Newspaper Page Text
6A
Sheriff’s office honors personnel for bravery
By Frank Reddy
treddy@forsythnews com
for bravery in the face of dan
gw during the Forsyth County
heriff’s Office awards cere
mony held last week at First
Redeemer Church in Cumming.
One man used commendable
investigative techniques to
track down stolen items.
Another helped save a freezing
man from dying in the cold. Yet
another deputy arrived at the
scene of a nearly-fatal wreck
and applied a tourniquet to an
injured man to save his life.
Other acts of bravery includ
ed the rescue of a man pinned
between two vehicles and the
rescue of another person
trapped in a burning car.
Purple Heart awards went to
two different men for separate
incidents, and medals of honor
were bestowed for helping res
cue a deputy who'd been shot
while negotiating with an
armed man. -
* According- to information
provided by-the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office as part of the
awards ceremony, on July 16,
deputies were dispatched to
Aikens Way for a domestic vio
lence call. It-was reported that a
male threatened to kill his girl
friend with a firearm. The
female was able to escape from
the residence ‘and call for assis
tance. :
- “Upon arrival, deputies dem
onstrated teamwork as they sur
rounded and contained the sus
pect to the residence,” the
report from the sheriff’s office
stated. “They utilized a patrol
vehicle as cover and attempted
to make contact via the PA sys
‘tem. As a member of the crisis
negotiation team, Deputy Jon
Beival responded to the call
and attempted to communicate
with the suspect on the PA sys
tem. Without provocation, the
suspect opened fire on the dep
uties with an AK-47." .
The suspect fired over 70
rounds from within the house.
Deputy Beival was struck in the
right leg by the suspect. :
At the ceremony last week,
he received » Purple Heart from
the sheriff’s office.
- For helping rescue Beival
and getting him out of danger,
Lt. Scotty Spriggs, Lt. Brent
Weeks and Deputy First Class
Drue Green received medals of
honor. Lo
Deputy First Class Tom
McCullagh, Deputy First Class
Drue Green, and Lt. Scotty
Spriggs received medals of
honor.
FROM 1A -
County Schools, the pro
gram will differ from
other instructional styles
because it will teach stu
dents content like math
and science in Spanish.
“The difference is that
they are not just learning
the language from a lan
guage class; they actually
learn academic content in
another language,” Claus-
Nix said.
If elected by a parent
or guardian, the Dual
Language Immersion
program will take native-
Env'ish and Spanish
§peaking students and
divide their day between
Spanish and English
instruction.
“It is not the regular
word language class
where there is an expo
sure in elementary
school, and maybe a level
one or a level two in mid
dle school, then the high
er levels in high school.
Students that are in the
Dual Language program
reach [high school] profi
ciency by the time that
they graduate elementary
school,” she said.
This coming fall, 50
rising kindergarten stu
dents from Kelly Mill,
Brandywine and
Cumming elementary
schools have elected to
be the first class of
Spanish/English Dual
Language Immersion stu
dents in Forsyth County.
Claus-Nix said that
each classroom will be a
collaboration of an
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Photos by Jim Dean Forsyth County News
Chief Deputy Grady Sanford, left, presents from left, D&puty First Class Tom McCullagh, Deputy First Class’ Drue
Green, and Lt. Scotty Spriggs with a Medal of Valor. Below, Asheley Bell pins the badge on her husband Josh's uni
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During the incident, Weeks
and Green arrived on the scene
and returned fire into the resi
dence. .
Upon learning that Deputy
Beival was injured, Green
“immediately began to apply a
tourniquet-to Deputy Beival’s
leg. Lt. Spriggs placed himself
in harm’s way, disregarding his
own safety and ran to Deputy
Beival’s location. Lt. Spriggs
helped Deputy Beival get to a
safe area and drove him to the
hospital,” the report stated.
Others honored during the
ceremony last week included
Deputy First Class Jonathan
Amos, who responded to a theft
at a business on Daves Creek
Sept. 6. After looking at the
video and canvassing the loca
tion for clues, he located a set
of all terrain tire tracks he sus
pected belonged to a four
English instructor and a
Spanish instructor. The
150 Forsyth students will
spend half of each day
learning topics like math,
science and Spanish liter
acy from the Spanish
speaking immersion
teacher, and half learning
Social studies, English
literacy and English lan
guage arts from the
English speaking teacher.
Lee Anne Rice,
Principal of Cumming.
Elementary, said that par
ents, teachers and faculty
are ready and excited to
be one of the first lan
guage immersion pro
grams in Forsyth County.
__“We are very excited,
and I'm very grateful that
our district has been so
supportive. They have
given us training,
research and the princi
pals have been in a study
groug together. And
together we- have been
able go into other schools
in the state that have
Dual Language so we can
pull the best thing from
each of them to bring
back to our own,” Rice
said.
Rice said that in their
tours of other schools,
the thing that struck her
about the language
immersion students is
how attentive and active
they were about learning.
“The biggest thing that
stands out to me is the
level of student involve
ment. All students,
whether they are native
English or native Spanish
speakers are engaged in
full dialogue,” she said.
