Published: May 15, 2009 08:48 am      

Thorns & Roses May 15

Roses



• To The Pulaski County Health Department, volunteers and officials from Elkhart, St. Joseph, Kosciusko, Marshall, Pulaski, Starke and Fulton counties for coming together to conduct the point of distribution drill at Winamac High School Saturday. A timely event with the H1N1 flu outbreak, the exercise was a requirement of a grant the health department received from the state for disaster emergency preparedness. Groups participating included hospital staff, emergency medical service workers, the Red Cross, health and sheriff’s departments and emergency management and mental health agencies.



• To Jaclyn Slusher, the Cass County Family YMCA and the Cass County Community Foundation for the new playground at the YMCA. Slusher, a senior at Logansport High School, and her mentor, Tony Hayden, oversaw the development and building of the new playground as part of her senior project. The playground, which took two weeks to build, offers a safe, secure area where children can play. The YMCA had been without a playground for seven years. The project was funded by a grant from the foundation and received the support of a number of companies that donated equipment to build it.



• To students from Century Career Center, Dave Schlick and Schlick Crane Co., Cole Hardwood, the city of Logansport and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana for replacing the roof on the Tower House on Eel River Avenue. The students began work in February constructing the roof, which added eight feet to the tower’s 46-foot height. Cole provided the wood materials for the roof while Schlick donated the use of one of its cranes to life the new roof into place. Students have been working on the renovation effort since 2006.



• To Senior Trooper Joe Swisher of the Indiana State Police. Already used to protecting Hoosiers through his civilian job at the Peru post, Tech. Sgt. Joe Swisher of the 72nd Air Refueling Wing at Grissom Air Reserve Base helped to aid and protect American service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan during a two-month tour overseas that included 40 missions. A 14-year veteran of the state police, Swisher was the boom operator, refueling coalition aircraft covering those troops on the ground as well as intelligence gathering aircraft and bombers.