The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Local firefighter called a hero after saving dog

CLERMONT COUNTY, OH - A volunteer firefighter is being called a hero after saving the life of man's best friend.

Danny Redden, a Felicity firefighter, risked his life to save a dog from a frozen lake.

Dog owner Larry Trammel admits that his 9-year-old dog, Brownie, has gained a bit of weight over the years. She has gotten too heavy, in fact, for the ice.

Brownie was chasing ducks when she wandered onto the ice of a fishing pond. The ice broke under the dog's feet leaving Brownie stranded in the middle of the pond.

"I thought she was going to drown," said Trammel. "I knew I couldn't walk out on [the ice]. She was pitiful sounding, you know, barking and crying and fighting."

Trammel called 911. Moments later, the Felicity Fire Department arrived at the scene.

Danny Redden went out on the ice with a rescue basket while Lt. Scott Colyer held on to a safety rope.

"We went about five feet when the ice gave way and consumed every bit of my body," said Redden. "The only thing I could keep up was my head."

Redden kept swimming toward the dog and managed to secure Brownie in the rescue basket. Redden says his feet could not touch the bottom of the lake but his fellow firefighters pulled him and Brownie to safety.

Redden says he has never done a cold water rescue before. However, he credits the save to his training.

Redden, a dog lover himself, got into a medic unit to recuperate. Brownie warmed up in her usual spot next to the fireplace.

[kuhio98]

Homeless man returns ring accidentally given to him

KANSAS CITY, MO - A woman trying to help out a homeless man on The Plaza ended up giving away a lot more than a little change. She accidentally gave him her engagement ring, but the twist to the story is what the man did with it.

People hearing this story might think the homeless man's luck would similar to winning the lottery - you live under a bridge, then, the next thing you know, you end up with platinum and diamonds. For some, it could be a life changer.

Billy Ray Harris got that change and then some last Friday.

"The ring was so big that I knew if it was real, it was expensive," Harris said.

He didn't notice it in his orange cup until almost an hour after its original owner unzipped her wallet and dumped her change into it.

"My rings were bothering me, so I put them in my coin purse," Sarah Darling explained.

Darling said she didn't realize what she'd done until the next day.

"I was so incredibly upset because, more than just the value of the ring, it had sentimental value," she said.

Her high emotions were justified because the item she had accidentally dumped into Harris' cup along with her spare change was her engagement ring after all.

Harris didn't know that, but he knew plenty well how sentiment matters more than money.

"She squatted down like you did like right there and says ‘Do you remember me?' And I was like, ‘I don't know. I see a lot of faces.' She says, ‘I might have gave you something very valuable.' I said, ‘Was it a ring?' And she says, ‘Yeah.' And I said ‘Well, I have it,'" Harris said.

"It seemed like a miracle. I thought for sure there was no way I would get it back," Darling said.

Some may wonder, based on Harris' current situation, why he didn't just pawn it and start a new life.

"My grandfather was a reverend. He raised me from the time I was 6 months old and thank the good Lord, it's a blessing, but I do still have some character," he said.

"I think in our world we often jump to like the worst conclusion, and it just makes you realize that there are good people out there," Darling said.

Harris had lots of great lost and found stories to tell, including one that happened, a long time ago, during a Chiefs-Raiders game. There was a retired Raiders player in The Plaza with his friends. They'd been drinking, and he jumped into Brush Creek, that runs alongside the entertainment district. The retired player got out and told everyone he lost his Super Bowl ring in the creek. Harris found it, later, on the pavement here. He walked all the way over to the Intercontinental Hotel, where he figured they were staying, told the desk clerk and got it back to its owner. He got a generous reward that time and a three-night stay in the Rafael Hotel.

Darling also gave Harris a reward – she gave him all the cash she had in her wallet at the time.

[kuhio98]

Officer, restaurant help mystery man stranded at train station

ETRRICK, Va. – A police officer and a neighborhood restaurant came to the aid of an elderly New York man stranded at a Chesterfield train station on a cold, wet night.

As the Amtrak train pulled out of the station in Ettrick Monday night, the older man who walked with the help of a cane was all alone when the station closed.

Chesterfield County Police Officer Ricky Cremonese told CBS 6 News senior reporter Wayne Covil that he spotted the man, who was a bit frightened because of several men who kept on walking past him.

As a result, the officer decided he would walk the stranger to the Jeff’s Place, a local watering hole nearby.

As Cremonese and the man walked in, everyone was a bit startled. Many in the room thought the man looked like Santa Claus.

Donna Sheffield, who works at Jeff’s Place, said the officer and the stranger were soaked when they both walked in.

