Joah McCaleb was named Officer of the Year and Edward Biehle picked up the Firefighters of the Year award Saturday as Rockdale Police and Rock-dale VFD held their annual banquet before a crowd of more than 250 in the KC Hall.
The annual event featured a number of awards and recognition of entire memberships of both departments.
Officer of the year is selected through a point system which ranks police through the number and type of calls and arrests made during the year just concluded.
Firefighter of the year is awarded on a vote of Rock-dale VFD membership.
OFFICER—Police Chief Thomas Harris welcomed the crowd, praised his department and promised in 2020 an award will be created for police dispatchers.
Lt. Stephen Goodrich presented awards.
McCaleb came out on top in the points system used by police. He amassed 2044.5 points. Runner-up Michael Hubnik had 1,766.5.
Both received recognition from Goodrich.
McCaleb praised the department, including the dispatchers. “I’d take a bullet for any of them, top to bottom,” he said.
Goodrich also presented “Topgun” awards to Sgt. Jody Tillery and Ofc. Michael Hubnik for their performance on marksmanship.
FIREFIGHTERS—Fire Chief Ward Roddam said the department now contains 48 members with two wanting to join.
“We are very blessed in this town by having this dedicated department,” he said.
He said 70 percent of the United States is protected by volunteer fire departments which save Americans $139-billion a year.
Roddam presented firefighter Brady Nelson with his 10-year service pin then awarded Biehle the Firefighter of the Year award.
Rockdale Mayor John King and Milam County Judge Steve Young assisted in the awards presentation.
Young presented the Rockdale VFD a check for $25,000, representing part of the county’s $100,000 annual contribution.
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