Success & Service: American Legion will honor public safety officers
American Legion Post 74 will present its 2015 public safety awards at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Legion Hall, 1001 S. Santa Cruz Ave.
Officer of the year honors will go to Aaron Keller of the California Highway Patrol and Brian Ferguson of the Modesto Police Department. Ilea Martin will be honored as emergency call taker of the year, while Josh Hauselmann is the Modesto Fire Department’s firefighter of the year. Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy honors will go to Sgt. Mario Moreno of the operations division and Sgt. Steve Verver of the adult detention division.
Dinner is $10. The social hour starts at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and program at 7 p.m. For more information, call Garry Rupe at (209) 602-5100.
Pitman High School student wins art contest
Jazmyne Griffin, a student at Pitman High School in Turlock, received the grand prize for her artwork “Midnight Forest Dreams” in the 10th District Congressional Art Competition.
Second place went to Rachel Kiesser, a Central Catholic High School student from Patterson, for her acrylic painting titled “Palette of Passion.” Habibatu Mboka, a Turlock resident from Pitman High, took third place for her oil painting, “Hold Your Breath and Count to Ten.”
Griffin’s artwork will be featured next year as part of a national exhibition in the U.S. Capitol Building alongside other winning submissions from across the country. Her piece will hang in the Cannon Tunnel, where members of Congress and thousands of annual visitors will pass it as they enter the U.S. Capitol. She’ll also receive a scholarship and have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to be honored at a grand reception for winning students held inside the Capitol Building, where there will be an announcement of a National Winner.
As second- and third-place winners, Kiesser and Mboka will have their artwork on display in the Modesto office of Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock.
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This story was originally published April 11, 2015 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Success & Service: American Legion will honor public safety officers."