VFW honors chief with LEO award

Patrick McGinty hands former police Chief Mark Spaetzel a certificate in honor of his LEO award from the VFW Post 9693. Photo by Fred Green

Every year the VFW has recurring awards for law enforcement officer (LEO), firefighter, and emergency medical technician (EMT) of the year. These are local, district, state and national programs.

The program chair for our Bay Village VFW Post 9693 is Patrick McGinty, a Bay resident. This year we received one input and that was for LEO of the year.

This year's LEO award winner was police Chief Mark Spaetzel. He was recognized at an outdoor ceremony behind the police station on May 29, days before his retirement. He was given a certificate signed by the Post commander and program chair, and was awarded a $100 donation to the charity of his choice – the Alzheimer's Association. A plaque was installed in the Bay Village police station with the name and year of the winner.

Patrick McGinty made the presentation of the LEO award and as a final official duty as commander, I added some comments to thank Chief Spaetzel for his support over the years.

Our LEO winner was not chosen by the district to move to the state competition, but he will always be Bay Village VFW LEO for 2019-2020. Congratulations from all of our members and thank you from a grateful community.

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Volume 12, Issue 14, Posted 10:03 AM, 07.21.2020