Claus-Nix said that
engagement is one of the
wheeler.
He followed the tracks
through the front lawn of the
business to the roadway and the
driveway of a nearby address
where he made contact with
three individuals.
Within minutes after obtain
ing the homeowners’ consent to
look on the property, Amos had
located the items. taken from
the business. The items were
later returned to the victim and
at the end of his shift, one sub
ject was taken into custody and
warrants were pending for oth
ers. Amos brought closure to
the case.
A “Life Saving Award” went
to Deputies Brandon Keenan
and Bob Abanto. While on
patrol during a snow storm on
Dec. 9, Abanto located a man
crawling in the snow on the
shoulder of the roadway.
things they are hoping
the program will foster in
students. She said that
this model of education
has been successful in the
past because it opens stu
dents up to different pos
sibilities and allows the
teachers to play off of
each other.
“What we have seen
from Dual Language
Immersion is a fairly
innovative instructional
model to really make
sure that we achieve the
highest levels of profi
ciency in another lan
guage, " she said.
“What we are really
trying to achieve is that
they become truly bilin
gual ... and bicultural by
the end.”
Claus-Nix said that
they have seen DLI pro
grams grow exponential
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The male was dressed only in
sweat clothes that were soaked
from the snow. The male’s skin
was discolored and he could
not move his extremities. He
was shaking uncontrollably and
unable to communicate due to
the level of distress he was in.
Keenan- arrived and they
worked together to, warm him.
They continued to treat the man
until EMS personnel arrived in
the snowy conditions.
“If not for their actions,” the
report stated, “it is very easy to
conclude that this citizen would
have died due to the exposure
lto the elements.”
' Amos received another award
for saving a man'’s life April 8,
2017, when he encountered a
serious motorcycle accident on
Hwy. 306, just north of Martin
Road. ;
Jones. called the accident in
and advised that the motorcycle
operator was severely injured.
He retrieved his medical bag
and placed a tourniquet on the
operator’s right leg. Medical
personnel later stated that the
placement of the tourniquet
saved the motorcycle operator’s
life. 2
For another instance of sav
ing a life, Deputy First Class
Guy Velia, Deputy first Class
Mike Jones and Cpl. Kevin
- Mitchell were honored.
On Nov. 7, the trio responded
to 530 Lakeland Plaza for a
medical call where a wrecker
driver had been pinned between
a vehicle and the tow truck.
Velia, Jones and Mitchell lifted
the vehicle off the individual
and a doctor on scene per
formed CPR.
ly in Georgia. She said
that in 2012-13 the state
started with three pro
grams and those have
grown to 40 DLI pro
grams across the state.
Next year they anticipate
that number to grow to
48 statewide.
“If you take a look at
Utah, they have a state
wide model with over
200 programs ... 80 it’s
not a new idea in the
nation, but it is a fairly
new idea in Georgia,”
Claus-Nix said.
One of those 40
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World Language
Academy in Hall County,
is nearing the graduation
of its first cohort of lan
guage immersion stu
dents.
According to Carrie
Woodcock, Head of
World Languages and
global initiatives at Hall
County Schools, in the
years since the academy
opened in 2008, they
have seen students excel
in the program.
She said that the first
class of World Language
Academy immersion pro
gram students will gradu
ate in 2020.
“In terms of academic
Cumming
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Deputy First Class Michael
Eaton also earned a life-saving
award, as did Sgt. Martin
White. £ .
White responded with his
recruit Deputy Catlin Tomalka
to a wreck, in which a motorcy
cle operator suffered an ampu
tated right leg as a result of the
crash. 3 :
White obtained a tourniquet
and applied it to the victim’s
leg, stopping the bleeding. It
was made known by the medi
cal staff at the hospital that the
application of the tourniquet
that stopped the bleeding saved
the motorcycle operators life.
. Finally, a Purple Heart Award
was given to Deputy First Class
Rod Reeves, who on Nov. 18
had just finished a traffic stop
on Ga. 400 near the Majors
Road bridge. He heard about an
impaired motorist traveling on
Ga. 400.
He pulled over on the shoul
der of Ga. 400 near Exit 13 and
began observing traffic to see if
he could spot the lookout vehi
cle. While Reeves was observ
ing traffic, the violator
slammed into the back of his
marked patrol car.
His car was struck at a high
rate of l!:’p;eedi# and he was
trapped inside. Forsyth County
Fire Department a?ril‘ve'd alfi
worked quickly to get him out
of the vehicle.
Over the next few days,
weeks and months, Reeves
would undergo numerous sur
geries and as of this date, he is
still recovering from his inju
ries and has only recently
begun physical therapy.
performance, the kids are
stellar,” she said. “Those
[bilingual kids] tend to be
great problem solvers and
so they thrive in this aca
demic environment.”
Woodcock said that
they have not only seen
students excel academi
cally, but they have seen
them become more open
to other cultures,
“In addition to the aca
demics and the language
is the fact that these “ds
are not only lingui. ;- -
different, but als<flui
ally different, Thiey
about the wor'
world view. an
amazing thin’ d.