MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon Fire Department honored two women who saved a local resident from choking and gave a couple of students a ride to school for their fundraising efforts.
Alayna Mowry and Elisa Frazee, employees at Knox Public Health, were at a local restaurant recently when another customer began choking, Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr told the Mount Vernon News. One of the two began performing the Heimlich maneuver while the other called 911 for EMS help.
Before the ambulance arrived, the two women switched places, with both having continued efforts until the food item was dislodged from the person’s throat, allowing the person to breathe.
Mount Vernon Fire Chief Chad Christopher recognized Mowry and Frazee with a presentation last week.
Top-selling students
Also earning honors were Columbia Elementary School students Cody Kreager and Braxton Rebel, who got a ride to school on an MVFD fire truck on Thursday.
“MVFD was contacted by Columbia School and asked to support their fundraiser with a ‘take a child to school’ award for the top raffle sellers,” Christopher said. “MVFD is more than happy to support our community and schools.”
The Columbia Elementary School students took part in a gift basket raffle contest to benefit the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization.
The top sellers got to choose to ride to school in a fire truck or with the Knox County Sheriff, with passes to the Knox County Fair and Hiawatha Water Park as prizes, the school’s Facebook page said.
Kraeger sold almost 900 tickets, with Rebel nearing 800 tickets sold.
Engineering
The Clintonville sewer and stormwater work continues, and residents will be contacted individually to start dye testing to make sure every residence is properly connected to the sanitary sewers, Starr said.
“That is going to take some time since we can only typically do one dye test per home per day,” Starr said.
Greenwich, the city’s contractor for the Columbus Road intersection, found an abandoned underground fuel storage tank buried under the middle of its intersection with South Main Street while boring for new traffic signals.
“We're working with a consultant to have the tank properly removed, which must be done before they can continue working on that particular pedestal,” he said.
They were not expecting to see anything like that, but, he said, “you just never know what you're going to find when you start digging. And sure enough, this was one of those things.”
Custom Cutters has measured the Municipal Plaza parking garage for shoring. The contractor is waiting on the finalized frame design from its structural consultants to get a quote for the fabrication and installation of the shoring, Starr said.
“Mother Nature can kind of halt a lot of what we wanted to do this past week. We weren't really able to get the potholes filled because of the screwy weather that we've been having,” he said.
The city got 20 tons of asphalt delivered. However, the damp, wet alleys could not be graded.
Lifeguards wanted
The city still needs lifeguards before Hiawatha Water Park opens, Starr said.
“I understand the City of Columbus is still trying to find lifeguards, and they pay more than what we pay,” he said.
The city also has an opening for a part-time clerk in the Water and Wastewater Department’s billing office. Interested residents can find an application on the city’s website under the “Jobs” tab, where it’s listed as Clerk Typist II.
Tree City
The Tree City USA awards program was held at Ariel-Foundation Park.
“This was led by our very own Shade Tree and Beautification Commission,” Starr said.
Participants from 15 different communities participated. Despite rain, approximately 150 people showed up for the event, held at the Schnormeier Event Center, he said.
