham. If a product is labeled 70 percent organic, Durham says it may only hold the USDA label “made with organic ingredients.”

Durham doesn’t usually eat organic produce. He says he sticks to whatever produce is the most affordable.

“One of the aspects of organics I do like is the fact that it attempts to reconnect people to where their food comes from,” said Durham. “There has been this long-term disconnect that has been brewing for decades.”

Durham also says the localization that comes with organic farming is beneficial.

“My goal for Organics of Naples is to get it out there in Collier and Lee county and to move it up the west coast,” said Demange.

For customers looking for a healthy Thanksgiving feast, Organics of Naples will be offering the Thanksgiving box. This will include an all-natural turkey with assorted fruits and vegetables to complement it.

Readers interested in more information about the Thanksgiving Box or other information about Organics of Naples can view its website at http://www.organicsofnaples.com.

Durham recommends sourcing food locally for those who strive to eat healthier.

The organic versus non-organic debate may go on, but Deputy Demange will do his best to cuff you to the best produce in Southwest Florida.

Source:eaglenews

Indiana man offers oasis for police, soldiers, firefighters www.privateofficer.com

 

Harrison County IN Oct 13 2011 Rodney Bruce’s gift to his heroes is out Harrison County, Ind., roads that get more rural, more winding, hilly and tree-lined. Getaways are supposed to be away, of course.

Bruce counts on soldiers, police officers and firefighters finding it. They are the ones welcomed, encouraged to check their cares at Bruce’s gate and enjoy his 240 rustic acres. They may hunt, fish, hike, ride horses or do absolutely nothing. Their cost? They’ve always paid it by serving.
“We basically hope we never have to turn anybody away,” Bruce said. “It’s hard to know how big it will get.”
Bruce just turned his for-profit hunting preserve into the nonprofit Hero Reward. Bruce and the organization he formed seek to raise at least $600,000 annually to afford the R & R that Bruce invites.
“It shows his character,” said Robert Schickel, a local businessman and Farm Bureau leader. “He has empathy.”
Bruce, 42, otherwise crafts and sells lodge-like furniture from cedar. His wife teaches high school in Corydon. They and their young son live on the property they look forward to sharing year round.
Bruce bought it in the 1990s, land fondly familiar because it was in the family previously. Bruce’s memories of it mostly involved hunting, for him a devoted hobby and family tradition.
Bruce has hunted in Russia, Canada and throughout the United States.
Bruce made his property his business in 2002. Some 600 hunters took up Bruce on the opportunity, staying in a cabin he built and largely furnished by hand. Bruce said gears switch now not because interest has waned or because fenced havens for hunting attract determined foes.
Bruce said his priorities changed when he became a father. Plus he had treated several veterans for visits and was moved by their appreciation. “I see a huge need,” Bruce said.
Chris Byrd, a lawyer in Corydon, has joined Bruce on the Hero Reward board and embraces the mission. “It’s a great opportunity to give people a chance to forget their worries,” he said. Byrd said he hears nothing but cheers.
Schickel agrees. “This thing is class act.”
Bruce asks for applicants, their credentials to be verified. They and their families may come when it suits them. “It’s all about them when they come in,” Bruce said.
And Bruce hammers how his guests will set their agenda. They may just want to see the region’s sights, perhaps check out the local casino.
“Hunting is not the most politically correct thing,” Bruce said. “We don’t try to smear it in anyone’s face. It’s just part of what we do.”
Bruce realizes the challenge for which he has volunteered. At least overhead is at a minimum. Bruce spearheads fundraising with a broad scope. “I’m trying to make this a community deal, a local thing, ” he said.

Source:courier-journal.com

Hospitals-churches working together to lower health care costs by adding services www.privateofficer.com

 

Memphis TN Oct 5 2011 Two mainstays of the Memphis community — the Methodist Le Bonheur hospital system and nearly 400 local churches — have teamed up for an innovative program that keeps church members healthy while reducing health-care costs. If not actually made in heaven, it’s a match that has significantly benefited all parties. Other health-care systems are taking note.

