Sheriff's Office 15th Annual Awards Ceremony

MEDIA RELEASE

BOULDER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

FIFTEENTH ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office is honored to announce their 2005 Awards Ceremony, which will take place on Saturday, November 12, 2005, at the Radisson Hotel Conference Center in Longmont. Approximately 200+ employees, volunteers, invited guests and their families, are anticipated to attend the event.

Sheriff Joe Pelle will present medals, plaques, and citations to 72 employees and volunteers of the Sheriff’s Office. This year, Sheriff Pelle will present 10 citizens with the Sheriff’s Office Citizen Recognition Award for their actions that resulted in a positive outcome or enhanced the effectiveness of the Sheriff’s Office.

Meritorious Service Medals will be awarded to Jail Sergeant Jeff Goetz, Jail Sergeant Ron Kaundart, Jail Maintenance Supervisor Don Keeler, Operations Training Sergeant Scot Williams, Victim Advocate Pat Hofman, and Detective Lori Cox. The Meritorious Service Medal is awarded to an individual who, while serving in any capacity with the Sheriff’s Office, has distinguished him or herself with exceptionally meritorious service over a period of several years.

Life Saving Medals will be awarded to Patrol Deputies Bill Manes, Jim O’Brien, and Tony Tagliatela, and Dispatchers Ginger Sickmon and Charlie Schmidtmann.

On October 2, 2005, Dispatcher Ginger Sickmon took a call from a disoriented female who had wrecked her car and had no idea where she was. She knew only that she was near Gunbarrel, on a back road, and was not near any homes or landmarks. Ginger told the victim to put her flashers on and then aired the call to all County units. Deputies Bill Manes and Jim O’Brien responded to the Gunbarrel area. Deputy Manes saw flashing lights in a field, proceeded to the area, and found the victim. Deputy O’Brien arrived shortly thereafter. While awaiting medical response, the victim went unresponsive. Deputies Manes and O’Brien initiated CPR, and the victim resumed breathing. Due to the joint efforts of Ginger, Bill, and Jim, the victim was located and a life was saved.

While assigned to the Jail Maximum Module, Jail Deputy Tony Tagliatela’s attention was drawn to an inmate who appeared to be choking on something. That something turned out to be a piece of hard candy. Deputy Tagliatela evaluated the situation, recalled training, and performed the Heimlich Maneuver dislodging the candy from the inmate’s throat. Jail Deputy Tagliatela is credited with curtailing a full-blown EMS response and life-threatening situation as a result of his quick thinking and action.

In October 2005, Dispatcher Charlie Schmidtmann took a call from a citizen regarding his missing 82-year old father who was overdue and possibly disoriented. The father was driving a vehicle with OnStar (GPS), and the citizen thought public safety could assist with tracking. Although the Communications Center was extremely busy that day, Charlie kept his nose to the grindstone meeting OnStar requirements in order to acquire information. OnStar eventually relayed location information to Charlie, which he subsequently passed on to Fort Collins Police. Fort Collins Police located the individual who had overdosed on rat poison and alcohol, but was still alive and breathing. Due to Charlie’s relentlessness, a life was saved.

Sheriff Pelle will award the Operations Officer of the Year plaque to Deputy Chris Fiegel, the Jail Officer of the Year plaque to Jail Deputy Tim Oliveira, and the Non-commissioned Employee of the Year plaque to Fleet Manager Tom Vrtis. These plaques are awarded for outstanding service during the period of one year in each of their respective job categories.

