Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Recognition dinner honors police and special citizens

By Shari Kaplan

Several citizens and groups received "Citizen Awards" at the 1997 Los Gatos Police Recognition Dinner for selfless service to the community, and five police department personnel received meritorious awards and commendations for their out-of-the-ordinary work. The event took place May 16 at La Rinconada Country Club.

Officers Sam Wonnell and Randy Bishop both received meritorious awards for helping people in life-threatening situations.

In July 1996, Wonnell responded to an emergency call about an unconscious woman who was lying on the floor. When Wonnell arrived, he found the woman, Maria Fencl, was not breathing and had no pulse. He began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived. Fencl was taken to a hospital and made a full recovery.

In February 1996, Bishop noticed smoke coming from the roof of the Los Gatos Shopping Center and radioed police dispatch to send the fire department. Arriving at the scene, Bishop saw the fire was in the Edna Ray Chinese restaurant and discovered from employees that one man was not accounted for. Bishop entered the burning building and rescued a disoriented man who was trying to use a small fire extinguisher to put out the flames, which were out of control.

Officers Ken Berry and John Campos and Sgt. Larry Pankey all received certificates of commendation.

Berry served as coordinator of the LGPD Disaster Aid Response Team from 1984 to 1996. He helped DART grow from 15 to 60 volunteers and oversaw the establishment of specially trained teams, including medical aid, rope rescue, water recovery, swift-water rescue, equestrian, mountain bike and ATV. He helped DART acquire donations of emergency and utility vehicles and coordinated responses to emergencies such as lost children, missing seniors, evacuations, crime-scene evidence recovery and natural disasters--including the Lexington fire and the Loma Prieta earthquake.

Campos attended an 80-hour course on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in 1995 and then initiated a nine-month process of implementing the program in the Los Gatos Union School District.

Pankey developed and implemented the LGPD Bicycle Patrol Program after noticing the difficulty that patrol cars sometimes had in responding to calls in the downtown area or in parks. He also trained a handful of officers and reserve officers to work the bike patrol.

Jeff Arabia is a DART volunteer and leader of the DART Equestrian Unit. He has also donated more than 200 hours to servicing emergency vehicles. Among his projects were retrofitting the first-aid vehicle, upgrading a utility truck with emergency lighting and maintaining other DART vehicles. The police department estimates Arabia's efforts saved the town $15,000 in repair and service fees during the past year.

Thomas Patrick Kelly was driving past what appeared to be just another police traffic stop in August 1996, when he noticed the driver began fighting with LGPD Officer Eric Schneider. Kelly stopped his car, got out and offered to assist Schneider, who was able to control the suspect without anyone getting injured.

Jose and Mia Pulido, owners of Jose's DiPuccio's Restaurant, donated salad and hot pasta on two nights to feed more than 100 volunteer actors and technicians participating in the second annual Haunted Forest Halloween event, a fundraiser for LGPD volunteer organizations and crime prevention programs. The Pulidos also catered and served a complete meal at a minimal cost to the 200 people who attended the Haunted Forest Recognition Dinner at St. Mary's Hall.

The Los Gatos Lions Club ran a food booth each night of the seven-night Haunted Forest, despite the inclement weather some evenings. Lions also acquired St. Mary's Hall at no charge for the recognition dinner and volunteered their time to set up and run a beverage bar.

The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad was also recognized in conjunction with the Haunted Forest. Each night, volunteers set up and engineered the train--renamed the Phantom Express for the event. They also operated the Bill Mason Carousel and made sure all equipment ran smoothly.

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