Most of the time news stories cover the sad part of life. It could be weather related, a fire, fatal vehicle accident or a crime of murder as examples.
Yes it is easy to over look all the good that is around us. Santa Rosa County is one of the areas that the best of the best want to work. Be it Fire, Sheriff, EMT or community volunteers such as CERT.
This story happened the other night as SRSO Bob Johnson was heading back to base passed a car that needed help along side Avalon road. Next Rich Aloy ( in photo above ) stopped to give Bob assistance. There was a mattress caught under a car and it was twisted between the motor and ball joint area. There was concern that a fire could start from the engine being hot but that did not happen.
Rich has been a SRSO for nearly 10 years. Over that time Rich has collected a lot of tools that he uses for situations such as this. This time none of his tools worked and the Fire Department was called in. A large bolt cutter and a lot of pulling finally freed the mattress from under the car.
You should know that this took about 3 hours and both Bob and Rich were done with their shift and headed back in before they stopped to help. It would have been so easy to just drive past the car and say I would stop but I’m done with my shift. These men not only stopped to help but stayed until the situation was resolved.
Next time you are quick to say something negative about our county employees stop and remember this simple story of a selfless act of doing the right thing. It is important and does not go unnoticed!