Methodist says 70 percent of its patients belong to churches. To help people get the care they need when they need it, the system assigns hospital staff, appropriately called “navigators,’’ to work with volunteer liaisons at area churches that have joined the health system’s Congregational Health Network. When a member of one of these congregations is admitted to the hospital, the navigator notifies the liaison. The liaison then plans a visit, if the member wishes, “so they have a support structure, not just the nurse and doctor,” says Valerie Murphy, the liaison for her small church of six families in Millington, a rural area north of Memphis.

When it comes time to discharge the patient, the liaison works with the navigator to make sure that the transition happens smoothly, connecting the patient with community services such as meals-on-wheels and transportation.

“It’s the social connections, the nitty-gritty practical stuff that makes a huge difference,” says Gary Gunderson, senior vice president for the health system. “Whether people understand how to take their medications, whether there’s food in the house.”

The health system compared the experiences and costs of 473 patients in the program with those of similar non-participating patients who received standard care from 2007 to 2009: The mortality rate for those in the network was 50 percent lower than for non-participating patients; their hospital readmission rates were 20 percent lower.

In the future, Methodist expects to reap savings by reducing the need for high-end specialized care and avoiding penalties for hospital readmission, says Teresa Cutts, Methodist’s director of research for innovation at its Center for Excellence for Faith and Health.

Patient education is another key to the program’s long-term success. In addition to helping hospital patients, the liaisons work to educate members of their congregations about healthful living and disease prevention. Murphy, for example, regularly posts information about risk factors for chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease in the church bulletin and on the church bulletin board, and she brings in experts to discuss chronic conditions.

Tyrone Griggs credits a sharp-eyed liaison at his church with his diabetes diagnosis nine months ago. The liaison noticed he was having trouble reading his Bible, he says, and talked with his wife about getting him tested. Griggs, 48, drives a truck and doesn’t have health insurance. But the liaison referred him to a nonprofit clinic that serves the uninsured.

“They monitor me and taught me how to take care of myself,” he says. “I’ve been going there ever since.”

Methodist may have one of the most extensive programs, but it’s by no means the only health system partnering with churches to improve congregation members’ health. At Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California, medical staff from the Seventh-day Adventist health system provide free health screening and education to members of area churches, says Dora Barilla, the medical center’s director of community health development.

Recently, for example, a neurologist with the Loma Linda physicians group spoke at a Temecula church with a large Hispanic population about the signs of stroke and early dementia, and about available services. “Our research showed that Spanish-speaking populations weren’t necessarily accessing dementia services,” says Barilla.

Although many health systems that are working with churches to develop their “health ministries” are faith-based, not all are. For more than a decade, the Inova Health System in Northern Virginia has been working with religious communities on health promotion and prevention through its Congregational Health Partnership. To better serve the area’s wide variety of faiths and languages, Inova employs different program managers to work with Hispanic, Muslim, Korean, Vietnamese and African American groups, says Maria Schaart, a physician who works with Hispanic churches.

If all this volunteer work sounds like a very good deal for financially strapped health-care systems, it is. “We’re saving a lot of money,” says Gunderson. “We’re mobilizing and aligning hundreds of people that we couldn’t pay,” he says, referring to the roughly 500 volunteer church liaisons.

Churches welcome the opportunity to work with health systems to help their members. “The church community wants to provide those hours,” says Mara Vanderslice Kelly, acting director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Last month, HHS invited Methodist to describe its programs at an event that brought representatives of 18 health systems together to discuss innovative faith- and community-based programs.

Unlike so many innovations in health reform these days, hospital-church partnerships probably don’t need a financial leg up from the federal government. “Our belief is that the hospitals have the funds to do these partnerships if they want to,” says Kelly.

This column is produced through a collaboration between The Post and Kaiser Health News. KHN, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care-policy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

source:washington post

A message on a mirror www,privateofficer.com

 

Charlotte NC Aug 27 2011 Caitlin Boyle was struggling with a chemistry class and feeling down one evening two summers ago when she decided to turn her mood around.

