10/17/2016
Cheers for some of the week's local newsmakers | Opinion | eagletribune.com
http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/cheersforsomeoftheweekslocalnewsmakers/article_f24def3ccbb3 5e598658d170c2bc073a.html
Cheers for some of the week's local newsmakers Sep 18, 2016
CHEERS for Methuen Police Officer Dan O'Connell and Starbucks employee Rachel Menton, who combined to help a Haverhill woman get home safely after she was stranded at The Loop. O'Connell was sent to The Loop Sept. 7 when someone reported a woman had been left behind at the shopping plaza off Route 213 and was distraught because she had no money to get home. O'Connell was able to calm the woman down by listening to her story and speaking to her for about half an hour. Then he offered to pay for a taxi to take her home to Haverhill, using his own money. O'Connell was about $2 short of the anticipated cab fare so he went to a nearby Starbucks to buy something and get some cash back. That's when Starbucks employee Menton stepped up to offer O'Connell the difference out of her own pocket. At a time when Americans seem increasingly selfabsorbed and distrustful of one another, and of police officers in particular, it's encouraging to see that such simple acts of kindness toward strangers are still the norm for most of us. Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon summed it up nicely: "Thanks to the generosity of Officer O'Connell and Rachel, this Haverhill resident was comforted after a stressful situation and able to get home safely. This is a fine example of the small, yet selfless gestures that our police officers make every day that make an enormous impact on the lives of people in the community. I am proud of Officer O'Connell for setting that example."
http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/cheersforsomeoftheweekslocalnewsmakers/article_f24def3ccbb35e598658d170c2bc073a.html
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10/17/2016
Cheers for some of the week's local newsmakers | Opinion | eagletribune.com
CHEERS for Windham farmer Scott Johnson of Johnson's Highland View Farm and Lawrence's Neighbors in Need, who for 10 years have teamed up to harvest more than 100,000 pounds of fresh local produce — that's 50 tons — to help feed the hungry. This time of year, Johnson and Neighbors in Need volunteers spend hours, as they did last Thursday, picking sweet butterandsugar corn, packing it into mesh bags and loading the bags into a pickup for delivery to the Lawrence charity's 11 distribution centers. "We've often picked from a second crop of corn at Johnson's," said Linda Zimmerman, executive director of Neighbors in Need. "We distribute food every day," Zimmerman said. "The corn we picked (Thursday) will go to distribution centers Friday and be gone right away. We're feeding between 600 and 700 families a week." Neighbors in Need has similar partnerships with the Andover High School Garden, Farmer Dave's CSA, the Giving Garden, Groundwork Lawrence and Smolak Farms. By feeding the hungry, they are doing the Lord's work. God bless them all. CHEERS to a true hero, Ryan Pitts of Nashua, New Hampshire, who last Monday was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama for his extraordinary courage under fire in Afghanistan. The 28yearold former Army staff sergeant is the ninth living veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to receive the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor. Pitts was on what was supposed to be his last mission on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan before returning home when his unit came under attack by 200 Taliban fighters in June 2008. Unable to walk after suffering grenade shrapnel wounds in both legs, Pitts kept on firing at the attackers and threw his own grenades — first making sure to hold onto then long enough so that they could not be thrown back at the American troops. Nine of his comrades were killed in the predawn attack that day, and Pitts paid tribute to them during the White House ceremony, solemnly reading their names, pausing after each one: Sergio Abad. Jonathan Ayers. Jason Bogar. Jonathan Brostrom. Israel Garcia. Jason Hovater. Matthew Phillips. Pruitt Rainey. Gunnar Zwilling.
http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/cheersforsomeoftheweekslocalnewsmakers/article_f24def3ccbb35e598658d170c2bc073a.html
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10/17/2016
Cheers for some of the week's local newsmakers | Opinion | eagletribune.com
“Valor was everywhere that day, and the real heroes are the nine men who made the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us could return home,” Pitts said. “It is their names — not mine — that I want people to know.” Said President Obama after draping the Medal of Honor around Pitts’ neck: “It is remarkable that we have young men and women serving in our military who, day in and day out, perform with so much integrity, so much humility and so much courage. Ryan represents the very best of that tradition.” Indeed.
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http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/cheersforsomeoftheweekslocalnewsmakers/article_f24def3ccbb35e598658d170c2bc073a.html
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