Pontiac-A Brandon Schools worker who assisted in nabbing a criminal and two Brandon elementary students who helped save their neighbor’s house from going up in flames were to be given citizen citations May 19 at the Board of Commissioner’s Auditorium, 1200 N. Telegraph, Pontiac.
The citations are given by the nine-member Oakland County Sheriff’s Awards Council.
Roger Goodman, director of maintenance and operations for Brandon Schools, assisted Brandon deputies last year to capture a young man who was wanted for serious crimes, including allegedly breaking into homes, entering Brandon Middle School, Brandon High School and the elementary schools, threatening children and attempting to sell drugs.
On several occasions, Goodman chased the subject from Harvey-Swanson Elementary and pursued him in the woods with Deputy Arnie Terrell, who nominated Goodman for the citation. Goodman was present the day the man was finally captured.
‘They got a guy off the street that needed to be off the street,? said Goodman, who said he used his knowledge of school property to help. ‘The award is an honor. We try to protect the kids, too.?
Dean and Brittany Olsabeck, siblings that go to Harvey-Swanson Elementary and H.T. Burt Elementary respectively, were also to be honored at the ‘National Law Enforcement Week? Awards Day Ceremony.
Dean, a third-grader and Brittany, a second-grader, were on their way home from swimming and were cutting across their neighbor’s yard in the Clarkston Lakes Mobile Home Park when they saw the corner of her home was on fire.
The neighbor, Miranda Lovelace, had taken her own small children swimming at a nearby lake. Earlier in the day, she had emptied an ashtray. The hot ashes smoldered in the plastic garbage can next to the aluminum skirting on her mobile home, eventually catching it on fire.
The fire, at the back corner of the home, was not visible from the road. Dean and Brittany, upon seeing the fire, called 9-1-1 and flagged down a police car that was patrolling the neighborhood. They got a hose to try and help and within minutes fire trucks arrived.
‘It was a full-blown fire when the kids came by,? said Lovelace, whose home was uninsured. ‘I’m very grateful to the kids. I don’t think I’d have a home right now if it wasn’t for them. I don’t even have the words to thank them.?
After a pause, she thinks of what she wants to say to Brittany and Dean.
‘Thank you more than anything. I love you two so much.?