“You are beautiful!” she scribbled on a piece of notebook paper, which she stuck on a community college bathroom mirror for a stranger to find.

She posted what she’d done on her food-and-fitness blog, healthytipping point.com , and asked her readers to do the same. They did. And a movement, of sorts, was born.

“I remember thinking, ‘I wonder who will find this note, and how it will make them feel?’ ” says Boyle, 27, who moved to Charlotte from Orlando, Fla., last year. “I was just having a really bad day and I wanted to do something nice for somebody else.”

Within three days, 75 of Boyle’s blog readers told her about anonymous notes they’d left.

Within weeks, Boyle started http://www.operationbeautiful .com . There, Boyle posts photos of the self-affirming anonymous messages others leave or find, along with the stories behind them.

Within months, Boyle had a book deal with a major publisher, Gotham Books. “Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time” came out last summer, and two more books are in the works.

She’s captured big media attention, including the Oprah Winfrey Network and NBC’s “Today Show.”

She speaks about Operation Beautiful at colleges nationwide and updates the site almost daily with correspondence she gets from people who have both left and received the anonymous notes. They have spanned the globe, reaching as far as Australia and the South Pole.

Boyle says her goal is loftier than simply brightening strangers’ moods. She says she’s trying to banish “fat-talk,” or the negative thoughts people have about themselves, and replace them with affirming messages.

It’s good for both the receiver and the sender, she believes.

“The sneaky thing about Operation Beautiful is that when you write down these messages for other people, you’re really saying them to yourself,” Boyle says.

A positive impact

Psychologists say that while finding an affirming post-it note probably won’t change how a woman feels about herself, it can have a positive – if unmeasurable – impact.

Melinda Harper, an associate professor of psychology at Queens University of Charlotte and a licensed clinical psychologist who works with adolescents and young adults, says she asks patients to place affirming notes for themselves on mirrors or in calendars where they can see them every day.

It’s part of what psychologists call Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which challenges people to identify positive things about themselves so that, over time, they will reframe how they see themselves.

Finding an anonymous post-it left by a stranger may make more of an impact, Harper says, because people often dismiss compliments from friends or family members.

“What I like is the anonymous piece of it,” Harper says. “Here’s someone anonymously putting that out there and encouraging you to believe that about yourself.”

And research shows, Harper says, that “kindness, altruism, taking a moment to give something back to someone else or to extend a compliment can generate a boost in one’s mood or self-esteem.”

Boyle says she’s received emails from readers who say Operation Beautiful has changed their lives.

The most haunting, she says, came from a Canadian teenager who was frail from a deadly eating disorder. She went into a bathroom stall to throw up a sandwich after a therapy session and found a post-it: “You’re good enough the way you are. You’re beautiful. Operationbeautiful.com”

She wrote Boyle, saying that the note was the inspiration she needed to get healthy. Within months, she’d gained 30 pounds.

World of a blogger

Boyle says she’s not getting rich from her life as a blogger; when asked where she and her husband live, she’s quick to point out that their home in Myers Park is a rental.

She says it was her first book deal that gave her the financial push she needed to quit her job as an urban planner for a small consulting firm and focus on her blogs and book writing full-time. She says she’d considered becoming a physical therapist for a while – hence the chemistry class where Operation Beautiful was born – but decided to follow the path to full-time blogging and book writing.

And write she does. Three times a day, Boyle updates her healthytippingpoint.com blog, often posting photos of what she ate that day, healthy food recipes, notes about an upcoming race, or books she’s reading.

She says part of what she believes has made her blog so successful is that she’s willing to blog about almost everything that is going on in her life, with the exceptions of details about her marriage or “secrets that are not my secrets to tell.”

Learning through life

Now that Operation Beautiful has caught flight, Boyle says she’d like to develop a curriculum for girls or young women who are already starting Operation Beautiful clubs in their middle schools, high schools and colleges.

“You look at media today and it is hyper-sexualized,” Boyle says. Society tells little girls “that how good they are with the opposite sex is more important, as opposed to how smart they are or how funny they are.”

