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Show Page 2 Summerfest Parade Program June 2002 Continued from page 1 Firestation land is the lead paramedic on the ambulance crew. Larsen said Savage is "an all-around all-around exceptional paramedic para-medic and very good firefighter" fire-fighter" who also has a great deal of experience working with community service groups. Grace Robertson is the winner of the Baker Award. For this award, an individual is nominated by their peers, and an outside committee makes the selection. Larsen said that Robertson has worked with the department since the mid-1980s and is a senior dispatcher with a great deal of experience and an ability to handle a high stress, high volume work load with dedication and caring. The firefighterparamedic firefighterpara-medic designated to represent repre-sent the department is Alaina Burg. Larsen said Burg is one of the department's depart-ment's newer firefighter pramedics, and as a young woman, symbolizes "some of the changes taking place in services" and the type of people attracted to the profession. pro-fession. Mountain View High School's resource officer, Todd Moake, has worked for the department for 8 or 9 years, Larsen said, first as a patrol officer, then in his Mountain View assignment assign-ment for the last three years. Moake works well with faculty, staff, and students, stu-dents, and builds rapport between the department and the high school. Community service officer offi-cer Rebecca Johnson represents the civilian employees of the department. depart-ment. She takes reports from the public on routine cases, such as minor thefts, and refers citizens to the correct office, organization, or agency. Johnson, a BYU graduate, has worked with the department for three years and "goes out of her way to help the public by giving service at the front window," Larsen said. The six individuals are "pretty representative" of the department, Larsen believes, and share the characteristic of being community-oriented in their work. In the interview with the Times, Chief Larsen answered questions that touched on several local Public Safety issues the department's role in the recent Olympics; the benefits bene-fits of the new Center Street Public Safety building; build-ing; and changes in the department since the events of last September During the 2002 Winter Olympics hosted by Utah, Orem had 20 officers assigned to the State Olympics Command. The officers served in a number of different venues throughout the state, Larsen said, and the experience expe-rience went well. The officers offi-cers "learned a great deal", "met people from all over the world", and discovered, along with other Utahns, that "people are pretty much the same, worldwide." world-wide." Security was tight, but service operations were the main focus. The department has been housed in its new building on Center Street for two years now, and Larsen said the facility has "improved operations tremendously". "We now have the facilities facili-ties to help the public " the department director said. "People are not in hallways making sensitive reports... The secure areas are much better... The new building's build-ing's been a tremendous asset to the community." How has the department changed since 9-11? Larsen said members of his department were doing their jobs before 9-11, and they will continue. While some aspects of the work are changing, and added responsibilities such as intelligence gathering are coming down to local public pub-lic agencies, "We're not in the war business," Larsen declared. "We're not soldiers." sol-diers." The firefighters and police officers who responded at the World Trade Center disaster were on a rescue mission, and died trying to accomplish accom-plish it. "We're here for public service," Larsen stressed. "We can't let events change the basic premise of how we do our jobs." Of the parade grand marshal honor, Larsen said: "We're honored and humbled that the parade committee has chosen us. We didn't expect it...We are doing what the public pays us to do. We don't look at ourselves as heroes, and we're not trying to be. We're just out with people, doing what we like to do.. .People have been 'stepping 'step-ping up' all over the country, coun-try, being decent human beings. They are the heroes to us." fyNjf ABOVE THE J &mr BDKj I 'j--.' tp mmm Fabric Mill Orem, ZJT Photo Memory Uuilt Supplies 20 Off (il-M.wrl Cotton & PolyCotton fll'Oyq baby, juveni e &7loral prints $3.00 yd OFF tcxcra, sports, outdoor, kids prints A M H i visitouronlinestore: fabric- miii.com I : Redeem:" by Jun'30-021 rRed'eem: y Jun"30-02N: ! $5.00 Off per kit!! $2.00 Off ner set ! ! FLANNEL RAG QUILTii hemstitched! (Limit 3 kits per customer) "fliattirifel |