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Three Lake Metroparks rangers selected
Three
Lake Metroparks rangers Wednesday night became the latest
additions to a long list of outstanding Lake County public
safety workers.
At a 7 p.m. ceremony at the LaMalfa Centre in Mentor,
rangers Sgt. James Smallwood, James Venaleck and Mark Reid
were honored with the Jorge Medina Distinguished Service
Award for rising above the call of duty.
The three won the award, presented annually by Lake County
Blue Coats Inc., for likely saving a man's life high above a
former mine in Kirtland.
They are the 78th, 79th and 80th recipients of the award,
according to Blue Coats officials.
When asked if they felt like heroes Wednesday night, the
answer was unequivocally the same: "Not at all."
Their boss felt differently, however.
Chief Lake Metroparks Ranger Mike Burko said Smallwood was
on a routine patrol of the restricted area of Chapin Forest
about 2:30 p.m. on June 19.
The restricted area was once a mining operation where loose
gravel cliffs, some as high as 100 feet, now stand, making
for the potential for a deadly fall.
Smallwood noticed a man he estimated to be in his mid-40s
sitting dangerously close to the edge of one of these
cliffs.
"It became clear very quickly to Sgt. Smallwood that the man
was despondent," Burko said. "After alerting other units,
Sgt. Smallwood began a 50-minute dialogue with the
individual, attempting to persuade him from jumping."
During their conversation, the man's feet dangled over the
edge of the cliff, and he made at least two attempts to
stand and jump, Burko said.
"Upon weighing their options, rangers Venaleck and Reid
moved in close behind the subject," Burko said. "At the
final moment, all three reached for the subject to try and
pull him back away from the edge.
"A struggle ensued that ended with Ranger James Venaleck
clinging to the subject, stomach on the ground, arms
extended down and over the edge."
Although the man ultimately slid out of the rangers' grasps,
Burko said he believes Reid, Smallwood and Venaleck saved
the man's life by causing him to slide against the cliffside
instead of plunging straight to the bottom.
Despite a crowd of friends and colleagues inside LaMalfa
Centre who consider the three men to be heroes, the trio
agreed it was all just in a day's work.
"No, I don't," said Reid, an eight-year Metroparks veteran,
when asked if he felt especially heroic. "I don't think so
at all. It's part of my job. It's not something I do every
day, but it's part of my job."
Smallwood agreed.
"Nah, I don't feel like a hero," the sergeant said. "I was
just one of a team."
He said he knew at once, when he encountered the man on the
ledge that day, something was very wrong and he had to do
something to help him. So he talked to the man.
"I knew within a short period of time that the guy was going
to jump," he said. "A lot of times, he was hard for me to
communicate with. He was kind of in his own world."
Smallwood, a Metroparks ranger for 16 years, said he learned
the man had three daughters and, since the event took place
the day before Father's Day, he said he played on that to
"help bring him back from the edge.
"I was just hoping that whatever happened, that some other
officers were going to help out, that they would be there -
and they were."
Venaleck, the third ranger there that day, said he liked
what Reid said about the incident and his involvement.
"Like Ranger Reid said, it's just part of our job
description," said Venaleck, a 17-year Lake Metroparks
veteran.
"I don't particularly like heights, but I don't think it
would be an option not to (help)."
Lake County Blue Coats Inc. helps widows and orphans of
police officers and firefighters with financial assistance,
and it has been recognizing local heroes and heroines since
1968.
The Jorge Medina Distinguished Service Award is named after
the late Lake County surgeon who founded the local Blue
Coats chapter. |
