Wednesday, February 27, 2002
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Wednesday, February 27, 2002 |
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Peachtree City Fire Department honors its own By SALLIE
SATTERTHWAITE
With echoes of their favorite subject ringing in their ears "How Things Used To Be" Peachtree City firefighters, paramedics and Fire Department office staff honored their own recently. Volunteers and career personnel, with spouses or friends, accepted awards and installed officers in their annual dinner-dance, conducted this year at the Wyndham Conference Center. C.J. Mowell Jr., who has served Fayette County as coroner for 36 years a tenure longer than that of any other elected county official was guest speaker. A volunteer chief of the Fayetteville Fire Department in the early 1970s, Mowell regaled his audience with stories of a more primitive day when volunteers of both departments answered calls all over the county. He concluded by stating that he believes their cooperation went a long way to helping bond Fayette's often contentious east and west sides. The evening included speeches and a slide presentation that paid tribute to fallen brothers in the World Trade Center tragedy. Ron Mundy was master of ceremonies; the invocation and the benediction were offered by Fire Department rookie the Rev. Kevin Peek of Holy Trinity Catholic Church and by one-time firefighter/paramedic the Rev. John Weber of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church. The volunteers' new president is Fred Bryant. Robin Lasky serves as vice president, and David Sewall and Greg Francis are treasurer and secretary, respectively. The volunteers' firefighter's representative to the board is John Bruschetti, while Precy Eiswerth is the new representative for emergency medical services. Awards for the past year's service based on hours of training, runs made and loyalty to the department's ideals went to career firefighters as well as volunteer. Bruschetti was named volunteer Firefighter of the Year. The career Firefighter of the Year is Andy Lee. The volunteer EMS-Provider of the Year is Natalie Johnson; her career counterpart is Wil Harbin. The volunteer Rookie of the Year is Greg Francis. And the career Officer of the Year is Ed Eiswerth. The Peachtree City Rotary Club's award, presented by Rotarian Dale Phenicie, went to John Dailey. With it came a cash grant of more than $1,600 to the department. Chief Stony Lohr also paid tribute to Dr. Bruce Perlman, who has served as medical adviser to the department for 15 years. Perlman is stepping down, citing the heavy schedule of his expanding medical practice.
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