Sheffield, who told the officer the man could certainly stay at the restaurant until his son arrived from Hampton, said that for about the next hour the stranger watched as the regulars played darts.

Then Sheffield said she witnessed something special: a reunion between the stranger and his grandson who had not seen each other in more than 12 years.

“The first thing he did was take both of his hands and touch his cheeks,” she said. “And then he told him, ‘you were only this big’ and his hand down real low… and he was teared up and it… got to you a little bit.”

While some folks in the community think Cremonese went beyond the call of duty, he said it was just all in a day’s work.

“I know it sounds cliché, but it is our job,” Cremonese said. ” There’s no way I could leave this gentleman… in the pouring rain. Not only that, it was dark down here, he was scared and visibly upset.”

[kuhio98]

Leah Hostalet Helps Find Kidney Transplant Matches on Facebook

This Valentine's Day, kidney transplant recipient Jerry Wilde is celebrating life with his family thanks to a devoted friend, a generous stranger – and Facebook.

When the kidney he had received through a transplant in 1992 developed a cancerous tumor and was surgically removed, Wilde was put back on dialysis and was told that just eight percent of people with his blood type could be his donor. Dozens of friends, family and colleagues were tested to see if they were a match, but to no avail.

"The waiting period for my blood type on the transplant list was long, between two and a half and three years," says Wilde, 50, a professor of educational psychology at Indiana University East. "I didn't think I'd survive that long. I thought, 'Well this just isn't going to happen. I'm just going to wither away.'"

But when Leah Hostalet, Wilde's friend and former student, saw a status update from Wilde in November of 2011 that he was in search of a kidney donor, she wanted to help.

On November 18 she set up a Facebook page, Find a Kidney for Jerry, which included his blood type and other pertinent medical information. Becky Melton – a total stranger to Wilde – saw the page that would change both their lives.

"I was looking for purpose in my life. It just struck me," says Melton, 28, who was scrolling through Facebook when she saw Jerry's page, "I thought, 'I want to do this. This is my guy. I am going to give him my kidney.' "

Melton, a loan processor in Richmond, Ind., and Wilde exchanged information. On December 14, Melton found out she was a match, and texted Wilde a photo of herself holding a sign with a picture of two kidneys on it. The sign read: "We're a match!" Wilde still gets choked up thinking about that day.

"I was standing in the living room in shock," he says. "I had never met this person. It's like, who does this for a complete stranger?"

On February 24, 2012, the transplant took place and Wilde has been healthy ever since.


From left: Becky Melton, Jerry Wilde and Lea Hostalet four months after his transplant

[kuhio98]

JAMESTOWN, N.C. — A dog that was stolen from a Jamestown home back in 2011 returned home on Wednesday.

Zorro, a 170-pound Great Dane, was stolen during a home invasion on Nov. 11, 2011. Marcie Trogdon told FOX8 back in 2011 someone entered the home through an unlocked door and stole the dog.

“A laptop or a TV can be replaced. Zorro is like a family member. All my kids are grown, so he’s my baby,” Trogdon said in 2011.

Then, on Wednesday night, Zorro showed up at her house.

Trogdon said her neighbor alerted her to the large dog outside of her door.

“He was like ‘Do you know who’s dog this is?’ And I said, ‘what dog?’ and about that time Zorro comes running around the corner and I said ‘Oh my God! That’s Zorro!” Trogdon said.

Zorro is overweight and has ringworm but otherwise seems healthy and happy.

Trogdon thinks someone stole her dog and brought him back when his care became too expensive.

[pomtzu]

JAMESTOWN, N.C. — A dog that was stolen from a Jamestown home back in 2011 returned home on Wednesday.

Zorro, a 170-pound Great Dane, was stolen during a home invasion on Nov. 11, 2011. Marcie Trogdon told FOX8 back in 2011 someone entered the home through an unlocked door and stole the dog.

“A laptop or a TV can be replaced. Zorro is like a family member. All my kids are grown, so he’s my baby,” Trogdon said in 2011.

Then, on Wednesday night, Zorro showed up at her house.

Trogdon said her neighbor alerted her to the large dog outside of her door.

“He was like ‘Do you know who’s dog this is?’ And I said, ‘what dog?’ and about that time Zorro comes running around the corner and I said ‘Oh my God! That’s Zorro!” Trogdon said.

Zorro is overweight and has ringworm but otherwise seems healthy and happy.

Trogdon thinks someone stole her dog and brought him back when his care became too expensive.

WOW!!! Great story........

[phesina]

How nice that they brought him back and didn't just abandon him!

Nice tale there!