Shine light on a community beacon

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December 2, 2009

Anonymous Pharos-Tribune Wed Dec 02, 2009, 08:38 AM EST

Six years ago, as part of our 160th birthday celebration, we launched the Beacon Award to honor a local visionary.

The name of the award is a take-off on the word “Pharos” in the name of the newspaper. The newspaper’s 20-year-old founder, Samuel A. Hall, named the publication after a lighthouse in Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the world. Built in the third century BC, the lighthouse stood for about 1,600 years, guiding sailors on their journeys.

Hall intended that his newspaper would carry out that same role for its community, lighting the way for generations to come.

Thus, it seemed appropriate as we celebrated the newspaper’s founding to present the Beacon Award to a visionary whose imagination and hard work helped to light the way for the community at large. We will continue that tradition next year.

If you know someone who would qualify for such recognition, we’d like to hear about it.

We’re looking for someone with a vision for improving the community that he or she embodies in plans, actions and speech.

We’re looking for someone like Brian Shockney, president and chief executive officer of Logansport Memorial Hospital. He was honored with the inaugural award for his leadership in the creation of a new community health education center and the construction of the River Bluff Trail.

We’re looking for someone like Mike Meagher, executive director of Area Five Agency on Aging and Community Services. Meagher won our second award for his work on several projects, including restoration of the old brick barn that stood on the Goldie Chase farm across from the Area Five offices on Smith Street.

And then there’s Joyce Gebhardt, executive director of the United Way of Cass County. She was recognized in year three for her work in obtaining funding for the Reading Railroad, an effort to instill a love of reading in Cass County youngsters, and for her work to help the county embrace cultural diversity through an effort called Diversity Dynamics.

Our fourth winner was Mercedes Brugh, a key force in the development of Little Turtle Waterway, and our fifth was Jan Fawley, the Logansport parks administrator who was recognized for her work to enhance the local parks and for her efforts on the Light Up Logansport Parade and numerous other civic endeavors.

Who will win this year’s award? We’ll find out next month at the annual state of the city and county luncheon sponsored by the Logansport/Cass County Chamber of Commerce.

The deadline for nominations is fast approaching. Don’t miss the opportunity to salute someone who has helped to make Cass County a better place to live.

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