Boyle acknowledges that she has no psychology training, but she says her own life experiences and hearing about others’ struggles through online communities have given her the background she needs to write about issues like raising confident children, handling bullying, choosing friends and dealing with toxic family members.

Her blog carries a disclaimer stating that she’s not a medical expert and that the advice she gives is based only on her life experience.

“So much of Operation Beautiful is hearing other people’s stories and … validating those stories and giving them a voice.”

Source:www.charlotteobserver.com

Alert neighbor thwarts kidnapping www.privateofficer.com

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.Aug 18 2011 (AP) — The timing was just right for saving the life of a 6-year-old girl and for turning a 24-year-old mechanic and father of two young daughters into a hero.

It was coincidence that Antonio Diaz Chacon had come home from work early to spend time with his family Monday afternoon. It was also a coincidence that the family’s washing machine had just gone out, forcing them to do laundry a block down the road at a relative’s home.

Had it not been for that, Diaz Chacon wouldn’t have been there to see the girl thrown into a van as another neighbor yelled for the would-be kidnapper to let the child go.

Diaz Chacon is credited with saving the girl after chasing the van through a maze of neighborhoods to the edge of where Albuquerque’s sprawling housing developments meet the desert. It was there where the van crashed into a pole, the suspect fled and Diaz Chacon was able to rescue the girl and take her home.

He didn’t think twice about his actions.

“The way he grabbed her and threw her into the van, I knew it wasn’t right,” he said, as a swarm of media stood outside his home Tuesday night to hear his story. The events were interpreted and relayed from Spanish to English by his wife.

“I knew I had to catch him. I had to get the girl back from him and take her home, back where she belongs,” he said.

It all happened so fast on a sidewalk in the normally quiet mobile home park, where even on the evening after the abduction kids played freely in the streets on their bikes and push scooters as food vendors sold roasted corn and other snacks.

A pair of 911 calls came in quick succession.

On one, a frantic 12-year-old says her little sister is missing. On the other is Diaz Chacon’s wife, Martha.

“We are outside of my mom’s house here,” she told the dispatcher. “We heard a man going, ‘Hey, hey let her go. Let her go.’ So we turn around …

“The man came running to us and said, ‘They stole a little girl.’”

Phillip Garcia, 29, had snatched the girl moments earlier, taking her away in a blue van, police said.

Diaz Chacon jumped in his black pickup and gave chase.

It wasn’t until the van crashed and the driver got out that any sense of fear set in for Diaz Chacon.

“When he got down I was thinking, what if he has a gun,” he said.

Garcia fled on foot, and Diaz Chacon reached the girl and told her he would take her home. Garcia then returned to his wrecked van and took off but was later captured by police, authorities said.

Hidden under a rock just 25 feet from the van was packing tape and a tie-down strap, police said.

Inside the impounded van were tostadas, a glove, a Leatherman tool, a black satchel, orange strapping similar to the strap found hidden under the rock, police said.

“This little girl was very lucky,” police Sgt. Tricia Hoffman said. “We can only guess what would have happened to this child.”

“Throughout the county we see situations like this and they do not end typically well,” she said.

Police were among those who called Diaz Chacon a hero.

One of his daughters even shared the news about her dad’s heroic actions with friends at school on Tuesday.

Diaz Chacon said he was proud to help. While he was chasing the van, he said, he thought of his own two girls — one 7 years old, the other 5 months — and how he would want someone to do the same for him.

“I told him ‘I don’t know how you could do it, just go after him, not knowing where he’s going, what he’s going to do?” his wife said. “But he saved a life.” Garcia was charged with kidnapping, child abuse and tampering with evidence. Hoffman said Garcia is from Albuquerque and had a revoked license but she was unsure if he had a criminal record.

Garcia immediately “lawyered up,” declining to give any statement to authorities, Hoffman said. Garcia remained jailed and no lawyer had yet been listed as taking the case, according to court officials.

There have not been any other recent child abductions or attempted abductions in the city, Hoffman said.

The girl told police she had gone to a neighbor’s to pick up some tostadas and was walking home when the van stopped and the man grabbed her.

