West Seneca
Police Chief Daniel Denz recognized several police officers at last week’s Town Board meeting, citing instances in 2013 that were “above and beyond the normal course of duty, reflected self-sacrifice or resulted in making a difference to members of the community at large.”Honorees were nominated by their supervisors and selected by a committee of their peers, with final approval coming from the chief.
• Officers Travis Deubell and Joseph Milewski were recognized for rendering first aid Sept. 26 to an 84-year-old man suffering from cardiac arrest at a bowling alley. Each received a Lifesaving Award.
• Detectives Daniel Crowe and James Pappaceno were honored for their Oct. 25 pursuit and arrest of a persistent offender wanted on three warrants. The chase, which began at a Ludwig Avenue home, took Pappaceno across Cazenovia Creek and onto Cazenovia Park Golf Course, where he caught a ride on a Buffalo Parks Department lawnmower. It continued on city streets, with Pappaceno commandeering a small commuter bus. Crowe, meanwhile, had retrieved their unmarked police car and cut off the suspect as he rounded a street corner. Each detective received a letter of commendation.
• Lt. David Szmania, Officers Gerald Fibich and Donald Hanley, and Mark Palkowski, a senior public safety dispatcher, each received a letter of commendation stemming from a Nov. 27 report of a man with a gun at a bar. The man, who confronted a former girlfriend who worked at the bar, had fled to Buffalo. He killed himself before Buffalo police SWAT officers entered the Woodside Drive home where he was located.
• Detectives Robert Andolina, Kenneth Morano and Crowe received letters of commendation for their investigation of a Dec. 15 home invasion in the Fisher Court subdivision and subsequent arrest of a Niagara County man.
• Fibich also received a Lifesaving Award for resuscitating a 21-year-old man found in a Harlem Road driveway on Christmas morning, the victim of an apparent drug overdose.
Also this week:
• Joseph Lorigo, majority leader of the Erie County Legislature, will host a discussion of county issues from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday in the Senior Center, 4620 Seneca St.
• St. John’s Community Preschool, 3512 Clinton St., is holding an open house Tuesday. Visitors may stop by from 10 to 11 a.m.; 1 to 2 p.m.; or 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., when staff will be available.
• Free courses in emergency preparedness and Community Emergency Response Team training will be offered twice weekly, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, in the West Seneca Kiwanis Center, 50 Legion Parkway. To sign up, visit www.WestSeneca.org/content/CERT-training, or call 558-3238 or 435-7873.