Sheriff Pelle is awarding the Certificate of Commendation to 20 Sheriff’s Office employees. The Certificate of Commendation is awarded to employees who have performed above and beyond that which is normally expected, and by accomplishing their actions through the use of exemplary initiative and outstanding professional endeavors. This year’s recipients are: Deputy Eric Witte, Deputy Ali Bartley, Deputy Jeff Brunkow, Jail Sergeant Doug Caven, Personnel Specialist Gayla Brooks, Jail Counselor Michelle Davis, Jail Counselor Shane McGurk, Jail LPN Cheri Harvey, Jail LET Jennifer Torres, Operations Lead LET Rachel Day, Jail Sergeant Ross Martinez, Jail Deputy Chris Reiss, Jail Deputy Tom Shorten, Jail Deputy Tony Knight, Jail Deputy Karmen Koger, Deputy Seth Poe, Radio Technician Dave Sittner, Victim Advocate Annie Clarke, Detective Mike Wagner, and Detective John Zamora.

This year, 31 volunteers of the Sheriff’s Office will receive the Volunteer Excellence Award for service exceeding the established expectations that provide a significant contribution to the Sheriff’s Office and community. Those receiving the award for 2005 are: Master Gardener Volunteers John Baker, Costen Aytes, Sue Biter, Kathleen Kegel, Michelle Sanders, Heather Swallow, and Carol O’Meara; and Victim Advocate Volunteers who assisted with Hurricane Katrina Relief: Karen Clayton, Linda Sarrazin, Chris Jones, Pat Hofman, Chery Labbe, Nan Keehner, Kevin Sipple, Tom Rogers, Becky Stewart, Frank Hagin, Laurie Bullock, Judy Gathje, Ciana Grove, Kathy Talbot, Roger Thompson, Bob Davies, Lucretia Jones, Dana Donley, Christy Estoll, Sarah Hayes, Laura Johnson, Rebecca Lawrence, Deborah Nabozny, and Catherine Romero.

The Reserve Unit is awarding the Volunteer of the Year Award to Reserve Unit Citizen Volunteers Roger Briden & Matt Stokan. The recipient of this award is any Reserve, Cadet, or Volunteer who has distinguished himself or herself by exceptional service for a period of one year.

Reserve Deputy Kerry Kirby will receive the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Unit’s Reserve Deputy of the Year Award, and Reserve Deputy Dan Hershman will receive the Reserve Unit’s Roy and Goldie Fling Award for their contributions and timeless efforts in the Reserve Unit Program.

Sheriff Pelle will recognize 10 citizens at this year’s ceremony and will present each of them with a Citizen Recognition Award. The Citizen Recognition Award is bestowed upon a citizen who takes a substantial action in the successful culmination of a significant event in Boulder County.

The 2005 recipients of this award are: Fred & Lynda Nickel of Longmont, Ashleigh Ayotte of Johnstown, Matthew Beck of Boulder, Stephen Rohrbach of Lyons, Diane Dietrich of Longmont, John Eaton of Boulder, John Hitt of Longmont, Andrew Gorman of Lafayette, and Becky Fournet of Longmont.

On February 8, 2004, deputies came upon a serious head-on accident in the area of N. Foothills Highway just north of Nelson Road. Deputies notified Communications and also requested a Flight-for-Life helicopter be put on stand-by as injuries were anticipated. Two citizens identified as Fred & Lynda Nickel, who had witnessed the accident, were already on-scene. Fred was instrumental in extinguishing a car fire. Lynda, after receiving deputy permission, removed a baby passenger from the other vehicle comforting him until medical help arrived. Although both drivers and the baby were critically injured, this was not a fatal accident as deputies had first thought thanks to the efforts of Fred and Lynda.

Ashleigh Ayotte, 13-years old, donated a K9 ballistic vest to the Sheriff’s K9 Unit. The vest is being worn by K9 “Sally”, the department’s bloodhound. Ashleigh raised $1000 by soliciting assistance from local businesses, garage and lemonade sales, and a raffled NBA picture. On August 24, 2005, Sheriff Pelle presented Ashleigh with the “Citizen Recognition” Certificate, a Sheriff’s Office gold coin, and a sincere and appreciative thank you for her time and hard work in raising the funds.