“She went to go to the neighbor’s and on her way back we don’t know what happened to her. … When she was coming back or on her way, she just like disappeared,” her sister said in the 911 call.

The girl was grabbed with such force, police said, that bruising had already begun to appear on her chest and back Monday evening. The girl told police the man put his hand over her mouth and she bit him.

She said the man shoved her on the floorboard to keep her head under the window view, according to the police report. She told police there were no backseats in the van and described other details consistent with the impounded van, police said.

She also described rolling in the van when it crashed, and breaking a fingernail. Police said they found what appeared to be a piece of fingernail in the van.

During her interview, police said the girl was concerned that she was unable to bring the tostadas home because she had left them in the van.

The Diazes said the girl’s family had thanked them on Monday, saying they would always be grateful for what the young father had done.

Martha Diaz said she was grateful what could have been a parent’s worst nightmare was not realized that day.

“Everything just worked out,” she said, referring to the perfect timing of that afternoon.

“Even now we say, ‘What if, what if we hadn’t seen him? What if he would have been two minutes earlier.’”

Unidentified Good Samaritan rescues man who fell onto Marta tracks www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Atlanta GA Aug 4 2011 An unidentified Good Samaritan is credited with saving a man who passed out from the heat and fell onto tracks at the Dunwoody MARTA station.

Thomas Holihan said he was disoriented and panic-stricken Tuesday as he tried to get off the tracks with a train only minutes away. He said a man jumped down and after two or three tries was able to lift him up.

Holihan said the man stuck around only long enough to make sure he was OK. He said he didn’t get his rescuer’s name, and wasn’t able to pass along the gratitude he wants to extend.

“God, bless you. I owe my life to you,” Holihan said.

Source:11Alive

Good samaritan tackles man beating Atlanta police officer www.privateofficer.com

 

 

ATLANTA GA July 15 2011 (AP) — Police are thanking a bystander who came to the aid of an Atlanta police officer as she was being punched in the head repeatedly downtown.

Police said the officer stepped out of her vehicle after a man began beating on it, then she was attacked and pushed to the ground
Wednesday morning in downtown Atlanta.

Authorities say the officer was being punched repeatedly when
the bystander, Michael Reed, jumped out of his truck, tackled the
suspect and held him down until more officers arrived.

Reed told WSB-TV that he tackled the man “like I was playing
football again.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the officer, whose
name was not released, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for
evaluation.

Police said she was bruised, but expected to be OK

Ga. girl saves off-duty firefighter from drowning www.privateofficer.com

Lawrencevile, GA Aug 1 2010 — Morgan Walters, 15, admits she was scared when she saved her friend’s father from drowning off the coast of Florida on July 15th.

“He came back up and looked at me and said, ‘Help me!’” said Morgan Walters of Winder. “I thought he was kidding at first.”

Walters was a guest of Lindsey Adams on her family’s vacation to St. Augustine. Lindsey’s father Duane Adams went under water after a huge wave tossed him head-first into the sand below.

“When I came up, I was in severe pain,” Duane Adams said. “I couldn’t move my arms. I couldn’t move my legs. I popped up, saw Morgan and yelled at her to grab me. I couldn’t move anything. I thought I was paralyzed.”

Adams and Walters recounted their story together for the first time on Saturday morning to 11Alive News.

“I saw blood on his face, and I grabbed him and held him up as best I could,” Walters said.

She held him above water until two family members arrived and pulled him to shore where he was taken away by ambulance to spend two days in a hospital intensive care unit.

Adams suffered a bruised spinal cord and swelling but is expected to make a full recovery.

“Morgan is my hero because had she not been there, I would have drowned,” Adams said. “I’m pretty sure of that.”

Adams knows what it is to be a hero. He’s worked as a Gwinnett County firefighter for 28 years.

“There’s no doubt, she’s a hero. She needs to enjoy that. She did what she had to do,” he said.

“I just see myself as being there and helping but not as a hero,” Walters said.

Adams is on leave now, but he’s expected to return to the Gwinnett County Fire Department soon.

He’ll start with light duty for the first month or two.