Letters, Sept. 26: Public safety; Flags of Honor
Committed to helping others
MARY BEDEL
I have just spent nearly 40 hours with Muncie's first responders and the CIT coordinator.
These 37 men and women devoted themselves to a nearly 40-hour training program: crisis intervention team training for first responders that includes basic information about mental illnesses and how to recognize them; information about the local mental health system and local laws; learning firsthand from mental health professionals and family members about their experiences; verbal de-escalation training, and role-playing.
While there has been such terrible press with some police departments, ours have committed to a program to improve their skills that will improve officer safety and vastly improve the outcome of those with mental illness and disabilities.
This can only happen with the cooperation of the departments of Muncie, Delaware County, Ball State, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Yorktown, BSU 911, Probation, and Community Corrections. We are grateful to 36 presenters who offered their time and talents for free: men and women from Meridian Health Services, Community North, Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Indianapolis Police Department, Muncie Police Department, Delaware Sheriff's Department, Community Corrections, Eaton EMT Inc., Eaton Chief of Police, NAMI Indiana, Forensic Drug Court staff and NAMI Delaware County.
Flags of Honor a powerful sight
JUDY PERKINS
Thank you Exchange Club of Muncie for your Flags of Honor Program.
We have participated for the past two years to honor our father, Joseph A. Arnold, who served as an Army Topographical Engineer in the South Pacific during WWII.
Dad didn't storm the beaches at Normandy or have a tank shot out from under him at the Battle of the Bulge. He didn't jump out of a plane, or risk the perils of the deep in a submarine, but we are proud of him because his attention to detail and dutiful execution of his assigned duties saved American lives. Dad researched aerial photographs and sketches made by missionaries and plantation owners and other records to draw detailed maps of the Japanese-held islands.
He stood in harm's way on a Liberty ship in a convoy traveling to Australia when he served in Manila in the Philippine Islands. He was in a C-47 transport plane flying through a typhoon on a harried flight from Manila to Yokohama, Japan, on his way to the Dai-ichi building in Tokyo, which served as General MacArthur's Tokyo Headquarters.
We proudly support the Flags of Honor Program because it is a wonderful way to honor our veterans, to promote patriotism, and to raise money for the great causes that the Exchange Club supports. It is also a sight to behold 1,000 American flags proudly waving in the wind as a powerful tribute to the selfless sacrifices of our veterans who have secured our freedoms.