On December 18, 2004, emergency units responded to a pinned, injury accident in the 700 block of Sunshine Canyon. At home, Matthew Beck heard tires squealing and crunching metal; what he thought to be the sounds of a vehicle crash. Approaching the crash, Matthew saw flames. From his garage, he grabbed a fire extinguisher to extinguish the fire but was unable to. Two people were trapped in the vehicle screaming for help. Matthew returned to his residence, called 911, and made a second attempt to extinguish the fire, this time successfully. Emergency responders arrived and were able to extricate the people from the vehicle and transported them to the hospital. Matthew was instrumental in the saving of two lives, due to his quick thinking and actions.

On Friday, August 19, 2005, Sheriff’s deputies were working the Folks Festival extra duty/traffic assignment in Lyons. At approximately 10:40 pm, flames were noticed at the rear of a mobile home at 501 W. Main Street. Deputies immediately responded to assess the situation. Luckily, no one was home. Planet Bluegrass employee, Stephen Rohrbach, also observed the fire. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the scene. Within moments, Stephen had the flames knocked down which were quickly reaching eight feet in height. The fire department arrived shortly thereafter. Stephen is being recognized for his quick fire-fighting action that curtailed extensive mobile home damage, and overall assistance in a potentially dangerous situation.

Diane Dietrich is the owner of Blue Hills Dog & Cat Shoppe in Longmont. For the past two years, Diane has supported the K9 Units of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Longmont Police Department, and Longmont Fire Department. Diane’s support to the Sheriff’s Office has been in the form of dog food and dog washings for all six dogs in the K9 Unit. The K9 handlers and their four-pawed partners are very much appreciative of Diane’s generosity.

For the past 15-years, John Eaton has been the head of festival productions for the Lyons-based Planet Bluegrass, and coordinates with the Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services. At the beginning of each festival season, John meets with the Lyons Substation Sergeant and negotiates services, fees, and logistics. Over the years, John has been a pleasure to work with. His professionalism, calm demeanor, and character made for an open, effective, and cooperative relationship/partnership.

On Tuesday, August 16, 2005, John Hitt observed a bank bag fall from a Loomis-Fargo courier truck near S. 96^th Street/Dillon Road. Mr. Hitt located the bag and notified Lafayette Police Department, who in turn notified the Sheriff’s Office as the incident had occurred in unincorporated Boulder County. The bank bag contained $10,000 in cash. Unbeknownst to Mr. Hitt, another citizen, Andrew Gorman, was also turning in a similar bank bag full of cash to the Boulder Police Department. The bag had been found at the same location around the same time. The bank bag contained $5097. Mr. Hitt and Mr. Gorman are commended for their personal integrity in turning in the money. It was the responsible, honest, and right thing to do.

Becky Fournet has family in the area of Louisiana hit hard by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Conversations with family revealed that children in the Lafayette Parish School District had no school supplies. Becky approached her company and asked if they would be willing to pay for shipping school supplies to Louisiana, if she took on the project of collecting them from fellow employees, and possibly employees of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office since her husband, Kerry, is a Deputy Sheriff with that agency. Donations were overwhelming. Becky’s company, and Becky personally, paid for shipping 50+ boxes. On a trip to Louisiana, an additional 20 boxes of school supplies were transported. Thank you letters were received from Edgar Martin Middle School and Asbury United Methodist Church, both in Lafayette, Louisiana, for the donated school supplies.

Sheriff Pelle and the Sheriff’s Office staff recognize all these people for the work they have done, and the work they do daily for the citizens of Boulder County. Everyone in the Sheriff’s Office makes significant personal, as well as professional contributions in this effort. Therefore, it is once again with great honor we pay tribute to, and recognize the individuals who have put forth extra effort and conducted themselves in a distinguished and outstanding manner in the performance of their duties. For further information contact Yo Hendry at (303) 441-4605. Media attendance is welcome at awards presentation commencing at approximately 8:00 pm.

Detective Commander Rick Brough
Boulder County Sheriff's Office
303-441-3631