SCOPE honors outstanding volunteers, citizens

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich honored volunteers and other residents last week at the annual Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort Awards Banquet, held at the Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights.

Organizers recognized eight Spokane County residents as Outstanding Citizens and nearly 20 as Outstanding Volunteers.

According to a press release, the following residents have provided invaluable services to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the community:

North Spokane County resident Kenneth J. Craudell reported and then helped identify three teenagers who had broken into seven cars in his neighborhood. He called 911 when he saw the teenagers, and his descriptions of their clothing and car helped deputies identify the teens.

William E. Nelson, a Spokane Valley resident, chased down a thief and retrieved a stolen purse. After the suspect took a women’s purse from inside an East Sprague nightspot, he tried to escape in his car, but Nelson pulled him out of the car and held onto him until he let go of the purse.

Spokane Valley resident Torrance John Graham stopped a carjacker from getting away with a car. He saw the suspect take the car away from a woman, so he followed the carjacker until he stopped the car and then Graham held the suspect until Spokane Valley Police officers arrived.

Colbert resident Traci L. Acireno was driving in Morgan Acres when she saw a woman lying on a dark roadway about 3:45 a.m. Acireno pulled over, called 911 and attended to the woman, who had fallen down and hit her head, a result of over-celebrating her birthday, according to the release.

Debbie Anderson and Kenneth E. Morden performed CPR on a driver who had suffered a heart attack and crashed at Broadway and Evergreen in Spokane Valley. The two Spokane Valley residents gave the driver CPR until fire paramedics relieved them.

Spokane Valley residents and SCOPE volunteers John Baldwin, Darlene Birdsall and Dave Birdsall donated thousands of hours to maintain the electronic pawn database, validating names of people who pawn items and monitoring the compliance of pawn business owners. Their efforts have saved Spokane County hundreds of dollars in investigator wages as speed of searches is based on the accuracy of these entries, the release said.

The sheriff’s office also announced the SCOPE Outstanding Volunteers for this year:

Dave and Darlene Birdsall of Central Valley SCOPE; Dorothy Mevis, Deer Park SCOPE; Claude Duty, East Valley SCOPE; Bill Dore, Edgecliff SCOPE; Bill Bresko, Espanola/Medical Lake SCOPE; Carol Gard, EWU/Cheney SCOPE; Al Fisher, Fairfield SCOPE; Joe French, Liberty Lake SCOPE; Ron Beatty, Mounted Patrol; Tom and Katie Rulffes, Newman Lake SCOPE; Cheri LeFavor, Nine Mile Falls SCOPE; Marilyn Miller, SCOPE North; John and Neva Blount, Trentwood SCOPE; Lyle Domrese, University SCOPE; and June King, West Valley SCOPE.