ThisWeek CW 09/27/2012
Nearly 50 Madison Township residents and family members, as well as current firefighters and police officers, turned out for a swearing-in ceremony last week that also honored trustees and township safety forces.
Four new part-time firefighters, Laura Bray, Zachary Burk, Cory Lang and Anthony Stevens, were sworn in by Interim Fire Chief Robert Bates during the Sept. 19 Madison Township trustees meeting. Officer Ken Braden was sworn in at his new rank of sergeant by Police Chief Greg Ryan.
“Officer Braden has been with Madison Township for 17 years now, and an officer longer than that,” Ryan said. “I’m honored to swear him in as a new sergeant on the Madison Township Police.”
Newly hired part-time police officer Stephanie Loucks was unable to attend the ceremony.
Fire Lt. Mark Ballenger presented trustees with the Air National Guard’s Hometown Heroes Salute Tier 3 Award for their support of Jeremy Irwin and him during their recent overseas tours of duty.
“We were recently deployed overseas and awarded for our service and we felt we received a tremendous amount of support from the trustees while we were deployed,” Ballenger said. “It’s very difficult to work shorthanded while people are gone, but what you did helped us to focus on what we needed to do while we were gone.”
Ballenger then presented Bates with a personal letter of appreciation from Brig. Gen. Mark Stephens.
“We can’t thank you enough for your support, for keeping in touch with us, for (Susan Brobst) contacting our families with insurance information when that changed. The support was overwhelming,” Ballenger said.
Bates presented resident Kylene Stanley and firefighters Bob Schneider, Bill Mallory, Jim Embree, Alan Young and Dave Wares with the CPR Save Award for their efforts at the scene of an Aug. 17 auto accident.
“Crew 182 was dispatched to a vehicle that struck a tree in Canal Winchester where Ms. Stanley was performing CPR on the victim, Mr. Schrader, who had a heart attack while driving,” Bates said. “Our crew assisted and got the victim to the hospital, where Schrader had bypass surgery and survived to be with us here tonight.”
Those at the ceremony were also invited to see the township’s new police cruiser that features new graphics.
“The township chose to mark the chief’s car instead of leaving it unmarked to provide another level of crime deterrent,” trustee Gary McDonald said. “This will let citizens know that it’s our officer and they can flag him down if they need help. It will also make our officers more visible when they’re patrolling.”