By LEONARD GRAY

DESTREHAN – Deputy of the year honors for a dramatic life-saving rescue and the announcement of the lowest crime rates in years highlighted the awards ceremony this week of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency Dispatcher Ursula Kelly received the deputy of the year award for her professionalism during a crisis when she guided a frightened young woman to save her grandmother’s life.

On Jan. 31, 2001, Kelly answered a 911 call from a frantic Holly Duhon of New Sarpy, who said, “Help, I think that my grandmother is dead!”

Kelly, a five-year veteran dispatcher, calmed the woman and determined, acting with Duhon’s eyes and hands, that the grandmother, Helen Holley, was unconscious and not breathing. While sending emergency medical technicians and deputies to the scene, Kelly talked Duhon through CPR. Soon, Holley began to respond.

EMTs took over when they reached the scene and Kelly continued her shift, not knowing the outcome. Meanwhile, Holley had been restored and doctors noted if it had not been for Duhon’s actions, her grandmother would not have survived.

Several days later, Duhon and her mother arrived at the 911 center with a candy bouquet for Kelly.

At the awards ceremony, Chief Deputy Joseph Cardella said, “Her actions on that January night were indeed heroic, in that she refused to accept failure and limitations. She overcame all the obstacles placed in her way and succeeded in saving a life.”

In addition to the deputy of the year honor, Kelly also received a Distinguished Service Award. Holley, who just turned 80, was present at the ceremony, along with Duhon, now 26, to present the award to Kelly.

Sheriff Greg C. Champagne also took the opportunity to provide a quick review of the latest quarterly crime statistics, and reported there was a 10.6 percent drop from the same quarter last year, January through March 2001.

Additionally, the latest figures, not yet provided to the public in detail, are also said to reflect a 38.9 percent decrease since 1997, the first first-quarter period since Champagne’s took office.

Later in the ceremony, Cardella read a letter to the department from an 11-year-old St. Rose boy. Jason Van declared in the letter his heroes were deputies Joe Ganote and Damian Scioneaux.

“They are my heroes because someone stole my scooter and helped look hard for me. Even if it wasn’t a big emergency, they came anyway,” Van wrote.

Van and his father, Victor, were on hand to present the deputies with their personal thanks and a letter of commendation from Champagne.

Officers were also presented awards for their tireless efforts in numerous cases, including homicides, bank robberies, a multiple-fatality fire and school burglaries.

In early March 2001, Louisiana State Police troopers notified the office they had received a Lo-Jack alert signal on a stolen 1999 Mercedes Benz from St. John the Baptist Parish. In minutes, the car’s signal was located and three arrests were made. State Police officials and Lo-Jack confirmed this was the first successful arrest in the state for tracking stolen cars by satellite signals.

Last July, crime scene technician Michael Jackson happened to witness a bank robber fleeing the just-robbed First American Bank in Norco. He saw the robber open the bag and release the smoke-bomb dye pack.

Jackson was joined by Dep. Wayne Joseph and Capt. Fred Oubre, who happened to be in the area. They apprehended two of the three robbers on a dead-end road in New Sarpy and the third man, although evading police for several hours, was eventually captured. Jackson, Oubre and Joseph were all recipients of a Distinguished Service Award.

Also last July, a mail carrier stopped at a convenience store in Montz and witnessed a man fleeing the store after having just robbed and killed the owner. She carefully noted a description of the man and his vehicle, and was shot at by the man when he noticed her. She called 911 and Det.-Sgt. Rodney Madere, Det. Walter Fonseca, Cpl. Patrick Walker and Dep. Walter Banks trapped the robber on the Spillway Road between Norco and Montz.

The officers received Distinguished Service Awards, while mail carrier Wendy Owens received a Citizen’s Award for her courage.

In July 2001, a prisoner awaiting trial for second-degree murder escaped from the old jail. He was captured by Cpl. Donald Smith, and deputies Kenneth Norris and Deputy Stephen Sadowski.

In August, the First American Bank in Boutte was robbed at gunpoint and the suspect fled along Interstate 310. Oubre, who assisted in the earlier bank robbery capture, this time was joined by Lt. Jan Troxler. The pair spotted the escape vehicle, chased it onto River Road and apprehended the robber. Oubre and Troxler received Distinguished Service Awards.

Finally, a Citizen’s Award went to Dana Berthelot, 16, a member of the Air Force ROTC program at Hahnville High School. Berthelot witnessed a motorcycle accident on River Road in Hahnville and stopped to render first aid.