Owens honors set for police, citizens
4/24/2009Owens Community College's alumni association will honor five area public safety officials and two citizens today for their service to the community.
The sixth annual Outstanding Service Awards ceremony will be at 8 a.m. in the audio/visual classroom center on the college's Perrysburg Township campus.
Recipients are nominated for demonstrating dedication, ingenuity, bravery, special skills, or community service over time.
The Outstanding Police Officer Award will go to William Laveglia, a Hancock County sheriff's deputy.
He was selected for his work in the aftermath of an armed robbery at a Findlay Wal-Mart store in December, 2008. Deputy Laveglia called for backup and pursued the suspect to his car in the parking lot, catching him, and recovering the stolen items without any shots fired.
Toledo firefighter Phillip Segur will be given the Outstanding Firefighter Award for risking his life in March, 2008, when he rescued an unconscious person inside a home on fire on Clark Street in East Toledo.
In effecting the rescue, he inhaled smoke, but continued, getting them both to safety.
The Outstanding Emergency Medical Technician Award is being presented to David St. Johns, the EMS captain with the Rossford Fire Department.
He responded to 57 percent of the emergency medical service runs in 2008 - more than any other department member.
He also was the second-highest responder to fire runs.
The Outstanding Service to Community Award will go to Kyle Fulmer, an FBI agent with the Toledo Metro Drug Task Force, and Laurie Renze, a Toledo police detective also a member of the task force.
They are being lauded for identifying in 2006 a drug trafficking organization linked to Toledo and responsible for trafficking more than $1 million worth of drugs monthly. Their investigation led to the arrest last August of 23 people.
The Outstanding Community Spirit Award will go to Fostoria residents Donald and Judy Miller.
The married couple, who are lifelong residents of Fostoria, helped establish a Tri-County Fostoria Zero Tolerance Task Force in April, 2006, in response to increased drug activity in their city.
In addition to the awards, the second Detective Keith Dressel Memorial Scholarship will be presented to Owens student David Sims, Jr., of Millbury.
The $500 scholarship is in memory of the Toledo police detective killed in the line of duty in February, 2007, and is awarded to an Owens student interested in becoming a police officer.