Brownwood City Council issued proclamations recognizing several local organizations, civic and state employees to promote awareness at Monday morning’s council meeting. Copies of each proclamation were presented to each group by Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes.
Texas Department of Transportation employees, pictured above, wore their orange safety vests as they were presented with a proclamation for National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 15-19.
According to the proclamation, this annual campaign is held at the start of the construction season to encourage safe driving through highway construction sites as road workers with TxDOT, the city and private companies are doing their part to improve roads and bridges. It stated that 10-15% of work zone fatalities are workers and the remaining fatalities are drivers and their passengers in work zone crashes.
Citizens are urged to “slow down and devote their undivided attention in work zones and watch for the men and women who are working to improve our state’s streets, highways and bridges.”
Family Services Center representatives, Executive Director Doak Givan and Jill Evans (pictured above) were presented a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.
The proclamation states that children are the embodiment of dreams and aspirations for the future and as such, deserve to grow and develop in nurturing environments, free from fear and victimization.
Organizations such as the Family Services Center, the Ark, CASA in the Heart of Texas, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Central Texas Opportunities, Brownwood Police Department, Department of Family and Protective Services and the Child Welfare Board were recognized in the proclamation for their work to daily counter the problem of child maltreatment and help they give parents to obtain the assistance they need.
Citizens were urged “to join in dedicating their energies to cherishing our children and helping them to grow and develop free from victimization so they may mature into successful adults. Their success is our success.”
Joan Blissard, representing the Ark Domestic Violence Shelter and pictured above, was presented with a proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The proclamation stated that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every community member. It gave statistics of 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives and 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls will experience a sexual assault before the age of eighteen. It encouraged working together to educate the community about sexual violence prevention, supporting survivors and speaking out against harmful attitudes and actions to help prevent sexual violence.
Local dispatchers, or public safety communications officers, were recognized with a proclamation of April 14-20 as Public Safety Communications Week.
Brownwood Chief of Police Mike Corley recognized these communications officers for their help during times of crisis, and for being the heroes behind the scenes.
“National Safety Communications Week is a mouthful, but to call them dispatchers does not do their job justice,” said Chief Corley. “They do more than dispatch, they do telecommunications, they are the unsung heroes and I am proud to recognize them today. I want them to feel special, because it is a tough job that they do.”
Pictured above are Mayor Stephen Haynes, Chief Corley and communications officers Deidra Molotsky, Kim Chandler, Jim Hicks, and Justin Storch.
The final proclamation was requested by the Diocese of San Angelo. This request was sent to the mayors of the communities in West Texas that make up 29 counties of the Diocese of San Angelo to ask the citizens and civic bodies to join in a prayer petitioning God for the gift of rain in the West Texas Area, and to proclaim Tuesday, April 14th as a Day to Pray for Rain in all the churches and places of worship in each city.
No representative from the Diocese was able to be present; however, the proclamation was read by Mayor Stephen Haynes, which included encouragement for “all citizens to pray individually and within their houses of worship for sufficient rain.”
