Bob Conley presents 911 Director David Rosenberry with Certificates of Recognition for three dispatchers.

At the Kosciusko County Commissioner’s meeting on the morning of Feb. 24, three emergency dispatchers were recognized for the diligence and dedication during the snow storm that affected much of Kosciusko and surrounding counties on Valentine’s Day.

On Feb. 14, 2015, heavy winds, blowing snow and white out conditions made for treacherous travel conditions. Kosciusko County was under a red travel warning – the most severe travel advisory the county can issue – for much of the day, and there was even a 20 vehicle pile-up on US 30 in Whitley County. An inordinate amount of calls, mostly for automobile accidents, came into the Kosciusko County 911 dispatch

“I thought they’d be running around in circles, but I was impressed at how calm it was,” said Commissioner Ron Truex, who was monitoring the situation on his police scanner that day. “That’s a situation where they worked really hard and diligently during a really tough time.”

The dispatchers on duty who handled the chaos with grace and poise were Cindy Justice, Jackie Sears and Patti Mooney. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the day of the event, these dispatchers took a total of 670 calls. Nearly half of those calls came in between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Have a look at the accident reports from that weekend for an idea of the volume that these dispatchers handled.

“They went above and beyond the call of duty,” said Commissioner Bob Conley. “These people took a tremendous load of calls, but we shouldn’t forget the deputies, fire fighters, EMS and police officers. I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t give them kudos for the service they did. I wish we could give them all certificates.”