Great Ceremony

Photos coming this afternoon :)

NOAA HONORS WPSD-TV AND SHADOW ANGEL FOUNDATION

WITH MARK TRAIL AWARD

            NOAA today presented a Mark Trail Award to WPSD-TV and the Shadow Angel Foundation of Paducah, Ky. for support of the agency’s NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards program.

            Celebrating its tenth year, the awards program honors individuals and organizations that use or provide NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards receivers or transmitters to save lives and protect property. Twenty-four award recipients were recognized nationally this year.

            WPSD-TV and the Shadow Angel Foundation are being recognized for an outstanding campaign to promote NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards in Paducah and the Tri-State area following the violent tornadoes that struck the region in November, 2005. The combined campaign put 4,000 NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards receivers into the hands of Tri-State residents. NOAA personnel from the Paducah weather forecast office joined in by programming the new receivers.

            “With this award, we recognize WPSD-TV and the Shadow Angel Foundation of Paducah for their important contribution to NOAA’s mission of protecting lives and property,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Whatever the danger, whatever the hour, when minutes count, count on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards.”

            Cal Sisto of WPSD-TV and Beau Dodson of the Shadow Angel Foundation accepted the awards during a ceremony in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

            ”WPSD News Channel 6 and the Shadow Angel Foundation of Paducah are to be commended for the tireless efforts of employees during the promotion that resulted in many more Tri-State residents getting immediate storm warnings through NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard receivers,” said Rick Shanklin, warning coordination meteorologist at the Paducah weather forecast office. “Their dedication has helped bring a new level of safety to Paducah and Tri-State residents.”

            The Mark Trail Awards are named for the nationally syndicated comic strip character that serves as the campaign symbol for the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards program. Since 1995, Jack Elrod, writer and illustrator of Mark Trail, and King Features Syndicate have been strong advocates for publicizing severe weather safety through the use of the radios. In recent years, the strip’s education message has included the fact that anyone listening to NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards has instant access to the same lifesaving weather reports and all-hazards information provided to meteorologists, emergency personnel and the media.

            “Jack Elrod and his alter ego, Mark Trail, have been great partners to NOAA’s National Weather Service in helping educate the public to the importance of having this device nearby. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is the one tool that gives you and me the instantaneous information we need to protect ourselves,” said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “These awards demonstrate the life-saving ability of NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards. Even within the last few months, we’ve seen several instances where lives have been saved through this technology.”

            NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a nationwide network of radio transmitters broadcasting continuous weather information direct from nearby National Weather Service offices. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards broadcasts official National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other civil emergency information 24 hours a day. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards includes more than 900 transmitters covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific Territories.

In 2007 NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation. Starting with the establishment of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. The agency is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts, and protects.

Editor’s Note: Information on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards and graphics of Mark Trail are available at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

NOAA’s National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov

NOAA’s National Weather Service office in Paducah: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pah

 THE AWARD PHOTOS :)

Left to right Head of the National Weather Service - General D.L. Johnson USAF,
Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary
of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, John Elrod
(artist of Mark Trail), Beau Dodson
 

Beau and Rick Shanklin from the Paducah, National Weather Service Office












The Comic Strip on the award
 

Mother and me

 

The lunch table...mother, Beau, David, and Joey on the far right

Mother, Beau, Joey on Capitol Hill
 

Joey on Capitol Hill



Cheetah of course :)

Me on Capitol Hill :)

More photos here

http://www.weather.gov/com/trailawards/

and here

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=pah&storyid=3644&source=0

( Cal Sisto/WPSD was unable to attend but will be given their award in the coming days)

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