Ada police chief and mayor made a special trip to Celina on Saturday night.
They made a presentation to five Celina band members prior to Celina High School's football game as a result of quick thinking made by the five Celina students during a summer band camp practice at ONU.
Michael Harnishfeger, police chief, and David Retterer, Ada mayor, made the presentation on the Celina football field.
Here's announcement that was read at the pre-game:
To: Joshua Hole, Gabriella Posada, Conner Ewing, Daycie Hatfield and Marie Zehringer.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 while attending band camp in the Village of Ada, Ohio you witnessed a Pitbull dog attack two smaller dogs that were being walked by their owners on the campus of Ohio Northern University.
Initially it was not clear what was going on, however after quickly making an assessment that indeed two smaller dogs were under attack and that both of the owners were suffering injuries as they fought off the larger Pitbull, you offered assistance and even to the point of injury or potential injury to yourselves.
In Ada we have an award winning program titled S.A.F.E.R. (Seeking Aid From Every Resident) and indeed Ada is a SAFER Community because of your actions on July 26th.
On that day, you actively assisted the victims in this case, Jim and Jackie Meyer by notifying emergency personnel, separating the dogs and victims from further attack, running after one of the smaller dogs and securing her for the Meyer’s.
Several of you including Joshua Hole physically held the Pitbull back, stopping him from causing further injuries to the dogs and/or the Meyer’s.
In fact, one of our officers advised that upon his arrival, he found Joshua Hole had the Pitbull in a “headlock,” a brave action indeed.
During this attack one of the dogs sustained serious injuries, which required surgery while Jim and Jackie sustained bites and injuries from fighting off the attack.
In this case, there is absolutely no doubt that without your interventions and involvement, this attack would have been much worse, up to and including the death of at least one of the smaller dogs.
On behalf of Jim and Jackie, and the entire Village of Ada, we thank you for getting involved and making Ada, Ohio a SAFER Community.
Today it is my honor to present you with the Ada S.A.F.E.R. Award, a Wilson’s Football with our S.A.F.E.R. Logo and your name printed on the football; a small token of our appreciation from an Ada icon, the Wilson Football Factory, home of every NFL Football produced.
The Celina community and school district can certainly be proud of the actions that you all took on that day, as you represented your community very well.
Once again, thank you and congratulations on this well-deserved award.
