2020/09/08 - Mayor's Column: Doing Great Without Taking Credit
“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
This letter is in response to two recent happenings and how they relate to our wonderful city, our first responders, and our citizens.
This past weekend, one of our police officers was challenged to respond to a road rage incident involving a weapon. Drawing upon the excellent training received and dedication to professional policing, the officer quickly and appropriately defused the situation. As we have seen across the nation, situations like this could have resulted in serious harm to our police officer and/or the suspect if our police officer had not responded in the professional manner that he is trained to do.
It is interesting that this occurred the same week that we honor the 19th anniversary of the September 11th Attacks. We all must stop and think of how high the death total could have been if it were not again for the quick response of some well-trained first responders, many of whom gave their own lives to help save others.
Far too often we take for granted the safety that we enjoy in O’Fallon, so I just want to say thank you to our all of our first responders and their leadership for all of the effort that goes into keeping our community one of the safest in the state.
How many of us know people who want to take credit for everything or think they are too important to help others if it does not get them notice or attention? This past Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals Nation lost one of their greatest players and human being’s, Mr. Lou Brock.
Lou was not only a star on the field, but also off. Having the pleasure of being able to call Lou and his wife, Jackie, friends, I know so many wonderful things that he has done (unpublished) to help others. But I must share one of these little stories.
About four years ago, I asked Lou if he would meet a group of parents and students from the Illinois School for Autism. We set it up to meet them at his statue in front of the stadium about 90 minutes before game time. About an hour prior to the game, I received a call from his wife Jackie, who tells me no one had shown up.
After several calls, I find out that for some reason all of the parents and kids had all gone into their seats in the stadium. Now if you were a star like Lou, you might say well that is that and go on your way. But that is not what Lou did. He asked if I could find out where they were seated. When I did and let him know what section that were seated in, Lou and Jackie went to their seats and spoke with the children and parents for 15 minutes. Jackie called me and kept the phone open so I could hear the discussion going on between the great Lou brock and these children.
I am telling this story because it reminds me of the citizens of O’Fallon. One of the other items that makes us the city we are is the willingness of so many of our citizens to help their neighbors and the city without any fanfare. That may be with caring for your property, helping a neighbor in need, reporting problems when you see them, helping our churches and schools and so much more. So, to all of you that go about helping others quietly, thank you.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something i care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open (virtually, at least)!